[Feature Request] Option to Act as a Tag Based Slave/Server

[TheColonel2688]

I would like to provide my clients with the ability to control/talk (Read and Write) to my Codesys PLC Program from an Allen Bradley PLC. I have an existing library of code for Rockwell PLCs that do this for talking to our Rockwell PLCs, but I currently have no easy way to do this for our Codesys PLCs.

Reading and Writing from our PLCs to their PLCs, which is what we would have to do now using this library, just isn't feasible and doesn't work well with our program architecture.

[NothinRandom]

If I understand correctly, you're interested in wanting the existing library to act as another EtherNet/IP device so that your Rockwell PLC can talk to a Codesys PLC... I guess similar to how one Rockwell PLC communicates with another via consume/produce tags?

[TheColonel2688]

Well, yes, but Consumers/producers isn't necessary (that is implicit messaging) Explicit messaging is fine.

I just want the Rockwell PLC to beable to Read and Write via "Tags" on the codesys PLC using the MSG instruction explicitly on the Rockwell PLC.

Basically on the codesys PLC you could assign a string that represents the tag name for each variable you make available via EIP on the codesys PLC.

[NothinRandom]

@TheColonel2688 I can take a look and see what it takes to implement a CIP server into existing implementation. Meanwhile, I would probably recommend that you have the Rockwell PLC write to tags that CoDeSys controller can read, and have the CoDesys controller write to tags of the Rockwell controller so that you can create bidirectional communication. Of course have some boolean tags as handshake.

[TheColonel2688]

So the main reason I want Read and Write to a Codesys PLC from a Rockwell PLC is because we have a standardized machine that currently use a Rockwell PLC. We don't want to create a separate program/project for every machine we build. So we don't want our PLC to need to know anything about the PLC that is communicating with it. Whar we do now is have other PLC treat our machine like an "appliance" and handle all the reading and writing. We provide code for our customers to put on their PLCs that is already written to control our Machine.

Does that make sense?

Ideally I would like to migrate this product to using a Codesys PLC, but thst is a long term goal. However since Rockwell just started Supporting OPC-UA, this might not even be necessary in the long run.

My other request, for communicating with Ethernet/IP IO devices is alot more important in my opinion. It's the last missing peice in the puzzle for doing full Object-Oriented IO, and for having IO be user configurable on our HMIs.