com.tom web-plc getting started web-plc software should run on any up-to-date web-browser on any pc...

com.tom WEB-PLC Getting Started V2.1

Copyright © 2017 Beck IPC GmbH of 25

com.tom WEB-PLC Getting Started



TABLE OF CONTENTS

1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................. 3

2 SCOPE ................................................................................................................. 3

3 SYSTEM START-UP ............................................................................................ 3

3.1 WHAT DO WE NEED TO GET STARTED? .................................................................................. 3

3.2 STEP 1 – CABLE THE DEVICE ................................................................................................ 3

3.3 STEP 2 – ACCESS THE DEVICE .............................................................................................. 4

3.4 STEP 3 – ENTER A DIAGRAM ................................................................................................. 6

3.5 STEP 4 – RUN THE DIAGRAM ................................................................................................. 9

3.6 STEP 5 – SET UP PORTAL COMMUNICATION ........................................................................... 9

3.7 STEP 6 – USE THE PORTAL’S WEB INTERFACE ...................................................................... 12

4 FURTHER FUNCTIONS..................................................................................... 15

4.1 USING I/OS ........................................................................................................................ 15

4.2 CELLULAR MODEM CONFIGURATION ..................................................................................... 16

4.3 SENDING AND RECEIVING SHORT MESSAGES (SMS) ............................................................. 18

4.4 ESTABLISHING AN OPENVPN CONNECTION ......................................................................... 21

5 WHERE TO GET FURTHER INFORMATION .................................................... 24

5.1 GETTING STARTED ............................................................................................................. 24

5.2 WEB-PLC HELP SYSTEM ................................................................................................... 24

5.3 UPDATES, TOOLS, DOCUMENTATION .................................................................................... 24

5.4 SUPPORT ........................................................................................................................... 24



1 Introduction This document will help you get started with WEB-PLC. The WEB-PLC is a simple PLC (Programmable Logic Controller) software with a web-browser-based programming interface. It runs on several variants of com.tom devices. WEB-PLC’s visual programming editor lets you edit function diagrams similar to the well known CFCs (Continuous Function Charts). Several function blocks can be used to connect the inputs/outputs of the com.tom device as well as special variables which are mapped to the com.tom PORTAL.

2 Scope Currently the WEB-PLC software is known to run on the following devices:

com.tom BASIC com.tom M-BUS com.tom RADIO com.tom RADIO-UMTS com.tom HOME com.tom INDUSTRY

3 System start-up

3.1 What do we need to get started? The following components are included within the com.tom Starter Kits:

com.tom device running the WEB-PLC software Power supply unit Ethernet cable I/O simulator (Only for devices with local I/Os)

The following is needed on your local computer: Ethernet network interface Microsoft Windows XP/Vista/7/8/10 Internet connection Web-browser:

o Mozilla Firefox (recommended) o Google Chrome o Microsoft Internet Explorer 8 or later (version 10 or later recommended) o Microsoft Edge o Apple Safari

com.tom-IP-Tool (can be downloaded at https://www.com-tom.de/download)

The WEB-PLC software should run on any up-to-date web-browser on any PC operating system. However to determine/configure your device’s IP address, the com.tom-IP-Tool is needed, which only runs on Windows.

3.2 Step 1 – Cable the device Use an Ethernet cable to connect the com.tom device to your PC. If you have an existing network infrastructure, use a patch cable to connect the com.tom to your hub or switch. If not, use a crossover cable to directly connect the com.tom’s Ethernet jack to your PC’s Ethernet jack. With com.tom INDUSTRY devices and com.tom HOME devices crossover cables are no longer required.



Now connect the power supply unit to the com.tom’s power supply jack to power the device. If your kit includes an I/O simulator, first connect it to the I/Os and to the com.tom’s power supply jack. Then connect the power supply unit to the I/O simulator.

3.3 Step 2 – Access the device To be able to access the com.tom’s local website, the device must have a valid IP address and we have to know it. Therefore we will use the com.tom-IP-Tool. If you have not yet downloaded and installed this tool, please do so now. It can be found at https://www.com-tom.de/download. When you start the com.tom-IP-Tool it will scan for com.tom devices on the local network. The MAC IDs of the devices will be displayed in a list. Select the MAC ID of your device from the list. The MAC ID can be found on the label on the device’s housing.

You’ll now be shown the current IP configuration of the device. By default the device will try to get an IP address from a DHCP server at start. If this does not work, an auto IP will be activated. Check if the current settings match the needs of your network. If you are in doubt, ask you network administrator.



If the configuration does not match, you may change it. Uncheck the Use DHCP checkbox. Change the addresses as required and finally click the Configure button. The IP-Tool will ask for a password. By default this password is com.tom. Wait for the confirmation “Configuration completed”.

If you’re running a firewall, make sure that it does not block any network functions of the com.tom-IP-Tool.

Now enter the device’s IP address into your web-browser’s address bar. An intro page will be shown shortly and then you will be forwarded to the WEB-PLC’s home page.

The home page provides an overview of the device’s status. Besides the current values of the I/Os it shows information on the device hardware and software and on special components such as the cellular modem or OpenVPN.

