Eclipse 4diac

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #98

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 07 Aug 2026 17:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Library & Refactoring
- Extracted library refactoring logic from the UI plugin
- Switched copy operations to the Eclipse LTK refactoring infrastructure
- Simplified library deletion by removing obsolete configuration handling
- Improved error handling in the Library Manager
- Fixed timer function blocks after a recent regression
Build & Project Validation
- Excluded projects with library errors from export and Xtext builds
- Added project-level markers for unresolved library dependencies
- Improved handling of missing or invalid type names in broken projects
Deployment & System Configuration
- Fixed deployment data generation for untyped subapplications
- Added support for restricting device profiles to supported IEC 61499 profiles
- Introduced parsing and modeling of supported device profiles
Editors & Debugging
- Improved replay debugging interaction and timeline zoom behavior
- Fixed execution trace handling and connection style updates
Model & Cleanup
- Added optional recursive deletion of network elements
- Removed obsolete resource relocation support for legacy DTP files

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac FORTE

Communication & Deployment
- Fixed OPC UA deployment query commands
- Added a communication layer for automatic endianness conversion supporting big-, little-, and native-endian systems
Runtime
- Fixed adapter instance handling by assigning unique IDs, preventing event conflicts in I/O modules

Many thanks to all contributors for their work and their feedback!

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #97

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 31 Jul 2026 17:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Library Management
- Introduced the first redesign of the Manifest Editor:
  - Grouped dependencies for improved readability
  - Added version range validation and error highlighting
  - Added refresh and library management actions
  - Restricted editing where appropriate
  - Added marker navigation support
- Moved the Library Preference page into the library UI plugin
- Refreshed the Manifest Editor after library builds
- Removed obsolete library management code
Simple Function Blocks
- Added an event action section for Simple FB types
- Added model validation for Simple EC states
- Improved editing of event actions
- Simplified Simple EC state commands
Replay Debugging
- Automatically opens the state comparison view when adding new comparison states
Editor & Validation
- Improved handling of invalid FBs and missing pins
- Fixed drag-and-drop handling for missing templates
- Improved robustness and code quality through various cleanup and refactoring efforts
Build & Maintenance
- Removed obsolete resources and resolved additional Sonar findings

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac Documentation

Reworked tutorials 4 and 5 with new images.

Many thanks to all contributors for their work and their feedback!

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #96

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 24 Jul 2026 17:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Debugging & Evaluation
- Added support for breakpoints on ECC states
- Added toggle watchpoint functionality
- Improved interpreter execution:
  - Correctly applies data outputs in interpreter networks
  - Tracks explicitly initialized variables during evaluation
  - Uses concrete values for runtimes and watches
Project & Library Management
- Introduced a new library provider infrastructure
- Enhanced the Manage Library wizard:
  - Integrated validation, preview, and pending changes
  - Added progress monitoring
- Refactored project creation into a dedicated ProjectCreator
Model & Refactoring
- Introduced abstract base classes for ECC states, actions, and FB types
- Added extensive automated tests for FB type and structured data renaming and moving across nested subapplications
- Improved rename handling for container variable declarations
Editors & UI
- Introduced dialogs for editing sparse initial values of structs
- Improved error messages and property section stability
- Updated Trace Compass and reduced dependencies on internal Mylyn APIs
- Simplified the FBT importer and removed obsolete dialogs and unused methods
Validation & Miscellaneous
- Improved validation for container variable declarations
- Removed legacy OCL builder integration from project creation
- Added the missing Wago636 function block for the 3.0 library

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac FORTE

EtherCAT
- Continued the EtherCAT integration with the second development stage:
  - Added EtherCAT controller, bus, device, coupler, module, and adapter function blocks
  - Introduced configuration structures and module management infrastructure
  - Improved architecture for device configuration and ESI handling

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac Documentation

Improved replay debugging documentation by clarifying terminology and workflow steps.

Many thanks to all contributors for their work and their feedback!

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #95

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 17:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Replay Debugging
- Added support for replay debugging across multiple devices
- Enabled debugging of selected resources within a device
- Improved timeline handling:
  - Corrected branch calculation during timeline resizing
  - Fixed edge cases when removing events
- Improved cleanup when closing replay debugging resources
Structured Text & Validation
- Fixed duplicate and stale diagnostics for Structured Text resources with query parameters
- Improved collision validation messages for FB pin labels
- Fixed FB shape helper to correctly calculate maximum pin label sizes
Platform & Maintenance
- Updated the target platform to Eclipse 2026-09
- Restored GitLab settings removed in an earlier change

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac FORTE

Management Command Processing
- Continued refactoring of the management command infrastructure:
  - Introduced a dedicated CommandScanner
  - Reworked CommandParser for improved XML validation
  - Migrated boot file loading to the new parser
  - Eliminated unnecessary memory allocations and buffering
  - Optimized XML unescaping
- Added comprehensive unit tests for the new command parser and fixed several related issues

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac Documentation

Updated the replay debugging documentation to reflect the latest capabilities.

Many thanks to all contributors for their work and their feedback!

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #94

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 10 Jul 2026 17:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Monitoring & Debugging
- Restored existing watches automatically when starting a monitoring session
- Enabled editing of attributes from System Explorer selections
- Displayed internal constant variables in the System Explorer
Validation & OCL
- Introduced a project-level OCL validation builder
- Removed legacy OCL validation infrastructure and obsolete FB OCL definitions
- Improved quick fix availability based on project settings
Bulk Editor & Query Language
- Extended the Bulk Query Language:
  - Added support for AttributeDeclaration
  - Added support for Service Interface FBs and types
Library & Project Management
- Introduced a wrapper for linked library folders
Editor & UI Improvements
- Added support for disabling automatic INITO generation in Service Interface FBs
- Prevented the Initial Value Editor from committing values when fields are read-only
- Improved quick fix handling and resolved various code quality issues
- Routed selection changes through commands for better consistency

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac FORTE

Introduced the first stage of native EtherCAT support for Linux:
- Integrated the IgH EtherCAT Master library
- Added the core bus handler and device layer

Many thanks to all contributors for their work and their feedback!

Eclipse 4diac 3.2.1 Maintenance Release!

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Thu, 09 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This release focuses on stability, usability, and reliability, delivering numerous improvements across the property sheets, Structured Text editor, validation, export process, and type refactoring.

Highlights

Improved scrolling and rendering of property sheet tables, especially on Windows.
More reliable type renaming while preserving error markers and member access information.
Better Structured Text editing through improved function call type resolution and validation.
More robust export builds during file refactoring.
Reduced false-positive validation warnings for instances connected via adapters.
Various UI fixes, API updates, and general maintenance improvements.

While this is a maintenance release, these improvements make everyday engineering with 4diac IDE smoother and more reliable.

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #93

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 03 Jul 2026 17:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Refactoring & Testing
- Added automated tests for deleting structured data types and function block types in nested subapplication scenarios
- Improved rename refactoring performance by limiting builds to affected and referenced projects
ECC Editor
- Fixed positioning of incoming and outgoing transitions to improve diagram layout
Plant Hierarchy
- Refactored loading and saving into a dedicated helper class
- Harmonized XML serialization and parsing
- Corrected XML output to omit unnecessary namespaces
- Standardized Plant Hierarchy files to UTF-8 encoding
Build & Infrastructure
- Added an Ant task for configuring GitLab endpoints
- Improved URI handling to avoid unintended relative resolution
- Updated GitHub Actions dependencies

Many thanks to all contributors for their work and their feedback!

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #92

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 26 Jun 2026 17:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Type Refactoring & Package Management
- Improved type rename support:
  - Preserved error markers and STRUCT_DEMUX visibility during type renames
  - Added quick fix to align package names with the folder structure
- Improved connection handling during refactoring:
  - Added recursive connection deletion
  - Merged compatible connections during reconnect
  - Preserved marker information while simplifying marker cleanup
Build & Export
- Improved incremental export performance by avoiding unnecessary exports
- Triggered full exports when relevant source files are removed
- Fixed export builds to only process existing files
Editor & UI Improvements
- Improved alignment of type information fields
- Enhanced scrolling behavior in property sheet tables on Windows
- Fixed rendering of member access tables
- Improved Bulk Editor selection handling
- Moved member access viewer into its own package
- Improved project creation by decoupling it from the UI
General Improvements
- Consolidated Plant Hierarchy saving and replaced printStackTrace with proper logging
- Updated GitHub Actions dependencies

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac FORTE

Management Commands
- Refactored management command processing by separating command parsing from execution
- Simplified command handling with improved response management and cleanup methods

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac Documentation

XML Schema Support
- Added an XSD for Adapter Types
- Improved reuse of common XML schema definitions through shared attribute groups

Many thanks to all contributors for their work and their feedback!

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #91

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 19 Jun 2026 17:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Bulk Editor
- Added a prototype Bulk Query Language
- Converted the Bulk Editor into a multi-page editor
- Improved handling of error markers during save operations
Refactoring & Type Management
- Added package rename refactoring support
- Added type rename button integrating with refactoring workflows
- Introduced processor-based package rename refactoring with Structured Text participation
- Added package proposals in rename dialogs
- Extracted rename handling into dedicated helper classes
- Added extensive test infrastructure and regression tests for type and struct renaming
Structured Data & Libraries
- Added additional tests for STRUCT_MUX, F_MOVE, and struct rename scenarios
- Updated F_LOWER_BOUND and F_UPPER_BOUND function blocks and moved them into the arrays package
- Improved standard library handling during p2 updates
- Improved library manager security and GitLab downloader security
- Enhanced library discovery and version selection support
Structured Text Editor
- Fixed type resolution issues for function call arguments
- Fixed exceptions during standard function lookup
Validation & Property Editing
- Improved validation of unused instances with adapter connections
- Fixed editability handling for VAR_IN_OUT property sheets
- Improved refresh handling for member access viewers
UI & Editor Improvements
- Updated shadow rendering to newer Draw2d APIs
- Fixed column ordering in internal variable sections
- Corrected comments and documentation for event-related function blocks
Build & Platform
- Started restricting access to internal plugin APIs
- Updated versioning for the 3.3 development cycle and 3.2 maintenance branch
- Removed obsolete GitLab settings and resolved various warnings

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac Documentation

XML Schema Support
- Introduced a first Data Type XSD for 4diac IDE XML files

Many thanks to all contributors for their work and their feedback!

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #90

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 12 Jun 2026 17:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

ECC & Replay Debugging
- Added evaluator model breakpoints for ECC debugging
- Added graphical outline support for the ECC editor
- Enhanced replay debugging:
  - Event highlighting and comparison visualization
  - Navigation between highlighted events
  - Timeline comments with add/remove commands
  - Keyboard shortcuts
  - Improved undo/redo support
  - Better selection handling and event positioning
Validation & Quick Fixes
- Added validation for unused pins in composite FBs and subapplications
- Added quick fixes to automatically remove unused pins
Editor & UI Improvements
- Improved initial value editor behavior
- Updated coloring and usability of editable pin properties
- Added FBT macro support to the AsciiDoc preview
- Fixed NPE during ECC transition dragging
Type System & Refactoring
- Fixed type name refresh issues
- Replaced obsolete refactoring update edits
- Reduced unnecessary marker updates and duplicate markers
- Improved marker handling performance
Documentation & Release Maintenance
- Updated integrated documentation to the latest 3.2.x branch
- Updated dependencies for the 3.2 release
Build & Maintenance
- Updated CodeQL integration
- Added missing workflow permissions
- Removed unnecessary stream creation and performed various cleanup refactorings

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac FORTE

OPC UA
- Fixed multiple OPC UA issues:
  - Memory leak in logger handling
  - Incorrect variable handle usage
  - Wrong type mapping for UA_Byte
  - Out-of-bounds access during method initialization
- Enabled OPC UA builds on Linux CI workflows
- Switched to modern find_package integration for open62541
Runtime Robustness
- Fixed use-after-free in GEN_CSV_WRITER
- Fixed buffer overflow in the FBDK ASN.1 layer
- Fixed illegal casts in several runtime components
- Improved sanitizer configuration handling
Data Type Handling
- Fixed BCD conversion issues for larger target data types
- Corrected 64-bit literal handling in tests
- Fixed floating-point conversion related casts
CI & Maintenance
- Updated CodeQL integration
- Added required workflow permissions

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac FBE

Release Alignment
- Updated to Eclipse 4diac FORTE 3.2 release components.

Many thanks to all contributors for their work and their feedback!

Eclipse 4diac 3.2 Released!

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Sun, 07 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This release introduces major feature upgrades and optimization across the entire ecosystem, most notably:

Replay Debugging: A brand-new framework allowing exact, step-by-step reproduction of application runs from FORTE traces or manual events, complete with parallel branching timelines.
IDE UI & Usability Overhaul: A new low-clutter visual grid, modernized ECC and Interface editors matching IEC 61499 color semantics, and smoother transition splines.
Runtime & Performance Boosts: 4diac FORTE now features reduced binary sizes, faster floating-point formatting, native ANY_STRUCT support, and a modularized OPC UA feature layer.

