TC3 Installation EN
TC3 Installation EN
TC3 Installation EN
TwinCAT 3
Installation
Table of contents
1 Foreword .................................................................................................................................................... 5
1.1 Notes on the documentation ............................................................................................................. 5
1.2 For your safety .................................................................................................................................. 5
1.3 Notes on information security............................................................................................................ 7
1 Foreword
The responsible staff must ensure that the application or use of the products described satisfies all
requirements for safety, including all the relevant laws, regulations, guidelines, and standards.
Disclaimer
The documentation has been prepared with care. The products described are, however, constantly under
development.
We reserve the right to revise and change the documentation at any time and without notice.
No claims to modify products that have already been supplied may be made on the basis of the data,
diagrams, and descriptions in this documentation.
Trademarks
Beckhoff®, TwinCAT®, TwinCAT/BSD®, TC/BSD®, EtherCAT®, EtherCAT G®, EtherCAT G10®, EtherCAT P®,
Safety over EtherCAT®, TwinSAFE®, XFC®, XTS® and XPlanar® are registered and licensed trademarks of
Beckhoff Automation GmbH.
If third parties make use of designations or trademarks used in this publication for their own purposes, this
could infringe upon the rights of the owners of the said designations.
Patents
The EtherCAT Technology is covered, including but not limited to the following patent applications and
patents:
EP1590927, EP1789857, EP1456722, EP2137893, DE102015105702
and similar applications and registrations in several other countries.
EtherCAT® is registered trademark and patented technology, licensed by Beckhoff Automation GmbH,
Germany
Copyright
Exclusion of liability
All the components are supplied in particular hardware and software configurations which are appropriate for
the application. Modifications to hardware or software configurations other than those described in the
documentation are not permitted, and nullify the liability of Beckhoff Automation GmbH & Co. KG.
Personnel qualification
This description is only intended for trained specialists in control, automation, and drive technology who are
familiar with the applicable national standards.
Signal words
The signal words used in the documentation are classified below. In order to prevent injury and damage to
persons and property, read and follow the safety and warning notices.
DANGER
Hazard with high risk of death or serious injury.
WARNING
Hazard with medium risk of death or serious injury.
CAUTION
There is a low-risk hazard that could result in medium or minor injury.
NOTICE
The environment, equipment, or data may be damaged.
In addition, the recommendations from Beckhoff regarding appropriate protective measures should be
observed. Further information regarding information security and industrial security can be found in our
https://www.beckhoff.com/secguide.
Beckhoff products and solutions undergo continuous further development. This also applies to security
functions. In light of this continuous further development, Beckhoff expressly recommends that the products
are kept up to date at all times and that updates are installed for the products once they have been made
available. Using outdated or unsupported product versions can increase the risk of cyber threats.
To stay informed about information security for Beckhoff products, subscribe to the RSS feed at https://
www.beckhoff.com/secinfo.
TwinCAT 3.1 Build 4026 is installed with the help of the TwinCAT Package Manager. With this setup, you
can not only install TwinCAT in three variants as before, but also select and install additional TwinCAT
components individually. You can also update and uninstall TwinCAT components individually.
To be able to use TwinCAT Package Manager and TwinCAT 3.1 Build 4026, you need the
myBeckhoff account.
The TwinCAT Package Manager is based on two components that build on each other:
• TwinCAT Package Manager: The interface [} 24] for menu-driven installation (User Interface)
• TwinCAT Package Manager Command Line Interface "TcPkg": The command line program [} 16] is
used by the user interface.
All actions on the interface lead to calls to the command line program. This means that all functions of the
interface can be mapped in the command line, but the command line can sometimes provide more detailed
functions that are not mapped in the interface.
Basics
The TwinCAT Package Manager downloads packages and their dependencies from one or more so-called
feeds. "Stable" and "Testing" feeds are available from Beckhoff. However, customers can also provide their
own feeds if these contain TwinCAT packages for offline installation, for example. The bases for this are
either normal directories ("c:\packagesoffline", possibly provided via a network drive) or Nuget Package
Server.
