Component: Network Communications (Comms: Networking)

Author	Matrix TSL
Version	1.0 (Release)
Category	Comms: Networking

Network Communications component

A component designed to simplify the process of TCP/IP communications. Compatible with most of the Flowcode supported TCP/IP and WIFI components. A useful building block for creating components such as IoT and Modbus TCP.

Examples

Here are some examples showing the Network Communications component in action.

By itself the component provides a generic TCP/IP layer to drive the simulation runtime.

Here is a simple example showing the component used by itself to request data from a remote server on the internet.

Example Network Comms Client

Library Components

Components such as Webserver (GENERIC), MQTT and Modbus TCP can connect to and control the network comms layer.

Here is a simple example showing the component used with the Webserver (GENERIC) component.

Example Network Comms Web Server

Embedded Components

The Network Communications component can also be connected to embedded TCP/IP and WIFI style modules allowing for the abstraction to work with specific networking hardware modules.

Here is the current status of the Network Communications component with the various embedded modules.

Embedded Component	Other Variants of Component	Support Status
TCP/IP (Raspberry Pi)	N/A	Fully Supported
WLAN (ESP8266)	WLAN (ESP-12S), WIFI (BL0136), WIFI (ESP8266)	Fully Supported
TCP/IP (W5500)	N/A	Fully Supported
ENC28J60	N/A	On Hold
TCP/IP (NM7010A)	TCP/IP (EB023v1)	On Hold
TCP/IP (W5100)	TCP/IP (EB023v2), TCP/IP (WIZ810MJ)	On Hold
WLAN (WIZ610WI)	WIFI (EB069)	On Hold

We are working through and adding support as and when we get chance so if you have a module that isn't listed or would like to try and prioritise a specific module then you can let us know via the user forums.

Downloadable macro reference

Connect

Connects to an IP address as a client on the specified port.

Some TCP/IP modules (RPI and ESP8266) will accept a URL instead of an IP address.

Returns: 0=Fail, 1=OK

Parameters

<- STRING Address

IP address as a string e.g. "192.168.1.1" or URL on some TCP/IP modules

This parameter may be returned back to the caller

UINT Port

Return value

BOOL : Returns true if the operation is a success, else false

Receive

Attempts to receive up to a specified number of bytes from the active connection.

Returns the number of bytes received.

Parameters

<- STRING Data

This parameter may be returned back to the caller

UINT Count

Maximum number of bytes to read

Return value

UINT

Send

Sends the specified number of bytes via the active connection.

Returns the number of bytes sent, 0=Fail.

Parameters

<- STRING Data

Array containing the data to send

This parameter may be returned back to the caller

UINT Count

Number of bytes to send from the data array

Return value

UINT

Listen

Bind the socket to a port on the local host and set to listen mode.

Returns: 0=Fail, 1=OK

Parameters

UINT Port

Return value

BOOL : Returns true if the operation is a success, else false

SocketOpen

Attempts to create a socket on the local device.

This must be succesful to allow TCP/IP communications with a remote destination.

Returns: 0=Fail / 1=OK

Parameters

This macro has no parameters

Return value

BOOL : Returns true if the operation is a success, else false

SocketClose

Closes the current socket connection

Parameters

This macro has no parameters

Return value

This call does not return a value

Simulation macro reference

This component does not contain any simulation macros

Property reference

TCP/IP Component

This property is of type Panel object and can be referenced with the variable name Component.

Property to point to the TCP/IP or WIFI component you want to use.

If unconnected then default to simulated TCP/IP network communications using the PC network adapter.

Status

This property is of type Line of text and can be referenced with the variable name Status.

Informs the user of the current status of support for the connected component.