Use the Editor icon to go to the WEB-PLC editor. The website will request a username and password. Both are “com.tom” by default.



Now the WEB-PLC editor page will be shown.

3.4 Step 3 – Enter a diagram Now let us enter our first diagram with the WEB-PLC editor. We will create a simple counter. At first we need to add some elements to the empty diagram.

Use the Add unit icon to add a timer and a counter unit.

Add variable 0 as output via the Add variable icon.

At last click on the Add constant icon to add a constant. In the appearing dialog enter the value 5000 and press OK.



You can drag the elements on the diagram. Rearrange them so that they do not overlap. Now the diagram should look like this:

Next we will connect the elements. To create a connector between two ports press the left mouse button while the cursor is over one of the ports:

... drag the appearing black line over another port ...

... and release the mouse button.



Use this method to connect the following ports: The port of the constant with the Int (interval) port of the timer unit The Clk (clock) port of the timer unit with the Clk port of the counter unit The Val (value) port of the counter unit with the port of the variable

The timer unit has an enable port (En), which must be unequal 0 to enable clock output. To achieve this, simply double-click on this port to negate it.

Now the timer unit will generate a clock signal with an interval of 5000 ms. The rising edge of the clock signal will trigger the counter unit to increment its value. Eventually the value will be stored into the variable.

Press the Save diagram icon to store the diagram on the device.



Note that the traffic light in the toolbar has changed from red to amber. The device’s status LED which indicates diagram execution (Please refer to the enclosed device start-up guide) has been switched on.

3.5 Step 4 – Run the diagram The diagram is now stored on the com.tom device but not yet being executed.

To start execution, press the Start icon. The traffic light in the toolbar changes to green and the status LED indicating diagram execution starts to blink. The diagram is now being processed and the counter value should be incrementing. But we don’t see it. However there is a way to visualise the current status of the diagram in the editor. The function we need for this is called Life View.

Press the Start Life View icon. Now the value of each output port will be displayed next to the port. You can see that the value of the counter unit’s Val port increments every 5 seconds.

3.6 Step 5 – Set up portal communication Of course we want to see the counter value on the com.tom PORTAL.

Press the Settings icon to go to the settings page.



On the settings page there are several tabs on which you can adjust various configurations. On the Portal tab we have to configure the access data for the com.tom PORTAL. You have received these data when you registered the device with the com.tom PORTAL. If you have not yet registered the device, please do so first1. Timeout field determines how long the portal communication module will wait for replies from the portal before the connection is considered broken. The keep-alive interval determines the maximum number of seconds with no payload data traffic before the keep-alive handshake will be carried out. The required interval depends on your network infrastructure. A value of 0 disables the keep-alive mechanism. Keep-alive timeout is the number of seconds the peers wait for each other's keep-alive messages before the connection is considered broken. After entering the data, press the OK button to store your changes on the device.

It is assumed that the com.tom device has access to an existing internet connection via its Ethernet interface. If this is not true, please refer to section 4.2 on how to configure the cellular modem.

Besides the intrinsic internet connection the com.tom device needs a DNS server to resolve domain names like demo.com-tom.io into IP addresses. It is common practice to distribute the address of the DNS server via DHCP. However, if your DHCP server does not distribute a DNS server address or if you have manually set the device’s IP configuration, you will have to configure the DNS server address by hand.

1 Refer to the Getting Started documentation com.tom PORTAL Manual.



To do so switch to the Network tab. Here you can configure network settings like the DNS server address. You can also configure a proxy server. Proxy servers are typically used in company networks to filter network traffic.

If you are in doubt regarding the settings on this tab, please ask your network administrator.

Press the OK button to store your changes.

Then press the Reboot icon to restart your com.tom device in order to apply your changes. After some time the device’s Portal LED will light up indicating communication

with the com.tom PORTAL.



3.7 Step 6 – Use the portal’s web interface Navigate your internet browser to the web interface of your com.tom PORTAL project. Log in to the portal with the user name and password that have been defined when creating the portal project2.

You will now see an overview of all devices registered with this project. Click on the identification of your current device to see its contents.

2 Refer to the Getting Started documentation com.tom PORTAL Manual.



There are several groups of values for this device. Open the variables group to see the variables. Now you can see that variable 0 holds the value of the counter from our diagram.

Hover over the button with the three horizontal lines and click on Config to switch to the Configuration view.



Navigate to the variables section and click on the button Edit next to variable 0. This opens a view where you can edit several properties of portalvar00.

Note that the portal node’s settings not only influence the speed of the portal updates, but also the amount of data traffic produced by the portal communication. Especially if you are working over a mobile connection, you should carefully check the settings of all nodes.



4 Further functions In this chapter you will get to know more functions of the WEB-PLC software.

4.1 Using I/Os Now we want to use the device’s I/Os. As an example we will use the local digital I/Os that are available for example on the com.tom INDUSTRY 100.DIO8.W.

If your com.tom device does not feature any local I/Os, you can also use I/Os that are being accessed via a bus system like M-Bus or Modbus. Note that you will have to configure the bus system via the settings page first. This configuration is not covered within the scope of this document, please see the device’s online help.

