Attention

IronPLC can only run very simple programs. The steps described are accurate but many language features are not yet supported.

Build Tasks¶

The IronPLC extension integrates with the Visual Studio Code build system to compile IEC 61131-3 projects from within the editor. This lets you compile your project to a bytecode container (.iplc) file without leaving Visual Studio Code.

Warning

The compile command currently supports only trivial programs. Supported features include: PROGRAM declarations, INT variable declarations, assignment statements, integer literal constants, and the + (add) operator. Programs using other features will produce a code generation error.

Running a Build¶

To compile the current project:

Open the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P or Cmd+Shift+P).
Type “Run Build Task” and press Enter (or use the shortcut Ctrl+Shift+B / Cmd+Shift+B).
Select ironplc: compile from the list of available tasks.

The extension runs ironplcc compile on the workspace folder and produces a .iplc file in the workspace root. The output file is named after the workspace folder (for example, a folder named myproject produces myproject.iplc).

Build output appears in the Terminal panel.

Setting as the Default Build Task¶

If you use the build task frequently, you can set it as the default so that Ctrl+Shift+B runs it directly without prompting.

Open the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P or Cmd+Shift+P).
Type “Configure Default Build Task” and press Enter.
Select ironplc: compile.

This creates a .vscode/tasks.json file in your workspace:

.vscode/tasks.json¶

{
  "version": "2.0.0",
  "tasks": [
    {
      "type": "ironplc",
      "task": "compile",
      "group": {
        "kind": "build",
        "isDefault": true
      },
      "label": "ironplc: compile"
    }
  ]
}

After configuring the default, pressing Ctrl+Shift+B compiles immediately.