Products, as displayed in the interface, contain a list of packages with versions, i.e. they have dependencies
on specific package versions. These packages for representing products are called workloads, as is also
common in Visual Studio.
It is the task of the TwinCAT Package Manager to resolve these dependencies and fulfill them through
installation.
To access the TwinCAT installation options, you must first create your own feed. The Startup configuration
guides you through setting up the feed the first time you use it.
1. Open the TwinCAT Package Manager.
ð Your login will be checked. If you have problems logging in, you can check your login details at
www.beckhoff.com.
Information: New conditions must be accepted for error code 451. Log in to www.beckhoff.com.
4. Click Next.
5. Choose a suitable Visual Studio version or shell for the integration of Visual Studio
6. Click Finish.
ð A new feed is created.
ð The TwinCAT Package Manager reloads the information after a feed change. This may take a moment.
You can already exit the settings page by clicking x.
2. Confirm the message that the page is being reloaded with OK.
ð The page is loaded in the selected language.
The TwinCAT Package Manager attempts to read this information from the operating system.
However, as there are many ways in which this can be stored, it can also be configured manually.
1. Open a command line with administrator rights.
2. Set the proxy via the TcPkg command line:
tcpkg config set proxy -d <ipadress:port> -u <user>
3. Enter the password when you are prompted to do so.
If you do not have information about a proxy available, you can download the packages from another system
and transfer them manually to this system. The exact procedure is documented in the chapter Working
offline [} 18].
1. Select the TwinCAT Standard workload in the choice area of the window.
4. You can use X to remove workloads that should not be updated from the right-hand window area
5. Click on Upgrade.
ð The update process starts.
6. Close the progress window with Close when the process is complete.
ð The workload has been updated on your system.
4. You can use X to remove workloads that are not to be uninstalled from the right-hand window area,
5. Click on Uninstall.
ð The workload is uninstalled.
6. Close the progress window with Close when the process is complete.
ð The workload has been uninstalled from your system.
Queries
• List of all available packages incl. workloads
tcpkg list
• List of all versions of all available packages
tcpkg list -a [NameOfPackage]
• List of all available workloads
tcpkg list -t workload
• List of all configured feeds
tcpkg source list
Configuration
• Add a feed
tcpkg source add -n=[NameOfSource] -s=[LinkToSource] --
priority=[UniqueValue, highest is 1] -u=[UserName] [--password-stdin]
Information: LinksToSource for normal cases: https://public.tcpkg.beckhoff-cloud.com/api/v1/feeds/
[testing/stable]
UserName for Beckhoff feeds: myBeckhoff account email address
Password is requested interactively, but can also be read (from TcPkg CLI 2.1.96) by STDIN using –
password-stdin (Powershell example: Get-Content pwd.txt | tcpkg source add … --
password-stdin)
• Changing a feed
tcpkg source edit [NameOfSource] --priority=[NewUniqueValue]
• Switching a feed on or off without deleting it
tcpkg source edit [NameOfSource] --enabled true / false
• Setting the Visual Studio integrations:
tcpkg config set -n [useVS2017|useVS2019|useVS2022|useTcXaeShell|
useTcXaeShell64]
Information: After a change, the corresponding integration must be executed:
For example: tcpkg install vs2022.ext
• Removing the Visual Studio integrations
tcpkg config unset -n [useVS2017|useVS2019|useVS2022|useTcXaeShell|
useTcXaeShell64]
Information: The corresponding integration must be executed after a change:
For example: tcpkg uninstall vs2022.ext
ð The provided workloads are then available. They can be displayed in the user interface or via the
command line tcpkg list -t workload.
ð The workloads can be installed as usual via the user interface or the command line.
A system on which Build 4024 is installed and which is to be migrated to Build 4026 can be an engineering
system and/or runtime system.
A guided migration is available via the TwinCAT Package Manager. If desired, you can then install
engineering versions < Build 4026 (as before) as Remote Manager. The Remote Manager Workloads are
available in the Package Manager.
