path: root/src/opcua/doc/src/qtopcua.qdoc

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/*!
    \module QtOpcUa
    \title Qt OPC UA C++ Classes
    \ingroup modules
    \qtvariable opcua
    \since 5.11
    \brief List of C++ classes that provide the Qt OPC UA functionality.

    To link against the module, add this line to your \l cmake \c project file:

    \code
    target_link_libraries(mytarget Qt::OpcUa)
    \endcode
*/

/*!
    \qmlmodule QtOpcUa
    \title Qt OPC UA QML Types
    \brief Provides QML types for Qt OPC UA.
    \ingroup qmlmodules

    The QML types can be imported into your application using the following
    import statements in your .qml file:

    \badcode
    import QtOpcUa 5.12 as QtOpcUa
    \endcode

    To link against the module, add the following QT variable to your \l cmake project file:

    \badcode
    target_link_libraries(mytarget Qt::OpcUa)
    \endcode
*/

/*!
    \page qtopcua-index.html
    \since 5.7
    \title Qt OPC UA
    \brief Implements OPC UA connectivity through a Qt API.
    \preliminary

    The \l{Qt OPC UA Overview}{Qt OPC UA} module implements a Qt API to
    interact with OPC UA on top of a 3rd party OPC UA stack.

    The stacks are integrated as plugins and can be selected at runtime.
    Currently, the following implementations are supported:

    \list
    \li Open62541 v1.1, MPLv2
    \li Unified Automation C++ SDK (UACpp), Commercial
    \endlist

    The QML API is still in development but are available as a technology preview.
    This means those parts are unstable, likely to change, and provided as a convenience only.

    \section1 Getting started

    To include the definitions of the module's classes, use the following
    directive:

    \code
    #include <QtOpcUa>
    \endcode

    To link against the module, add this line to your \l cmake project file:

    \code
    target_link_libraries(mytarget Qt::OpcUa)
    \endcode

    \section1 Articles and Guides

       \list
           \li \l{Qt OPC UA Overview}{Overview}
           \li \l{Using the OpenSSL Dependency for GDS Support}
           \li \l{Building Qt OPC UA Open62541 Plugin}
           \li \l{Building Qt OPC UA UACPP Plugin}
           \li \l{https://opcfoundation.org/about/opc-technologies/opc-ua/}
               {OPC UA at the OPC foundation}
    \endlist

    \section1 Examples

    \list
        \li \l{Qt OPC UA Examples}{Examples}
    \endlist

    \section1 Reference

    \list
        \li \l{Qt OPC UA C++ Classes}{C++ Classes}
        \li \l{Qt OPC UA QML Types}{QML Types}
    \endlist
*/

/*!
    \page qtopcua-overview.html
    \title Qt OPC UA Overview

    OPC UA is a protocol for data modelling and exchange of data in industrial applications.

    An OPC UA server offers access to data that is organized in a mesh of nodes
    connected by references.
    The use of different reference types and nodes containing metadata enable a client to navigate and interpret
    the data without knowing their structure in advance.

    Each node has a unique identifier and attributes that can be read and written.
    Among others, there are \e Variable nodes that store values and callable
    \e Method nodes with attached nodes describing parameters and return values.
    \e Notifications in case of events and monitoring of Variable nodes for
    value changes are offered too.

    Complex objects can be created by combining nodes using references.
    Inheritance is also possible. OPC UA offers support for pre-made models
    that can be extended to fit special needs.

    OPC UA is the platform-independent successor of OPC Classic intended for usage on all levels,
    from embedded sensors up to manufacturing execution and enterprise resource planning systems.
    It has a service-oriented architecture based on standardized messages for service requests and responses.
    There are different ways for these messages to be encoded and transported over the network. The most common way
    is binary encoding over TCP.

    \section1 Implemented Features from the OPC UA Protocol

    The following table summarizes the features of OPC UA that are supported by
    Qt OPC UA.