Explore the Full Details

For a complete, in-depth breakdown of every single new feature, validation rule, and dependency upgrade in this version, check out the official details page: Eclipse 4diac 3.2 New and Noteworthy

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #89

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 05 Jun 2026 17:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Release & Documentation Updates
- Updated the Splash screen, Intro pages, and official Documentation for the 3.2 Release.
- Reworked and enhanced the “What’s New” page and corrected tutorial and table-of-contents links.
Deployment & Debugging Tools
- Fixed an issue in the deployment evaluator where fake time was written to devices after event execution; it is now correctly set beforehand to ensure exact timing sync.
- Polished the replay debugging tools UI by assigning distinct colors to columns and cleaning up overall aesthetics.
- Ensured original events are marked as read-only during replay sessions.
Importing & Type Management
- Fixed an issue where missing parameter types in devices, resources, or segments resulted in a null type; they now default to ANY.
- Reworked the importer’s type lookup to enforce the creation of error data types when needed, adding proper container variable declarations.
- Cleaned up the parameter handling logic for devices, resources, and segments within the importer.
- Ensured the TypeLibrary is completely cleared when a project is closed.
Model & Serialization Fixes
- Fixed an issue where ECTransition comments were incorrectly derived and lost during model copying (ECoreUtil.copy()).
- Harmonized how transition comments are parsed and serialized in XML using a centralized approach.
- Fixed a date typo bug present in Client blocks.
- Preserved member access pin attributes automatically during Function Block updates.
Refactoring & Maintenance
- Refactored rename change logic into a dedicated helper class to streamline code reuse.
- Added explanatory comments for how old names are utilized within the dependency updater.

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac FORTE

OPC UA Integration
- Upgraded the integrated open62541 stack to version 1.5.4.
- Refactored the OPC UA Event layer to natively support the open62541 v1.5 API.
- Regenerated the OPC UA data types inside the dedicated 4diac namespace for system testing.

Many thanks to all contributors for their work and their feedback!

Introducing Our GSoC 2026 Contributor: Dimitris Kalligaridis

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Project: Strengthening Refactoring Quality through Automated Testing

Contributor: Dimitris Kalligaridis

Organization: American College of Greece, Athens, Greece
Field of Study: IT, specializing in Intelligent Systems and Automation (Senior)
Mentors: Michael Oberlehner and the Eclipse 4diac Community

About Me

Hi, I am Dimitris, a senior student at the American College of Greece, graduating this summer with a BSc Hons in IT, specializing in Intelligent Systems and Automation. Last summer, I interned at Amazon as a Software Development Engineer in the Devices OS Security team, and this summer I am excited to be participating in Google Summer of Code 2026 with Eclipse 4diac.

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #88

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 29 May 2026 17:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

UI & Property Sheet Enhancements
- Added a member access property sheet to the instance section and refactored the member access tree viewer into its own dedicated class to accommodate struct pins.
- Harmonized the look and feel by enabling the “Edit Interface” sections for standard FB instances, creating clear structural separation between untyped SubApps and instance sheets.
- Shifted the BulkEditor context menu to leverage native Eclipse infrastructure and disabled the auto-layouting context menu when the selection is empty.
Validation & Modeling Fixes
- Eliminated false-positives in unused instance validation by ensuring the check confirms whether an internal FB belongs to an FB network.
- Restricted the HTML preview feature to trigger exclusively on read-only files.
- Fixed an undo-command bug to properly restore connections after a structural block has been deleted.
Replay Debugging & Timeline Features
- Introduced a new state comparison view along with its associated handling commands.
- Added search capabilities directly within debugging timelines.
- Added capabilities to delete specific timelines and event markers.
CI/CD & DevOps
- Implemented a automated GitHub workflow to automatically tag and flag inactive issues and pull requests as stale.

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac FORTE

Testing Infrastructure
- Enforced the IEC 61131-3 module as a mandatory requirement when running tests, introducing force options and clear log diagnostics for dependent blocks like GEN_F_MOVE.
- Resolved several memory leaks in the test suite by ensuring proper resource and global fixture initialization and deinitialization.

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac Documentation

Redesigned and cleaned up the main documentation overview page, streamlining text by grouping technical topics into highly legible tables and resolving broken layout links.
Improved and expanded the project deployment documentation.

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac FBE

OPC UA Support (open62541)
- Refactored the open62541 version 1.4 recipe to introduce integrated support for Alarms & Conditions.
- Updated the open62541 recipe to version 1.4.16, enabling the alarms feature by default.
- Introduced a new recipe for open62541 version 1.5.
Core Build Dependencies & Runtime Sync
- Synced the internal FORTE dependency to align with the current release branch.
- Upgraded core underlying libraries across the build recipes:
  - boost updated to 1.91.0-1
  - libmodbus updated to 3.1.12
  - libpcap updated to 1.10.6
  - libressl updated to 4.3.2
  - zlib updated to 1.3.2

Many thanks to all contributors for their work and their feedback!

GSoC 2026 Progress: Execution Control Chart

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Project: Enhancing Execution Control Chart ECC Experience

Contributor: Vikash Kumar Sinha

Organization: Sant Longowal Institute of Engineering and Technology (SLIET), Punjab, India
Field of Study: Computer Science (3rd Year)
Mentors: Alois Zoitl and Eclipse 4diac Community

About Me

I’m Vikash Kumar Sinha, a 3rd-year Computer Science student from Sant Longowal Institute of Engineering and Technology (SLIET), Punjab, India. I’m passionate about open-source development and building robust industrial automation tools. This summer, I’m thrilled to be contributing to Eclipse 4diac as part of Google Summer of Code 2026, focusing on enhancing the ECC (Execution Control Chart) editor’s user experience.

Eclipse 4diac 3.2 Development Milestone: Feature Freeze

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Wed, 27 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The final release is scheduled for June 10, 2026.

Information on the changes is available on the New and Noteworthy pages.

Testing of the current development branches is encouraged to assist in the final stabilization phase. Please report any issues via our GitHub issue trackers.

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #87

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 22 May 2026 17:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Validation & UI Enhancements
- Added validation warnings for unused FB/SubApp instances and optional warnings for multiple output event connections.
- Refreshed block styles with new fill colors (ice blue for typed blocks, sand brown for untyped) and added dark mode support.
- Improved spline routing control points and simplified library setup wizards.
Editors and Refactoring
- Enhanced the Bulk Editor with row-copying support, attribute filtering, and bug fixes for invalid values.
- Introduced a prototype AsciiDoc editor and text macro processing for Type Documentation.
- Fixed structural refactoring commands, folder copying bugs, and stale type library references.
Connectivity & Maintenance
- Updated Eclipse Milo to v1.1.3 and fixed the P2 update site to include OPC UA and experimental features.
- Removed dead code and added a CodeQL GitHub Action workflow for security scans.

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac FORTE

New Function Blocks & Library Enhancements
- Added E_D_FF_ANY to allow data latching for any data type instead of just booleans.
- Introduced LTIME variants for standard timer blocks (FB_TOF, FB_TON, FB_TP).
- Upgraded E_TP pulse timers to use precise rising-edge triggering (E_R_TRIG).
- Implemented standard array handling blocks (F_LOWER_BOUND, F_UPPER_BOUND, F_LEN_ARRAY).
Testing & Bug Fixes
- Created a dedicated forte_systemtest executable to separate system tests from regular runtime builds.
- Added delegate connection tests and fixed test-suite memory crashes caused by uninitialized testing blocks.
- Fixed data casting and string copying errors inside the Modbus communication layer.
- Added a CodeQL analysis workflow to check incoming pull requests for bugs.

Many thanks to all contributors for their work and their feedback!

OpenFB 1.1.0 Released

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Mon, 18 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

We are pleased to announce the release of OpenFB, a new open-source IEC 61499 runtime for Python. The project source code is available on GitHub: OpenFB.

OpenFB is a Python-powered IEC 61499 runtime compliant with latest 4diac IDE. It acts as a lightweight, portable execution device - similar in role to 4diac FORTE but written in Python, which makes it particularly attractive for:

Rapid prototyping of distributed IEC 61499 applications
Edge devices and embedded Linux platforms
AI/ML applications
Industrial automation projects that need easy extension with custom function blocks

By consuming the same .fbt libraries and deployment artifacts produced by 4diac IDE, OpenFB enables engineers to design control logic in 4diac IDE and deploy it to OpenFB-powered devices without leaving the IEC 61499 toolchain.

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #86

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 15 May 2026 17:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Event Function Blocks
- Added the new E_RF_TRIG function block for combined rising/falling edge detection
- Added generic E_D_FF_ANY flip-flop function block supporting arbitrary data types
- Modernized timer function blocks by replacing deprecated event FBs with newer edge-triggering variants
- Removed obsolete E_MOVE function block from the event library
- Fixed comments and documentation typos in edge detection FBs
Type System & Project Handling
- Fixed stale type references and dependency cleanup after project dereferencing
- Improved cleanup of FB palette listeners on disposal
Export & Build
- Refactored export builder implementation
- Improved auto export by skipping generic types
- Integrated CodeQL analysis into the main Maven workflow
Editor & Visualization
- Fixed transition bounds and edge direction aspect ratio handling

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac FORTE

Event Function Blocks
- Added E_RF_TRIG runtime support for detecting rising and falling boolean edges
- Updated timer function blocks to use E_RF_TRIG instead of E_SWITCH
Composite FBs & Connections
- Fixed forwarding of generic values through internal composite FB connections
Platform & Code Quality
- Refactored FreeRTOS thread cleanup by introducing a named deleter type
- Eliminated compiler warnings related to internal linkage

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac Documentation

Documentation Maintenance
- Harmonized capitalization of URL paths and file names

Many thanks to all contributors for their work and their feedback!

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #85

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 08 May 2026 17:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Bulk Editor and UI improvements
- Fix column handling in the BulkEditor variable tables
- Improve editability handling for VarInOut sections and instance sections
- Disable hiding of pins that still have active connections
- Remove display synchronization calls from TypeDecorator to avoid UI locking issues
Validation and robustness improvements
- Add validation for invisible VAR_IN_OUT connections
- Improve model support for validating hidden connected VAR_IN_OUTs
- Prevent exceptions in background updates by checking project availability of interface elements
Function block and standard library updates
- Refine metadata and version information for F_ATAN2
- Fix missing PV association on REQ events for CTU function blocks
- Add event rendezvous function blocks for 2, 3, and 4 events
- Update storage format for E_REND function blocks to 4diac IDE 3.0.2
Refactorings and maintenance
- Extract edge calculation logic into a reusable EdgeDirection utility
- Upgrade Xtext tests to JUnit 6
- Improve UI test execution support on macOS Apple Silicon
- Remove obsolete source folder references from Milo fragment plugins
- Add missing event-data associations in test function blocks

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac FORTE

IEC 61131-3 compliance and standard library improvements
- Add IEC 61131-3 compliant ATAN2 implementation
- Correct input handling and argument order for F_ATAN2
- Add new CTUD_UDINT counter function block
- Fix missing PV event association for CTU function blocks
Event synchronization enhancements
- Add generic GEN_E_REND event rendezvous function block
- Add tests for GEN_E_REND
Networking and logging improvements
- Refactor TCP connection opening logic for BSD and Win32 sockets
- Improve logging output handling for info log levels
- Show the actual port used in BSD and Win32 socket interfaces
Testing and maintainability
- Add tests and cleanup for new rendezvous functionality

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac Documentation

Add documentation note about macOS requirements for UI tests

Many thanks to all contributors for their work and their feedback!

Welcoming Our Google Summer of Code 2026 Contributors!

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Sat, 02 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

As Eclipse 4diac continues its journey toward industrial-grade maturity, these projects will help strengthen both the robustness of the IDE and the experience for its users.

This Year’s Projects

Strengthening Refactoring Quality through Automated Testing
As code quality becomes increasingly critical, especially in industrial contexts, refactoring support in the 4diac IDE plays a key role. This project focuses on improving the infrastructure for automated unit testing of our advanced refactoring features, helping ensure their correctness, reliability, and maintainability over time.
Enhancing the ECC Editor User Experience
While the 4diac IDE has seen significant usability and UX improvements in recent years, the ECC editor has not yet received the same level of attention. This project will analyze the current state of the ECC editor and introduce targeted UI and UX improvements to make it more intuitive and efficient for users.

Growing the Community

Google Summer of Code is a fantastic opportunity to bring new contributors into the Eclipse Foundation ecosystem and the Eclipse 4diac community. We are looking forward to working closely with our students, supporting them throughout the summer, and learning from their fresh perspectives.

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #84

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 01 May 2026 17:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Improved validation and diagnostics
- Clear stale type library markers after successful registration
- Create error markers from diagnostics
- Add manifest version validation (including model-based checks)
- Introduce version range validation and corresponding tests
Bulk Editor enhancements and refactoring
- Refactor Bulk Editor into multiple classes for better maintainability
- Add Find context menu and improved feedback when no usage is found
- Improve table handling and remove VarConfig from data output tables
Library and project handling improvements
- Add project selection to library import wizard
- Fix issues reported by static analysis in the import wizard
Architecture and modularization
- Extract OPC UA deployment into a separate feature to better isolate dependencies

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac FORTE

Security and robustness improvements
- Fixed handling of gathering connections (queries, disconnect, and source port resolution)
- Fix buffer handling in strcpy usage to prevent vulnerabilities
- Improve GitHub workflow permissions for better security
Determinism and runtime improvements
- Introduce static FreeRTOS task creation to reduce heap usage and fragmentation
Testing and quality assurance
- Add extensive tests for E_REND function block behavior
- Add tests for gathering, member, and negating connections, as well as management commands
Functional extensions
- Add distance module components to signal processing

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac Documentation

Update installation guide for Raspberry Pi
Improve serial communication documentation with clearer explanations

Many thanks to all contributors for their work and their feedback!

Eclipse 4diac at OCX 2026: 18 Years of Eclipse RCP

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Thu, 30 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The recording of the talk is now available on YouTube: Watch “18 Years of Eclipse 4diac – An Eclipse RCP Success Story”.

Michael Oberlehner, Eclipse 4diac committer, presented the journey of the project from its first beginnings in 2007 to today’s mature open-source toolchain for distributed industrial automation based on IEC 61499.

