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PLCnext Technology Apps  

PLCnext Technology Apps   A PLCnext Technology App (in the following also called “app” for short) is a collection of functionalities bundled into one large file that can be understood and executed by the PLCnext Technology Runtime System. Each app may contain multiple different parts, that provide functionalities to the system in their own… Read More

PLCnext Technology Software Development Kit 

PLCnext Technology Software Development Kit  Phoenix Contact recommends developing libraries and executable binaries for the different app parts on a separate PC, and not directly on the controller. For the development on a separate PC you need a tool chain consisting of an SDK and a cross compiler. One possible tool chain can… Read More

Folders and PLCnext Technology environment variables

Folders and PLCnext Technology environment variables The following table lists environment variables on the controller, representing directories that are required for app administration. The values of these environment variables are set to the defaults shown below, using information in the file /etc/plcnext/Device.acf.settings. These default values do not need to be… Read More

App installation states

App installation states PLCnext Technology Apps must be installed and uninstalled using either the PLCnext Store or the web-based management (WBM) hosted on the controller. In the background, both the PLCnext Store and the WBM interact with the AppManager on the controller to handle the app installation and run states. A PLCnext Technology App… Read More

App container 

App container  A PLCnext Technology App is stored in a SquashFS container (see Squash FS on Wikipedia). A SquashFS container stores a folder and file structure in a single compressed file. The SquashFS containers of all installed and started apps are mounted by the AppManager in the Linux file system… Read More

License check 

License check  In case of a chargeable app a license check should be integrated into the app. For this purpose the RSC service Arp::System::Lm::Services::ILicenseStatusService::GetLicenseStatus(uint32 firmCode, uint32 productCode, uint32 featureCode=0) is available. See the RSC documentation reference  in the main PLCnext Technology Info Center. This function is integrated in… Read More

Building a PLCnext Technology App

Building a PLCnext Technology App Independent of the amount and types of your app parts the general way to build the app is always identical. The necessary changes you need to include for every app part will be detailed below the general build process. The description of each app… Read More

Alternative creation of an app container on a Linux desktop PC 

Alternative creation of an app container on a Linux desktop PC  In some cases the command plcnextapp cannot be used for generating the app container, e.g. because this creation step should be integrated into a build process which cannot access a PLCnext Control. In this case the SquashFS of the app… Read More

Diagnostic log files 

Diagnostic log files  All status and error information related to app management are saved in the following two log files: /opt/plcnext/logs/Output.log: All status and error messages of thePLCnext Technology firmware, including those of the app management components /opt/plcnext/logs/plcnextapps.log: status and error messages of the plcnextapp command line tool… Read More

Creation of an app container 

Creation of an app container  The Linux command plcnextapp is available under /usr/bin and is used to create an app container. The following parameters are supported: create e.g.: plcnextapp create /opt/plcnext/myapp My App example e.g.: plcnextapp example “create”: Creates a… Read More