lmxopcua/docs/Driver.AbCip.Cli.md

otopcua-abcip-cli — AB CIP test client

Ad-hoc probe / read / write / subscribe tool for ControlLogix / CompactLogix / Micro800 / GuardLogix PLCs, talking to the same AbCipDriver the OtOpcUa server uses (libplctag under the hood).

Second of four driver test-client CLIs (Modbus → AB CIP → AB Legacy → S7 → TwinCAT). Shares Driver.Cli.Common with the others.

Build + run

dotnet run --project src/ZB.MOM.WW.OtOpcUa.Driver.AbCip.Cli -- --help

Common flags

Flag	Default	Purpose
-g / --gateway	required	Canonical ab://host[:port]/cip-path
-f / --family	ControlLogix	ControlLogix / CompactLogix / Micro800 / GuardLogix
--timeout-ms	5000	Per-operation timeout
--addressing-mode	Auto	Auto / Symbolic / Logical — see AbCip-Performance §Addressing mode. Logical against Micro800 silently falls back to Symbolic with a warning.
--partner	(unset)	PR abcip-5.1 — partner gateway URI for a ControlLogix HSBY pair (e.g. ab://10.0.0.6/1,0). When set, the driver runs a second role-probe loop against the partner and the hsby-status command can surface which chassis is currently Active. See AbCip-HSBY.md for the full guide.
--verbose	off	Serilog debug output

Family ↔ CIP-path cheat sheet:

• ControlLogix / CompactLogix / GuardLogix — 1,0 (slot 0 of chassis)
• Micro800 — empty path, just ab://host/
• Sub-slot Logix (rare) — 1,3 for slot 3

Commands

probe — is the PLC up?

# ControlLogix — read the canonical libplctag system tag
otopcua-abcip-cli probe -g ab://10.0.0.5/1,0 -t @raw_cpu_type --type DInt

# Micro800 — point at a user-supplied global
otopcua-abcip-cli probe -g ab://10.0.0.6/ -f Micro800 -t _SYSVA_CLOCK_HOUR --type DInt

read — single Logix tag

# Controller scope
otopcua-abcip-cli read -g ab://10.0.0.5/1,0 -t Motor01_Speed --type Real

# Program scope
otopcua-abcip-cli read -g ab://10.0.0.5/1,0 -t "Program:Main.Counter" --type DInt

# Array element
otopcua-abcip-cli read -g ab://10.0.0.5/1,0 -t "Recipe[3]" --type Real

# UDT member (dotted path)
otopcua-abcip-cli read -g ab://10.0.0.5/1,0 -t "Motor01.Speed" --type Real

Diagnostic / system tags

PR abcip-4.3 exposes five read-only diagnostic variables per device under AbCip/<device>/_System/ in the OPC UA address space (see AbCip-Operability §System tags for the full table). These are not reachable through the AB CIP CLI — they live on the OPC UA server side, not the libplctag wire — so to read one, point the OPC UA client CLI at the running OtOpcUa server:

# Read _ConnectionStatus for one device through the OPC UA server
otopcua-client-cli read -u opc.tcp://localhost:4840 \
    -n "ns=2;s=AbCip/ab://10.0.0.5/1,0/_System/_ConnectionStatus"

write — single Logix tag

Same shape as read plus -v. Values parse per --type using invariant culture. Booleans accept true/false/1/0/yes/no/on/off. Structure (UDT) writes need the member layout declared in a real driver config and are refused by the CLI.

otopcua-abcip-cli write -g ab://10.0.0.5/1,0 -t Motor01_Speed --type Real -v 3.14
otopcua-abcip-cli write -g ab://10.0.0.5/1,0 -t StartCommand --type Bool -v true

subscribe — watch a tag until Ctrl+C

otopcua-abcip-cli subscribe -g ab://10.0.0.5/1,0 -t Motor01_Speed --type Real -i 500

hsby-status — which chassis is Active now?