Summary
Step-by-step instructions
1. Download the Beckhoff TwinCAT Package Manager from the Beckhoff homepage.
2. Execute TwinCAT-Package-Manager-Setup.exe by double-clicking on the file.
3. Follow the instructions for installing the Package Manager.
4. Open the Package Manager.
5. Add the Stable Feed and enter your myBeckhoff login data.
https://public.tcpkg.beckhoff-cloud.com/api/v1/feeds/Stable
6. Select a suitable Visual Studio version or shell for the integration of Visual Studio.
7. Click Next.
ð A message appears stating that an older version of TwinCAT has been detected on the system and
that the migration tool must be installed in order to continue.
ð The installation of the migration tool is started and an output window appears.
ð If the message Package(s) installed: TwinCAT.XAE.MigrateCli appears in the window and the
status at the bottom left changes to Finished, the installation has been completed.
ð All old TwinCAT setups found on the system and the corresponding TwinCAT Package Manager
versions to be migrated to are listed.
11. To start the migration, click Next.
12. Confirm the query as to whether you want to start the migration with Yes.
ð An output window appears in which the migration can be tracked. After a short time, the migration
requires a system restart.
13. Confirm with Ok to restart the computer.
ð After the restart, the TwinCAT Package Manager will automatically open again and continue with the
migration.
ð When the migration is complete, this appears in the output and the installed products are displayed.
15. If you have any questions about the process, please provide the log files of the following folder:
C:\ProgramData\Beckhoff\TcMigrateCmd
ð The migration to TwinCAT 3.1 Build 4026 has been completed.
en / de Change language.
Reload information from the configured feeds and
local information.
Installed / Available The Installed tab shows the installed products. The
Available tab shows products that are ready for
installation.
Search Filters the list of products.
Engineering / Runtime / Engineering + Runtime This drop-down list allows you to choose whether
products with an engineering or runtime component
can be selected or a combination of both.
Feed choice / All Selection area, whether products from only one feed
or all ("All") should be displayed.
Switch between line and tile view.
Import system config Import product configuration from a file and install
accordingly.
Export system config Export current product configuration to a file.
Display area left Products are displayed and can be chosen for
installation, uninstallation and upgrading.
Display area right List of changes to be made to installations as well as
uninstallations or upgrades / downgrades.
Modify Execute the displayed changes.
Delete feed.
2.7 FAQ
Error code 451 when accessing myBeckhoff (create feed / fetch packages)
New conditions must be accepted for error code 451. Please log in at www.beckhoff.com.
Packages that represent a Visual Studio or XAE Shell integration have one corresponding package per
supported Visual Studio variant. Depending on the configuration, this is used automatically and transparently
by the TwinCAT Package Manager to execute the corresponding integration.
As they are handled transparently, these packages are not normally displayed separately, but appear, for
example, as separate files on the file system.
For example, the following Visual Studio integration packages also exist for the
"TwinCAT.XAE.SystemManagerVS" component:
TwinCAT.XAE.SystemManagerVS
TwinCAT.XAE.SystemManagerVS.TcXaeShell64
TwinCAT.XAE.SystemManagerVS.TcXaeShell
TwinCAT.XAE.SystemManagerVS.VS2017
TwinCAT.XAE.SystemManagerVS.VS2019
TwinCAT.XAE.SystemManagerVS.VS2022
Depending on the user account control (UAC) set in Windows, Microsoft Powershell issues prompts for
changes to the device while the TwinCAT Package Manager is being used:
These prompts result from the technical implementation of the TwinCAT Package Manager. Only the
required write accesses such as configuration changes or the installations themselves are executed under
administrator rights.
The following setups are available for each new version of TwinCAT 3.1:
• TwinCAT 3.1 eXtended Automation Engineering (XAE) (full installation)
• TwinCAT 3.1 eXtended Automation Runtime (XAR)
• TwinCAT 3.1 Engineering Remote Manager
• TwinCAT 3.1 ADS
The full installation of TwinCAT 3.1 contains various installation options that you can select during the
installation:
• Full installation - TwinCAT 3.1 Engineering and Runtime (Complete option)
• Full installation - TwinCAT 3.1 Engineering (Custom option)
• Full installation - TwinCAT 3.1 Runtime (Custom option)
See also:
• Integration in Visual Studio® [} 29]
• Installation of TwinCAT 3 Engineering and Runtime [} 31]
This installation contains only the components that are needed for the TwinCAT 3 Runtime. The setup is
thus much smaller than that for the full installation of TwinCAT 3.
