Development aid device

A development aid device for a user program for a programmable controller, said development aid device comprising:

• a program memory for storing said user program;
• an outline data generating part for sequentially scanning said user program stored by said program memory from the beginning, thereby extracting elements and generating outline data by assigning individual index numbers to said extracted elements in the order of appearance on said user program;
• an outline data memory for storing said outline data;
• and
• a display device having a user program display part for displaying said user program and an outline data display part for displaying said extracted elements together with said index numbers in said order of appearance based on said outline data.

A method of controlling a development aid device which stores in a program memory a user program including output commands and constituent elements other than said output commands and displays said user program on a display device, said method comprising the steps of:

• scanning constituent elements of said user program stored in said program memory sequentially from a start;
• extracting constituent elements including said output commands;
• generating outline data by registering the extracted structural elements including said output commands in the order of appearance on said user program;
• and
• displaying on said display device the extracted constituent elements including said output commands in the order of appearance on said user program based on said generated outline data.