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #83

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 24 Apr 2026 17:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Interpreter & Replay Debugging -Renamed simulator to replayer and improved overall interpreter state handling -Better separation of utilities between FORTE and interpreter -Added force/clear value capabilities for debugging
Editor & UI Improvements -Added new GEF elements and removed legacy ones -Introduced multiline capabilities in editors -Fixed issues when opening service sequence tabs
Function Blocks -Removed obsolete QO output from RT_E_CYCLE

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac FORTE

Code Quality & Testing -Replaced magic numbers in tests with descriptive constants for better readability -Updated test event constants to reflect actual IEC 61499 event names -Improved consistency in test literals using IEC-compliant syntax
Runtime & Utilities -Simplified formatting by replacing std::format_to() with to_string() -Added utility functions for string handling (appendInt, appendFloat) -Improved normalization of string representations
Function Blocks
- -Removed obsolete QO output from RT_E_CYCLE

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac Documentation

Extended documentation for serial communication
Added documentation for GPIOChip function block

Many thanks to all contributors for their work and their feedback!

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #82

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 17 Apr 2026 17:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Refactoring & Model Handling -Extracted shared helpers for type rename and move refactorings -Simplified datatype refactoring edits and restructured DataTypeEdit -Fixed package name updates when moving types -Split complex model edits into dedicated components for better maintainability -Improved copy workflows with rename suggestions and validation -Prevented duplicate Xtext resource creation during copy
Deployment & OPC UA -Updated Eclipse Milo to 1.1.2 and introduced fragment plugins -Reduced Milo dependency footprint in deployment interpreter -Improved handling of VarConfig parameters and subapp hierarchy in deployment data
Structured Text Tooling -Refactored ST partitioners to better separate algorithm and method bodies -Improved legacy format detection using lexer-based checks -Switched endian conversion functions to use native endianness
Editor & UI Improvements -Improved tooltips (merged value/initial value, added pin comments, refreshed interface tooltips) -Fixed issues with pin labels and editor reopening -Improved transition routing using dedicated connection anchors -Ensured correct debugging timing for linked internal FBs -Updated plant hierarchy on comment changes
Validation & Robustness -Preserved untyped subapp pin values during datatype updates -Fixed example creation dialog validation -Fixed import/export issues for VarConfig parameters
Platform & Infrastructure -Updated target platform to Eclipse 2026-06 M1 -Migrated to upstream HierarchyGrid and adapted GEF changes -Fixed launch configuration product usage -General cleanup and dependency updates

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac FORTE

Runtime & Event Handling -Improved event triggering to correctly update monitoring counters -Fixed event processing for simulated time updates -Initialized internal states in RT function blocks to avoid undefined behavior
Function Blocks & Features -Added new PROVIDE_ARR function blocks
Performance & Code Quality -Simplified event dispatch logic and removed redundant utilities -Minor utility additions (e.g., hexChar)
Build & Tooling -Updated CI dependencies and workflows

Many thanks to all contributors for their work and their feedback!

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #81

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 10 Apr 2026 17:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Refactoring & Structured Text
- Fixed Xtext resource loading and destination name handling during copy operations
- Added dedicated copy participant for ST resources with improved error tolerance
Libraries & Type Handling
- Added default library selection for new 4diac projects
- Removed duplicate FB types
- Improved robustness of error subapp types by ensuring a default FB network is always present

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac FORTE

Runtime & Networking
- Removed SO_REUSEADDR from generic BSD socket implementation
Performance & Code Quality
- Improved memory usage by switching to std::string_view for MGM response texts
Build & Tooling
- Updated CI dependencies and pinned GitHub actions
- Minor updates to linting setup
Architecture Improvements
- Updated A&C layer to use fully qualified names

Many thanks to all contributors for their work and their feedback!

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #80

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 03 Apr 2026 17:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Library Management & Remote Access
- Added remote version lookup and improved handling of remote connections with clearer error reporting
- Introduced a new library wizard with planning page
- Avoided UI blocking during remote version fetching
- Refactored library element handling using UI jobs for better responsiveness and scheduling
- Fixed security issue in path handling within the LibraryManager
Editor & UI Improvements
- Fixed pasting files from outside into 4diac IDE
- Improved ST editor hover documentation
- Ensured correct editor page selection during source lookup and marker navigation
- Fixed selection handling for nested multipage editors
- Improved interface bar layout execution and thread safety
- Added reordering support in the plant hierarchy
Validation & Model Handling
- Improved validation for generic variable fan-out type mismatches
- Fixed handling of directly derived attribute values, including missing XML elements
- Ensured AutomationSystem always contains a SystemConfiguration
- Fixed resource creation in library element hashing
- Improved attribute export handling for values and comments
Refactoring & Workflow
- Prompt user before saving all dirty editors during refactoring
- Added validation page access and completion checks in wizards
Function Blocks & Standard Compliance
- Added missing standard function blocks (e.g., CTUD_UDINT)
- Added ATAN2 function according to IEC 61131-3
Infrastructure & Cleanup
- Externalized strings and harmonized label providers
- Cleaned up unused components and improved code formatting
- Updated storage format to 3.0.2 with added descriptions

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac FORTE

Type System Enhancements
- Added new generic data types: ANY_DERIVED_VARIANT and ANY_STRUCT
OPC UA & Testing
- Fixed missing package in OPC UA system tests

Many thanks to all contributors for their work and their feedback!

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #79

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 27 Mar 2026 17:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Function Blocks & Libraries
- Added new array-related function blocks:
  - provide / provide_arr blocks with improved structure and documentation
  - New utility FBs: F_UPPER_BOUND, F_LOWER_BOUND, F_LEN_ARRAY
Type System & Resource Handling
- Split FordiacTypeResource into individual resources
- Fixed missing type library references and filtered error data types
- Improved handling of type loading and suppressed excessive logging
- Removed outdated type reload logic and improved type consistency
Refactoring & Dependency Management
- Fixed delayed dependency updates during UI-based refactorings (e.g., drag & drop)
- Improved handling of dependency updaters and their lifecycle
- Ensured correct refactoring behavior when types are opened in non-4diac editors
Subapplication & Connection Handling
- Major improvements for subapplication-crossing connections:
  - Proper handling of expanded subapplications
  - Added automatic imports for types and constants
- Reworked TargetLabel reconnect:
  - Multi-select reconnect support
  - Multiple connections for events
  - Improved selection, feedback, and movement behavior
  - Refactored policies and commands for better structure
  - Added selection support for single target interfaces
Interface Editor & Visualization
- Reworked interface editor layout
- Improved visuals:
  - Better rendering order for connections
  - Enhanced “with” connections appearance and anchor calculation
  - Show adapter connections in interface editor
- Improved debug view:
  - Updated to new FB figure
  - Fixed zooming and width handling
Monitoring & Debugging
- Fixed toggle watch handler enablement
- Added resource status display in monitoring
- Extended FB/resource list responses with optional status information
Editor & UI Improvements
- Fixed active editor detection in multipage editors
- Fixed exception when resizing expanded subapplications
- Improved connection following for multiple targets
- Updated visuals for target interface selection
Internationalization & Features
- Added i18n support across multiple features:
  - workbench, type editor, structured text, runtime, interpreter, deployment, export, comgeneration
- Switched features to reuse org.eclipse.license
- Removed redundant feature attributes
Miscellaneous Improvements
- Removed duplicate GitLab package entries in import tree
- Improved value handling for FB inputs/outputs
- Decoupled ECC transition command from UI dependencies

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac FORTE

OPC UA Communication Layer
- Added forward declarations to improve structure and compilation
- Reorganized include structure for better maintainability

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac Documentation

Contribution Guide Improvements
- Improved commit message guidelines:
  - Added self-contained commit message recommendations
  - Introduced admonitions for better readability
- Updated IDE import instructions

Many thanks to all contributors for their work and their feedback!

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #78

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 20 Mar 2026 17:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Editor & UI Improvements
- Improved grid rendering with reduced visual clutter and better contrast (including dark mode)
- More robust handling of selection change events in the diagram editor
- Renamed and cleaned up ECC editor components for better clarity and stability
- Fixed auto-expose behavior in ECC editor
- Improved connection error messages and validation feedback
Refactoring & Code Editing
- Reworked extract callable refactorings to operate on exact selections
- Fixed missing variable quickfixes in ECC transition conditions
- Removed non-refactoring and obsolete code paths
Library Management Overhaul
- Introduced unified library importer and new project wizard integration
- Added support for multiple GitLab endpoints via preferences
- Improved handling of broken or missing libraries
- Fixed builder issues (including endless loops) and enhanced logging
- Migrated to a new tree structure and content provider for library handling
Validation & Type Handling
- Improved connection validation, especially for generic and non-generic FBs
- Fixed recursion checks for structured data types
- Filtered error types from data type libraries to avoid incorrect behavior
- Unified name collision domain for interface and FB network elements
Monitoring & Debugging
- Added configurable options for watching sub-elements (UI, watchpoints, default behavior)
- Improved detection of unused output events in simple FBs
Infrastructure & Cleanup
- Migrated away from deprecated APIs and removed unused dependencies
- Fixed Maven warnings and cleaned up activators and message keys
- Improved secure storage handling for endpoints
- General code cleanup and removal of TODOs

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac FORTE

Monitoring & Query Enhancements
- Added FB state information to Query FB responses for improved runtime introspection
- Fixed attribute naming issues in query responses
OPC UA & Dependencies
- Upgraded OPC UA stack to newer open62541 version

Many thanks to all contributors for their work and their feedback!

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #77

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 13 Mar 2026 17:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Visual Improvements & UI Modernization
- Cleaned up color handling for devices, segments, resources, and FBs
- Introduced improved visual representation of mapped FBs (device-colored bar)
- MappingEditPart now correctly reacts to device color changes
- Improved comment visuals (hover feedback, default size, multi-line rendering)
- Fixed display and navigation of hidden error connections between subapps
- Fixed layout and resizing behavior for expanded subapps and groups
Mapping & Model Behavior

Eclipse 4diac 3.1 Released!

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Wed, 11 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Highlights 4diac IDE:

Improved Struct Member Access: F_MOVE and generic variables now fully support member access pins for easier handling of structured data types.
Enhanced Folder Refactoring: Move and rename refactoring for folders automatically updates internal type references and package names.
User Interface Improvements: A modernized UI, improved HiDPI support, better dark mode integration, and smoother graphical editing interactions.
Improved Stability and Security: Numerous bug fixes, more stable type hashing, and improved archive extraction security.

Highlights 4diac FORTE:

Modularized IEC 61131-3 Function Library: Standard functions are now split into individual headers, improving compile times and enabling more granular inclusion of required functionality.
Memory & Performance Optimizations: Improvements such as optimized FreeRTOS thread stack initialization and the use of std::string_view reduce memory usage and unnecessary allocations.
OPC UA Improvements: Refactoring of alarm handling and namespace management improves interoperability with OPC UA clients.
New Function Blocks & Runtime Enhancements – Added new utility blocks and improved support for delegating connections in Composite Function Blocks.

For a complete overview of all improvements, please see the New and Noteworthy page for this release.

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #76

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 06 Mar 2026 17:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Structured Text & Expression Handling
- Added support for providing expected types in the ST model
- Provided expected type information during XMI export to ensure correct typing of initializer expressions
- Added exception handling for out-of-bounds array access in the evaluator
Model & Interface Handling
- Switched to EcoreUtil.copy for full interface duplication to ensure complete copies
- Improved mapping of FBs with member access pins
- Fixed containment handling of VarConfigParameter in the Initial Value Editor
- Added getters for old and new data types in ChangeDataTypeCommand
Type Validation & Hashing

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #75

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 27 Feb 2026 17:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Type System & Error Type Handling
- Reworked error type handling and inheritance hierarchy
- Added dedicated error library elements when types cannot be loaded
- Filtered error types in type library and removed obsolete entries
- Improved validation with early detection of type cast errors
- Fixed interface handling for error types
- Added notifications for type name and comment changes
- Reload type entries correctly during dependency updates
- Created type entries for specific type classes
Project References & Build Handling

Eclipse 4diac 3.1 Development Milestone: Feature Freeze

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Thu, 26 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The 3.1 release introduces several architectural and usability enhancements:

4diac IDE: Improved Struct Member Access for F_MOVE blocks, support for Folder Refactoring, and a refined user interface including drop shadows and optimized Dark Mode support.
4diac FORTE: A modularized IEC 61131-3 function library, memory optimizations for FreeRTOS targets, and expanded OPC UA Alarm handling for SIFB-based implementations.

The final release is scheduled for March 11, 2026. Detailed information on these changes is available on the New and Noteworthy pages.