This installation contains only the engineering components of a TwinCAT 3 version and cannot be installed
stand-alone. It always requires a newer full version of TwinCAT 3.1.
This installation contains only the components necessary for the use of ADS. ADS (TwinCAT Automation
Device Specification) is a medium-independent protocol for communication with/between TwinCAT
components. ADS is normally installed automatically together with TwinCAT 3 XAE or TwinCAT 3 XAR.
See also:
• Command line-based installation [} 48]
• Parallel installation of TwinCAT 2 and TwinCAT 3 [} 54]
or
• Visual Studio® Shell 2013-2019
but
• no Visual Studio® Express
Installation order
For the integration of TwinCAT 3 in Visual Studio® you have to install Visual Studio® first, only then you can
install TwinCAT 3 and integrate it in Visual Studio®.
You cannot integrate TwinCAT 3 with Visual Studio® if Visual Studio® was installed after TwinCAT 3. In this
case, you must first uninstall TwinCAT 3, install Visual Studio® and then reinstall TwinCAT 3.
Example: After installing TwinCAT 3, you decide to program in C++ and therefore want to install a full version
of Visual Studio®.
Case 1: You do not have a full version of Visual Studio® installed on the development computer.
In this case, a Visual Studio® 2017 Shell supplied by TwinCAT 3 is installed as the standard development
environment for TwinCAT.
Case 2: One or more full version(s) of Visual Studio® 2013-2019 is installed on the development
computer.
The TwinCAT 3 setup offers you the possibility to select in which full version of Visual Studio® TwinCAT 3
should be integrated (multiple selection possible).
The TwinCAT 3 setup offers you the possibility to integrate TwinCAT 3 into the already installed Visual
Studio® Shell (instead of installing the default Visual Studio® 2019 Shell)
With the exception of the Visual Studio® 2019 Shell included in the installer, Beckhoff does not deliver any
other Visual Studio® Shell versions together with TwinCAT 3. However, you can download and install them
free of charge from the Microsoft website. Visual Studio® Shells are free of charge, but they do not allow
high-level language programming such as C++ or C#.
Visual Studio® 201x Shell (Integrated) Redistributable Package is an add-on to Visual Studio® 201x Shell
(Isolated) Redistributable Package, therefore the "Isolated" version must be installed first. For details visit the
Microsoft website.
Language settings
The language used in TwinCAT depends on the language of the pre-installed Visual Studio® version. If
TwinCAT 3 is to be displayed in German, Visual Studio® (Shell) must also be installed and selected in
German.
You can install the language packs of Visual Studio® afterwards after installing TwinCAT 3. In the settings of
Visual Studio® you can then switch the language.
ð The TwinCAT 3.1 - Install Shield Wizard will open, which guides you through the installation and in
which you make all further installation settings (licence agreement, customer information, setup
type).
1. Activate the Complete option to install the complete TwinCAT system. Click on Next.
2. If you have already installed Visual Studio® 2013/2015/2017/2019 (or a Visual Studio® Shell 2013-2019),
activate the Integrate TwinCAT selection boxes for the versions in which you wish to install TwinCAT 3.
3. If you also want to (re-)activate the TwinCAT XAE settings, activate the associated Activate TC Settings
selection boxes.
4. If you have not yet installed any Visual Studio® version, activate the Install TwinCAT XAE Shell
selection box in order to install the Visual Studio® Shell as the environment. Click on Next.
1. Click on Install to start the installation. TwinCAT 3 will be installed in the specified directory C:
\TwinCAT\3.1\.
2. Activate the Always trust software from Beckhoff Automation GmbH selection box and click on
Install to install all drivers (alternatively you will be requested several times to confirm).
