Overview - References - SIMATIC AX - AX Hardware Engineering documentation - Hardware Engineering,

The SIMATIC AX Hardware Declaration language supports reusing parts of the hardware configuration for multiple devices through templates. This reduces repetition by allowing configuring common parameters once and reusing them throughout the project. In addition to reducing duplication in the hardware configuration, this also makes changing common settings easier: A setting for a module can be changed in one place and the change is automatically applied to all modules that use the template.

At the moment it is possible to define templates for modules such as a PLC or an input/output module.

Templates can be defined in the Templates section of a hardware declaration file with the following structure:

• The Name property defines the name of the template.
  • Specifying a name is mandatory.
  • The name must be unique within all templates.
  • Template names must follow the common naming rules (see Element Names).
• The Content property defines the settings for a module when the template is used.
  • Specifying the template content is mandatory.
  • The template's content, the structure is the same as the structure of modules.
  • For details, see Template Content.
• The Placeholders property defines the template's placeholders.
  • Placeholders allow specifying which settings in a property can be customized when the template is used.
  • Defining placeholders is optional.