node-red-contrib-iiot-opcua-gem

Enhanced Industrial IoT OPC UA toolbox for Node-RED with extended array handling and dynamic enable/disable features – GEM Edition

This package builds upon the excellent node-red-contrib-iiot-opcua by Klaus Landsdorf.
The GEM edition introduces additional features designed for modern industrial automation scenarios.

🆕 New Features (GEM Edition)

🔧 Dynamic Enable/Disable

The OPCUA-IIoT-Connector now provides a Dynamic Enable field, located directly below the Name field.

This feature allows you to disable nodes using either a fixed value or a dynamic value sourced from an environment variable.

• Leave the field empty to preserve the default Enabled status (all nodes active).
• Use Flexible Values such as true/false, 1/0, on/off, yes/no, or environment variables like ${OPCUA_ENABLE}.

📊 Extended Array Support

Full support for multiple OPC UA array data types, with improved handling and type safety:

• Broader Array Coverage: Support for UInt16, UInt32, UInt64, Float, Double, Int16, Int32, Int64, Boolean, String, SByte
• Improved Parsing & Processing: Reliable array read/write operations
• TypeScript Definitions: Stronger typing for development consistency

📦 Installation

npm install node-red-contrib-iiot-opcua-gem

🚀 Quick Start

1. Install the package in your Node-RED environment.
2. Drag OPC UA IIoT nodes from the palette into your flow.
3. Configure the Connector with OPC UA server details.
4. (Optional) Set Dynamic Enable for conditional connectivity.
5. Deploy and connect.

🔧 Dynamic Enable Configuration

In the OPCUA-IIoT-Connector settings:

• Empty → Uses the global IIOT_OPCUA_ENABLE environment variable
• Static values → true, false, 1, 0, on, off, yes, no
• Environment variables → ${MY_CUSTOM_VAR}, ${PRODUCTION_MODE}, etc.

Examples:

# Global disable
export IIOT_OPCUA_ENABLE=false

# Custom environment toggle
export PRODUCTION_MODE=true
# Connector Dynamic Enable field: ${PRODUCTION_MODE}

📋 Available Nodes

• OPCUA-IIoT-Connector – Configurable connector with dynamic enable
• OPCUA-IIoT-Inject – Inject values, including arrays
• OPCUA-IIoT-Read – Read scalar and array values
• OPCUA-IIoT-Write – Write scalar and array values
• OPCUA-IIoT-Listener – Monitor node changes
• OPCUA-IIoT-Browser – Explore the address space
• OPCUA-IIoT-Server – Create an OPC UA server
• OPCUA-IIoT-Method-Caller – Execute OPC UA methods

🏭 Use Cases

Industrial Automation

• Production Lines: Conditional OPC UA connectivity to PLCs
• Quality Control: Manage and analyze array-based sensor data
• Environment Control: Toggle nodes based on plant conditions

Development & Testing

• Staging Environments: Enable/disable via environment variables
• Integration Testing: Scripted toggling of OPC UA connections
• Multi-tenant Systems: Environment-variable driven configurations

🛠️ Environment Variables

| Variable | Description | Default | |---------------------|-------------------------------------|---------| | IIOT_OPCUA_ENABLE | Global enable/disable for all nodes | true | | Custom variables | ${VARIABLE_NAME} in Dynamic Enable | - |

Accepted Values: true, false, 1, 0, on, off, yes, no (case-insensitive)

Array Handling

Enhanced reading/writing of arrays with improved error handling and typing.

🔗 Original Project

This project extends node-red-contrib-iiot-opcua by Klaus Landsdorf:

• Repository: https://github.com/BiancoRoyal/node-red-contrib-iiot-opcua
• Documentation: https://noderedplus.de/

🏢 About GEM s.r.l.

Enhancements provided by GEM s.r.l. for industrial IoT and automation.

Lead Developer: Luca Tralli
Company: GEM s.r.l.

📄 License

BSD-3-Clause (same as the original project).

🤝 Contributing

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/my-feature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m "Add new feature")
4. Push to your fork (git push origin feature/my-feature)
5. Submit a Pull Request

📞 Support

• Report issues via GitHub Issues
• Refer to original documentation for core functionality
• Join discussions in the Node-RED community

🔄 Version History

v4.3.0 (Current)

• ✨ Introduced Dynamic Enable/Disable functionality
• 📊 Added extended array support
• 🏷️ GEM edition branding and docs
• 🔧 Improved TypeScript definitions

Based on node-red-contrib-iiot-opcua v4.2.0.

⚠️ Notice
These modifications have been introduced following the deprecation of the original project.
Users and contributors are encouraged to further improve this library.

Made with ❤️ for the industrial automation community