EtherCAT Slave Information (ESI) File Supported Data Types

Updated Oct 17, 2022

Reported In

Software

  • LabVIEW Real-Time Module
  • LabVIEW

Driver

  • NI-Industrial Communications for EtherCAT

Issue Details

I need to know what data types are supported by the EtherCAT XML Device Description files that LabVIEW uses for EtherCAT slaves (commonly referred to as ESI files, which stands for EtherCAT Slave Information)

Solution

The data types that can be used in the XML of EtherCAT slaves in LabVIEW can be found in the EtherCAT Slave Information Specification document which can be found on the ETG Website. 

Additional Information

EtherCAT Slaves in LabVIEW are intended to comply with the specifications of the Ethercat Slave Information Specification document, for that reason any ESI file that complies with this specification should work with LabVIEW.

The only exception is the ARRAY data type which is currently not supported in LabVIEW. Should you need to operate on arrays, consider using Raw Data Mode to achieve this operation with speed.

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