About the Source Key

Use source keys to protect Routines (including equipment phase state routines) and Add-On Instructions. For better protection, name source keys.

Source Keys

Source keys are text strings used to protect components. Source keys are case sensitive and may contain any printable ASCII character, excluding the space character. This includes uppercase A-Z, lowercase a-z, numbers 0-9 and symbols such as "!@#$%:. Source keys are limited to 40 characters in length.

Each component can have the same source key or a unique source key, but multiple source keys cannot protect an individual component. Only one source key can protect each component.

To help secure the source key when not using a source key name, some characters are masked before displaying in the

Logix Designer

application user interface.

To display the source key in plain text, click View in the Configure Source Protection dialog box or click the Show Source Key check box in the Apply Source Key dialog box.

Source Key Names

When a source key is named, the source key name is used in place of the source key in the

Logix Designer

application user interface. The source key name is a text string limited to 40 characters in length and may contain any printable character including spaces.