Last updated on October 15, 2020
Setup the UA-ModelCompiler on Linux to compile ModelDesign files to UANodeSet files.
This Post is part of the OPC UA Information Model Tutorial.
Instead of compiling ModelDesign files on Linux, the following alternative workflows are available:
Compile the ModelDesign file on MS Windows (Setup UA-ModelCompiler on Windows)
Instead of editing ModelDesign files and compiling them into UANodeSet files, edit of UANodeSet files directly with appropriate editors: Setup NodeSet Editor
This guide strongly recommends editing and compiling ModelDesign files over direct editing of UANodeSet files. Although ModelDesign files are not part of the OPC UA standard (UANodeSet are part of the standard) they are part of the toolchain used by the OPC Foundation to generate official UANodeSet files. Following the example set by the OPC Foundation will result in a more sustainable, reproducible and stable workflow overall.
Using a Docker Container
If you are on Linux, I strongly recommend to use the precompiled docker container available on DockerHub: https://hub.docker.com/r/sailavid/ua-modelcompiler
git clone https://github.com/Pro/opcua-animal-cs cd opcua-animal-cs docker run \ --mount type=bind,source=$(pwd),target=/model/src \ --entrypoint "/app/PublishModel.sh" \ sailavid/ua-modelcompiler:opcua_rocks_tested \ /model/src/animalModel animal /model/src/Published
This will build the model and copy it into opcua-animal-cs/Published/animal:
- animal.Classes.cs
- animal.Constants.cs
- animal.DataTypes.cs
- animalModel.csv
- animalModel.xml
- animal.NodeSet2.xml
- animal.NodeSet.xml
- animal.PredefinedNodes.uanodes
- animal.PredefinedNodes.xml
- animal.Types.xsd
- animal.Types.bsd
Compile the Model Compiler on Linux
Instead of using the pre-compiled docker container, you can also clone the official UA-ModelCompiler repository and build the C# code using mono:
git clone https://github.com/OPCFoundation/UA-ModelCompiler.git cd UA-ModelCompiler
Install mono and nuget:
sudo apt install mono-devel mono-complete cd UA-ModelCompiler wget https://dist.nuget.org/win-x86-commandline/latest/nuget.exe mono nuget.exe install -OutputDirectory packages ModelCompiler/packages.config
Then you can build the ModelCompiler using mono, which will create a .exe file that can be executed on linux (Bin/Debug/Opc.Ua.ModelCompiler.exe)
msbuild "ModelCompiler Solution.sln" /p:TargetFrameworkVersion="v4.5"
If you get the following error “Could not resolve type with token 01000195”, then you probably need to update your mono installation (see comments below).
I strongly recommend to use the provided PublishModel.sh script here:
https://github.com/Pro/opcua-animal-cs/blob/master/PublishModel.sh
This gives you a simpler interface to the model compiler:
./PublishModel.sh $DIR/animalModel animal $DIR/Published
The first argument is the path to the ModelDesign xml file, without extension. The second argument is the prefix for the generated NodeSet2 files. The last argument is the output directory.
Example usage is shown here:
https://github.com/Pro/opcua-animal-cs/blob/master/build_model.sh
Continue with Step 3
Hi,
thanks for this tutorial. I havent finished it jet but it seems all in all very helpful!
I just want to leave a quick hint on the “mono nuget.exe install -OutputDirectory packages ModelCompiler/packages.config” command from above:
– there I was getting the error “Could not resolve type with token 01000195”.
I found the solution by updating mono to the latest version via: https://www.mono-project.com/download/stable/#download-lin-ubuntu. This might seem redundant to some folks but since it wasnt to me there might be the chance that some else will find it helpful to know 🙂
Thank you again for all the hard work.
Cheers,
Marco