node-red-contrib-ads-client

Beckhoff TwinCAT ADS client library for Node-RED (unofficial). Connects to Beckhoff TwinCAT automation systems using ADS protocol.

Usage no npm install needed!

<script type="module">
  import nodeRedContribAdsClient from 'https://cdn.skypack.dev/node-red-contrib-ads-client';
</script>

README

node-red-contrib-ads-client (TwinCAT ADS client for Node-RED)

npm version GitHub License

TwinCAT ADS client for Node-RED (unofficial). Basically a Node-RED wrapper on battle-tested ads-client Node.js library.

Project status

Not all nodes are yet developed, work is in progress. Readme is under development.

Please see ads-client README for help at this point.

Available nodes at the moment

  • Read Symbol
  • Write Symbol
  • Subscribe
  • Invoke RPC method
  • Connection Status
  • Read Runtime State
  • Read System Manager State

Features

Target is to have all same features as the ads-client has.

  • TwinCAT 2 and TwinCAT 3 support
  • Supports connecting to the local TwinCAT 3 runtime (see enabling localhost support)
  • Supports multiple connections from the same host
  • Reading and writing all any PLC variable
  • Subscribing to PLC variables (ADS notifications)
  • Automatic conversion between PLC<->Javascript objects
  • PLC symbol and data type handling and caching
  • Automatic 32/64 bit variable support (PVOID, XINT, etc.)
  • Automatic cache and subscription refreshing when PLC program changes or system starts
  • Automatic byte alignment support (all pack-modes automatically supported)

Installing

cd ~/.node-red
npm i node-red-contrib-ads-client

Getting started

Documentation

Each node has it's own help/documentation available in the help window.

image

After installing

After you have installed the package and restarted Node-RED, you should see the available ADS nodes in your nodes list.

image

Creating a connection (and reading a value)

You need to create a configuration (ads-client instance) to every target PLC you will use. To do this, you need to add one node to the flow first.

In this example we have GVL_Test.MyStringVariable in the PLC. image

  1. Drag a ADS - Read Symbol node to the flow
  2. Double click the node
  3. Under ADS connection it should state Add new ads-client-connection..., -> click the edit icon next to it.
  4. (Optional) Give a name to the connection
  5. NOTE: See ads-client readme for different connection setups (like Windows, Raspberry etc.)
  6. Setup target settings
    • Target AmsNetId - Target PLC AmsNetId (like localhost, 192.168.1.5.1.1 and so on)
    • Target ADS port - Target runtime ADS port (like 851 for TwinCAT 3 runtime 1)
  7. Setup optional settings
  8. Press Add
  9. In Read Symbol node, enter variable name you want to read
    • Example: GVL_Test.MyStringVariable
  10. Press done
  11. Drag an inject node to the flow
  12. Connect its output to the input of the Read Symbol node
  13. Drag a debug node to the flow
  14. Connect output of the Read Symbol node to the debug node input
  15. Deploy the flow

Now pressing the button in inject node will command the Read Symbol node to read value from PLC. The value (or error) will be shown in debug window.

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Example to import

[{"id":"290b97f1.b47728","type":"tab","label":"Flow 1","disabled":false,"info":""},{"id":"3f5e8355.09cafc","type":"ads-client-read-symbol","z":"290b97f1.b47728","name":"","connection":"bbd41d0d.87aac","variableName":"GVL_Test.MyStringVariable","x":230,"y":120,"wires":[["48a7c812.ab1db8"]]},{"id":"8b366e5a.37926","type":"inject","z":"290b97f1.b47728","name":"","props":[{"p":"payload"},{"p":"topic","vt":"str"}],"repeat":"","crontab":"","once":false,"onceDelay":0.1,"topic":"","payload":"","payloadType":"date","x":130,"y":40,"wires":[["3f5e8355.09cafc"]]},{"id":"48a7c812.ab1db8","type":"debug","z":"290b97f1.b47728","name":"","active":true,"tosidebar":true,"console":false,"tostatus":false,"complete":"false","statusVal":"","statusType":"auto","x":200,"y":220,"wires":[]},{"id":"bbd41d0d.87aac","type":"ads-client-connection","name":"Local PLC","targetAmsNetId":"localhost","targetAdsPort":"851","objectifyEnumerations":true,"convertDatesToJavascript":true,"readAndCacheSymbols":false,"readAndCacheDataTypes":false,"disableSymbolVersionMonitoring":false,"routerTcpPort":"","routerAddress":"","localAddress":"","localTcpPort":"","localAmsNetId":"","localAdsPort":"","timeoutDelay":"","hideConsoleWarnings":false,"autoReconnect":true,"reconnectInterval":"","checkStateInterval":"","connectionDownDelay":"","allowHalfOpen":false,"disableBigInt":false}]

Other examples coming up later

License

Licensed under MIT License so commercial use is possible. Please respect the license, linking to this page is also much appreciated.

Copyright (c) 2021 Jussi Isotalo <j.isotalo91@gmail.com>

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.