Industrial device connections and workshop

Modbus TCP, Allen Bradley EtherNet/IP, Siemens S7 and Beckhoff ADS connection types require 0.2.0-preview.12 or a later compatible release. Preview.11 and earlier installers do not contain these drivers. Exact artifact/source verification is recorded separately in Verification and roadmap; device-model and firmware acceptance remains separate. OPC UA and database connections retain their existing workflows. The support plan and technical specification describe the wider roadmap; MQTT, Sparkplug and other planned protocols are not included in these four driver choices.

Use Gateway Settings → Configuration → Connections to choose a driver, enter its protocol settings and save a point map. Each point has a stable ID, display name, native address, scalar type and explicit writable flag. Runtime tags bind to the saved point ID, so editing a native address invalidates reviewed commands and acquisition configuration. Removing a point or changing its type is blocked while saved tags or UDT members still depend on it.

Choose the engineering type used by tags independently from the optional raw storage type. For a one-register temperature, use raw UInt16, engineering Double, scale 0.1 and offset 0: register value 123 becomes 12.3, and an approved write of 12.3 encodes 123. Boolean and String types retain matching storage types. Integer writes reject fractional raw results and values outside the declared width. Maps are limited to 10,000 points and 768 KiB of normalized JSON.

Browse saved map displays configured points without contacting the device. Native browsing is additionally available for ControlLogix/CompactLogix and ADS. Micro800, MicroLogix, SLC 500 and PLC-5 use saved maps in this implementation. A native symbol must be added to the map and the connection saved before creating a tag or reading it through quick watch. Test connection and quick watch are read operations. They do not dispatch writes.

Prerequisites and compatibility

• This workshop requires 0.2.0-preview.12 or a later compatible release. Consult Verification and roadmap for exact installer/source evidence, and check device model, firmware, OS and dependency compatibility before claiming a hardware profile is supported.
• Use isolated simulators or lab controllers with independently created synthetic variables. These variables must not drive outputs, programs, motion or process interlocks. Only the Modbus loopback workflow has automated end-to-end gateway verification in the new gateway fixture; the other drivers still need identified-device acceptance.
• Gateway configuration requires an engineering account with the configuration capability. The operator needs Commands plus readable tag scope for [default]IndustrialWorkshop/; Operate alone cannot write a register. Designer Preview does not dispatch commands.
• EtherNet/IP uses the pinned libplctag .NET 1.5.2 / NativeImport 1.0.41 payload, whose native core is 2.6.0. Select the actual controller family; the driver does not substitute another family. Newer library documentation does not establish support in this pinned build. Symbolic type verification includes a guarded bridge tied to this managed SDK version; replacing dependencies requires requalifying that bridge and the native fixtures.
• S7 requires accessible DB/marker memory and controller access permissions. ADS uses an existing router listening on TCP port 48898, or starts a shared gateway-managed router when that port has no listener. An existing router must have the configured local AMS Net ID and an administrator-configured target route. In both cases the controller needs a back-route to that local AMS Net ID and the gateway host. Connections using the managed router must share one local AMS Net ID.
• The workshop is setup-required. Its source contains screens and command declarations, with no connections, credentials, tag definitions, runtime exports or automatically executing scripts.

Load the authored workshop

Set SPARKSTUDIO_ADMIN_AUTH_FILE to an ignored local administrator credential file and run this from source/ against an isolated gateway:

node tools/load-industrial-devices-example.mjs http://127.0.0.1:5091

The loader creates only a new unpublished Industrial devices workshop project. It refuses a duplicate project name. It does not create connections, tags or device writes and does not publish. Unconfigured live displays remain unavailable. Configure any subset of the four lab profiles below, review the project and explicitly publish it in Designer. Columns for profiles you have not configured remain unavailable.

Four lab profiles

For each connection, create a point with ID Setpoint, type Int16, scale 1, offset 0, and writable enabled. Start the lab value at 10. Only mark it writable after confirming the address is the independently created synthetic storage. Poll at one second initially.

These example native addresses are valid only when you deliberately created matching storage. Do not paste them into an existing production controller. Modbus addresses use zero-based offsets: holding-register offset 0 corresponds to traditional reference 40001. S7 offsets are bytes; DBW0 is a two-byte signed word, not a symbolic TIA tag. Native EtherNet/IP and ADS storage types must match the map's raw type. Fixed-capacity ASCII strings, byte/word order and exact scaling are additional map options with driver-specific restrictions; this first exercise uses a signed word with native/default ordering.

EtherNet/IP family setup

Choose the family shown on the lab controller. Create an independent INT variable or signed 16-bit integer-file element holding 10. Save it as point ID Setpoint, with engineering and raw type Int16. The workshop's one EtherNet/IP column can be exercised with each family in turn: create a separate saved connection for each available controller, then explicitly rebind [default]IndustrialWorkshop/EtherNetIP/Setpoint to the chosen connection's Setpoint. Review a new command after every rebind.

