AdsNotificationHeader has nTimeStamp & nNotification backwards

[tdjordan]

In AdsDef.h at line 287,
nTimeStamp and hNotification are in the wrong order.

typedef struct {
    uint64_t nTimeStamp;
    uint32_t hNotification;
    uint32_t cbSampleSize;
#ifndef __cplusplus
    uint8_t data[];
#endif
} AdsNotificationHeader, * PAdsNotificationHeader;

My reference for this is from these two places.

TwinCat2 docs

typedef struct {
  ULONG           hNotification;
  __int64         nTimeStamp;
  ULONG           cbSampleSize;
  UCHAR           data[ANYSIZE_ARRAY];
} AdsNotificationHeader, *PAdsNotificationHeader;

TwinCat3 docs

      typedef struct {

       ULONG
      hNotification;
      __int64
      nTimeStamp;
      ULONG
      cbSampleSize;
      UCHAR
      data[ANYSIZE_ARRAY];
      } AdsNotificationHeader, *PAdsNotificationHeader;

[soberschmidt]

Our TcAdsDll.dll for Windows OSs differs to our OpenSource AdsLib to provide a wider range of architecture support. Please use the structure information of our AdsLib.

[tdjordan]

OK.

But how does that change the structure order of the binary data coming over the wire?

In my experiment, talking to a CX9020, accessing the nTimeStamp using your unmodified structure ordering, shows it never changing.

If I flip it around, it actually changed and is decoded as an actual timestamp.

Therefore, the order of the two fields in this specific structure is wrong and needs to be flipped around.

Or are you saying, that it doesn't matter?

How does producing a library that can be used on Linux as well as Windows magically change the binary protocol?

[soberschmidt]

Check if you use the AdsLib with the related header and NOT the TcAdsDll.

[tdjordan]

I am using the related header file from this project on a Linux machine accessing a CX9020.

The CX9020 was programmed using the stock TwinCAT 3 development environment.

So I am assuming that the stock TwinCAT 3 is using the TcAdsDll on the PLC itself while I am using this library on the Linux side.

Thus the difference in the binary protocol structure mismatch on the wire.

[pbruenn]

I think we have a misunderstanding here. The AdsNotificationHeader is never send on the wire. It is only used to share data between your application and the AdsLib.
The corresponding data structures on the wire would be: ADS Device Notification
If you run a short git grep AdsNotificationHeader and look into AdsNotification.h you can see that it is not a 1:1 copy of the data from wire.
We kept the API of AdsLib close to TcAdsDll to support applications which are capable to link against both libraries (one at a time). However if you decide to link against TcAdsDll you have to build your program with the TcAdsDll headers. And if you switch to link against AdsLib, you have to rebuild your application to use the AdsLib headers.

Please check that you rebuild your application and the AdsLib with the same version of the header and if the issue still persists, give us more details on your specific setup.
As a side note: the timestamp can be a very large number and the last digits might not change. So on the first look it looks like it's not changing, just on the second look you will spot the difference in the middle of the number