Beckhoff.TwinCAT.Ads 6.1.231

Description

The package 'Beckhoff.TwinCAT.Ads' contains a client implementation for the ADS Communication protocol used by .NET Core and .NET Full Framework. It includes everything to develop own .NET applications (e.g. HMI, Datalogger) to communicate with TwinCAT devices (e.g. PLC, NC or IO-devices).

The Root object is the TwinCAT.Ads.AdsClient to communicate to all variants of local and remote ADS servers and devices or the AdsSession object.

Requirements

• .NET 7.0, .NET 6.0 or .NET Standard 2.0 (e.g. >= .NET Framework 4.61) compatible SDK
• A TwinCAT 3.1.4024 Build (XAE, XAR or ADS Setup) or alternatively the Beckhoff.TwinCAT.AdsRouterConsole Application for ADS clients on Non-TwinCAT systems.
• Nuget package 'Beckhoff.TwinCAT.Ads.AdsRouterConsole'. to route ADS communication.

Installation

TwinCAT Version >= 4024.10

Because the Beckhoff.TwinCAT.Ads Version 6.X uses internal interfaces that are available only from TwinCAT 4024.10 on, an appropriate version must be installed locally. The package doesn't work with older installations. An alternativ approach for some use cases is to use the 'Beckhoff.TwinCAT.Ads.AdsRouterConsole' / 'Beckhoff.TwinCAT.TcpIpRouter' packages to establish your own router.

Systems without TwinCAT Installation

Install the 'Beckhoff.TwinCAT.Ads.AdsRouterConsole' package from Nuget.org:

PS> nuget install Beckhoff.TwinCAT.Ads.AdsRouterConsole

To enable ADS Communication via the AdsRouteConsole, the following settings have to be made:

• Select the local unique AmsNetId and the route name of the system in the local "StaticRoutes.xml" beside of the AdsRouteConsole
• Add remote connections to the local "StaticRoutes.xml".
• Add the "Backroute" from the remote system linking to the your system (via AmsNeTId) running the AdsRouteConsole. This can be done within of a TwinCAT Project or via the TwinCAT System Tray icon.

An example of the local "StaticRoutes.xml" is given here:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<TcConfig xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="C:\TwinCAT3\Config\TcConfig.xsd">
  <Local>
      <Name>MyLocalSystem</Name>
      <NetId>192.168.1.22.1.1</NetId>
  </Local>
  <RemoteConnections>
    <Route>
      <Name>MyRemoteSystem</Name>
      <Address>RemoteSytem</Address> 
       
      <NetId>192.168.1.21.1.1</NetId>
      <Type>TCP_IP</Type>
    </Route>
  </RemoteConnections>
</TcConfig>

Version Support lifecycle

[^1]: Requirement on the Host system. No version limitation in remote system communication.

[^2]: Microsoft support for .NET5 ends with May 8, 2022. Therefore it is recommended to update Beckhoff.TwinCAT packages from Version 5 to Version 6.

Migrate from ASP.NET Core 5.0 to 6.0

migrating to the latest .NET Microsoft .NET support lifecycle

First Steps

The following code instantiates an AdsClient object, connects to a target device (here the local System Service) and reads the ADS state asynchronously.

using System;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using System.Threading;
using TwinCAT.Ads;

namespace AdsAsyncTest
{
    class Program
    {
        static async Task Main(string[] args)
        {
            AdsClient myClient = new AdsClient();
            try
            {
                // Connect to local TwinCAT System Service
                myClient.Connect(AmsNetId.Local, 10000);
                ResultReadDeviceState result = await myClient.ReadStateAsync(CancellationToken.None);
                Console.WriteLine("State: " + result.State.AdsState);
                Console.WriteLine("Press key to exit...");
                Console.ReadKey();
            }
            catch (Exception e)
            {
                Console.WriteLine(e.Message.ToString());
            }
            finally
            {
                myClient.Dispose();
            }
        }
    }
}

Please be aware, that the AdsRouteConsole doesn't provide the AmsPort 10000, due to the missing TwinCAT System Service. Therefore the AmsNetId of the connection must be changed to a registered remote system.

Further Documention

The actual version of the documentation is available in the Beckhoff Infosys. Beckhoff Information System

There are a few breaking changes in the new version to enable asynchronous programming, reducing the memory footprint and enhancement of the performance.

• Renaming the TcAdsClient class to AdsClient
• Changing synchronous code to 'async'. The new asynchronous methods are indicated with “MethodNameAsync” and could be used very similar to their synchronous counterparts.
• For using .NET Core more efficiently, all the AdsStream class appearances in method interfaces are replaced by the new more efficient Span<byte> and Memory[byte] classes.
• AdsBinaryReader and AdsBinaryWriter should be replaced by using the standard BinaryReader and/or System.Buffers.Binary.BinaryPrimitives Methods.

More details can be read in the documentation under: HowTo Samples --> Upgrading existing ADS Application code (Version 4.X --> 5.X)

Sample Code

Beckhoff GitHub BaseSamples Beckhoff GitHub ClientSamples