Description
The normal CODESYS project storage creates a single binary file whose contents cannot be read or created by other tools.
CODESYS File-Based Storage, on the other hand, stores a project as a folder tree on disk that mirrors the project tree. One or more text files are created for each object, and these files can be processed or even created by other text editors: IEC source code as plain text, project metadata as JSON.
Typical use cases:
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The path towards CODESYS 4 – CODESYS 4 stores projects file-based natively. For libraries the format is identical: a library converted to
.fbslibis already stored in the format that CODESYS 4 reads and writes. For development projects, the conversion step will follow in upcoming versions. -
Automation in CI/CD – the scripting interface opens, converts and validates projects without a user interface.
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Analysis and tooling – the whole project can be searched and statically checked with familiar tools.
The format is open and documented. Read access from outside CODESYS is supported, but projects are edited in the CODESYS Development System: whether a change written from outside results in a valid project is decided only when CODESYS loads and builds it. Note that CODESYS V3 does not allow inconsistencies in the project – it may be impossible to open or display projects with an invalid status.
For use in the context of Git, we advise you to use the upcoming CODESYS Git 2.0.0.0 or later. It understands both the storage format and the CODESYS project model and therefore ensures that all files belonging to a project are committed together and in a consistent state.
For object types for which there is not yet a suitable storage format, the xml-based export format is used.
