OPC UA PubSub Formatter Overview
From OPC Labs Knowledge Base
The OPC UA PubSub Formatter (Windows desktop application) allows you to visualize the output of formatting OPC UA PubSub network messages (currently, JSON message mapping only).
Why is this useful?
- JSON message mapping in OPC UA PubSub is frequently used to provide interoperability between "OPC world" and "non-OPC world"; that is, to connect OPC UA applications with systems that do not support OPC UA standard per se. The JSON message mapping in OPC UA is specifically designed to be quite flexible in the way the message is formatted. With clever configuration, chances are high the the non-OPC system on the other end will be able to produce/consume JSON messages in the format supported on the OPC side as well. With quite a number of options for message formatting available, it is however sometimes difficult to understand the implications of each setting, and the precise JSON implied by the combination of them. The OPC UA PubSub formatter help with this task by showing how the JSON network messages look like with the selected options.
- Using the tool, you can learn about how OPC UA formats JSON messages, and select the combination of options that provides the right amount of information needed for the task you want to solve.
- Not all OPC UA applications interpret the OPC UA specifications correctly, especially if they are not certified for compliance. Interoperability problems may arise as a result of such misinterpretations. In such cases, having such tool allows the developers or technicians better understanding of the messages formats involved, and helps pinpoint the exact source of the problem.
Following picture shows the OPC UA PubSub Formatter main screen.
