See also: I/O Components in the Xentara user manual

The PLC element as an I/O components is the main element of the Xentara S7 driver.

The target PLC variables can be configured as data items which are then exposed as Xentara skill data points in the Xentara model tree. The PLC element can also contain data blocks as a way to address the target S7 PLC variables located within its data blocks. Each data block can contain multiple data items to map the individual variables inside. The PLC element can also contain multiple structs to group data items together.

The PLC element must define one or more instances of an I/O transaction called command that groups multiple data items together and provides batch read/write operations.

Accessing PLC Elements

See also: Accessing Xentara Elements in the Xentara user manual

S7 PLC elements have the following members:

Attributes

key	The PLC’s primary key.
name	The PLC’s name. The name is the last component of the primary key.
UUID	The unique UUID of the PLC.
type	The PLC’s element type. For S7 PLCs, this is always “S7 compatible PLC”.
category	The PLC’s category. For S7 PLCs, this is always “device”.
deviceState	The PLC’s state as a boolean showing the connection state of the PLC.
connectionTime	The PLC’s connection time.
error	The PLC’s connection error if any.

Tasks

reconnect Attempts to reestablish the connection to the PLC if it is down.