Nion

The Nion plugin connects to a nion that is set up with a RATC2 server.

Supported data types

bool
int
double
string

Data type	BOOL	INT	FLOAT	STRING
`Nion::bool`	•
`Nion::int`		•
`Nion::float`			•
`Nion::string`				•

Supported parameters

The following table only shows special hardcoded parameters. Other than these reserved parameters, any exported control from the nion is available in RW mode.

Mapping parameter name Parameter	Mapping IO type IO type	Read / Write access mode R/W
System
__connection_state__	bool	r
Connection state to the nion
Exported control
*	*	rw

Setup

In NWare make sure the following settings are put in place:

In the nion device block set the Network Control Protocol to RATC2, and make note of the Network Control Port which defaults to 1632.

Create a user account with Network Control Access (in case the defaultuser has this disabled). This can be done under File > User Accounts => Edit Project Users. Create a user with an optional password and set the Network Control Access to Allowed.

Configuration options

The minimal device config when using the default options would be:

devices:
  - type: nion
    name: node1
    options:
      ip: 10.0.0.1

This assumes that the user defaultuser has Network Control Access and has no password set; and that the RATC2 server is listening on its default 1632 port. The rate at which the nion will be polled is by default set to 100ms. The ip address field can be omitted in which case the plugin will fall back to the default 127.0.0.1 address.

A complete config would look like this:

devices:
  - type: nion
    name: node1
    options:
      ip: 10.6.5.31
      port: 1632
      username: dcontrol
      password: supersecret
      scan_rate: 50

where

type: is always “nion” as this is the name of this plugin.
name: unique arbitrary name.
options/ip: the ip address of the nion node running the RATC2 server. (default: 127.0.0.1)
options/port: the tcp port that the RATC2 server is listening on. (default: 1632)
options/username: the username as set in the NWare User Accounts. The user should have Network Control Access set to Allowed. Default: “defaultuser”
options/password: the password for the given user. If no password is set an empty string can be set, or the setting can be omitted. Default: ""
options/scan_rate: this is the polling scan rate in ms and should be an integer. (default: 100)

Troubleshooting

When you get the message error adding control <control> in the logfiles, this most likely means that the control hasn’t been named in the nion in Control Properties > Wiring > Control Alias.