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #74

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 20 Feb 2026 17:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Textual Editor & ST Tooling
- Filter unrelated markers in textual editor tabs
- Added language-aware task markers for the ST editor
- Introduced common marker types shared across ST languages
Markers & Error Reporting
- Enabled custom plugins to register their own error reporting integrations
Refactoring & Project Structure
- Added folder rename refactoring including automatic update of type references and package names
- Display library version information in the explorer
Graphical Editing & Commands

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #73

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 13 Feb 2026 17:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Preferences & issue reporting
- Added preference for manually configuring the GitHub issue URL
- Added preference qualifier parameter to the GitHub issue creator for third-party plugin integration
Type system & model robustness
- Added search references for InternalFBs
- Fixed parameter dependency handling for functions and methods in forte_ng export
- Replaced fragile eContainer() usages with getInterfaceList() or getBlockElement()
- Fixed filter handling for type entry notifications during dependency updates
- Detected and prevented recursion during dependency updates
- Fixed adapter exceptions interfering with type entry operations
Editing, commands & policies

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #72

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 06 Feb 2026 17:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Structured data & model correctness
- Fixed equals checks in structured values
- Fixed follow / go-to pin handling for expanded struct member pins
- Allow unset type in F_MOVE instances
- Added helper methods for value handling and array size computation in the model
- Added lower and upper bound function blocks (F_LOWER_BOUND, F_UPPER_BOUND)
Refactoring & editing
- Use model edits for connection refactoring
- Improved connection refactoring stability
- Improved undo and job scheduling behavior during refactorings
Library & dependency management
- Fixed invalid thread access in library element dependency updater
- Extracted permission-related functions from LibraryManager
- Extracted marker-related functions from LibraryManager
- Fixed library builder to detect broken links
- Created library download package
UI & visual improvements
- Added new shadow and comment header to expanded subapps
- Introduced a soft drop shadow around the main page
- Modernized page border and page comment visuals (including dark mode)
- Removed custom MarqueeRectangleFigure in favor of GEF Classic implementation
Usability & workflow
- Improved URL truncation for manual issue reporting
- ExportBuilder now reports build cancellation correctly
- Use modification timestamps to check for content existence
- Added progress monitor handling where missing
- Run GitHub workflows on all branches
Platform & infrastructure
- Externalized user-facing UI strings to plugin.properties
- Adjusted product configuration to the latest Eclipse platform setup
- Set priority and scheduling rules for OCL jobs

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac FORTE

IEC 61131-3 & data handling
- Added missing REAL definitions for TRUNC_* IEC 61131-3 functions
- Updated InOut array bounds based on reference values with variable bounds
- Added getter for defining values of InOut connections and improved naming
Runtime & platform fixes
- Initialized thread stack as nullptr to avoid unnecessary memory usage in FreeRTOS
CI & maintenance
- Run GitHub workflows on all branches
- Bumped cpp-linter-action from 2.16.6 to 2.16.7

Enhancements and Fixes in the Documentation

Navigation & layout
- Fixed CSS and breadcrumb generation for documentation pages
- Introduced dedicated _index.adoc files for improved navigation structure
Usability
- Added the new documentation sidebar to the documentation header for clearer structure and orientation

Many thanks to all contributors for their work and their feedback!

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #71

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 30 Jan 2026 17:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Editor, refactoring, and model robustness
- Fixed undo context handling in the bulk editor to correctly integrate with other editors and dirty-state tracking.
- Switched rename and move refactorings to model-based edits and ensured explicit builds are scheduled afterward.
- Fixed issues with recursive members in structs and avoided unnecessary notifications in type entries.
- Refactored and fixed system creation after recent infrastructure changes.
- Restored correct “Copy Project” behavior in the System Explorer paste action.
Library element and type handling
- Fixed disconnected library elements during disposal in the type editor.
- Corrected dependency updates in the library element provider.
- Removed obsolete system access from the System Manager, consolidating handling in the type library.
UI, usability, and visual improvements
- Improved interface bar visuals with a cleaner appearance and enhanced dark mode support.
- Fixed input updates for sub-editors in the breadcrumb editor.
- Improved export feedback by showing ignored files and informational messages in the export status dialog.
- Fixed texts and removed outdated icons for configurable FBs and container variables.
Function blocks, initial values, and validation
- Added documentation comments for RS and SR bistable latch function blocks.
- Disallowed recursive members in structs.
- Improved handling of inherited initial values on generic variables.
- Added configurable severities for initial values on generic variables.
Debugging and tooling
- Prepared replay debugging support for use with the interpreter in the GUI, including:
  - Integration of a tracer reader from Trace Compass.
  - Clear separation between simulator and interpreter components.
  - Support for selecting local or remote simulators.
  - Ensured listeners are removed safely only if projects still exist.
Miscellaneous fixes
- Updated generic class naming for array-to-value conversion.
- Fixed dependency update initialization in library element handling.

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac FORTE

Data conversion and utility functions
- Refactored and fixed VALUES2ARRAY and ARRAY2VALUES to improve correctness and maintainability.
Diagnostics and usability
- Added a helpful startup message for common issues when device creation fails due to missing shared libraries or linker flags.
Code cleanup and consistency
- Renamed the RT_Bridge class to GEN_RT_Bridge and aligned all related declarations.
- Fixed missing includes in the embrick module to restore successful builds.

Many thanks to all contributors for their work and their feedback!

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #70

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 23 Jan 2026 17:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Type System & Library Infrastructure
- Removed obsolete editable type entries and adapter-related functionality.
- Introduced a unified library element provider and integrated it across:
  - Decorators and content providers
  - Refactorings and quick fixes
  - Bulk editor
  - Type and system editors
  - ST editor
  - Debug UI
- Added supporting infrastructure for library elements:
  - Dependency tracker and updater
  - Activation listener
  - State listener
  - Undo manager
  - Sub-editor input
Editor & Viewer Behavior
- Fixed editor and viewer background handling to consistently use theme colors, ensuring correct appearance in dark mode and clear differentiation between editor and viewer.
- Fixed moving blocks between editors.
- Enabled seamless connections between graphical editors.
- Improved connection feedback when crossing viewer borders.
- Re-enabled canvas panning via middle mouse button and space + left mouse button.
- Removed now unnecessary drag-and-drop handling due to improved direct editor interaction.
Interaction & Usability Improvements

Eclipse 4diac Maintenance Release

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Tue, 20 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Highlights of 4diac IDE 3.0.2 fixes:

Fixed issues when changing FB types from data to adapter connections (and vice versa).
Corrected the FORTE code generator to include missing package names in internal FB configuration strings.
Reset variables without explicit defaults correctly in the evaluator.
Improved AttributeSearch to consider fully qualified attribute names, including package names.
Fixed setting of VarConfig in FBTypes.
Prevented recursive insertion of FBs and typed subapps into themselves.
Gracefully handle circular dependencies when loading types, logging warnings and creating error types.
Limited GitHub URL error reporting to 4k characters to avoid overly long stack traces.
Fixed issues in OCL checks, including warnings about double quotes and subapp-invariant repairs for untyped subapps (#1850).
Ensured plugin.properties of the model UI plugin is included in the build, restoring missing UI text.
Corrected handling of VAR_IN_OUTs in Plug Type Interfaces.

Highlights of 4diac FORTE fixes:

Corrected IO FBs to include the package name, fixing issues with package-scoped references.

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #69

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 16 Jan 2026 17:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Platform & Build
- Updated the IDE to the Eclipse 2026-03 target platform, simplifying dependency checks reducing build and update effort.
- Added additional Maven configuration to improve Sonar integration.
- Fixed missing plugin.properties entry in the model UI plugin build configuration.
Modeling & Editor Behavior
- Fixed incorrect handling of VAR_IN_OUT variables in the Plug Type Interface (issue #1997).
- Fixed automatic FB insertion into empty subapplications.
- Added a MemberAccess pin to the InitialValueHelper.
Connection Creation & Markers

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #68

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 09 Jan 2026 17:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Platform & build infrastructure
- Upgraded to the Eclipse 2026-03 target platform, simplifying builds by removing obsolete dependency checks.
- Fixed missing plugin.properties entry in build properties of the model UI plugin.
- Added additional Maven configuration for Sonar analysis.
- Resolved most Sonar-reported issues in the application plugin and UI tests.
Graphical editing & positioning
- Fixed pixel scaling issues and stabilized SetPositionCommand tests.
- Corrected automatic FB insertion behavior for empty subapps.
- Improved undo behavior when creating connections via connection markers.
Connections & markers

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #67

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 26 Dec 2025 17:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Maintenance release
- Released 4diac IDE 3.0.1, focusing on bug fixes for the 3.0 release.
Data handling and libraries
- Corrected byte assembly logic to properly assemble four bytes into a DWORD.
- Added support for splitting a DWORD into individual bytes, improving low-level data manipulation utilities.
- Updated copyright and versioning information for the affected functions.
Graphical editing and scaling
- Fixed handling of zoom and scaling when adjusting bendpoints, improving behavior on HiDPI systems (#1978).
- Corrected FB insert positioning to properly account for parent scaling.
- Reworked SetPositionCommand to rely on correctly translated GEF constraints and better handle screen resolution.
Exporter and operations

4diac IDE 3.0.1 – Maintenance Release

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Tue, 23 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

A major focus of this release is improved behavior on modern and high-DPI display setups. Several issues affecting zooming, scaling, and positioning in graphical editors have been resolved, resulting in more predictable editing behavior across platforms.

The Structured Text editor has also been stabilized with fixes that prevent invalid code generation and improve robustness when working with incompatible types.

In addition, this release addresses a number of model consistency and UI robustness issues, including more reliable adapter type handling, improved editor lifecycle management, and better behavior in edge cases across debugging and table-based views.

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #66

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 19 Dec 2025 17:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Type system and model consistency
- Fixed handling of different type responses in query results, ensuring all parsed responses are correctly reflected in the response model (#1776).
- Improved adapter type change handling across all FB types, ensuring model updates are properly propagated to editors.
- Corrected error event pin handling when changing adapter types in CFBs, avoiding spurious pins (#1916).
- Introduced dedicated instance and full-copy methods for interface lists to prevent incomplete or incorrect copying.
Refactoring, copy, and rename robustness

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #65

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 17:00:00 +0000

🎉 Eclipse 4diac 3.0 was released on December 10th! 🎉

With this major milestone reached, the focus now shifts to consolidation, bug fixes, and incremental improvements across the entire Eclipse 4diac ecosystem.

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

ST, parsing, and type handling
- Validate ST expressions for side effects in the parser
- Fix parsing of query type responses for data types, adapters, and global constants
- Gracefully handle empty type hash attributes
- Add literal types to XMI export
Copy, refactoring, and model consistency

Eclipse 4diac 3.0 Released!

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Wed, 10 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

👉 Try it now from our Downloads page and read all details in the New & Noteworthy.

A Major Milestone for the 4diac Ecosystem

The Eclipse 4diac 3.0 release marks the largest update we have ever delivered. Over the course of this release cycle, we completed:

5974 commits on the 4diac IDE
1537 commits on 4diac FORTE
A brand-new component: 4diac FBE, our flexible build environment

In the final weeks before release we focused heavily on stabilization, fixing a large number of issues and polishing the user experience across all components.

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #64

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 05 Dec 2025 17:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Type & Instance Handling
- Fixed drag-and-drop creation of typed subapp instances (#1917).
- Disabled RenameElement for FCT and added selection feedback for InterfaceElements in the FCT TypeEditor.
- Added filtering of own type in NewInstanceEditor and removed TSA usage inside CFBs.
- Added checks preventing insertion of TSA into CFBs and fixed self-insertion handling.
- Fixed creation of duplicate ConfigurableFB-specific attributes.
- Fixed handling of missing configurable FB types and preserved attributes when updating FBs coming from error markers.
- Corrected special handling of FBs by checking package names to avoid false matches.
Editor, UI & Property Improvements

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #63

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 28 Nov 2025 17:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Monitoring & Visibility
- Filter monitoring to block FB network elements only.
- Fix visibility handling for VarInOut outputs after restart.
Member Access Pin Handling
- Correct handling of member access pins when saving and parsing.
- Fix duplicate connections created for output member access pins.
- Check if connecting to a member access pin is valid.
- Support full type names in type prefixes for generic variables.
- Support full type names for struct and enum values.
- Rework visibility storage for Member Access pins.
- Correct visibility saving for MemberAccessPins in XML.
- Fix tooltip and max string size for member access pins.
- Show initial values for member access pins.
Structured Text (ST) Improvements

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #62

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 21 Nov 2025 17:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Member access pin support
- Fully reworked interface list handling for correct management of member access pins.
- Improved helper methods and updated instance handling to correctly reflect struct member access.
- Included member access pins in getAllInterfaceElements and switched the result to a stream for easier and more efficient use.
- Fixed search and copying logic in the InterfaceListCopier.
- Enabled deployment and connection creation for member access connections.
- Shown member access pins in the FB Network.
- Correctly exported and parsed connections to/from member access pins.
- Correctly parsed visible member pins for struct members.
- Added ContainerVarDeclaration as a new interface element for holding visible children.
General type and model handling

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #61

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 14 Nov 2025 17:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Enhancements to type library handling
- Added name references for entries of referenced type libraries.
- Added notifications for changes to referenced type library entries.
- Added referenced projects to the type library.
- Improved handling of concurrent updates in the type library manager.
- Avoided creating or deleting markers for foreign projects.
Refactoring, importing, and version handling
- Fixed invalid thread access that occurred when saving editors during refactoring.
- Improved matching of version ranges in 4diac FORTE export by switching to AnyNewerVersion compatibility for CMake.
- Improved lookup of unqualified data types, now correctly falling back to imports and defaulting null to ANY.
- Avoided unnecessary pin updates for configurable types during datatype refactorings.
Execution and interpretation fixes

Eclipse 4diac FBE 3.0 Enters Beta Stage!

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Mon, 10 Nov 2025 09:00:00 +0000

4diac FBE builds 4diac FORTE fully automatically, no manual downloads or installs of third-party software needed. It manages multiple 4diac FORTE configurations for multiple target machines and operating systems on a single developer machine.

It supports x86_64 Linux, x86_64 Windows and ARM64-based MacOS machines as developer machines, and it can cross-build 4diac FORTE binaries for pretty much all relevant MacOS, Windows and Linux targets, including single-board computers like the Raspberry Pi and legacy hardware.

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #60

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 07 Nov 2025 17:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Improved validation and error handling
- Validation now only runs on opened projects, avoiding unnecessary checks.
- Prevented follow-up errors caused by missing types or instances.
- Fixed null pointer exceptions in connection handling and deployment data computation.
- Stabilized type hashing by preserving the order of “With” elements, ensuring deterministic results.
- Avoided creating error marker elements for missing types to reduce visual clutter.
Enhanced type and annotation management

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #59

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 31 Oct 2025 17:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Enhanced transition condition support
- Added full support for transition conditions in refactoring, validation, the ST resource, and the builder
- Displayed warnings and error overlays directly on transitions, including tooltips with diagnostic messages
Annotation model performance and responsiveness
- Optimized annotation event handling for faster access and UI updates
- Moved annotation updates to background jobs and dispatched UI events asynchronously for better responsiveness
- Avoided full reloads of the annotation model on save by using incremental refreshes
Export and dependency management

Eclipse 4diac 3.0 Enters Feature Freeze!

