Development support apparatus, program development support method, and program development support program

A program development support method for editing a ladder diagram program and storing an edited ladder diagram program, the method comprising:

• allocating two-dimensional coordinates to a ladder diagram expressed by the ladder diagram program;
• detecting vertical connection lines, two-dimensional coordinates of detected vertical connection lines, circuit elements, two-dimensional coordinates of circuit elements, and types of circuit elements included in the ladder diagram, by for each vertical connection line:
• detecting horizontal connection lines between a minimum Y-coordinate and a maximum Y-coordinate of the vertical connection line;
• and
• for each of the detected horizontal connection lines, incrementing an X-coordinate to detect the circuit elements located on the horizontal connection line;
• and
• storing the circuit elements, the detected vertical connection lines, the two-dimensional coordinates of the circuit elements, and the two-dimensional coordinates of the detected vertical connection lines in association with each other.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a program development support program, which when read and executed for causing a computer to execute processing for editing a ladder diagram program and storing an edited ladder diagram program, the program causing the computer to perform operations comprising:

• allocating two-dimensional coordinates to a ladder diagram expressed by the ladder diagram program;
• detecting vertical connection lines, two-dimensional coordinates of the detected vertical connection lines, circuit elements, two-dimensional coordinates of circuit elements, and types of circuit elements included in the ladder diagram, by for each vertical connection line:
• detecting horizontal connection lines between a minimum Y-coordinate and a maximum Y-coordinate of the vertical connection line;
• and
• for each of the detected horizontal connection lines, incrementing an X-coordinate to detect the circuit elements located on the horizontal connection line;
• and
• storing the circuit elements, the detected vertical connection lines, the two-dimensional coordinates of the circuit elements, and the two-dimensional coordinates of the detected vertical connection lines in association with each other.