TwinSharp.Core 1.2.0

TwinSharp

TwinSharp is a free open source library for .NET that makes it easy to represent and control TwinCAT objects in C#. It communicates with ADS to a TwinCAT XAR system running locally or on a remote target.

TwinSharp connects to all TwinCAT 3 systems and does not require any special adaptation or PLC code running on the targeted system.

For example TwinSharp can be used to connect to a remote TwinCAT axis and read its status and settings. Here's a custom user control built using TwinSharp. It mimics the "Axis online" view from TwinCAT but does not require TwinCAT XAE to be installed.

Here's a list of some major components that can be viewed, altered and controlled with TwinSharp. For a full list, please refer to the documentation or ask 😃

EtherCAT

• List all EtherCAT masters that exists in a local or remote system.
• Get information about all configured EtherCAT slaves.
• Get information about all connected EtherCAT slaves.
• Get information about the topology of the network.
• Read abnormal state change count of slaves.
• CoE read and write to masters and slaves.

To find all EtherCAT masters on a target system, first create a TcSystem and then ues the method ListEtherCatMasters().

var target = AmsNetId.Local;
var tcSystem = new TcSystem(target);
var masters = tcSystem.ListEtherCatMasters();

Realtime system

• Read and set the number of shared/isolated cores.
• Read the CPU usage.
• Read the TwinCAT system CPU latency.

To create a TwinSharp representation of the realtime system, first create a TcSystem object. Then the real time object can be found there.

var target = AmsNetId.Local;
var tcSystem = new TcSystem(target);
var realtime = tcSystem.Realtime;

PLC

• Start, stop and reset a PLC on the local or remote TwinCAT system.
• Read the number of "online changes" in the PLC.
• Read if Windows is in a BSOD.
• Read if Windows on the TwinCAT system is shutting down.
• Read the timestamp of when the PLC was compiled.
• Control if outputs should be zeroed when a breakpoint is hit in the PLC.

Create a representation of a TwinCAT PLC like this:

var plcClient = new AdsClient();
plcClient.Connect(AmsPort.PlcRuntime_851);
var plc = new PLC(plcClient);

NC Motion

• View all available axes on a TwinCAT system.
• Command motion to axes.
• Couple axes.
• Change axis encoder scaling, on the fly.
• Set current position.
• Enable or disable axis monitoring functions.
• View and change axis settings including those of the encoder and drive.
• Control axis channels and axis groups.
• Control, modify and delete NC tables.

Create an NC object that contains all axes, channels, groups and tables on a target like this:

var target = AmsNetId.Local;
var nc = new NC(target);

IPC

The IPC class describes a Beckhoff Industrial PC.

• Read temperatures of CPU and main board.
• Read the boot count and current uptime.
• Read BIOS version.
• Read fan speed RPM.
• Control Network cards, IP adresses, DHCP etc.
• Read status of connected UPS, such as battery capacity, power fail count, fan error etc.
• Read version of installed TwinCAT version and operating system version.
• Control screen brightness of connected Beckhoff screens.
• Disable/enable the Beckhoff security wizard.
• Control current time and timezone of the TwinCAT system.

To create a TwinSharp representation of a local IPC do like this:

var target = AmsNetId.Local;
var ipc = new IPC(target);

File system

• Create, delete, rename, view or write files and folders on a TwinCAT system.
• Search for files.
• View file properties and attributes.

To create a file system object, first create a TcSystem object. Then the file system object can be found there.

var target = AmsNetId.Local;
var tcSystem = new TcSystem(target);
var fileSystem = tcSystem.FileSystem;

License system

• Get a list of valid licenses that exists on a remote or local target.
• Get a list of invalid licenses.

To get the License object which provides access to the TwinCAT system's license information, you first create a TcSystem with your desired AmsNetId.

var target = AmsNetId.Local; 
var tcSystem = new TcSystem(target);
var licenseSystem = tcSystem.License;

Various

TwinSharp can list all AMS routes that exists on the local system. It is a static method in the TcSystem class.

AmsRoute[] routes = TcSystem.ListLocalStaticRoutes();

Installation

Clone/download this project and build with Visual Studio. Or get the NuGet package: https://www.nuget.org/packages/TwinSharp.Core

Additional info

Development has been focused on TwinCAT 3 systems.

Useful resources have been:

• InfoSys Spec of the NC.
• InfoSys IPC Information Model
• ADS Monitor for anything not found in official documentation.

This project is not affiliated or endorsed with Beckhoff in any way. I'm simply a guy who love all stuff Beckhoff/EtherCAT and try to make it available to as many as possible.

Beckhoff®, TwinCAT®, TwinCAT/BSD®, TC/BSD®, EtherCAT®, EtherCAT G®, EtherCAT G10®, EtherCAT P®, Safety over EtherCAT®, TwinSAFE®, XFC®, XTS® and XPlanar® are registered trademarks of and licensed by Beckhoff Automation GmbH.

License

TwinSharp is provided under the permissive MIT license and is free to modify and use for any purpose.