3. Click on Finish.
4. To complete the installation, you have to restart the system. If you wish to automatically restart the
system immediately, click on Yes in the following dialog.
ð Following the restart TwinCAT is ready for use. The status of the runtime system (XAR) is indicated by a
blue (configuration mode) or green (run mode) symbol in the Windows menu bar.
ð The TwinCAT 3.1 - Install Shield Wizard will open, which guides you through the installation and in
which you make all further installation settings (licence agreement, customer information, setup
type).
1. Activate the Custom option to install just the TwinCAT 3 Engineering. Click on Next.
2. Deselect TwinCAT XAR and the subordinate features by clicking on the symbol in front of the respective
entry and selecting This feature will not be available in the opening context menu. Click on Next.
3. If you have already installed Visual Studio® 2013/2015/2017/2019 (or a Visual Studio® Shell 2013-2019),
activate the Integrate TwinCAT selection boxes for the versions in which you wish to install TwinCAT 3.
4. If you also want to (re-)activate the TwinCAT XAE settings, activate the associated Activate TC Settings
selection boxes.
5. If you have not yet installed any Visual Studio® version, activate the Install TwinCAT XEA Shell
selection box in order to install the Visual Studio® Shell as the environment. Click on Next.
1. Click on Install to start the installation. TwinCAT 3 will be installed in the specified directory C:
\TwinCAT\3.1\.
2. Activate the Always trust software from Beckhoff Automation GmbH selection box and click on
Install to install all drivers (alternatively you will be requested several times to confirm).
3. Click on Finish.
4. To complete the installation, you have to restart the system. If you wish to automatically restart the
system immediately, click on Yes in the following dialog.
ð Following the restart TwinCAT is ready for use. The status of the runtime system (XAR) is indicated by a
blue (configuration mode) or green (run mode) symbol in the Windows menu bar.
1. Activate the Custom option to install just the TwinCAT 3 Runtime. Click on Next.
2. Deselect TwinCAT XAE and the subordinate features by clicking on the symbol in front of the respective
entry and selection This feature will not be available in the opening context menu. You can choose
which of the runtime environments you wish to install: TwinCAT 3 PLC, TwinCAT 3 C++ or TwinCAT 3
MC. If you deselect a runtime environment you cannot operate the corresponding module on the
1. Click on Install to start the installation. TwinCAT 3 will be installed in the specified directory C:
\TwinCAT\3.1\.
2. Activate the Always trust software from Beckhoff Automation GmbH selection box and click on
Install to install all drivers (alternatively you will be requested several times to confirm).
3. Click on Finish.
4. To complete the installation, you have to restart the system. If you wish to automatically restart the
system immediately, click on Yes in the following dialog.
ð Following the restart TwinCAT is ready for use. The status of the runtime system (XAR) is indicated by a
blue (configuration mode) or green (run mode) symbol in the Windows menu bar.
Depending on the installed Visual Studio® version you can activate the TwinCAT settings for a corresponding
Visual Studio® version with the following additions (corresponds to an activated check box in the TwinCAT
3.1 – InstallShield Wizard):
If there is no Visual Studio® (Shell) installed on the system, do not call ACTIVATEVS201xSETTINGS, the
Visual Studio® 2013 Shell and all settings will be installed automatically in this case.
To activate the settings, Visual Studio® 2015 is automatically started with the corresponding call and also
closed again.
REBOOT=ReallySuppress
Sample:
See also:
• Integration in Visual Studio® [} 29]
• Installation of TwinCAT 3 Engineering and Runtime [} 31]
TwinCAT XAR is the TwinCAT 3 real-time runtime environment. To install the TwinCAT XAR runtime
environment, carry out the following steps:
1. Download the installation program for TwinCAT 3.
2. Start the TwinCAT 3 setup by right-clicking on the corresponding setup file. This will start the TwinCAT 3
installation.
6. Select the TwinCAT 3 and TwinCAT XAR features. You can also select which of the runtime
environments you want to install: TwinCAT 3 PLC, TwinCAT 3 C++ or TwinCAT 3 MC. Click Next.
