Testing of OPC UA and other communication

[nadim4114]

Hi Admins,
I have worked in Industrial Automation field and SCADA application development for 10+ years and recently started working on Python and Django framework.

With my experience with SCADA and also Django fw, I am interested in contributing to opensource Scada PyScada and as part of that journey, I want to test the PyScada communication with various devices using various communication protocols and provide feedback for improvement.

I have experience on OPC UA and Modbus so I can help testing. I have various devices available with me to test communication.

Pls let me know how can I start?

[clavay]

Hello,

Good to know that you are interested to test devices.
Are you interested into improve the code ?

First you can install PyScada and the plugin you need (PyScada-Modbus, PyScada-OPCUA...) and try to communicate (read and write) with your devices.

The documentation available is here
First you may want to improve the documentation to install/configure/use the software.
There are many things missing in the documentation, especially in the configuration (admin/backend) and the use (user/frontend).
And then let us know what trouble you have.

Then if you want quick changes, the best is to write pull requests, otherwise it will depend on the time and the devices we have to resolve yours issues.

[nadim4114]

Definitely docs need to be improved and I am ready to contribute to it how to setup and run things so that other users in future can setup easily.

After that I am interested in below two things
I am interested in two things:

1. Testing and improvement of communication between SCADA and OPCUA or Modbus targets. I have modbus servers and OPC UA servers as well. Improving the code as well once I grasp the concepts.
2. My ultimate aim is to work in WYSIWYG designer as I am working on a university research project for web tech based WYSIWYG designers. WYSIWYG designer documentation is missing in this repo. What is your opinion on this WYSIWYS designer?

I have basic experience of restructured test with sphinx for documentation.

[clavay]

For the documentation, a good idea could be a tutorial showing in 30 minutes how to :

• install pyscada and plugins,
• configure 2 instruments (using 2 different protocols) with input or output variables,
• create a simple user interface (with chart, text, control panel),
• create some events.

For the instrument communication, the best could be to start with the modbus protocol, which is better integrated.
Can you start installing the plugin and try to communicate (input/output) and tell me what you want to improve.
Next you can try with OPC UA instruments.

For the WYSIWYG implementation, do you mean to be able to edit the user interface directly in the user interface with an edition mode ?
One option I was thinking about, is to implement a way to build the user interface using django CMS or wagtail.
I don't know which one would be the best between these CMS or an internal development.

[nadim4114]

For Now, I will install Ubuntu 24 LTS, setup pyScada and start to understand how to develop a sample application.
I will prepare a demo application and communicate it with a Modbus server.
Once everything is working successfully, I will prepare a fresh video and upload on Youtube. and Alsi will update in sphinx docs.
If I come across any problem, I should post here?

[trombastic]

Sounds like a good plan to me, please open a new issue for real bugs, small questions should be asked here in my opinion.
Regards,
Martin

[clavay]

Sounds good for me.
Improvements should also be in a separated issue, i think.

[nadim4114]

Presently I am setting up the pyscada on my VM.
I will create a separate issue to ask for help to setup.
Once PyScada is setup, I will update the document in detail about setup procedure.