    \table
    \header
    \li Feature
    \li Open62541 plugin
    \li UACpp plugin
    \row
    \li Read
    \li X
    \li X
    \row
    \li Batch read
    \li X
    \li X
    \row
    \li Write
    \li X
    \li X
    \row
    \li Batch write
    \li X
    \li X
    \row
    \li Multidimensional arrays
    \li X
    \li X
    \row
    \li Browse
    \li X
    \li X
    \row
    \li Data change subscriptions
    \li X
    \li X
    \row
    \li Event subscriptions
    \li X
    \li X
    \row
    \li Modify subscriptions / monitored Items
    \li X
    \li X
    \row
    \li Method calls
    \li X
    \li X
    \row
    \li Browse path resolution
    \li X
    \li X
    \row
    \li GetEndpoints
    \li X
    \li X
    \row
    \li FindServers
    \li X
    \li X
    \row
    \li NodeManagement
    \li X
    \li X
    \endtable

    \section1 Data Types
    A subset of the OPC UA data types is currently supported in Qt OPC UA.
    Most of them are available with all backends.

    \table
    \header
    \li Data type
    \li Open62541 plugin
    \li UACpp plugin
    \li Qt OPC UA data type
    \row
    \li Int16, Int32, Int64
    \li X
    \li X
    \li Directly used
    \row
    \li UInt16, UInt32, UInt64
    \li X
    \li X
    \li Directly used
    \row
    \li Byte
    \li X
    \li X
    \li quint8
    \row
    \li SByte
    \li X
    \li X
    \li qint8
    \row
    \li Boolean
    \li X
    \li X
    \li Directly used
    \row
    \li Double
    \li X
    \li X
    \li Directly used
    \row
    \li Float
    \li X
    \li X
    \li Directly used
    \row
    \li String
    \li X
    \li X
    \li QString
    \row
    \li LocalizedText
    \li X
    \li X
    \li \l QOpcUaLocalizedText
    \row
    \li DateTime
    \li X
    \li X
    \li QDateTime
    \row
    \li ByteString
    \li X
    \li X
    \li QByteArray
    \row
    \li XmlElement
    \li X
    \li X
    \li QString
    \row
    \li NodeId
    \li X
    \li X
    \li QString
    \row
    \li GUID
    \li X
    \li X
    \li QUuid
    \row
    \li QualifiedName
    \li X
    \li X
    \li \l QOpcUaQualifiedName
    \row
    \li StatusCode
    \li X
    \li X
    \li \l QOpcUa::UaStatusCode
    \row
    \li Range
    \li X
    \li X
    \li \l QOpcUaRange
    \row
    \li EUInformation
    \li X
    \li X
    \li \l QOpcUaEUInformation
    \row
    \li ComplexNumber
    \li X
    \li X
    \li \l QOpcUaComplexNumber
    \row
    \li DoubleComplexNumber
    \li X
    \li X
    \li \l QOpcUaDoubleComplexNumber
    \row
    \li AxisInformation
    \li X
    \li X
    \li \l QOpcUaAxisInformation
    \row
    \li XV
    \li X
    \li X
    \li \l QOpcUaXValue
    \row
    \li Argument
    \li X
    \li X
    \li QOpcUaArgument
    \row
    \li ExpandedNodeId
    \li X
    \li X
    \li QOpcUaExpandedNodeId
    \row
    \li ExtensionObject
    \li X
    \li X
    \li QOpcUaExtensionObject
    \endtable

    \section1 Classes and Ownership
    Two important classes are exposed to the user: QOpcUaClient and QOpcUaNode.

    Objects of both classes are owned by the user and must be deleted when they are no longer needed.

    \section1 Logging Categories
    The following table summarizes the logging categories that are used by
    Qt OPC UA.
    \table
    \header
    \li Logging Category
    \li Description
    \row
    \li qt.opcua
    \li Plugin independent messages generated by \l QOpcUaProvider and \l QOpcUaClient
    \row
    \li qt.opcua.plugins.open62541
    \li Messages generated by the open62541 plugin
    \row
    \li qt.opcua.plugins.uacpp
    \li Messages generated by the UACpp plugin
    \endtable

    \section1 Licenses

    The Qt OPC UA module is available under commercial licenses from \l{The Qt Company}.
    In addition, it is available under free software licenses.
    These free software licenses are
    \l{GNU Lesser General Public License, version 3}, or
    the \l{GNU General Public License, version 2}.
    See \l{Qt Licensing} for further details.