8. Agree to the installation of the Beckhoff software on your system by clicking on Install.
10. Answer the following question with Yes to restart the system automatically.
ð The status of the runtime system (XAR) is indicated by a blue (configuration mode) or green (run mode)
system tray icon:
Installation cases
When installing TwinCAT 3, an existing TwinCAT 2 system will be detected and deactivated for the running
installation. Following the installation TwinCAT 3 is then activated (see also: Switching between TwinCAT 2
and TwinCAT 3).
Prior to the installation or updating of TwinCAT 2, the active TwinCAT 3 version must be deactivated or you
must switch to an installed TwinCAT 2 version (see Switching between TwinCAT 2 and TwinCAT 3). Only
then may the TwinCAT 2 installation be started. If the TwinCAT 2 installation is executed without deactivating
TwinCAT 3 first, the TwinCAT 3 installation will be rendered unusable and will have to be executed again
afterwards.
In general, only one TwinCAT Runtime System (XAR) may ever be active at any one time. With the help of
the TcSwitchRuntime program, however, you can switch between the two installations at any time and
activate and deactivate TwinCAT 2 and TwinCAT 3. To open the TcSwitchRuntime program, right-click on
the TwinCAT icon in the Windows menu bar and select TwinCAT Switch Runtime from the menu which
then opens.
After switching from TwinCAT 3 to TwinCAT 2 using “TwinCAT Switch Runtime” you need to manually open
TwinCAT Switch Runtime from “C:\TwinCAT\TcSwitchRuntime\TcSwitchRuntime.exe” in order to switch back
from TwinCAT 2 to TwinCAT 3.
The TwinCAT 3 installation is modular and consists of a series of component-based setups that are
executed one after the other during the installation.
If you want to remove TwinCAT 3 completely from a computer, the following procedure is recommended.
ü Windows Control Panel > Programs and Features is open.
1. Uninstall all TwinCAT 3 functions. This step should be done before uninstalling TwinCAT, because some
functions unregister with TwinCAT during uninstallation. If TwinCAT is no longer available, the
uninstallation aborts with an error message.
2. Uninstall all TwinCAT component setups (e.g. TwinCAT Scope, TwinCAT Target Browser, TwinCAT
Block Diagram).
3. Uninstall TwinCAT.
Uninstall TwinCAT 3
All components of TwinCAT 3 can be simply uninstalled using the standard Windows functions provided for
this purpose; no separate uninstall program is required.
Alternatively, you can run the installation program again. The program recognises that TwinCAT 3 is already
installed and offers you the option of modifing (Modify option), repairing (Repair option) or removing
(Remove option) the existing installation.
3.8 FAQ
Overview
• Why isn't the TwinCAT runtime icon displayed in the Windows menu bar? [} 56]
• How do I install TwinCAT if the user directories are located on a network drive? [} 56]
Why isn't the TwinCAT runtime icon displayed in the Windows menu bar?
If the TwinCAT runtime icon is not displayed after the restart, it may be in the "Hidden icons" area (e.g. in the
case of Windows 7). To show the hidden icons, click on the triangle icon in the windows menu bar.
How do I install TwinCAT if the user directories are located on a network drive?
Since the TwinCAT setup is run as an administrator, mapped network directories are not available to the
installing administrator. In order to carry out the installation despite that, carry out the following steps:
1. Open the command prompt as an administrator.
2. Enter the command line command "net use <Drive>:\\server\folder\" so that the drive is also accessible
for the setup.
3. Start the setup from the same command prompt.
TwinCAT 3 uses the Visual Studio® help system (Microsoft Help Viewer), with can be used online or offline.
You can use a default browser or the Help Viewer to display the help system.
The setup for the TwinCAT 3 Information System supports the help systems of Visual Studio® 2010 (Help
Viewer 1.0, Help Viewer 1.1), Visual Studio® 2012 (Help Viewer 2.0), Visual Studio® 2013 (Help Viewer 2.1),
Visual Studio® 2015 (Help Viewer 2.2) and Visual Studio® 2017 (Help Viewer 2.3). It is available in German
and English. The setup is updated on a monthly basis.