The direct PCCC profiles do not include DH+ bridges, serial DF1, I/O image, status files, timer/counter/control structures or their named fields. Micro800 does not accept a Program: prefix or numeric bit selector. String points are excluded from ControlLogix, CompactLogix and Micro800. Logix String map saves, reads and writes are rejected before device access until controller structure-schema qualification is implemented. The SDK's default 88-byte buffer and 82-character capacity describe its codec; they do not establish that an arbitrary controller structure contains the required length/data fields. Micro800 has a different unqualified layout. PCCC ST files retain their separate standard string codec. The official string attributes, Rockwell data-access manual and pinned family handling describe the underlying layout and type rules.

The following matrix describes raw storage types accepted by these source profiles. Engineering numeric types and scaling remain separate. All addresses must identify existing, permitted lab storage; a valid address shape does not allocate a controller file or prove a model/firmware supports it.

PCCC file prefixes are case-insensitive and canonicalized for the SDK; uppercase examples make the file kind clear. The source validator bounds file numbers to 0–255 and element numbers to 0–65535; actual allocated files can have smaller ranges. PCCC verifies the address-derived file kind and returned buffer width, rather than claiming remote symbolic type discovery. The pinned address parser, SLC/MicroLogix masks and string layout and PLC-5 masks substantiate that transport subset. Rockwell's SLC instruction reference describes the controller's actual file allocation and word/bit addressing.

For each available family, save the lab map, test the connection, use Browse saved map, quick-watch Setpoint, and bind the workshop tag. For Logix, native browsing is also available. Continue with the reviewed command exercise below only after the read returns Good and 10. For optional B-word/Boolean acceptance, reserve a separate lab word and check neighboring bits independently; the signed-word workshop does not establish bit-write acceptance.

Save the connection, browse its map, read Setpoint in quick watch and check Good quality and value 10. Add a device tag using the path in the table. The tag type must match the mapped point. View the live value in Gateway Tags before proceeding to a command.

When the same physical target is reached by different host names or IP aliases, configure the same Shared command domain on those connections. Commands serialize conservatively by physical host/domain, including aliases within a connection; distinct saved connection IDs do not establish independent physical storage.

Walkthrough and expected results

1. Publish the configured workshop and open its operator application with Commands permission. Each configured profile displays its current synthetic setpoint. A missing profile remains unavailable.
2. Review 25 in one profile, inspect the current/requested values and cancel. The lab variable remains 10.
3. Review again and confirm. The gateway consumes one review ticket, sends one typed write and performs fresh readback. A confirmed receipt and live value 25 show that the sampled register matches; they do not establish a completed physical action.
4. Try 101. The authored 0–100 bound rejects it before dispatch. Try an Operate-only account: it cannot review or execute the equipment command. Inspect the correlation reference in the audit.
5. Change the lab variable from another lab client after review, then confirm. The stale comparison is rejected. Disable and save the connection after a new review: that review is rejected and acquisition becomes unavailable.
6. Repeat the same connect/map/read/review/write exercise for each available protocol and EtherNet/IP family. Rebind the EtherNet/IP workshop tag explicitly between saved family connections. Record actual controller, firmware, gateway OS and dependency version beside the results; one protocol or family's passing result does not qualify another.
7. Stop a lab endpoint and observe bad communication quality. A lost write response yields uncertain; do not repeat that reviewed intent. A definitely accepted write with mismatched feedback yields notConfirmed. Inspect current lab state before issuing a separately reviewed command.
8. Remove or rebind the workshop device tags and any UDT members before deleting their connections. Saved references, including disabled tags, block deletion. Removing a project alone does not delete its gateway tags or connections.

No command is automatically retried on reconnect or queued for a later connection. Read-only input spaces and points whose writable flag is off are rejected. Integer scaling must be exact, bounded strings are not truncated, and unsafe browser integer values remain outside the scalar command scope.

Verification

src/SparkStudio.Gateway.Tests/DeviceGatewayChecks.cs owns a disposable loopback Modbus register server. Run dotnet run --project src/SparkStudio.Gateway.Tests -- --suite DeviceGatewayChecks using the workspace SDK. The suite verifies typed reads/writes, reviewed command authorization and read scopes, single-use/uncertain receipts, conservative alias serialization, enable/disable, runtime polling, reference-safe map changes and deletion, including unused UDT members. It uses synthetic temporary gateway data and never an installed gateway or physical controller.

The connector suite exercises protocol wire/codec and native-driver boundaries separately. The Logix fixtures reject both a synthetic standard-string layout and an incompatible same-size UDT without native reads, setters, dispatch or writes. Earlier positive String layout fixtures were codec-byte tests and did not qualify the controller schema. PCCC ST string fixtures remain part of that supported file profile. Authored family/address validation and loopback fixtures do not establish acceptance against an actual ControlLogix, CompactLogix, Micro800, MicroLogix, SLC 500, PLC-5, S7 or ADS device. Each remains a required deployment check. This workshop is setup-required and excluded from the portable package bundle; configuring a local lab does not change that distribution classification. Exact-installer, dependency and matching workshop evidence belongs in Verification and roadmap, following the release process.