IOBusMonitor

IOBusMonitor is a small Windows desktop utility for querying, logging, and visualising field‑bus data from Modbus TCP / Modbus RTU devices and Siemens S7 PLCs.
The application is designed to be compiled and run as a single executable without external services or complex deployment steps.

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Home

Live Dashboard

Dashboard - Graph

1  Overview

Topic	Detail
Target OS	Windows 10/11 (x64)
UI Framework	WPF (.NET Framework 4.8, C# 7.3)
Storage	Local SQLite databases (one file per day)
Protocols	Modbus TCP, Modbus RTU, Siemens S7 (S7‑200/300/400/1200/1500, LOGO 0BA8)
License	MIT

The executable maintains two working folders next to itself:

Settings/Settings.db   # devices, points, application options
Data/Data_YYYYMMDD.db  # daily measurement archive (SQLite)

No external installer is required—copy the folder to any workstation, double‑click IOBusMonitor.exe, and begin polling.

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2  Features

• Live dashboard – realtime list of the most recent values per point.
• History view – ad‑hoc line charts from the daily SQLite archives.
• In‑app administration – create/edit devices, points, and measurements without editing JSON or XML.
• Self‑contained data – all numeric samples are written to SQLite; you can analyse them later with Python, Excel, etc.
• Protocol plug‑ins – new buses can be supported by adding one C# reader class that returns a PointViewModel.

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3  Getting Started

1. Clone or download the repository and open IOBusMonitor.sln in Visual Studio 2019 (or newer).
2. Press F5 to build and launch in Debug mode.
3. On first run the program creates the default Settings/Settings.db and an empty Data folder.
4. Use the Administration menu to add a device → point → measurement chain.
5. Click the green Start button (▶︎) to begin polling.

Tip – If you do not have hardware available, call TestDataGenerator.GenerateTestData() once (e.g. from the Immediate Window). The method writes a dummy Data_YYYYMMDD.db with random values so you can explore the UI.

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4  Project Structure

IOBusMonitor.sln         # solution file
├─ IOBusMonitor          # WPF views, windows, XAML pages
├─ IOBusMonitorLib       # protocol readers, view‑models, storage, helpers
└─ ShortcutTool          # cmd helper

Runtime layout

IOBusMonitor.exe
Settings/Settings.db      # persistent configuration & definitions
Data/                     # rolling SQLite archives (one per day)
Logs/                     # optional diagnostic output

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5  Extending the Application

1. Define models (if required) for the new protocol’s devices/points.
2. Implement a reader with a single public method that returns PointViewModel:

   public Task<PointViewModel> LoadPointDataAsync(MyPoint point) { /* … */ }

3. Register the reader in TimerService so it is called during the scan loop.
4. Duplicate the CRUD XAML pages for devices/points/measurements and adjust the SQL queries.

All other layers—storage, live dashboard, history charts—are protocol‑agnostic and work automatically once you populate PointViewModel instances.

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6  Building a Release

# from repository root
msbuild IOBusMonitor.sln -p:Configuration=Release

Copy the resulting IOBusMonitor\bin\Release folder to the target machine. No installer or registry keys are required.

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7  Contributing

Pull requests are welcome.
Before submitting, please ensure:

• The solution builds with C# 7.3 / .NET Framework 4.8.
• New code uses the existing logging (LogService) instead of Console.WriteLine.
• UI strings are written in English; localisation can be discussed separately.

Areas that could use help:

• Additional protocol readers (OPC UA, BACnet, MQTT ⟶ SQL bridge).
• UX refinements, dark theme, high‑DPI tweaks.
• Performance profiling when polling thousands of points.

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8  License

This project is licensed under the MIT License – see LICENSE for details.