Use the etherCATSlave data type to obtain and adapt information about the CoE object dictionary of an EtherCAT slave during test run time.

Introduced in PAtools 7.2

EtherCAT provides greatly simplified cyclic and acyclic data exchange.

  • Cyclic data—The EtherCAT process image and PAtools channels process the process data objects (PDOs).
  • Acyclic data or configuration files—EtherCAT CoE (CANopen over EtherCAT) facilitate the exchange of service data objects (SDOs).

    • EtherCAT slaves can implement CoE, but EtherCAT slaves are not required to implement CoE. Simple slaves have no configuration data and no object directory.

    Depending on the time at which the parameterization is carried out, there are two different use cases:

    • Pure configuration data that do not change during the test run time. Perform the parameterization in the EtherCAT HotConfig group.
    • Asynchronous parameters or channels that are adjusted during the test run time. PAscript code is required in this case. The etherCATSlave data type provides the necessary attributes and type functions.

    Definition Options

    Define PAscript variables with the etherCATSlave data type locally in the program code. Define etherCATSlave in classes or in PAscript functions.