honcho

Honcho is a multiple PLC connection manager for Node.JS using nodes7/nodepccc/mcprotocol/mbtcpprotocol or other libraries that use a similar API to those.

Normally Honcho will be called by a program that configures it and subscribes to its polls, like a server that streams PLC data over a Websocket or TCP stream.

Honcho is initially configured by a configuration object and multiple PLC tag files.

First create a tag to address translation file using a text editor:

testplctags.txt should have only one line for the following example to work: MYTAG=DB99,INT0

When you specify tags you need to prefix the tag name with the PLC name and a "/" as a separator. If you specify a default controller, (defaultController object), this will be used by default.

Example application:

var honcho = require('honcho');

config = {
	defaultController: 'TESTPLC',  /* This is optional, if you omit it, you must always prefix tags with the connection_name */
	tagFileDir: '.',
	controllers: [
		{ 
			host: '192.168.1.2',
			connection_name: 'TESTPLC',
			port: 102,
			slot: 1, 	/* See NodeS7 docs - slot 1 for 1200/1500, slot 2 for 300 */
			type: 'nodes7',
  			tagfile: './testplctags.txt' 
		},
		{ 
			host: '192.168.1.2',	
			connection_name: 'TESTPLC2',
			port: 102,
			slot: 1, 	/* See NodeS7 docs - slot 1 for 1200/1500, slot 2 for 300 */
			type: 'nodes7',
  			tagfile: './testplctags.txt'   /* For this example we are pointing to the same file like a second PLC running the same program */
		}
	],

	/* Define one or more tagsets to be subscribed to */
	tagsets: ['status'],

	/* Define one or more tags to be subscribed to */
	tags : {
		'MYTAG':{
		tagsets:['status']
		},
		'TESTPLC2/MYTAG':{
		tagsets:['status']
		}		
	}
};

function readDone(err, vars) {
	console.log(vars);
	// Or stream to a Websocket, etc
}

honcho.configure(config, function(){
	honcho.createSubscription(['MYTAG','TESTPLC2/MYTAG'], readDone, 500);
});

This will log the following every 500ms:

{ MYTAG: 0 } and { 'TESTPLC/MYTAG2': 0 }

API

• configure()
• findItem()
• read()
• write()
• createSubscription()
• removeSubscription()

honcho.configure(config, callback)

Sets up the configuration and calls the callback when done. Please see above for configuration syntax.

honcho.findItem(item, callback)

Retuns the full "item" from the PLC driver in the callback.

honcho.read(tags, callback)

Reads specific tags and runs a callback with their values. Note the callback is called as callback(err, values).

honcho.write(tag, value, callback)

Writes a specific tag and runs an optional callback with the result.

honcho.writeItems(items, callback)

Write any number of tags at once. Given an object mapping a tag name to the desired value. Tags can span multiple controllers on the network. DOES NOT fail on single controller write error unless you call done(err).

honcho.createSubscription(tag array, callback, interval)

Sets up a subscription that will return the values of listed tags every timeout via the callback. Returns a token useful for removing subscriptions. Note the callback is called as callback(err, values).

honcho.removeSubscription(token)

Removes a subscription using a token returned when creating it.