MewtocolNet/README.md

MewtocolNet

An easy to use Mewtocol protocol library to interface with Panasonic PLCs over TCP/Serial.

⚠️ This library is not an official panasonic product nor does panasonic provide financial support or limitations in any form. This software was written by WOLF Medizintechnik GmbH (@WOmed/dev).

PLC Support

For a full list check this table

This library was only tested with a few PLCs, other types that support the Panasonic Mewtocol protocol might work. Use at your own risk, others might follow with community feedback

Features

Features that are not checked still need implementation

• Read out stats from your PLC
• Read and write registers in real time
• Dynamic register type casting from properties
• Change run / prog modes
• Write / read byte blocks in a whole chain
• Upload / Download programs to the PLC
• Reading / writing PLC system registers

Support

.NET Support

This library was written in netstandard2.0 and should be compatible with a lot of .NET environments.

For a full list of supported .NET clrs see this page

Installation

Use the dotnet CLI and run

dotnet add package Mewtocol.NET

Protocol description

Panasonic has published a protocol definition on their site. Refer to this site if you want to see the general functionality or add / report missing features.

This library is at the time not feature complete, but all essential features are provided

Examples

To see a full list of examples click here.

Connecting to a PLC

Connecting to a PLC is as simple as

using (var plc = Mewtocol.Ethernet("192.168.178.55").Build()) {

    await plc.ConnectAsync();
    if (!plc.IsConnected) {
        Console.WriteLine("Failed to connect to the plc...");
    } else {
        Console.WriteLine(plc.PlcInfo);
    }

}

Reading data registers / contacts

Detailed instructions

• Create a new class that inherits from RegisterCollection

public class TestRegisters : RegisterCollection {

    //corresponds to a R100 boolean register in the PLC
    [Register("R100")]
    public bool TestBool1 { get; private set; }

    //corresponds to a XD input of the PLC
    [Register("XD")]
    public bool TestBoolInputXD { get; private set; } 

    //corresponds to a DDT7012 - DDT7013 as a 32bit time value that gets parsed as a timespan (TIME)
    //the smallest value to communicate to the PLC is 10ms
    [Register("DDT7012")]
    public TimeSpan TestTime { get; private set; }  
    
    //corresponds to a DT1101 - DT1104 string register in the PLC with (STRING[4])
    [Register("DT1101", "STRING[4]")]
    public string TestString1 { get; private set; }

}

• Connect to the PLC and attach the register collection and logger
• attach an automatic poller by chaining .WithPoller() after the register attachment

TestRegisters registers = null;

//setting up a new PLC serial interface and tell it to use the register collection
var plc = Mewtocol.Serial("COM4", BaudRate._19200)
.WithPoller()
.WithRegisterCollections(c => {
    registers = c.AddCollection<TestRegisters>();
    // or use
    // c.AddCollection(new TestRegisters());
    // if you want to pass data to a constructor
})
.Build();

//connect to it
await plc.ConnectAsync(async () => {

    //restart the plc program during the connection process
    await plc.RestartProgramAsync();

});

//wait for the first data cycle of the poller module
//otherwise the property value might still be unset or null
await App.ViewModel.Plc.AwaitFirstDataCycleAsync();

if (App.ViewModel.Plc.IsConnected) {

    Console.WriteLine(registers.TestBool1);

}

• Your properties are getting automatically updated after the initial connection

Note! this is not your only option to read registers, see here

Reading & Writing

In addition to the automatic property binding you can use these patterns:

Reading & Writing by using the anonymous builder pattern

await plc.Register.Struct<short>("DT100").WriteAsync(100);

var value = await plc.Register.Struct<short>("DT100").ReadAsync();

Reading & Writing by using the direct reference from the builder pattern

IRegister<bool> outputContactReference;

var plc = Mewtocol.Ethernet("127.0.0.1")
.WithRegisters(b => {

    b.Bool("Y4").Build(out outputContactReference);

})
.Build();

await plc.ConnectAsync();

await outputContactReference.WriteAsync(true);