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Mon, 27 Oct 2025 09:00:00 +0000

Over this period, we’ve seen more than 5800 commits in 4diac IDE and 1400 commits in 4diac FORTE — a tremendous community effort to modernize, optimize, and extend the capabilities of Eclipse 4diac.

With the feature freeze in place, our focus now shifts to stabilization and polishing to ensure a solid and reliable 3.0 release, planned for about three weeks from now.

Highlights of Eclipse 4diac 3.0

This release brings a wealth of new functionality, improved usability, and major internal modernization across all core components.

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #58

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 24 Oct 2025 17:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Editor stability and refactoring improvements
- Synchronized all Xtext editors before performing move or rename refactorings to prevent race conditions
- Used the open editor input for Xtext refactorings to ensure consistent state between editors
- Deferred handler activation until focus is gained in embedded Xtext editors to avoid premature triggers
- Prevented duplicate type entry adapters and redundant file notifications, reducing UI thread race conditions
- Avoided unnecessary resets during validation job disposal
Export and model fixes

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #57

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 17 Oct 2025 17:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Stability and robustness improvements
- Hardened multiple UI components such as ZoomComboContributionItem, DiagramOutlinePage, and various editors against race conditions and out-of-order refreshes
- Added error-page handling and recovery for failed type or system editor loading, including a new Open Text Editor button for error situations
- Fixed issues such as incorrect pin names for error markers, NPEs in templates without manifests, and crashes in label providers or refactor testers
- Improved operation history handling to prevent missing post-execute events when the history is full
- Ensured proper nature validation when project files change and fixed color rendering for error/warning cells in the NatTable editor
Model and importer updates

Eclipse 4diac White Paper on Improved IEC 61499 Communication Modelling

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Mon, 13 Oct 2025 09:00:00 +0000

The white paper, authored by Friederike Bruns and Alois Zoitl, proposes an extension to the IEC 61499 standard introducing messages and channels as explicit modelling concepts for communication across devices. With this approach, developers can capture timing, quality of service (QoS), and synchronization aspects directly in their application and system models.

By making communication a first-class modelling concept, distributed automation systems can be described more precisely, supporting platform independence, analysis, and reconfiguration.

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #56

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 10 Oct 2025 17:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

General robustness and cleanup
- Hardened disposal of DiagramOutlinePage to ensure proper listener cleanup
- Made TypeDecorator’s editor lookup more defensive
- Reworked ANT task generation to properly handle out-of-tree builds
- Reformatted all XML files to match current 4diac IDE formatting conventions
- Removed DOCTYPE declarations from XML templates and libraries to simplify structure and improve parsing performance and security
Importer and model improvements
- Added implicit imports and improved import resolution in the importer
- Extracted interface list and block type importer from FBT importer
- Updated documentation and toc.xml to align with the new documentation structure
- Added a name validation check ensuring type names differ from filenames
- Updated model to use dedicated validateName for LibraryElements
- Changed array access in forte_ng export to use checked access
- Adjusted struct connection jumping to stop when a connection is visible
- Prevented errors for variable arrays when used as method parameters

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac FORTE

Platform and build improvements

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #55

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 03 Oct 2025 17:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

BlockFBNetworkElement refactoring
- Introduced BlockFBNetworkElement for interface-providing elements
- Changed all usages of getFBNetworkElement to getBlockFBNetworkElement
- Reworked commands, handlers, actions, and property sheets for the new block model
- Reworked edit parts, policies, debug, and deploy plugins
- Reworked model search and remaining FB interpreter
- Fixed BlockFBNetworkElement issues and enablement check in map handler
- Updated AbstractUpdateFBNElementCommand with helpers for mixed FBs
Other improvements
- Updated internal references to new EMB_RES namespace
- Renamed Hardware lib to System lib with dependency to event lib
- Disabled forcing of InOut variables
- Fixed renaming struct not updating all references
- Added support for composite types in network traces
- Added CompositeFBTypeRuntime to model
- Renamed org.eclipse.fordiac.ide.emf.compare.MatchEngine package to follow Java conventions
- Exported translatable string
- Cleaned issues reported by Sonar

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac FORTE

Core improvements

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #54

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 26 Sep 2025 17:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Graphical editor improvements
- Fixed FB width calculation for FBs without input/output events
- Provided better logging and early failure if EditParts cannot be created
- Avoided unnecessary refreshes when inserting FBs
- Ensured graphical annotations used as model children have EditParts
- ContentAdapter now checks if EditPart is active before refreshing
- Fixed grid dash pattern depending on clip rectangle
Type export improvements
- Moved function declarations into namespaces
- Escaped C++ namespace keywords
- Used namespace blocks in source templates
- Updated forte namespace
- Added find_package for external libraries
Type handling and FB rendering

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #53

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 19 Sep 2025 17:00:00 +0000

🎉 This post marks the one-year anniversary of the Eclipse 4diac weekly news — thank you for following along!

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Attribute handling and UI
- Added label and improved layout for general Attribute-Targets
- Added null-checks and fixed layout in AttributeTargetSection
- Switched to CompoundCommand for more consistent command handling
Import, build, and libraries
- Fixed import copy when compilerinfo is null
- Removed outdated APPEND_STRING FBs from utils library (replaced by IEC 61131-3 CONCAT)
- Cleaned 3.0 typelib (removed unused storage FBs, reorganized FB_RANDOM, removed empty math lib)
- Fixed Nebula update site
- Upgraded to Eclipse Nebula Widgets 3.2 (removed IE workaround, fixed richtext issue)
GitLab downloader

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #52

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 12 Sep 2025 17:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Editor Improvements
- Fixed issues with the “Change Type” dialog, including type changes between FB and SubApp.
- Fixed undo context matching in the Xtext type editor and improved handling of embedded editors.
- Cleaned command stack handling for multipage editors and reduced unnecessary dirty property notifications.
- Added exception check when saving in AbstractTypeEditor.
- Fixed index and display issues in VarConfigs and ST code references.
Command Stack Refactoring
- Introduced OperationHistoryCommandStack and LibraryElementUndoContext for consistent undo/redo across graphical and type editors.
- Removed outdated getSystem method from editors and eliminated the CommandStack from the AutomationSystem.
- Updated type and library element handling with TypeEntryDataHandler using EObjects.
Features & Enhancements
- Added support for package names in resource types in deployment using :: separator.
- Improved attribute handling: inherit attributes can now be defined, copied on instance creation, and trigger warnings instead of errors.
- Added manifest download support to IArchiveDownloader for faster dependency resolution.
- Reworked generation of CMakeLists.txt and export structure for forte_ng.
Build & Platform Updates
- Upgraded build system to Tycho 5.0.
- Removed deprecated GEF Classic source features from the target platform.
- Fixed compliance with stricter Java rules.
- Added helper utilities for library element, file, and project access.

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac FORTE

Build System & Options
- Set minimum CMake version to 3.30 and defined C++ standard via target compile features.
- Reworked options: FORTE_STACKTRACE, FORTE_LOGLEVEL, and FORTE_RTTI_AND_EXCEPTIONS.
- Updated CMake project options and added dependency checks.
- Removed forte-global target and typeinit.
- Removed overrides for operator new/delete in favor of standard operators.
Architecture & Code Structure
- Reorganized source and include file structure across core, arch, stdfblib, modules, and com layers.
- Added explicit namespaces to modules and stdfblib.
- Added dependencies between libraries for cleaner build organization.
Features & Fixes
- Added support for generic FBs with packages in typelib.
- Fixed issues in OPC UA integration: includes, string ID concatenation, error messages, and redundant architecture definitions.
- Reworked OPC UA nodesets and types to use self-registration.
- Fixed and improved CTF tracing and replay.
- Updated type names across tests, systemtests, modules, and stdfblib.
- Hidden resource internals for better encapsulation.
- Added findTabs ignore file.

Many thanks to all contributors for their work and their feedback!

Eclipse 4diac at ETFA 2025

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Tue, 09 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Bianca Wiesmayr delivered a keynote in the workshop “Advancing Industrial Automation: Best Practices and Innovations with IEC 61499” on:

“Building an Open-Source Infrastructure for IEC 61499 Research, Evaluation, and Standardization – 18 Years of Eclipse 4diac”

Her talk reflected on the unique journey of Eclipse 4diac — from its beginnings as a research prototype to becoming a cornerstone for open-source industrial automation, widely used in research, teaching, and industry.

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #51

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 05 Sep 2025 17:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Contract Checking and Analysis
- Added ID relation for causal reaction/age.
- Added dynamic contract checks for:
  - causal reaction/age
  - ages
  - reactions
  - single events
- Added support for jitter in repetitions.
- Improved contract rule printing.
- Added warnings for duplicate elements in sets.
- Added visualization for dynamic check results.
- Added menu entry for running dynamic contract checks.
Diagram and Export
- Added diagram SVG export.
- Improved diagram SVG export.
Editor and Property Sheets

Tune In! Announcing the New Eclipse 4diac™ Podcast

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Wed, 03 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000

That’s right, now you can take Eclipse 4diac™ with you on the go! Whether you’re commuting, working in the lab, or simply relaxing, you can play our podcast on your Android Auto, Apple CarPlay, Alexa, or wherever you enjoy your audio content.

What to Expect from Our First Episode

In our inaugural episode, we lay the groundwork for understanding the modern industrial landscape. We begin by discussing the foundational IEC 61131-3 standard for PLC programming. You’ll learn that a PLC is, basically, a small computer used in industry with inputs and outputs for controlling various systems. We’ll explain how PLCs are programmed according to the required application using an IDE (integrated development environment) supplied by the PLC vendor. These IDEs run on your normal computer and allow for coding your application and then uploading it to the PLC. We’ll also touch upon the five different programming languages part of the IEC 61131-3 standard, including Ladder Diagram (LD) and Function Block Diagram (FBD). You’ll understand how Function Blocks (FBs) in this context can be interpreted as functions you can call, with inputs corresponding to parameters and outputs to return values.

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #50

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 29 Aug 2025 17:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Build and Platform
- Added buildid configuration to the product file, making the buildid available in config.ini and the startup logfile.
- Use Internet Explorer as the browser engine on Windows due to an SWT issue with Edge (#1565).
- Bumped actions/setup-java from 4.7.1 to 5.0.0.
Editing and Modeling
- Fixed copy/paste in the untyped SubApp data-output section.
- Fixed copying of connection attributes when updating FBs.
- Improved type handling by replacing getType with more efficient typeEntry functions.
- Provided locale-independent FB position export (#1573).
- Checked import requirements for destination elements in PasteCommand.
- Fixed merge issues in plugin.properties of the model plugin.
Libraries and Configurations

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #49

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 22 Aug 2025 17:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Structured Text improvements
- Regenerated ST model and parser.
- Variable declarations in ST now include the data type.
- Fixed save actions triggering during reload in the ST editor.
Model editing and refactoring enhancements
- Converted delete refactorings to use ModelEdit, including attribute deletions and internal FB deletions.
- Added support for showing model edits in the refactoring preview.
- Introduced ConfigurableModelEdit.
- Removed NO_CHANGE default from several ConfigurableChange instances for more consistent behavior.
FollowConnection improvements

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #48

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 15 Aug 2025 17:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Typed Subapps Support
- Added support for deploying and evaluating typed Subapps.
- Introduced instance property pages for typed Subapps.
- Improved visibility configuration: In/Out pins can only be hidden for untyped Subapps.
Editor and Refactoring Enhancements
- Prevent editor reloads during refactoring to avoid race conditions.
- Avoid redundant reload dialogs when saving modified types.
- Introduced grouped model edits by URI for better handling of complex refactorings.
- Fixed loss of struct MUX configuration and updates during refactoring.
- Improved rename behavior for structured algorithm fields (no exceptions raised).
- Fixed code folding in algorithms and methods to avoid overlapping regions.
- Added better diagnostics for missing type loads when chaining resources.
Follow Connection Improvements

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #47

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 08 Aug 2025 17:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Working Sets Support
- Fixed the Bulk Editor to open correctly when using working sets.
Graphical Editor Enhancements
- Improved feedback when resizing blocks:
  - A margin-border is now shown for function blocks during resize.
- Improved block movement behavior:
  - Moving blocks with cloning active is now correctly handled.
- Added ghost figures when dragging blocks to visualize movement.
- Collision feedback was improved:
  - A color change indicates when dragged elements would collide.
  - Figures with margin now show potential collisions while dragging.

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac FORTE

Test Reliability
- Fixed tests to work correctly in Release mode by replacing BOOST_ASSERT (which is disabled in Release builds) with BOOST_REQUIRE, ensuring that side effects and conditions are still verified.

Many thanks to all contributors for their work and their feedback!

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #46

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 01 Aug 2025 17:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Model Robustness and Validation Enhancements
- Interface elements are now required to always have a type.
- The type of event and data pins is enforced to never be null, with assertions added to help catch violations.
- InOut variable copying now assigns a temporary ANY type during EcoreUtil.Copier operations to avoid null references.
- Fixed missing event types in evaluator tests.
- Updated tests to reflect enforced non-null interface element types.
Graphical Editor Improvements

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #45

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 25 Jul 2025 17:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Editor Reliability and Synchronization
- Postpone navigation location updates of the type entry adapter to part activation to avoid wrong editor activation.
- Moved bulk editor reload checks to the same infrastructure as editor activation handling.
- Avoid triggering false editor reloads when a type is first loaded by checking if the type was actually reloaded.
Initial Value Editing
- Use empty values instead of placeholders like “computing” or “too large” when editing initial values.
Code Cleanup

Celebrating 18 Years of Eclipse 4diac

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Wed, 23 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Throwback to INDIN 2007: The very first public presentation of 4diac.