The TwinCAT 3 Help already installed can be updated. See Updating the TwinCAT 3 documentation.
System requirements
The following components must be installed for local installation and application of the
TwinCAT 3 Information System:
• TwinCAT 3 Engineering (XAE) including Visual Studio® Shell or Visual Studio® 2010 / 2012 / 2013 /
2015 / 2017 / 2019
(Express versions of Visual Studio® are not supported.)
• Visual Studio® Help System
◦ Visual Studio® 2010: Installation of the help system in Visual Studio® with Service Pack 1
◦ Visual Studio® 2012 / 2013 / 2015: Help system as an integral part of Visual Studio®
◦ Visual Studio® 2017 / 2019: Installation of the help system as a component during the installation
of Visual Studio®
TwinCAT 3 Information System is installed for all help systems when several compatible Visual Studio®
versions are present.
• Select Custom if you only want to install certain languages for selected Visual Studio® help systems.
• If you select the Custom option, you then have to select the installation components (Features).
Feature selection
The overview shows the languages available for the TwinCAT 3 Information System. Each language
contains the available and supported Visual Studio® help systems as a subfeature. The features may
vary depending on the system configuration and setup.
You can set the installation for each of the components that are listed. To install the
TwinCAT 3 Information System, you have to select at least one language variant from the available
languages and one Visual Studio® help system from the available help systems.
◦ A selected feature is marked with a hard disk icon.
◦ An unselected / excluded feature is marked with a red cross.
• Enable the option Automatic updates for TwinCAT 3 documentation to automatically update the
installed TwinCAT 3 Information System via the Visual Studio® help system (this option is available
from Visual Studio® 2012).
If you selected a Visual Studio® help system that supports automatic updating in the previous dialog,
this option is enabled by default, otherwise the option is disabled automatically.
ð The TwinCAT 3 Information System is installed locally. With Visual Studio® 2012 or later versions, an
entry for opening and updating the local TwinCAT 3 Information System is created in the Windows Start
menu in the Beckhoff > TwinCAT3 Information System folder.
ð The Option “Yes, check for program updates (Recommended) after the setup completes.” searches for
updates of the installed TwinCAT 3 documentation if an internet connection is available.
See also:
• Updating the TwinCAT 3 documentation [} 69]
• Calling the TwinCAT 3 documentations [} 64]
Help Viewer 1.0 or 1.1 is required for displaying and using the locally installed
TwinCAT 3 Information System.
Help Viewer 1.0 is automatically installed with Visual Studio® 2010. You can install Help Viewer 1.1 by
installing Service Pack 1 for Visual Studio® 2010.
Service Pack 1 can be downloaded from the My.VisualStudio.com website through your Visual Studio®
subscription account.
Depending on the Visual Studio® version, one of the following help systems is required for displaying and
using the locally installed TwinCAT 3 Information System:
The help systems are included as standard with the installation of Visual Studio® 2012 / 2013 / 2015.
Help Viewer 2.3 is required for displaying and using the locally installed TwinCAT 3 Information System.
In contrast to previous Visual Studio® versions, the help system is no longer an integrated component of
Visual Studio®. Instead, it is provided as an optional component during the installation of Visual Studio®
2017 / 2019.
The help system is installed as a component during the installation of Visual Studio® 2017 / 2019.
ü The setup for Visual Studio® 2017 / 2019 has been called.
1. Click the Individual components tab.
(Source: https://docs.microsoft.com/de-de/visualstudio/ide/microsoft-help-viewer-installation?
view=vs-2017)
3. Continue installing Visual Studio® 2017 / 2019 and complete the installation.
An Internet connection is required for this and the address https://infosys.beckhoff.com must be reachable.
With the installation of the TwinCAT 3 Information System, the help system is set to use the local help.
The use of the local help or the online help respectively can be set in the TwinCAT Help menu (Visual
Studio® 2013 and later).
You can call the local help system via the Windows Start menu or in the TwinCAT 3 Engineering (XAE) via
the context help (F1 Help) or the Help menu.
