SIMATIC AX Tank Demo: Building the Software Skeleton
July 21, 2026 — Build a compiling SIMATIC AX software skeleton with named UDTs, mapping functions, function block instances, global data, and a clear main-program scan order.
Siemens AX Libraries: Timers Are Packages, Not Magic Blocks
June 24, 2026 — Article 18 of the Studying SIMATIC AX series. Timer libraries in SIMATIC AX explained from a TIA Portal engineer point of view: packages, namespaces, documented timer function blocks, and why elapsed timer behavior needs runtime proof.
Initialization Patterns - Startup Task and ProgramCycle in AX
June 17, 2026 — Article 17 of the Studying SIMATIC AX series. Startup, ProgramCycle, and first-cycle initialization patterns explained from a TIA Portal engineer studying AX, with clear boundaries between Siemens task-library documentation and local build/test evidence.
Error Handling in SIMATIC AX - TRY/CATCH from a TIA Portal Lens
June 1, 2026 — Article 16 of the Studying SIMATIC AX series. The current tested SIMATIC AX ST compiler rejects general TRY/CATCH, so expected PLC fault conditions still need deterministic guard/report/recover logic, safe defaults, and alarm/status reporting.
Variables and the Type System in SIMATIC AX
May 11, 2026 — How SIMATIC AX organizes variables and types for TIA Portal engineers — VAR_INPUT/VAR_OUTPUT/VAR sections, VAR_GLOBAL and VAR_EXTERNAL contracts, STRUCT and ENUM patterns, typed literals, and the AT keyword for direct addresses. A practical mapping from TIA Portal mental models to AX text.