What began as an academic prototype has, over the years, grown into a mature, open-source framework for distributed industrial automation based on IEC 61499.

Then and Now

To highlight how far we’ve come, here’s a comparison of the very first 4diac IDE version and the current release:

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #44

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 18 Jul 2025 17:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Graphical Editor and UI Improvements
- Improved scroll positioning when opening graphical editors to center selected elements.
- Fixed exception when resizing a dynamic NatTable with 0 rows.
- Ensured save and build are triggered before rename refactoring.
- Reworked layout graph generation for libavoid to avoid invalid root graphs.
BulkEditor Enhancements
- Added:
  - Undo/Redo support.
  - Sorting of columns.
  - Dynamic NatTable for attribute search.
  - Attribute creation and deletion.
  - Advanced attribute options.
  - Add/DeleteWidget using CommandProvider.
  - Opening BulkEditor with pre-selected SubApps as scope.
  - Expand/collapse buttons for SubApp hierarchy selection.
  - Filter clearing and section collapsing options.
  - Status info showing dirty states and potential stale search results.
- Improved:
  - Dirty editor popup behavior.
  - Dirty type warning dialog.
  - Copying of search elements.
  - Naming, layout, and editable columns.
  - Scrollbar unification and image disposal.
  - Modularization by extracting NatTable into a separate class.
VarConfig Improvements

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #43

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 11 Jul 2025 17:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

System Explorer & Navigator
- Fix:
  - Working sets and resource content no longer conflict when shown as root in the system explorer.
  - Correct system explorer refresh on marker changes.
- Cleanup:
  - Removed root content from navigator and replaced it with resource content.
  - Removed DistributedSystemListener, which caused UI flickering and tree reordering.
- Added:
  - Missing working set filters needed for working set content support.
Type Management & Editors

One-Click Issue Reporting from Error Dialog

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Wed, 09 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0000

We enhanced the “Report Issue” button of the error indication dialog that appears when an unhandled exception occurs. Clicking this button will open a new GitHub issue with the most relevant information already filled in:

Exception message
Stack trace

This helps us diagnose problems faster and reduces the effort for users when something goes wrong.

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #42

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 04 Jul 2025 17:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Structured Text and Function Enhancements
- Implemented “Find References” for structured text functions.
- Enabled search functionality within algorithm and function ST editors.
Library and Type System Improvements
- Added missing event-driven function blocks to Library 3.0.0.
- Added new eIO 3.0.0 function block set.
- Fixed an issue where type updates affected saved varconfig entries.
- Improved varconfig import handling to correctly parse configurations.
UI and Editor Fixes
- Fixed a bug with disposed text controls in the initial value cell editor for structured types.
- Improved watch view to show connection negation in labels.
Build and Dependency Updates

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #41

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 27 Jun 2025 17:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Library Handling Overhaul
- Introduced a new builder for external libraries.
- Removed outdated components: library change listener, plugin activator, TypeLibraryStarter extension point, and event broker.
- Added marker resolution to assist users in adding the new builder when needed.
- Adjusted existing tests to reflect the updated library handling approach.
Deployment & Package Name Fixes
- Corrected package names in several contexts:
  - EMB_RES in device creation and deployment evaluation.
  - FORTE_PC in deployment evaluation.
  - E_RESTART in EMB_RES for version 3.0.0.
System Explorer Enhancements

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #40

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 20 Jun 2025 17:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Communication & Deployment
- Added Client_3_2 for HTTP communication to:
- Enhanced deployment interactor:
  - Added query support for FB and data types
  - Type queries now use fully qualified names
  - Added FB type to deployment responses
  - Use TypeHash for better type identification
  - Introduced TypeHash attribute in the type library
Export & Code Generation
- Fixed missing type hash in forte_ng export for functions
- Improved forte_ng export:
  - Fixed composite FB and adapter export
- Updated exporters to new 4diac FORTE concepts:
  - CFB network data
  - Variable internals
  - FB interface spec (#392)
Interpreter Enhancements

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #39

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 13 Jun 2025 17:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Improved Adapter Export and Validation
- Updated Function Block (FB) exporter to support the new adapter design.
- Updated adapter code generator to follow the new architecture used in 4diac FORTE.
- Added validation to prevent illegal use of variable-length variables.
openPOWERLINK Support for 4diac 3.0.0
- Added missing FBs for openPOWERLINK integration and ensured proper package naming.

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac FORTE

Refactoring and Cleanup
- Removed single linked list from the Windows Sercomm layer.
- Dropped support for the RCX operating system.
New Adapter Concept

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #38

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 06 Jun 2025 17:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Code Clean-up and Simplification
- Removed unused contract check code.
- Performed code cleanup while switching to URL-safe base64 encoding for hashes.
- Made reload in type library private.
- Fixed missing using string directive in the global constant exporter.
- Removed deprecated function blocks F_MUX_2_1 and F_MUX_2_2 as part of library streamlining.
UI and Editor Enhancements
- Updated BulkEditor to use only a single scrollbar for better usability.
- Fixed non-editable VarConfig property sheets and removed the export of unwanted attributes.
- Prevented addition of unwanted VarConfig attributes when edited in the property sheet.
Feature Additions and Fixes

Next Eclipse 4diac Virtual Community Meeting

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Mon, 02 Jun 2025 12:00:00 +0000

We aim to present recent changes in the Eclipse 4diac environment and project team.
We will demonstrate notable features and provide tips and tricks.
Our committer Jörg Walter will present his recent work on using the build environment to facilitate creating your own 4diac FORTE.
Following up on initial insights in our previous community evening, our committer Martin Jobst will present the new Structured Text editor, which has excellent editing capabilities that resemble those available for general-purpose programming languages. The sophisticated features can greatly reduce engineering time.
We will have enough time for questions and comments from the audience.

Find the details and the Zoom link at our virtual community events page

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #37

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 30 May 2025 17:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

FBNetwork Interpreter Support for FunctionFBType
Structured Text (ST) Editor Enhancements:
- Correct handling of parameters with variable-length arrays.
- Improved escaping of newline characters (e.g., \n now maps to $L instead of $N).
- Restructured preferences and property pages:
  - Unified layout across ST-related settings.
  - Removed obsolete ST core and Xtext compiler pages.
  - Project-specific configuration support.
Monitoring and Debugging Fixes:
- Improved in-out pin handling in watch views for variable-length arrays.
- Fixed StackOverflow error for SubApps with self-loops.
Bulk Editor Improvements:

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #36

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 23 May 2025 17:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Editor and UI Enhancements
- Added a preference for automatic connection of event pins.
  - FBs inserted into an execution chain are now automatically connected at the end.
  - Implemented inserting function blocks after a selected predecessor.
  - “Connect Through” now works during deletion ensuring event chains.
- Improved handling of search results in Structured Text:
  - Automatically selects search result.
  - Search now uses 4diac TextMatch.
  - Matches include a type indicating the editor marker.
- Moved block margin settings into a dedicated preference page.
- Improved project creation:
  - Standard libraries version 3.0.0 are now used by default.
  - New library packages and hardware folder introduced.
Deployment & Monitoring

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #35

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 16 May 2025 17:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

4diac FORTE Export Improvements
- Fixed null pointer exceptions when handling comments inside Composite FBs.
- Corrected variable declaration order for InOut FBs.
- Fixed handling of ARRAY string IDs for array interface elements.
- Reworked output parameter generation for better semantic alignment.
- Changed Structured Text argument mapping to use ITypedElement.
Function Block and Library Updates
- Added eIO Function Blocks to the type library.
- Removed QI and QO ports and related service sequences from configuration FBs.
Monitoring and Debugging

Introducing Our New Committer Martin Jobst

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Wed, 14 May 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Martin is a freelance computer scientist from Germany, with nearly a decade of experience contributing to Eclipse 4diac. His expertise spans low-level embedded development, distributed systems, model-based engineering, compiler design, databases, and network security.

His major contributions to Eclipse 4diac include:

The implementation of large parts of the IEC 61131-3 Structured Text (ST) editor
Development of the integrated debugging environment for IEC 61499 function blocks
Work on the exporter, deployment, and monitoring infrastructure for the FORTE runtime
Enhancements to the core classes and data types in FORTE

These features are all available in the current 4diac IDE and 4diac FORTE 3.0 early access, and we encourage the community to explore and provide feedback.

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #34

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 09 May 2025 17:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Model and Export Enhancements
- Removed unused timestamps from the Data response model and EventOccurrence model.
- Added startTime and duration attributes to the model.
- Implemented a new type export builder and extracted the exporter from the export wizard.
- Added CBasicFB::setInitialValues in the 4diac FORTE exporter to ensure ECC state reset.
- Used absolute data port index for read/writeData in the forte_ng exporter.
- Encapsulated global constants in the forte_ng export.
Editor and UI Updates

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #33

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 02 May 2025 17:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Browser & UI Fixes
- Switched default browser on Windows to Internet Explorer temporarily.
- Fixed exception in Nebula RichTextEditor and updated its target platform.
Contract Editor Improvements
- Fixed command visibility and enhanced Xtext grammar:
  - Decimal parsing fixed
  - Enums introduced
  - Improved property names
  - Added once and sequence properties to the model
Execution & FB Support
- Fixed wrong algorithm execution.
- Added ECState handling for SimpleFBs.
- Replaced stream usage with list.
Connection Handling

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #32

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 25 Apr 2025 17:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Search improvements
- Select search results in Structured Text.
- Switch search backend to fordiac TextMatch.
- Add type information to search matches.
Library handling
- External libraries are extracted as read-only.
- Standard libraries are made read-only through decoration.
- Editors handle read-only behavior; library contents are protected from deletion.
- Preparation for future doSaveAs() support.
Structured Text and Subapp improvements
- Add list support for VarConfig entries in typed Subapps.
- Define EInit event type for all INIT/INITO events in templates.
Export improvements

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #31

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 18 Apr 2025 17:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Structured Text (ST) improvements
- Fixed missing feature in ST model issues.
- Corrected access mode handling for statements in the ST parser.
Type and Project Handling
- Fixed errors when creating types in non-existing folders.
- Ensured type library is refreshed when a project is opened.
- Fixed NPE in type library due to missing build path.
- Correctly handled type paths for array types in forte_ng export.
- Fixed handling when toggling expanded subapps before updating them with a type.
- Restored reverted changes post-freeze and fixed related issues.
Editor and UI Improvements

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #30

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 11 Apr 2025 17:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Improved Type System Infrastructure
- Introduced hash generation for library elements based only on type-relevant content.
- Ensured type library refresh and stability when opening projects or handling invalid build paths.
- Added error handling for missing TypeEntry and invalid editor references.
Better Tooling & Automation
- Added a project property page for configuring automatic type export:
  - Includes default exporter preference, export filter selection, and support for relative paths.
  - Improvements to preference management and UI integration.
Editor, UI & Preferences Overhaul

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #29

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 04 Apr 2025 17:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

General Cleanup
- Cleanup contract plugins
- Cleanup BulkEditor
- Delete incomplete test for currently unused class.
Bug Fixes
- Fix access mode for statements in ST parser
- Fix type path for array types in forte_ng export
- Fix network interpreter test cases
  - Updated test cases for experimental FB Network interpreter
  - Removed deprecated methods
- Fix getSystem() null pointer in DiagramEditor
- Fixed Initial Column to use correct project for PreferenceStore
- Fixed Attribute/Type Selection for AttributeTable in BulkEditor
** ST and Model Enhancements **

Proposal Upgrade 4diac FORTE to C++20

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 04 Apr 2025 14:00:00 +0000

As this may impact many of our users, especially on more exotic platform we are seeking for your feedback this issue: https://github.com/eclipse-4diac/4diac-forte/issues/399

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #28

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 28 Mar 2025 07:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Bug Fixes
- Fixed a crash when deleting an input primitive.
- Fixed undo functionality for retain properties.
- Fixed non-existing plant hierarchy producing a null pointer exception when deleting expanded subapplications.
Improvements
- Prevented Arrays of Structs from being expandable in Struct Demuxers.
- Added visible children to Struct_Demux type instance names.
- Improved contract creation workflow:
  - Fixed layout issues with contract figures.
  - Fixed contract line breaks not saving.
  - Improved contract creation and decision dialogs.
  - Added scoping for pins in contracts.
  - Fixed crashes in contract editor quick fixes and cell editor.
- Changed dialog preferences to provide simpler information as a restart is no longer needed.
New Features

Eclipse 4diac Virtual Community Meeting

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Sun, 23 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The next Eclipse 4diac Virtual Community Meeting will be held on April 10th, 5pm CET.

You can join the meeting via this Zoom Link

Our planned agenda is as follows:

Introduction of the attendees
Overview on Eclipse 4diac and the planned next steps
Community Q&A

We use a publicly available document to manage the meeting’s agenda. You can add items to it anytime.

We look forward to an insightful discussion with all of you!