• Calling up the TwinCAT 3 documentation via the Windows Start menu [} 66]
• Calling up the TwinCAT 3 documentation via the Help menu [} 65]
• Calling up the TwinCAT 3 documentation via the context help [} 66]
1. Open the Help menu and select the Show Help command.
ð The TwinCAT 3 Information System is opened with the Help Viewer of the Visual Studio® help system. In
the tree view of the open Help Viewer, select Help Viewer -
Home > Welcome to the Beckhoff Information System > TwinCAT 3.
With the context help, the position of the mouse pointer (for graphical elements) or a selected text
expression within the editor is evaluated by the help system in order to display the appropriate linked help
text.
Various displays
From Visual Studio® 2013 it is possible to use the context help with the Beckhoff Information
System.
Depending on the setting of the help system [} 64], the result is displayed locally in the Help Viewer
or in the system's web browser.
The following guide shows you how to use the local TwinCAT 3 Help. The online help is used analogously.
Only the articles are displayed in the web browser.
ü A TwinCAT 3 project is opened.
ü The Start in Help Viewer command is enabled in the menu Help > Define help settings (from Help
Viewer 2.0).
1. Open an editor for the supported text-based TwinCAT 3 programming languages, e.g. ST or C++.
2. Select the desired expression and press the [F1] key.
ð The Help Viewer opens, and the corresponding article from the TwinCAT 3 Information System linked to
the selected expression is displayed.
See also:
• Installation of the TwinCAT 3 documentation [} 57]
When the TwinCAT 3 Information System is installed, an entry is created in the Windows start menu, which
can be used to update the TwinCAT 3 Information System directly.
ü An internet connection is available.
ü You have administrator rights.
1. Open the Beckhoff folder in the Windows Start menu.
2. Click Update TC3-InfoSys (<Language>) (VS<Version>).
3. In the dialog that opens, confirm that changes may be made to the system.
ð The help system checks whether an update for the TwinCAT 3 Information System is available. A
help system icon is displayed in the Windows menu bar.
When you move the mouse pointer over the help system icon, the update progress is displayed.
3. In the help system dialog that opens, click Check for updates online.
ð The help system checks whether an update for the TwinCAT 3 Information System is available.
Available updates for installed documentation components are displayed.
TwinCAT 3 uses Visual Studio® ("Professional" functionality or higher) or the Visual Studio® Shell as the
development environment. Various language packs are offered for Visual Studio®. A distinction is thereby
made between the functional specification of the development environment and the supported languages.
The languages supported by Visual Studio® are described on the MSDN page:
• Languages supported by Visual Studio® (2013): https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/de/vs/older-
downloads/isolated-shell/
Installation of the German language pack for the TwinCAT development environment (Visual Studio®
Shell)
ü You have downloaded the appropriate language pack from the MSDN page for the Visual Studio® Shell
you are using (https://msdn.microsoft.com):
The language packs can be downloaded from the MSDN customer area (login required).
(a) Language pack for Visual Studio Shell (isolated)
(b) Language pack for Visual Studio Shell (integrated)
1. First install the language pack for the "isolated shell" (a).
2. Now install the language pack for the "integrated shell" (b).
ð Following successful installation, you can change the language of the TwinCAT 3 development
environment [} 75].
The Visual Studio® Shell is used with the installation of TwinCAT 3 without Visual Studio®. The preset menu
language is English. You can change the menu language in the Visual Studio® options.
1. Select the Options command in the Tools menu and Environment > International Settings in the
options dialog which then opens.
ð The Language area displays the languages (in this case German, English).
2. Select the desired available language and close the dialog with OK.
ð The language change becomes effective with the next restart of Visual Studio®.
It is also possible to quickly check the installed menu language of Visual Studio® and to change the language
with a direct call.
1. Enter the following command in the command line or in the Run window:
devenv /lcid 1031 for the German menu language
or
devenv /lcid 1033 for the English menu language
ð Visual Studio® or the TwinCAT 3 development environment (Visual Studio® Shell) then opens with the
specified menu language, provided this language is installed.
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