PR abcip-5.1 — read the role tag (WallClockTime.SyncStatus by default, S:34 for legacy SLC500 / PLC-5 fronts) on a ControlLogix HSBY pair and print which chassis is currently Active. Requires --partner.

otopcua-abcip-cli hsby-status -g ab://10.0.0.5/1,0 --partner ab://10.0.0.6/1,0

# Custom role tag (legacy fronts) and more samples
otopcua-abcip-cli hsby-status -g ab://10.0.0.5/1,0 --partner ab://10.0.0.6/1,0 \
    --role-tag S:34 --samples 5

Flag	Default	Purpose
--role-tag	WallClockTime.SyncStatus	Address of the role tag. Use S:34 for SLC500 / PLC-5.
--samples	3	Number of role-probe ticks to wait for before printing.

The output prints the resolved roles + the address of whichever chassis the driver currently considers Active. PR abcip-5.1 only reports the role — PR abcip-5.2 will land the routing change so reads / writes flow to the Active chassis automatically.

See AbCip-HSBY.md for the role-tag detection matrix

• active-resolution rules + the feature-flag gate.

rebrowse — force a controller-side @tags re-walk

PR abcip-2.5 (issue #233) added RebrowseAsync to drop the cached UDT template shapes and re-run the symbol-table enumerator without restarting the driver. The CLI variant builds a transient driver against the supplied gateway, runs the rebrowse, and prints the freshly discovered tag names — useful after a controller program-download to confirm the new tags are visible on the wire before wiring them through the OtOpcUa server.

otopcua-abcip-cli rebrowse -g ab://10.0.0.5/1,0

Refreshing the tag DB

Two operator-facing surfaces drive the same RebrowseAsync plumbing — pick the one that matches your context:

Surface	When to use	Command
CLI rebrowse	Off-server validation. Spins up a transient driver against the gateway, prints the discovered tag list, no shared state with the live OtOpcUa server.	otopcua-abcip-cli rebrowse -g ab://10.0.0.5/1,0
OPC UA write to _RefreshTagDb	Production / Admin-UI button (PR abcip-4.4). Forces the live driver to re-walk + clear its template cache. The AbCip.RefreshTriggers driver-diagnostics counter increments per truthy write.	otopcua-client-cli write -u opc.tcp://localhost:4840 -n "ns=2;s=AbCip/ab://10.0.0.5/1,0/_System/_RefreshTagDb" -v true --type Boolean

Read-back semantics: _RefreshTagDb always reads back as false (Kepware- style "latches to idle the moment the dispatch returns") so a subscribed client sees a stable shape regardless of how many refreshes have fired. Falsy / unparseable writes are no-ops that still report Good so a UI template that resets the trigger flag after firing it doesn't see a phantom error. See AbCip-Operability §System tags for the full semantics + the diagnostics counter wiring.

Typical workflows

• "Is the PLC reachable?" → probe.
• "Did my recipe write land?" → write + read back.
• "Why is tag X flipping?" → subscribe.
• "Is this GuardLogix safety tag writable from non-safety?" → write and read the status code — safety tags surface BadNotWritable / CIP errors, non-safety tags surface Good.
• "Did my program download show up in the address space?" → rebrowse (off-server) or write true to the live server's _RefreshTagDb system tag (in-server, PR abcip-4.4) — both drop the template cache + force a fresh @tags walk.

Connection Size

PR abcip-3.1 introduced a per-device ConnectionSize override on the driver side (AbCipDeviceOptions.ConnectionSize, range 500..4002). The CLI does not expose a flag for it — every CLI invocation uses the family-default Connection Size (4002 / 504 / 488 depending on --family). When a Forward Open is rejected with a CIP error like 0x01/0x113 ("connection request size invalid"), the symptom is almost always a mismatch between the chosen family default and the controller firmware:

• v19-and-earlier ControlLogix caps at 504 — pick --family CompactLogix on the CLI to fall back to that narrower default.
• 5069-L1/L2/L3 CompactLogix narrow-buffer parts also cap at 504, which is the family default already.
• FW20+ ControlLogix accepts the full 4002.

For the warning "AbCip device 'X' family 'Y' uses a narrow-buffer profile (default ConnectionSize Z); the configured ConnectionSize N exceeds the 511-byte legacy-firmware cap..." see docs/drivers/AbCip-Performance.md — that warning is fired by the driver host, not the CLI.

Related operability knobs

• docs/drivers/AbCip-Operability.md — Phase 4 per-tag knobs (per-tag scan rate, deadband, etc). The CLI does not expose these knobs directly; they're set in driver config JSON and consumed by the driver at subscribe time.