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #27

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 21 Mar 2025 07:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Monitoring Enhancements:
- Show last forced value during monitoring.
- Add a clear force command for better control.
Code Quality and Bug Fixes:
- Fix potential null pointer in LibraryManager and improve link resolution.
- Remove workaround for inaccessible Xtext editor method.
- Fix follow connection handler for blocks with only inout variables.
- Consider only visible candidates for unresolved references in ST parser.
- Fix access mode for member access expressions in ST utilities.
Improved Validations:

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #26

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 14 Mar 2025 07:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Function Block Network Enhancements
- Boolean connections can now be negated.
Contract Editor and Grammar Improvements
- Corrected caching and resource mapping in contract creation.
- Fixed contract grammar to allow offset intervals.
- Resolved contract editor crash when applying quickfix.
- Improved handling of non-proper intervals.
- Added scoping for pins in contracts.
- Fixed issues with contract figure layout, line breaks, and new contract creation for subapp pins.
Debugging and Monitoring Enhancements

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #25

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 07 Mar 2025 07:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Structured Text (ST) Parser Improvements
- Fixed type usage with semi-qualified names.
- Ensured correct imports for global constants (e.g., util::Math::PI).
Refactoring and Code Cleanup
- General refactoring and minor fixes.
- Removed redundant methods in ResourceTypeExporter.
- Removed DOCTYPE entry from resource export for consistency.
Resource Handling Enhancements
- Implemented ResourceTypeExporter and modified save method.
- Fixed resource naming bug.
Improved Model and UI Features
- Implemented rename and move participants for subapps, systems, and folders.
- Changed default scope in model search to project.
- Moved color preferences to theme colors.
- Renamed and moved message properties files.
Event Type and Connection Enhancements

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #24

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 28 Feb 2025 07:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Refactoring and Usability Improvements
- Fixed refactoring issues when the file is not read-only.
- Added a shortcut for renaming elements in refactoring.
- Do not use linked editing for interface refactorings in the ST editor.
- Fixed comment indentation in the ST formatter.
Model Search Enhancements
- Added interface value matching in the model search.
- Enabled searching for global constants in initial values of FB types.
- Added support for model search of global constants.
- Included line numbers for ST code in the model search.
Plant Hierarchy and Deletion Handling

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #23

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 21 Feb 2025 07:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Improvements & Fixes
- Red error markers now show for invalid hidden connection labels.
- Preserve tree top item in struct manipulator section.
- Improved dependency tracking for plant hierarchy.
- Fixed missing interface when copying internal FBs in the property sheet.
- Fixed NPEs related to type loading in various components.
- Avoid flooding logs when display is disposed in debug code mining.
- Fixed scope issues for adapter features in ST parser.
- Fixed recurring notifications for missing type entries.
- Fixed compiler warnings and improved build scripts.
- Improved event handling and refactoring support.
New Features

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #22

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 14 Feb 2025 07:00:00 +0000

4days of Eclipse 4diac Winter School

From February 10 to 14 the 4days of Eclipse 4diac Winter School took place at Johannes Kepler University Linz.

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

SubApp and System Explorer Improvements
- Fixed SubApp opening in the plant hierarchy for unloaded SubAppNetwork.
- Added a refresh mechanism to display the manifest in the system explorer.
Event Function Blocks
- Added new event function blocks:
  - E_MERGE3: Merges three input events.
  - E_SPLIT3: Splits one event into three output events.
- Each function block includes identification, version info, interface list, and state transition details.
User Interface and Editing Enhancements

Eclipse 4diac FORTE Build Environment Release beta-2025-02

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Sun, 09 Feb 2025 14:00:00 +0000

Eclipse 4diac FORTE Build Environment (FBE) Released!

4diac FBE has been part of the Eclipse 4diac project for a while, and several users have started using it and providing valuable feedback. Today is the very first official (pre-)release, containing lots of quality-of-life improvements to make the 4diac FBE experience as nice as possible.

To download this release, head over to https://github.com/eclipse-4diac/4diac-fbe/releases and get 4diac-fbe-beta-2025-02.zip. Make sure you get the correct file, do NOT fetch the source code archives. To install, extract to a suitable folder and run compile.cmd. Yes, Linux users also run compile.cmd. Read README.md for more details.

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #21

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 07 Feb 2025 07:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

System Explorer Enhancements
- Added a refresh mechanism to display the manifest in the system explorer.
Error Handling and QuickFixes
- Introduced error markers with QuickFix support for attributes.
  - An error marker is created when an attribute is deleted from the type library.
  - Supported QuickFixes:
    - Change attribute type (atp).
    - Create attribute type.
    - Suggest best-fitting attribute type.
Improved Search and Navigation
- Added data type attributes as children in the DataTypeInstance Search.
Refinements to Qualified Names

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #20

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 31 Jan 2025 07:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Usability & UI Improvements
- Pressing Enter now moves to the next editable cell in the variables dialog.
- Introduced a feature to open types directly in the editor from the instance viewer.
- Unified the preference page setup and removed unnecessary plugin activators.
Editor & Code Handling Enhancements
- Fixed issues with special characters $ and \ in comments to prevent misinterpretation during replacements.
- Improved ST resource saving by using a copy of internal elements for reconciling and simplifying the load process.
- Fixed premature apply in the initial value editor when selecting proposals due to loss of focus.
Library & Project Management

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #19

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 24 Jan 2025 07:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Function Blocks
- Updated E_SPLIT function block description and comments:
  - Improved clarity in the Function attribute.
  - Updated comments to reflect functionality accurately.
Storage and Validation Enhancements
- Updated storage format.
- Ignored excess elements in array initializers in the evaluator.
- Validated no value for variables with variable array bounds (*):
  - Added helper for type declaration parsing.
  - Improved regex handling for variable bounds.
Bug Fixes
- Fixed infinite recursion for subapp connections in monitoring.
- Corrected copy/paste behavior for types with the same name from different packages.
- Fixed issues pasting into empty NatTable.
Improvements in NatTable

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #18

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 17 Jan 2025 07:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Enhancements

Debugging Improvements:
- Add toggle value for all BOOL variables, including struct members.
Editor Updates:
- Reworked System Editor:
  - Added scrollbar for smaller screens.
  - Moved applications and the system configuration to the top.
- Children of typed subapps are now correctly opened in the type editor.
- Added jump mode navigation for struct members.
Programming and Formatting:
- Reworked comment auto-wrap in the ST formatter:
  - Introduced fixed comment line width.
  - Improved word wrapping and indentation.
  - Enhanced formatting consistency.
- Relaxed validation for CASE labels to allow comparable types.
Refactoring Enhancements:
- Updated imports for non-Xtext resources during refactoring.
- Prevented package name updates during simple renames in ST refactoring.

Fixes

Type and Resource Handling:
- Handle cases where types cannot be loaded in search.
- Fixed NPE in deployment FB evaluator when not prepared.
- Avoided refactoring Xtext resources with empty contents to prevent NPEs.
- Fixed stale or ambiguous method parameter references in the ST editor.
- Resolved issues with project conversion of linked folders.
- Addressed inconsistent manifest resource states.
Editor Stability:
- Fixed NPE when triggering launch shortcut for the type editor.
- Ensured editor input is correctly typed to prevent class cast issues.
Evaluator Improvements:
- Catch all exceptions when closing shared resources in the evaluator.
- Log exceptions in the evaluator process for better debugging.

Features

Service Model Enhancements:
- Added comment fields to the service model.
- Use the correct comment field for service import/export.
Automation Enhancements:
- Added an event trigger function block to activate unconnected events of a specified type.

Code and Performance Improvements

Migrated ST formatter from Xtend to Java for better maintainability.
Fixed missing uppercase binding for DTP files in the ST core.

Many thanks to all contributors for their work and their feedback!

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #17

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 10 Jan 2025 07:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Improvements
- Added a separate warning for truncating literal conversions, including exceptions for semantically relevant cases.
- Improved type inference for nested binary expressions by ensuring operand types are converted to required unsigned or bit types before determining the common result type. Fixed the equivalent unsigned type for INT.
- Enhanced graphical editor appearance for fractional native scaling by using the exact swt.autoScaling parameter, improving drawing aspect ratios on non-integer scaling settings (e.g., 125%, 175%).
- Updated application and window icons to the new 4diac logo.
Bug Fixes

4 Weeks to the 4days of Eclipse 4diac Winter School

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 10 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Why should you care about IEC 61499? Because it revolutionizes how we design distributed control systems by offering modular, reusable components that seamlessly integrate into various environments. Imagine developing a smart factory system where machines communicate efficiently and adapt to changes in real-time.

With 4diac IDE, you’ll not only model these systems but also simulate, test, and deploy them effectively. Ever wondered how to manage complex industrial processes with minimal downtime? This event demonstrates how IEC 61499’s event-driven architecture ensures optimal performance and resource utilization.

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #16

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 03 Jan 2025 07:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Usability Enhancements
- Improved FB Debug View by using Watch colors consistently.
- Reworked Open Type Dialog to reduce blocking behavior, enhancing performance.
- Added new icon for library directories.
- Changed default Watch colors for better contrast on light themes and introduced styles for dark themes.
- Added settings for monitoring text colors.
Error Handling and Validation
- Improved error handling in value converters to avoid null pointer exceptions (NPEs) and enhanced error messages during array and struct parsing.
- Fixed conversion of prefixed values in structs and arrays to handle type prefixes (e.g., T#, DATE#) correctly.
- Added validations and quick fixes for package declarations in the Structured Text (ST) editor, ensuring alignment with folder structures (disabled by default).
Bug Fixes

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #15

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 20 Dec 2024 07:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Improved Block Layout Options
- Added wrapping and compacting options for the block layout to reduce width and provide better, more compact layouts.
UI Enhancements
- Internal attributes are now hidden in tree views, ensuring a cleaner and more user-friendly interface.
Library Management Updates
- Changed linked library location in projects.
  - Removed SystemPaletteManagement and replaced explicit strings with TypeLibraryTags references.
  - Adjusted associated test cases.
Refactoring Enhancements
- Added pre-checks for syntax and linking errors before Structured Text (ST) refactoring, notifying users of potential inaccuracies.
Bug Fixes
- Restored correct behavior for initial application generation by re-adding a missing cmd.execute() call.
- Fixed deletion issues with interface pins during BorderCrossingREconnectCommand, ensuring pins remain intact when necessary.
- Corrected handling of ErrorMarkerInterface pins in expanded SubApplications to prevent class cast exceptions.

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac FORTE

OPC UA Alarms & Conditions Enhancements
- Created a dedicated Alarms & Conditions (A&C) layer.
- Enabled triggering alarms on REQ.
- Added state callbacks for conditions and support for retaining conditions on request.
- Created OPC UA objects, events, and alarm condition types during initialization.
OPC UA Improvements
- Removed operating modes and event modes from the OPC UA A&C layer.
- Parameterized OPC UA instance names for alarm source objects.
- Changed NodeIds to type String.
- Added ModellingRule_Mandatory to members of the OPC UA type.
- Enabled support for sending data from Publisher DIs and events.
Refactoring and General Updates
- Fixed and moved ldsMe to its own class with documentation and updates for v1.4.5.
- Allowed multiple ecet instances to be compiled.

Many thanks to all contributors for their work and their feedback!

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #14

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 13 Dec 2024 07:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Enhancements:
- Updated evaluator for the new simple FB standard:
  - Added EC state handling.
  - Updated related tests.
- Optimized Sys file generation:
  - Excluded mapped entities to reduce file size and potential git conflicts.
- Enhanced ST validation for the new simple FB standard:
  - Updated validation messages and quick fixes.
  - Adjusted constants, variables, and methods.
  - Improved algorithm filtering logic and handling of missing algorithms.
- Introduced new attribute handling in CreateAttributeCommand.
- Added support for editing large values:
  - Improved indexing for large variables in the variable tree.
- Updated storage format:
  - Refactored XML structure and attributes for clarity.
  - Modified event names, comments, and variable declarations.
- Added a QuickFix widget for NatTables to handle missing types.
- Improved System Editor layout:
  - Enhanced expand/collapse behavior and homogeneous layout.
- Introduced a dedicated GEF-based editor context:
  - Simplified key-binding management and editor activation.
- Added the Properties View to the Debug Perspective for easier inspection.
- Updated target platform and dependencies to Eclipse 2024-12.
- Added new options to 4diac.ini for improved configuration.
Bug Fixes:

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #13

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 06 Dec 2024 17:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

General Clean-Up

Removed outdated execution runtime launcher classes.
Removed obsolete extensions for old monitoring.
Removed unnecessary throws declarations in the debug model.
Cleaned messages file of systemmanagement.ui plugin.
Fixed warnings and Sonar issues in systemmanagement.ui.
Removed last remnants of the virtual group interface code.
Cleaned up layout class and refined connection and FB layout configurations.

Mapping Enhancements

Fixed parameter handling in MappingTargetCreator.
Enabled automatic connection creation for mapped FBs during mapping.
Prevented inout connections across subapp borders.
Added functionality to create mapping target FBs if absent.
Improved handling of typed subapp networks during mapping to avoid unnecessary loading.

Monitoring Improvements

Enhanced variable view with a find action override for both monitoring and evaluator debugging.
Resolved duplicate watches issue when monitoring multiple devices.

Validation and Debugging

Restarted validation jobs canceled due to priority reads.
Added a quick fix for missing export builders.
Introduced configuration and validation for 4diac project nature, including Xtext support.

System Editor Revamp

Moved application renaming and commenting features from the system explorer to the system editor.
Reworked system editor to manage the application list exclusively (create, delete, reorder).
Removed outdated actions, such as NewApplicationWizard, align actions from the toolbar, and rename functionality in the system explorer.

Type Library Updates

Fixed issues with marker creation in the type library after resource updates.
Addressed problems with the ST parser meta-model, re-adding necessary Xtext project configurations.

Miscellaneous Enhancements

Improved error handling during type updates and refactorings:
- Copied pin instance comments and propagated initial values for renamed pins.
- Enhanced handling of attribute copying for error markers.
Fixed port locations for negative graph coordinates.
Tweaked layout configuration for FB blocks, reducing width requirements.

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac FORTE

Memory and Resource Management

Removed all delete[] usage in interface setup, improving memory handling.
Fixed issues with string node IDs in the object struct helper for better reliability.

Many thanks to all contributors for their work and their feedback!

