I am generating points along a curve with another program. I am using the OPC UA Connectivity addon to try and read in those arrays to VC. I don’t see any Signal Behavior with data type array. Matrix is locked to size 4x4. I see List mentioned in the documentation, but I don’t see it as a signal behavior I can add to my robot.
So, is there any way to get an array on an OPC UA server into VC? I would like to iterate through the XYZ points with robot helper motion commands. I could recreate the points in Python, but they will change continuously using the other software interface.
No, only single values, including individual fields of arrays on the server, can be paired.
There is also no real guarantee that all the variable pairs would get values from the same instant of time, as even cyclic reads may get split into multiple requests to the server, or by the server if necessary.
If you need to send such data then usually a solution is to concatenate it into a string on the PLC and pair that to a string property or signal on VC side. Then have a Python script parse the values from the string in VC.
This can usually yield a lot better bandwidth too, as it is a lot more efficient to read one long string vs. e.g. 1000 individual values from the server.
Thanks for the response. I probably shouldn’t have said the values will change “continuously”. More like periodically. I will try again with a string signal this morning. Thanks!