Read EthecatCycle time with PLC : Flatbuffer

[Fred74]

Hello, 

I need to read with PLC the Ethercat cycle time which has been conifgured.

The NodeValue is Flattbuffer and I don't understand How to read it with PLC.

The Node path is : fieldbuses/ethercat/master/instances/ethercatmaster/admin/distributed_clocks/config_info

Any advice would be helpFull

Thank You 

[CodeShepherd · Accepted solution]

Like any other flatbuffer it needs to be decoded after reading the value.

See how to for possible access: Comfortable data exchange of PLC and FlatBuffer variables using watchlist in Data Layer NRT

If you want to decode it on your own check for the data type used for this node:

ctrlX OS web UI - data alyer browser - ethercat config

This then can be found in the CXA_EtherCatMaster_fbs library that is including all flatbuffer access functions:

ctrlX PLC Engineering - CXA_EtherCatMaster_fbs - DCConfigInfo

As the data object has two leves, you first extract the "Response" and then the values out of it via the used type comm_ethercat_master_fbs_DcConfigInfoResponse.

See examples: 

• CXA_DataLayer how to read flatbuffer type? Is there an example?
• Read/Write DataLayer Structure for OPC UA Client from PLC