Go back to the WEB-PLC editor and apply the following changes to the diagram:

Use the Add local I/O icon to add input 0 and output 0 to the diagram. Connect the port of input 0 with the enable port (En) of the timer unit and the port of output 0 with the clock port (Clk) of the timer unit. Undo the negation of the timer unit’s enable port by double-clicking it. The diagram should now look like this:

Click the Save diagram icon to store the diagram on the com.tom device. Now the timer unit will only generate a clock signal when input 0 is on. The clock signal will no longer only be passed to the counter unit, but it will also be put out on output 0. Use the Life



View function or the portal’s web interface to check that the counter value only increases if input 0 is on.

The Starter Kits for com.tom devices with digital I/Os include an I/O emulator which can be used to stimulate the inputs and visualise the outputs.

4.2 Cellular modem configuration In this section the configuration of the cellular modem will be described. Of course this description only applies if your com.tom device features a cellular modem. If not you can skip this section. Remove the power supply. Insert your SIM card into the SIM card slot that is located at the back side of the com.tom device. Push the card until it locks. Attach the power supply again.



Go to the settings page and open the Cellular Modem tab. Check the Enable cellular modem checkbox. If your SIM card requires a PIN, enter it in the SIM PIN field. Enter your mobile phone provider’s Access Point Name in the APN field. If the APN requires authentication, enter the appropriate values, too. For a description of all other options please refer to the online help system. They are not needed for initial start-up.

Press the OK button to store your changes, then reboot your com.tom device to apply your changes. After some seconds first the com.tom’s Modem LED will light up indicating that the cellular modem connection has been established. Then after some time the Portal LED should light up indicating that the portal connection has been established via the modem. Portal communication will be performed via the modem connection from now on.



4.3 Sending and receiving short messages (SMS) The WEB-PLC is able to send and receive short messages if run on com.tom devices that feature a cellular modem. To use this functionality, you first have to configure the messages on the settings page’s Messages tab.

Click on the Add button below the empty Send messages list in order to define a message that the WEB-PLC should send. A dialog will show up. First enter the recipient of the message, i.e. the phone number. Then define the text of the message.



You may add special tags that will be replaced with the value of an input, output or portal variable before the message will actually be sent. Use the Add variable reference and Add I/O reference buttons to insert such a tag into your message. For our example we will add the value of variable 0 which holds the counter value. Press the dialog’s OK button to add the message to the list. Now press the Add button below the Receive messages list. This will open a similar dialog via which you can define a message that the WEB-PLC should receive. You have to define the sender of the message (i.e. the phone number) and the expected message text. Receive messages also may contain references, but only for variables. The received message must contain a number or string at the position of the reference. This value will be assigned to the corresponding variable.

For our example we will define a message that sets variable 1 and thus can change the limit of our counter. Press the dialog’s OK button to add the message to the list.

Save the message settings by pressing the OK button and then reboot your com.tom device in order to apply the new settings.



Go back to the WEB-PLC editor and add a Send Message 0 unit as well as a Receive Message 0 unit to the diagram. The Send Message 0 unit will send the first configured message when its send trigger input port (Snd) is high. The Receive Message 0 unit will put out a short high signal on is output port when the first configured message has been received. (At this point the message has been parsed and included variable values have been applied.) If you connect these two ports, the send message will be transmitted whenever the receive message has been processed.

Save and start the diagram. Now if you send a message with the text “Set limit to 20!” to the com.tom device, the value of variable 1 will be set and the counter will be reset after reaching twenty. Additionally the message “Counter value: x” will be send to your phone number, where x is the current counter value.



4.4 Establishing an OpenVPN connection In this section an example of one of the further possibilities that the WEB-PLC offers will be discussed, how to establish an OpenVPN connection. Before demonstrating this example, please ensure that an SD card is inserted in the device, as well as that the necessary configuration and certificate files given by the OpenVPN provider are available. On the Settings tab, click on Network -> OpenVPN to configure the connection:

Click on “Type of file”, select the type of file:



Next step is to click on Choose File box, go the folder containing the respective file and click on Open. Finally, click on Start Upload:

After uploading all files necessary for the connection, the OpenVPN configuration file needs to be filled in:



Final step is to click on the OK button, after which the message confirming that settings have been successfully stored is visible on the top of the tab:

After our device is rebooted, we navigate to the home page, where clicking on OpenVPN section shows the current connection status and the virtual IP address of the device:



5 Where to get further information

5.1 Getting Started All software referred to in this document can be downloaded from the Getting Started website at https://www.com-tom.de/start.

5.2 WEB-PLC help system The WEB-PLC features a help system, which you can open by clicking on the help icon. The help system provides more detailed information on the editor, the settings and the various I/O bus systems.

5.3 Updates, tools, documentation Regularly check out the com.tom website at https://www.com-tom.de for

Firmware updates

Useful tools

Further documentation

5.4 Support If you need support please…

1. Check our support website at https://www.beck-ipc.com/en/support. 2. Contact our technical support via email at [email protected]. Of course you may also

contact us by phone



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