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Hardware

Hardware in your TIA Portal project is available on three levels: the Project Explorer tree shows the stations, the Hardware editor lets you edit network settings and card start addresses and write them back into the project, and AML (AutomationML) export/import exchanges the complete hardware configuration.

Devices in the Project Explorer

Open the TIA Portal container from the Activity Bar (the icon strip on the far left) and connect to a project. The Project Explorer in the Side Bar shows a Hardware node that lists the devices in the project:

Hardware
└── Station_1
    └── PLC_1 [CPU 1516-3 PN/DP]

Each station and device appears with its name and CPU type. The tree itself is a read view — to change PROFINET names, IP addresses, or card start addresses, use the Hardware editor (below); for the full configuration, round-trip through AML.

The Hardware Editor

While connected to a TIA project, open the editor in any of three ways:

  • run TIA Portal: Open Hardware from the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P),
  • click the circuit-board icon in the Project Explorer title bar, or
  • right-click the project in the tree and choose Open Hardware.

The editor opens as a TIA Hardware tab. It requires the Pro plan or higher — on a smaller plan an upgrade dialog appears instead.

Stations

The upper table lists one row per station with the columns Device, Type, PROFINET Name, Article Number, Firmware, IP Address 1–4, Input (I) and Output (Q). The PROFINET Name and the four IP Address cells are editable — click into a cell and type. All other columns are read-only.

Cards

Click a station to show the Cards table below it: Slot, Card, Article No., Input Start / End / Length and Output Start / End / Length. Only the start bytes are editable; End and Length update automatically as you type. Cards without an input or an output show -1 in the respective columns.

Validation

Invalid entries — a malformed IP address, an invalid PROFINET name, or a start byte outside 0–32767 — are flagged with a red marker; hover over the cell for a tooltip with the reason. Saving stays blocked until every flagged cell is fixed.

Saving

Click Save Changes (or press Ctrl+S) to write your edits into the open TIA project. While changes are unsaved, the tab shows a dot. After saving, the card addresses reload automatically — TIA Portal may renumber neighbouring addresses when a start byte moves.

If some writes fail, a message lists the affected devices and the failed rows stay marked, so you can correct the values and save again.

Note: Clearing an IP address field is not written to the project. Restore the value or use Discard.

Discard, Refresh and CSV Export

  • Discard reverts all unsaved edits at once.
  • Refresh reloads the tables from the project; with unsaved changes it asks first, because refreshing discards them.
  • Export to CSV saves the station list as a semicolon-separated CSV file via a file dialog — the file opens directly in Excel.

Unsaved Changes

  • Disconnecting from the project with unsaved changes asks whether to Save, Discard, or Cancel.
  • If the TIA Portal connection is lost, or you switch to another TIA Portal instance, unsaved changes are discarded with a notice and the view reloads.
  • Closing the editor tab with unsaved changes prompts you to save.
  • Closing or reloading the application window with unsaved changes also asks whether to Save, Discard, or Cancel.

Export and Import AML

Hardware configuration is exchanged as AML (AutomationML) files. Two commands handle this:

Export AML: Writes the hardware configuration of the connected project to an AML file for documentation, version control, or transfer to another project.

Import AML: Reads an AML file back into TIA Portal to apply a hardware configuration.

You can run both from the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P), and from the Hardware selection in the Import / Export view: pick the Hardware chip and use Export AML… or Import AML…. The actions are available only while a project is connected. Progress and the result are shown as a notification, and the running operation can be cancelled.

Supported Device Types

  • S7-1200/1500 PLCs
  • WinCC Unified HMI Panels
  • WinCC Comfort Panels
  • SINAMICS Drives
  • SCALANCE Switches
  • ET 200 distributed I/O
  • Other PROFINET devices

Notes

  • The Hardware node and the Hardware editor reflect the project as TIA Portal reports it; use Refresh (or reload the tree) to see changes made elsewhere in TIA Portal.
  • AML export/import covers the full hardware configuration, including PROFINET names and IP addresses.
  • WinCC Unified devices are fully supported.
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