mht-siemens/AGENTS.md

AGENTS.md – MHT-Siemens

Repo at a glance

• Single-project .NET Framework 4.0 WinForms app (not .NET 8/Core). The Architecture.md spec describes a planned .NET 8 rewrite that has not been implemented – all current code is in this single project.
• Solution file: MTH-Siemens.sln – one project: MTH-Siemens\MHT-Siemens.csproj.
• Build: open the .sln in Visual Studio 2019+ (solution targets VS 16) and build, or run msbuild MTH-Siemens.sln. No dotnet SDK, no test project, no CI pipeline.
• NuGet: uses legacy packages.config (not PackageReference). Packages live in packages/ (ignored by git, restored on build). Key deps: S7netplus 0.1.9 (Siemens S7 PLC comms), Newtonsoft.Json 11.0.1, NLog 4.6.0, PrettyBin 1.1.0.

How the app works

• Entry: MTH-Siemens/Program.cs → SiemensProxy Form.
• Config: runtime settings from App.config (appName, verbose, sampleTimerMs, memConfPath). Per-run PLC/data config from setup.json (serialized to dataProxy/connParam/dataConf models, JSON via NewtonSoft).
• Core loop (SiemensProxy.cs):
  • sampleTimer (1 s default) → reloadFromFile() reads next line from a CSV, parses column values, compares with prevValues. If changed → saveToPLC() writes REAL (4-byte double) values to configured memory addresses via S7.Net.
  • checkTimer (5 min) → watchdog: verifies PLC connectivity, forces a PLC write.
  • uiTimer (20 ms) → advances a UI progress bar only.
• memAddress parser: converts strings like DB701.DBD142 into DbNum=701, tipoMem="D", indiceMem=142.
• Build artifact: the <Target Name="AfterBuild"> in the .csproj moves all *.dll, *.pdb, *.xml from bin\ into bin\lib\.

Important quirks & gotchas

• No .NET SDK required – this is net40 WinForms. Build via msbuild or Visual Studio.
• S7netplus 0.1.9 is quite old. It targets .NET Framework 4.0/4.5/3.5. Do not upgrade without verifying compatibility with the target PLC firmware.
• setup.json is created on first run if missing, with hardcoded defaults (c:\zz\prova1.csv, PLC 192.168.0.102, S7-1500 rack=0 slot=1).
• PLC write is REAL (double) only – the saveToPLC() method hardcodes S7.Net.Types.Double.ToByteArray(). Changing data types requires code changes.
• NLog.config writes to logs/ subdirectory, archiving by sequence number at 10 MB, keeping 60 archives. keepFileOpen="false" (no file locking, but slightly less performant).
• Assembly probing in App.config: <probing privatePath="lib;libs"/> – DLLs are expected in lib/ subfolder (set by the AfterBuild target). This matters for deployment.

Quick commands

# Build via msbuild (requires Visual Studio Build Tools or MSBuild)
msbuild MTH-Siemens.sln /p:Configuration=Release

# Or open in Visual Studio 2019/2022 and build

File map

File	Purpose
MTH-Siemens/Program.cs	Entry point
MTH-Siemens/SiemensProxy.cs	Main form – PLC comms, timers, CSV parsing
MTH-Siemens/dataProxy.cs	Config models (dataProxy, dataConf)
MTH-Siemens/connParam.cs	PLC connection model
MTH-Siemens/memAddress.cs	Memory address parser (DBxxx.DBDyyy)
MTH-Siemens/utils.cs	App.config helpers, legacy MAP-file loaders
MTH-Siemens/setup.json	Runtime config (CSV path, PLC params, memory mappings)
MTH-Siemens/App.config	Static settings (timer ms, verbose, app name)
MTH-Siemens/NLog.config	Logging config