    Qt OPC UA in Qt \QtVersion may contain third party modules under following
    permissive licenses:

    \generatelist{groupsbymodule attributions-qtopcua}

    Linking to external libraries involves licenses from the backend providers.

    \section2 Open62541

    The Open62541 plugin is available under the same licenses as Qt OPC UA. The Open62541 library itself
    is licensed under \l {https://open62541}{Mozilla Public License v2.0}.

    The security support is provided by the OpenSSL plugins of the open62541 library.
    If the open62541 plugin is built with security support and OpenSSL is not available
    on the target system, the open62541 plugin will fail to load.

    \section2 UA CPP

    The UA CPP plugin is available under commercial licenses from \l{The Qt Company}.
    In addition, it is available under the \l{GNU General Public License, version 3}.
    The UA CPP library itself is available under commercial licenses from
    \l {https://www.unified-automation.com}{Unified Automation}.
*/

/*!
    \page qtopcua-build-open62541.html
    \title Building Qt OPC UA Open62541 Plugin
    \brief Build instructions for the Qt OPC UA Open62541 plugin.

    The Open62541 plugin is built by default from the included 3rd party sources and has no external dependencies.
    The open62541 library uses OpenSSL for security. If the OpenSSL library is detected during configuration,
    security is enabled for the tests and the open62541 backend.
    The Open62541 source and header files bundled with Qt OPC UA have been generated from the open62541 1.1
    commit e941fc23b0 using the following commands:

    \code
        cmake -DUA_ENABLE_AMALGAMATION=ON -DUA_AMALGAMATION_ARCHITECTURES="win32;posix" -DUA_ENABLE_SUBSCRIPTIONS_EVENTS=ON
        make
    \endcode

    In order to disable the Open62541 plugin completely, use:

    \code
        cmake </path/to/qtopcua> -DINPUT_open62541=no
    \encode

    In case you want to build a custom version of the Open62541 plugin, Open62541 1.1 (e941fc23b0) built with the same options as above is required.

    The following options must be passed to cmake when building with open62541 installed to a custom location:

    \code
        -DINPUT_open62541=system -DOPEN62541_INCDIR=/path/to/sdk/include -DOPEN62541_LIBDIR=/path/to/sdk/lib
    \endcode

    \table
    \header
    \li Setting
    \li Value
    \row
    \li OPEN62541_INCDIR
    \li The directory which contains open62541.h
    \row
    \li OPEN62541_LIBDIR
    \li The directory which contains the library file
    \endtable

    For example, the following options can be used for building the open62541 plugin using a static build
    directly from its build directory without installing it:
    \code
        -DOPEN62541_INCDIR=/path/to/open62541/build -DOPEN62541_LIBDIR=/path/to/open62541/build/bin
    \endcode

    The output of the configuration step indicates whether the detection was successful:

    \code
        Open62541 .............................. yes
    \endcode

*/

/*!
    \page qtopcua-build-uacpp.html
    \title Building Qt OPC UA UACPP Plugin
    \brief Build instructions for the Qt OPC UA UACPP plugin.

    See \l {Creating OPC UA Clients with security support} for detailed instructions for setting up the Unified Automation SDK including
    security extensions.

    The following options must be passed to cmake in order to find the UACPP headers and libraries:

    \code
        -DUACPP_PREFIX=/path/to/sdk
    \endcode

    The output of the configuration step indicates whether the detection was successful:

    \code
        Unified Automation C++ SDK ............. yes
    \endcode
*/

/*!
    \page qtopcua-build-openssl-gds.html
    \title Using the OpenSSL Dependency for GDS Support
    \brief Using the OpenSSL dependency for GDS support.

    The GDS feature of Qt OPC UA requires the OpenSSL 1.1 headers and libraries.

    If OpenSSL is not installed to a path that is searched by default, the
    location of the headers and libraries must be passed to the build process.

    For example, if OpenSSL 1.1 has been installed to \c{/opt/openssl}, the
    locations must be passed as follows:

    \badcode
        -DOPENSSL_ROOT_DIR=/opt/openssl/
    \endcode

    If GDS support is not required, it can be disabled by using the following
    parameters:

    \badcode
        -DFEATURE_gds=OFF
    \endcode

    In this case, OpenSSL is not required.
*/