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #12

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 29 Nov 2024 17:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Bug Fixes
- Propagate initial values when renaming pins.
- Correct marker updates when holding a resource lock.
- Fix missing variable initializers in forte_ng export.
- Resolve NullPointerException when retrieving result types for incomplete expressions.
- Avoid reacting to file changes in the FB type Xtext editor.
- Ensure synchronization in the Structured Text editor inside the FB type editor.
- Fix invalid category in the convertToSubapp command.
- Address validation for duplicate internal attribute names.
- Maintain table stability during refresh by managing scrolling.
- Prevent preloading mapped subapp networks during import.
Code Quality Improvements

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #11

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 22 Nov 2024 17:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Evaluator Improvements:
- Avoid unnecessary allocations when parsing values.
- Avoid unnecessary initialization of variables when a value is supplied, adding copy constructors for struct and array variables.
- Use evaluator cache when adding or updating watches.
Monitoring Enhancements:
- Use a fixed delay instead of a fixed rate for polling to prevent overruns.
- Fix polling interval overflow.
- Disable changed value detection for sub-variables to prevent flickering in the Variables view.
- Detect remote disconnects of devices.
- Fix updates for terminated debug targets to prevent unnecessary watch updates.
Structured Text (ST) Editor:

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #10

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 15 Nov 2024 17:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Editable Columns
- Made all columns editable except for the “visible” column while connected.
- Added “type” as an editable column.
Outline and Property Sheet Enhancements
- Forwarded outline selection to the property sheet, reflecting changes in the type editor and property sheets.
- Added a sorter for the outline view to organize FB types better.
- Reworked presentation of attributes in the outline to include name, type, and value, and, for typed attributes, the package name.
- Cleaned and reordered children of FB types in the outline and system explorer for better organization.
Quickfix and Auto Layout

Eclipse 4diac at SPS 2024 with Aimirim and Universal Automation

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Mon, 11 Nov 2024 17:00:00 +0000

We are excited to share that Aimirim is representing the Eclipse 4diac project at SPS 2024 in Nuremberg, Germany! Together with UniversalAutomation.org, Aimirim is demonstrating real-world applications of our industry automation technology.

At the Universal Automation booth, Aimirim showcases how their 4diac IDE plugin enables seamless deployment to the Universal Automation runtime environment, aligning with open automation standards like IEC 61499. This setup forms the backbone of Aimirim’s Industry 4.0 solutions for software-defined facilities.

Eclipse 4diac Weekly #9

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 08 Nov 2024 17:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Bug Fixes
- Update type preserves pin attributes, fixing lost attributes when updating a type.
- Ignore non-type files when manually creating type entries.
- Fix invalid thread access issues in refresh functions.
- Corrected attribute names for comment writing.
- Added missing cast from bit values to boolean type.
- Fix missing editor input in instance viewers to prevent NPE in context menu.
- Addressed type renaming issues in structured text (ST) declarations.
- Fixed duplicate segment in qualified names after adapter FB refactoring.
- AdapterFB handling rework ensures accurate references across CFB and other FBs.
- Corrected property sheet display for pin type selections in interface editor.
- Resolved duplicate segment issues in adapter FBs qualified names for direct adapter declarations.
- Fix cast exception in FBNetworkElementTooltipFigure.
- Ensure disposed checks for annotation refresh in PackageInfoWidget.
- Adjusted ST breakpoint visibility in context menus.
- Addressed adapter event prefixing issues in AdapterFB model.
- Improved selection handling for outline selections in the type editor.
- Updated MultipageEditorContentOutlinePage to handle nested editors.
- Removed unnecessary attribute “GenericClassName” from E_MOVE.fbt.
- Fixed double-escaping issue in comment attribute writing, optimizing XML output.
- Preserved instance attributes on FB instances, centralizing configuration for easier maintenance.
Enhancements

Eclipse 4diac Weekly 8

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 01 Nov 2024 17:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

New Functionalities
- Added new FBType RangeBasedPulse for distance-based impulse generation.
- Implemented snap-to-grid functionality for:
  - Context menu FB creation.
  - New SubApp, Group, and Comment elements.
  - Paste action.
  - Drag-and-drop FB creation.
  - Direct edit-created elements.
Enhancements
- Changed visibility attribute for VarInOuts in the Importer and Exporter for accurate saves.
- Adjusted Imports-Table column to occupy the full width.
- Updated InsertFB handler to support new FB direct editing.
- Added recursive parent folder creation in type entries.
Bug Fixes

New Look for Eclipse 4diac!

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Thu, 31 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0000

We’re thrilled to announce a refresh for the Eclipse 4diac project, featuring a modernized logo and a revamped website built on Hugo. Our new site design enhances accessibility, speed, and functionality, aiming to deliver a smoother experience for our community.

The redesigned website provides a streamlined interface, making it easier for users to navigate project resources, find documentation, and stay updated with the latest releases and events. This update reflects our dedication to supporting the growing industrial automation ecosystem and advancing open-source development for all users.

Eclipse 4diac Weekly 7

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 25 Oct 2024 17:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Improvements and Fixes in 4diac IDE:
- Enhancements in Editor and UI functionality:
  - Use Frameworkutil to create a dictionary in FordiacImageURL.
  - Adjusted column width in Imports-Table to occupy the entire width.
  - Fixed UpdateFbInterfaceChange to prevent duplicated creation.
  - Modified Imports Table column width to fill entire width.
  - Enabled recursive folder creation in type entry.
  - Resolved generic datatype for automatic SubApp pin creation.
  - Fixed System Explorer root content and label provider setup.
  - Ensured SubApp Type Pins table visibility settings.
  - Prevented self-lookup in multi-page editor outline.
  - Addressed attribute lookup in FB networks by linking to sub-importers.
  - Enhanced reload mechanism for the attribute editor with varied composites.
  - Implemented IPersistable in TypeEditorInput to restore editor states.
  - Reworked DescriptionEditor to support all element types.
- Structural Changes in Type Editing Infrastructure:
  - Moved get/setDocumentation methods to LibraryElement for broader use.
  - Removed Title Label from StructComposite for flexibility in usage.
  - Migrated AttributeTypeEditor and DataTypeEditor to the new Type Editing Infrastructure.
  - Centralized type saving logic from FBTypeEditor to AbstractTypeEditor.
  - Added enablement to the type editor page extension point.
  - Extracted common type editor functionalities into AbstractTypeEditor class.
- Refinements for Editing and Selection:
  - Enabled package refactoring with move-to-package feature.
  - Improved System Explorer label providers to show accurate icons and warnings.
  - Optimized outline selection response in FB Type Xtext editor tab.
  - Enhanced marker management with direct thread updating under resource lock.
- Error Handling and Quick-Fixes:
  - Resolved type-check error messages for InOut connections.
  - Improved error messages and formatting preferences for quickfixes and refactorings.
  - Refined handling of markers and resolution logic for configurable FBs.
  - Fixed deadlock during type creation with quickfixes and array subscript access issues.
- Tests and UI Enhancements:
  - Re-enabled Basic2FBNetwork tests with new movement and selection methods.
  - Enhanced FB movement methods in SWTBot for readability in UI tests.

Many thanks to all contributors for their work and their feedback!

Eclipse 4diac Weekly 6

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 18 Oct 2024 17:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Bug Fixes
- Fix deadlock when creating new type via quickfix
- Fix conflicts during nested unnecessary conversion quickfix
- Fix formatter preferences during quickfixes or refactoring
- Fix partial access on array subscript
- Fixed issue where Quick-Fix option did not show up in dirty Editor
- Fix cyclic resolution when creating resource descriptions
- Fix attribute lookup in importer
- Fix connection clipping with Insets for expanded SubappApp content
- Fix errors from consecutive type updates in open instance viewer
Improvements to Connection and XML Handling

Eclipse 4diac Weekly 5

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 11 Oct 2024 17:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

New Features
- Added new functions F_NOW and F_NOW_MONOTONIC for timing.
  - These functions return the current local date/time and monotonic clock value, respectively.
- Added a Build 4diac Forte Launcher.
  - New launch configuration to build preconfigured 4diac FORTE using the cmake –build command.
UI/UX Enhancements
- FB Network Grid now follows IEC 61499 Coordinate System Resolution.
  - Grid resolution matches the size difference between pins, ensuring cleaner drawings and more precise FB positioning.

Eclipse 4diac Weekly 4

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 04 Oct 2024 17:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Fixes
- Fixed return type conversion in ST partitioner: Corrected an issue where the return type was set to ANY instead of null, causing problems during export.
- Fixed validation of assigned inputs from outside in ST editor.
- Fixed Quick-Fix to use the correct model element and ensure unsaved changes are preserved.
- Fixed issue where typing to invoke the new instance inserter caused the first character to be selected and overwritten.
- Fixed item reference for manifest update button.
- Fixed several issues with configured STRUCT_DEMUXERs, including connection parsing and type updates for visible outputs.
- Fixed GEF API change issues.
- Fixed sorting issue in System Navigator, preventing folders from collapsing on file rename.
- Fixed Quickfix for refreshing monitoring elements when no graphical editor is open.
- Fixed type class caching in FB type entry.
- Fixed plug type creation in adapter type entry.
Improvements

Eclipse 4diac Weekly 3

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Thu, 26 Sep 2024 17:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Fixes
- Fix THIS access in forte_ng export and ST editor
- Fix variable access for internal FBs in evaluator
- Fix result type of comparison with missing operand types in ST editor
- Fix result type of internal FB call in ST parser
- Fix null pointer caused by non-existing library
- Fix ClassCastException when opening ContextMenu on an errorMarker
- Fix type cast error when deleting a FBType
- Fixed label providers for Array variables
- Fixed CreateConnectionAtSubappInterface to also include array-datatype
- Fixed creation of pins with array-datatype when creating new SubApp
- Fixed update of Connection Label after expanding/collapsing a SubApp
- Fixed icons for SelectFBDialog in QuickFixOption
- Copying structs to other folder creates 2 identical structs (#514)
- Fix THIS access in forte_ng export and ST editor
Improvements

Eclipse 4diac Weekly 2

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 20 Sep 2024 17:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Function Block Changes and Updates
- Added a new scaling function block with enhanced features
- Updated fieldbus signal conversion function blocks: Refined input/output handling and updated comments for clarity
Test and UI Enhancements
- Restructured SWTBot UI tests for better modularity and migrated them to the new architecture
- Enabled the cancel button for long-running export operations
- Improved handling of export threads and fixed race conditions related to UI interactions
Fixes and Miscellaneous Updates

Eclipse 4diac Weekly 1

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Fri, 13 Sep 2024 17:00:00 +0000

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Property Sheets
- Separated annotation model refresh in property sheets
- Avoided removing and re-adding annotations during live validation
Export Functionality
- Disabled editing of the Message-Textfield in the export dialog
- Added handling for AttributeDeclaration and AutomationSystem in export
- Fixed “not responding” message on Windows during long-running exports
- Updated types to be exported in SIFB exporter
- Added export of global constant files
Evaluator and Conversion Fixes
- Fixed name collision between cached global variables in ST evaluator
- Fixed initial values for sampling FB evaluator
- Fixed comparison with negative zero for reals according to IEEE 754 standards
- Fixed rounding mode for real to integer conversions to round towards the nearest even integer
UI and Testing Improvements

Save the Date: 4days of Eclipse 4diac Winter School - February 11-14, 2025

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Tue, 10 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0000

We are excited to announce that Bianca Wiesmayr, Lisa Sonnleithner, and Alois Zoitl form the LIT Cyber-Physical Systems Lab will organize the 4days of Eclipse 4diac Winter School from February 11-14, 2025 in Linz, Austria!

What to expect?

This winter school offers an in-depth exploration of IEC 61499 and Eclipse 4diac. Whether you are a newcomer eager to learn or a seasoned user looking to deepen your knowledge, this event is designed for every one of you.

Eclipse 4diac Welcomes Zephyr Support to Empower Small Embedded Systems with IEC 61499

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Wed, 20 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000

In particular, special thanks go to KT Elektronik, as they enabled Dirk O Kaar’s work on this contribution as part of his employment. This propelled our integration with Zephyr forward.

This exciting development opens up new possibilities for industrial control systems and automation professionals, fostering increased efficiency and flexibility in their projects. This integration enables industrial automation developers to leverage the power of Zephyr in their projects within the Eclipse 4diac ecosystem.

Guest Post: Eclipse 4diac for Agrimechatronics: The Project logiBUS won a prestigious award

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Tue, 27 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0000

is the Fusion of IEC 61499 programming and ISO 11783 compatibiltiy.

Now logiBUS® won a prestigious award: “Award for innovative digital farming” it was awarded at the 44th Annual Conference at the University of Hohenheim of the Society for Information Technology in Agriculture, Forestry and the Food Industry e.V.

Guest Post: Eclipse 4diac in Elektor mag

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Wed, 06 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Guest Post: Eclipse 4diac™ in Elektor mag

there is a featured Article in Elektor about Eclipse 4diac™ and logiBUS®

Cheers,
Franz Höpfinger on behalf of HR Agrartechnik GmbH

Guest Post: Eclipse 4diac for Agrimechatronics: The Project logiBUS®

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Sat, 19 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The folks at HR Agrartechnik GmbH have been busy to port Eclipse 4diac™ FORTE to the ESP32 and integrate the ISOBUS (ISO 11783) protocol over the last year.

is the Fusion of IEC 61499 programming and ISO 11783 compatibiltiy.

ISOBUS, also known as ISO 11783, is a communication protocol standard developed for agricultural equipment to facilitate the exchange of data between different types of farm machinery and implements. The term “ISOBUS” stands for “ISO Bus,” where ISO refers to the International Organization for Standardization, and “Bus” refers to a system of communication between multiple devices.

You Can't Make an Omelet Without Breaking Eggs!

webdev@eclipse-foundation.org (Eclipse Foundation) — Wed, 31 May 2023 00:00:00 +0000

For 4diac FORTE, API stability was always our major concern.
However, this came at a cost (e.g., performance, memory usage, memory-safety). Therefore, we decided that we need to do a major rework of 4diac FORTE for the next release!

The first results are already looking very promising. We get twice the speed for FB algorithm execution and reduced the runtime overhead (event and connection processing) by 30%. We hope for more progress to come in the next weeks.