Using the Workbench to define a MTConnect device

The Workbench provides the view into a node's installation, configuration and resource definition. The Workbench also provides access and control over those resources.

A device is a resource that can represent a physical device, such a Programmable Logic Computer (PLC) or a sensor. A device can also be defined in one node to represent a device that is defined and supported in another node. This allows your application solution to have access to devices and their data independent of their location or connectivity details.

The MTConnect driver is a resource that establishes an HTTP connection to an MTConnect agent. Once connected the MTConnect driver issues a Probe request to obtain a list of resources that are being managed by the MTConnect agent. Next the driver issues a Current command to get the current values for all data items, events, and conditions serviced by the agent. This information is stored in memory and can be viewed on the Workbench's Variables panel. 

To define a device that represents a MTConnect device, follow these steps:

1. From the Workbench left pane, expand the node where you want to define the device
   
2. Select the Devices icon. The Devices window appears as the right pane.
   
   The Devices window provides a table format that lists the previously defined devices.
   
3. To define a new device, select New at the bottom of the pane. The Device window appears. The available device types are determined by the device support that is installed in this node.
   
4. Use the Type down-arrow, to select a device type under the MTConnect group. 
   
   
5. The Device window changes to accommodate the selected device type. 
   
   
6. To define a device that represents a MTConnect agent set this new device’s parameters as follows:

   Parameter	Description
   Name	Enter a name for the MTConnect agent.
   Type	Select the MTConnect Client type.
   URL	Enter the URL needed to connect to the MTConnect agent.
   Sampling Rate	Enter a millisecond value which will determine the frequency that the driver sends Sample requests to the agent. Acceptable values are between 500 and 30000 milliseconds.
   Timeout	Enter the timeout value to use when communicating with this device. This is entered in milliseconds.
   Sample Count	The maximum number of items to request per sample. The maximum number of items that can be requested is 10,000.
   Persist Sequence Number	Selecting True in this field will allow the driver to attempt to use the last known sequence number when issuing the first Sample command when the device is started. The sequence number in the Current command will be used if the default value of False is selected.
   Per Variable Security	Select False to disable the allocation of additional memory to track User to Variable access for all Variables in this Device. Select True to enable this feature if required. For more information, see Setting up Read Write per device variable.