node-red-contrib-plc-next-connectorrr

Description
Plc-Connector Node
- Configuration
Implemented Nodes
Installation
- Manual installation

Description

A NodeRED package that enables the user to communicate with the PLCnext controller via the REST api.
This package implements the core functions from the REST interface in a more user-friendly manner than manually creating http queries.

Plc-Connector Node

The Plc-Connector node is the node that not only authenticates and authorizes the connection with the controller but also keeps the connection alive and attempts to reconnect when the connection is lost.
All other nodes implement this node as a parameter that can be configured in the editor.
One connector node can be used by multiple other nodes but a node can only implement one connector node.

Configuration

Parameters:

Parameter	Description
Host IP	IP of the controller that you want to connect to
Authentication Required	Flag if the controller requires a username and password
Username	Username (admin by default)
Password	Password (on the back of the controller)
Station Name	Determines the identifier of the session (can be freely chosen)
Session Timeout	Time in milliseconds before the session needs to be renewed
Api Version	Api version that you want to use

Implemented Nodes

Read Variables

Returns a list of variables and their values. Reads one or multiple variables from the controller.

Parameters:

Parameter	Description	Required
Plc-Connector	Instance of the Plc-Connector that you configured	True
Search	Searchbar with autocomplete feature for adding variables to the selector below	False
Variables	list of variables to be read	False

Details
The variables defined in the input can be used in conjunction with the variables set in the editor. The list of variables will internally be converted to a set, as to prevent variables being read more than once.

Input

msg: {
    payload:{
        variables:[
            {path:<Variable 1>},
            {path:<Variable 2>},
            ...
            {path:<Variable N>}
        ]
    }
}

Output:

msg:{
    _msgid:<Id of the message>,
    payload:{
        variables:[
            {path:<Variable 1>, value:<Value of variable 1>},
            {path:<Variable 2>, value:<Value of variable 2>},
            ...
            {path:<Variable N>, value:<Value of variable N>}
            ]
        }
}

Browse Items

Returns the currently used public variables and their types from the controller.

Parameters:

Parameter	Description	Required
Plc-Connector	Instance of the Plc-Connector that you configured	True
Get Variables	Check for a list of publicly available variables	False
Get Types	Check for a list of all used types	False

Details
The values set by the input message take priority over the values set in the editor of the node. So if get_dicts is set to false in the editor but the input messages supplies the value true, then it will send the dictionary because the input message is prioritized.

Input

msg:{
    payload:{
        get_dicts:<boolean>
        get_types:<boolean>
    }
}

Output:

msg:{
    _msgid:<Id of the message>,
    payload:{
        dict:{
            <Variable 1>:{Type:<Type of Variable 1>, InitValue:<...>, ReadOnly:<...>},
            <Variable 2>:{Type:<Type of Variable 2>, InitValue:<...>, ReadOnly:<...>},
            ...
            <Variable N>:{Type:<Type of Variable N>, InitValue:<...>, ReadOnly:<...>}
        },
        types:[
            {Name: <Variable Type 1>,...},
            {Name: <Variable Type 2>,...},
            ...
            {Name: <Variable Type N>,...}
        ]
    }
}

Report Sessions

Returns a list of all currently active sessions.

Parameters:

Parameter	Description	Required
Plc-Connector	Instance of the Plc-Connector that you configured	True

Details This node will trigger on any input, i.e. that regardless of what is supplied this node will list the active sessions from the connector that is selected in the editor.

Input
None

Output:

msg:{
    _msgid:<Id of the message>,
    payload:{
        sessions:[
            {id:<Id of session 1>, stationID:<Name of session 1>, ipAddress:<Ip of controller>, ...},
            {id:<Id of session 2>, stationID:<Name of session 2>, ipAddress:<Ip of controller>, ...},
            ...
            {id:<Id of session N>, stationID:<Name of session N>, ipAddress:<Ip of controller>, ...}
        ]
    }
}

Report Groups

Returns a list of all currently active groups.

Parameters:

Parameter	Description	Required
Plc-Connector	Instance of the Plc-Connector that you configured	True

Details This node will trigger on any input, i.e. that regardless of what is supplied this node will list the active groups from the connector that is selected in the editor.

Input
None

Output:

msg:{
    _msgid:<Id of the message>,
    payload:{
        groups:[
            {id:<Id of group 1>, variableCount:<Amount of vars in group 1>, ...},
            {id:<Id of group 2>, variableCount:<Amount of vars in group 2>, ...},
            ...
            {id:<Id of group N>, variableCount:<Amount of vars in group N>, ...}
        ]
    }
}

Create Groups

Returns a groupID
Groups variables together so that they can be read from or written to by only using a groupID.
Simplifies requests because only the groupID is needed to request all variables within a group.\

Parameters:

Parameter	Description	Required
Plc-Connector	Instance of the Plc-Connector that you configured	True
Search	Searchbar with autocomplete feature for adding variables to the selector below	False
Variables	list of variables to be read	False

Input

msg: {
    payload:{
        variables:[
            {path:<Variable 1>},
            {path:<Variable 2>},
            ...
            {path:<Variable N>}
        ]
    }
}

Output:

msg:{
    _msgid:<Id of the message>,
    payload:{
        group_id":<Id of the group>
    }
}

Read Group Variables

Reads all variables that have been assigned to a particular group using the groupID.

