WriteCommand now accepts multiple positional values when the tag
reference ends with '[]', bundling them into a strongly-typed array
(string[], int[], bool[], etc.) before passing to MxAccess.Write.
The CLR marshals the array to a COM SAFEARRAY of the matching
VARTYPE, which is the shape MxAccess expects for an array attribute.
Verified live on a 50-slot String[] (MESReceiver_001.MoveInPartNumbers):
write 50 distinct strings A1..A50 -> ok, MxCategoryOk
read [] -> ['A1','A2', ..., 'A50']
Plus a guardrail: passing multiple values without the '[]' suffix
exits 2 with a clear error so a typo can't accidentally write only
the first element of an indexed reference.
Critical finding documented in docs/usage.md: **a bulk write resizes
the array to the count provided.** Writing 25 values into a 50-slot
array leaves the array at 25 elements; the trailing 25 are
deallocated, not zero-filled. Verified by 50 -> 25 -> 50 round-trip
on the same attribute. Discover the runtime length via
'mxa read <attr>[]' or the configured length via grdb's
attributes.sql array_dimension column.
Type matrix in docs/usage.md updated:
- Bulk array via '[]' - read ✅ + write ✅
- Bare reference (no brackets) - read ❌ + write ❌
- Element via '[N]' - unchanged
ValueCoercion.cs: adds CoerceArray(IReadOnlyList<string>, typeHint)
that produces strongly-typed arrays. Default element type is inferred
from the first value when --type is unspecified.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Empty square brackets — `<obj>.<arrayAttr>[]` — are the supported
MxAccess reference form for fetching a whole array as a single value.
Verified live:
mxa read 'MESReceiver_001.MoveInPartNumbers[]' --llm-json
-> ok=true, value=["", "11111", "", ..., "15", ...] (50 elements,
quality=192, MxCategoryOk)
The bare reference without brackets continues to return
MxCategoryCommunicationError, Detail=1003 — that's a real proxy-side
rejection, not a CLI bug. Documented separately so the matrix shows
both the working syntax and the failing one.
docs/usage.md:
- Type matrix gains a "bulk array read via []" row (✅) and a
"bare reference" row (❌, kept for reference).
- "Reading arrays" section rewritten around the two reference
shapes — `[]` for whole arrays, `[N]` for elements (1-based,
N <= NumElements).
- Adds a "Discovering array length" note pointing at grdb's
attributes.sql array_dimension column.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Adds a 'Type support matrix' table to docs/usage.md capturing what was
verified against the live ZB galaxy on System Platform 2017 Express
with MxAccess 3.2.0.0:
Verified read + write (round-tripped):
- MxBoolean — DelmiaReceiver_001.TestAttribute (false→true→false)
- MxInteger — MESReceiver_001.MoveInBatchID (999→12345→0→999)
- MxString — MESReceiver_001.MoveOutErrorText (round-trip + restore)
- String array element via 1-based [N] indexing
— MESReceiver_001.MoveInPartNumbers[2] (11111→ARR-WRITE-OK→11111)
Verified read only (no writeable instance in this galaxy):
- MxFloat — DevPlatform.CPULoad{,Avg,Max,Min}, PageFaultsAvg
- MxTime — DevPlatform.SystemStartupTime → ISO-8601 string
- MxReferenceType — Container/Host/Area → target object's Tagname
Wired but no live instance found (matrix marked '❓'):
- MxDouble, MxElapsedTime, MxQualifiedEnum, MxInternationalizedString,
MxBigString. Adding a writeable UDA of any of these types should
exercise the existing code path without further changes.
Hard limitation surfaced and documented:
- MxAccess.AddItem('<obj>.<arrayAttr>') for bulk array read returns
MxCategoryCommunicationError, Detail=1003. Read array elements
individually via the 1-based '[N]' suffix; '[0]' is invalid.
Adds a 'Reading arrays' section pointing at grdb's attributes.sql
('array_dimension' column) for discovering element count.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
New tool wrapping ArchestrA.MxAccess.LMXProxyServerClass (the same COM
proxy aaObjectViewer / WindowViewer use) as a CliFx CLI for LLM-driven
debugging.
Commands:
- mxa info — loaded MxAccess assembly identity, supported value
types, MxStatusCategory enum.
- mxa read — fetch one or more tag values; subscribes briefly,
captures first OnDataChange per tag, tears down.
- mxa write — write a value with optional --type coercion; advises
first to resolve the attribute type, then waits for
OnWriteComplete with a per-call timeout.
- mxa subscribe — stream OnDataChange events for --seconds; JSON Lines
under --llm-json for piped agent consumption.
- mxa diag — minimal smoke test on a private STA thread; bypasses
the CliFx pipeline for diagnosing apartment / pump
issues.
Implementation notes documented in docs/api-notes.md (reverse-engineered
because AVEVA does not publish a single canonical MxAccess reference):
- Net48 / x86 / [STAThread] are non-negotiable. The CLI runs the entire
CliFx pipeline on a dedicated STA thread.
- COM events are dispatched as Win32 messages; AutoResetEvent.WaitOne
alone does not pump them on this configuration. MxSession.WaitForUpdate
loops Application.DoEvents() + drain + Sleep(20ms) instead.
- Write requires the target attribute's type to be resolved first.
WriteCommand advises and waits for the initial OnDataChange before
calling LMXProxyServerClass.Write to avoid ArgumentException
"Value does not fall within the expected range".
- Errors carry the full MXSTATUS_PROXY[] from MxAccess (Success,
Category, DetectedBy, Detail) so an agent can tell exactly which
layer rejected a request.
Verified against the live ZB galaxy with a writeable tag identified
via grdb (TestChildObject.TestInt, mx_attribute_category=10):
read: 99 (q=192, MxCategoryOk)
write 7: round-tripped — read returned 7 — written back to 99
write str: TestChildObject.TestString round-tripped a timestamp
subscribe: captured initial value plus subsequent change from a
separate process
The vendored ArchestrA.MxAccess.dll is gitignored — it is copied from
C:\Program Files (x86)\ArchestrA\Framework\Bin\ on any System Platform
install per the README.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Joseph Doherty