Skip to content
View as markdown Ask ChatGPT Ask Claude

How to: Configure Each Machine from MES#

One Automation Controller can run on several machines that differ only in their connection values, such as an address, a folder, or a port. Each machine gets its own controller instance, and every instance runs the same workflows. Keep what differs in MES, per entity, and let the Setup workflow read it before the driver connects:

  1. Driver Event with the Event OnInitialize - the controller has reached the driver.
  2. Entity Instance - the entity of this instance.
  3. Resolve Table - the row of that entity in a Smart Table.
  4. Equipment Configuration - the values of the row, linked into the protocol parameters.
  5. Driver Command with the Command Connect.

OnInitialize is the right moment: nothing has contacted the equipment yet, Entity Instance and Resolve Table talk only to MES, and Driver Command refuses to connect a driver that Equipment Configuration has not configured.

Info

For the generated Setup page, see Create the Setup Workflow. For instances and their names, see Connect IoT Runbook.

Before You Start#

  • You have a controller with a Setup page and one driver, such as the OPC UA controller of Connect IoT - Basic Configuration Tutorial. The examples use its protocol parameter address.
  • Each machine is an entity of the entity type of the controller, such as the Resources Oven-01 and Oven-02. An entity takes one active controller instance only.
  • The driver definitions of the controller have the same entity type as the controller. A driver instance takes the entity type of its Automation Driver Definition.

Sequence of Steps#

Step 1: Store the Values of Each Machine in MES#

Create a Smart Table, such as MachineConnection, and add one row per machine. See Smart Tables.

Property Role Example value
Resource Key, a Resource Oven-01
ResourceType Key Oven
Address Value, String opc.tcp://oven-01:48010

Table 1: Smart Table with the address of each machine

Order the precedence keys Resource first and ResourceType second. The row of a resource wins, and a row for its resource type stands in for a resource that has no row of its own.

You can keep the values elsewhere:

  • An attribute of the entity - select it on the Attributes tab of Entity Instance. Each selected attribute is an output with the name of the attribute. Skip Step 3, and link that output in Step 4.
  • A configuration entry per entity, such as /Custom/ConnectIoT/OPC-UA/Oven-01/Address - use Get Configurations in Step 3.

Step 2: Read the Entity of the Instance#

On the Setup page, remove the link from Success of Driver Event to Activate of Equipment Configuration. Add an Entity Instance task, rename its block to machine, and link Success of Driver Event to its Activate.

The task emits the entity of the controller instance on instance, and then Success. An Entity Instance task bound to a driver emits the entity of that driver instance instead, which the Connect wizard asks for separately. Bind it only when the driver instance entity holds the values. See Entity Instance.

Step 3: Look Up the Row of the Machine#

Add a Resolve Table task, rename its block to lookup, and set Table Type to SmartTable and Table to MachineConnection. Use the key Resource as input and the column Address as output.

From To
machine - instance, through the converter Any To Any lookup - Resource
machine - Success lookup - Activate

Table 2: Links into Resolve Table

When you select the table, the task creates one input for each key column and one output for each column of the table.

The task sends an entity key as its Name, and asks MES for the row. It reads each key on the port <key>In and emits each column on <column>Out. In Control Flow, write the key row ResourceIn as {{ $machine.instance }}, and read the column as {{ $lookup.AddressOut }}. See Resolve Table.

To read a configuration entry instead, add a Get Configurations task with an input resourceName and an output Address of type String with the path /Custom/ConnectIoT/OPC-UA/${resourceName}/Address. In Data Flow, link instance to resourceName through the converters Any To Any and Get Object Property, with the path Name and the type String. In Control Flow, write the row as {{ $machine.instance.Name }}. When the entry does not exist, the output emits its default value and the task logs a warning. See Get Configurations.

Equipment Configuration has one input per communication parameter of the protocol, named after the parameter. Link Address of lookup to address, and Success of lookup to Activate. In Control Flow, set the address row to {{ $lookup.AddressOut }}. Keep the link from Success of Equipment Configuration to Activate of Driver Command Connect.

Leave Address empty on the Communication Parameters tab. A linked value replaces the value of the tab, and every parameter that you do not link keeps its value from the tab. Data Flow sends those values as text: an Integer parameter stored as 100 reaches the driver as "100". Control Flow converts each value to the data type of its parameter and does not send an empty value. A linked value keeps the type of its source in both designers.

Setup page reading the address from MES

Step 5: Connect an Instance per Machine#

Connect the controller to each machine, as in How to Create a Controller Instance: one instance per Resource, such as Oven-01 and Oven-02, each with the Automation Manager that reaches the machine. Every instance runs the same Setup workflow and reads its own row.

Validate the Result#

  1. On the Connect IoT page, the driver instance of each machine reaches Communicating.
  2. In the controller log of each instance, Configuring the equipment connected using driver '<driver>' instance comes before Sending a 'Connect' command to the driver '<driver>' instance.

Add a Machine#

Add a row to the table, or give the new entity its attribute or configuration entry, and connect the controller to the new entity. The workflow does not change.

Change the Values of a Machine#

The table is read only when the Setup workflow runs, that is, when the driver initializes. A driver that is already Communicating keeps its parameters: Equipment Configuration emits Success without sending the new values. After you change a row, an attribute, a configuration entry, or the Setup workflow, restart each instance that it concerns. See Connect IoT Runbook.

Troubleshooting#

Symptom Cause Fix
Entity Instance fails with EntityInstance was not yet notified about the entity it will represent., and the chain stops. The task was activated before the controller received the entity of its instance. Activate the task from Driver Event OnInitialize. In Data Flow, link its Error output so that a failure is seen.
Equipment Configuration fails with Connection with driver instance was not yet established. The task was activated before the driver became available, or by a trigger of another driver. Activate the chain from Driver Event OnInitialize bound to the same driver.
The driver receives an empty list as address. No row matches the entity, and there is no row for its resource type. Resolve Table emits [] on each column output and Success. Add a row for the machine or for its type.
A file driver fails new files with ENOENT. Two file drivers on the same host watch the same folder and race for each file. Give each machine its own folder in its row.

Table 3: Troubleshooting the setup from MES