Parameters:

Parameter	Description	Required
Plc-Connector	Instance of the Plc-Connector that you configured	True
Group ID	ID of the group	False

Details
The value set by the input message takes priority over the value set in the editor of the node. That means that even if a group_id is set in the editor, as long as the input contains a group_id, it will be used.

Input

msg:{
    payload:{
        group_id:<Id of the group>
    }
}

Output:

msg:{
    _msgid:<Id of the message>,
    payload:{
        variables:[
            {path:<Variable 1>, value:<Value of variable 1>},
            {path:<Variable 2>, value:<Value of variable 2>},
            ...
            {path:<Variable N>, value:<Value of variable N>}
        ]
    }
}

Write Variables

Returns a list of variables and their new values.
Changes the values of the selected variables.
The variables are a comma-separated-list where whitespace is ignored.

Parameters:

Parameter	Description	Required
Plc-Connector	Instance of the Plc-Connector that you configured	True
Path Prefix	Prefix that will be appended to the vaiable name if the prefix field is being left empty in the table	True
Editable list	list that contains the prefix, variable-name, new value and valueType of the variable that will be changed	True

Editable list

Parameter	Description	Required
Prefix	The prefix of this particular variable (Will use the value from the [Path Prefix] field if left empty)	False
Variable	The variable to be changed	True
Value	The new value of the variable or the name of another variable	True
ValueType	The type of the value ('Constant' refers to a constant value like 'true' or 'false' while 'Variable' assignes the value of another variable to this variable)	True

Details
The variables defined in the input can be used in conjunction with the variables set in the editor. The list of variables will internally be converted to a set, so that only one value will be written to a variable. The values set in the input take priority over the values set in the editor.

Input

msg: {
    payload:{
        variables:[
            {path:<Variable 1>, value:<Value of the variable 1>, valueType<Constant or Variable>},
            {path:<Variable 2>, value:<Value of the variable 2>, valueType<Constant or Variable>},
            ...
            {path:<Variable N>, value:<Value of the variable N>, valueType<Constant or Variable>},
        ]
    }
}

Output:

msg:{
    _msgid:<Id of the message>,
    payload: {
        variables:[
            {path:<Variable 1>, value:<New value of variable 1>, ...},
            {path:<Variable 2>, value:<New value of variable 2>, ...},
            ...
            {path:<Variable N>, value:<New value of variable N>, ...}
        ]
    }
}

Change Connection Parameters Dynamically

Changes the connection parameters based on the configuration of the incomming message.

Parameters:

Parameter	Description	Required
Plc-Connector	Instance of the Plc-Connector that you configured	True
Parameters	JSON encoded parameters for the PLC-Connector	False

Details
Only host (ip address), username and password can be configured in the configuration node. Please fill the reamining parameters in the PLC-Connector configuration area.

Input

msg:{
    _msgid:<Id of the message>,
    config: {
        host: 192.168.0.10
        username: admin
        password: 2350c83d
    }
}

Installation

Via the node-red palette manager

Navigate to the node-red instance running on the controller by visiting [https://<controller ip>/cockpit] and selecting NODE-RED.
Then open the palette manager and search for @kjgalr/node-red-plc-next-connector and install it.

Via the terminal on a desktop pc

!!The NodeRED package is required for this installation to work!!

    npm install -g --unsafe-perm node-red

Manual installation

Clone the repository

git clone https://gitlab.phoenixcontact.com/kjgalr/node-red-contrib-plc-next-connector

Navigate into the folder
```
cd node-red-contrib-plc-next-connector
```
Install the needed packages
```
npm install axios https
```
Navigate to the .node-red folder (using one of the following commands):
```
cd ~/.node-red
cd $HOME/.node-red
cd %HOME%/.node-red
```

Install the node-red-contrib-plc-connector package

npm install <Path were you cloned the repository to>

Start NodeRED
```
node-red
```

@kjgalr/node-red-plc-next-connector

node-red-contrib-plc-next-connectorrr

Table of contents

Description

Plc-Connector Node

Configuration

Implemented Nodes

Read Variables

Browse Items

Report Sessions

Report Groups

Create Groups

Read Group Variables

Write Variables

Change Connection Parameters Dynamically

Installation

Via the node-red palette manager

Via the terminal on a desktop pc

Manual installation

Readme

Keywords

Package Sidebar

Install

Weekly Downloads

Version

License

Unpacked Size

Total Files

Last publish

Collaborators

@kjgalr/node-red-plc-next-connector

node-red-contrib-plc-next-connectorrr

Table of contents

Description

Plc-Connector Node

Configuration

Implemented Nodes

Read Variables

Browse Items

Report Sessions

Report Groups

Create Groups

Read Group Variables

Write Variables

Change Connection Parameters Dynamically

Installation

Via the node-red palette manager

Via the terminal on a desktop pc

Manual installation

Readme

Keywords

Package Sidebar

Install

DownloadsWeekly Downloads

Version

License

Unpacked Size

Total Files

Last publish

Collaborators

Weekly Downloads