Ignition Perspective Project Modifier & Auditor

Overview

This application automates the process of injecting traceability and audit logging into an existing Ignition project. It scans the source project for specific functions (such as tag reads/writes and database queries), injects auditing wrappers around those calls, and outputs the modified files to a new destination folder.

All modifications made during this process are logged to a SQLite database, ensuring full traceability of what was changed and preserving the original code.

Note: This application is configured to work exclusively with Perspective components and project-level Python scripts. It does not process or modify Vision windows or other unsupported module resources.

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Project Flow

The core workflow consists of reading an unzipped Ignition project, duplicating its relevant components to a destination directory, and performing targeted modifications on bindings and scripts.

1. Configuration

Before running the tool, you must configure the source and destination paths in config.py.

• SOURCE_PROJECT_PATH: The path pointing to your source, unzipped Ignition project folder. To function correctly, this unzipped folder must contain scripts (ignition/script-python) and Perspective components (com.inductiveautomation.perspective/views).
• DESTINATION_PROJECT_PATH: The output directory where the modified project files will be saved. The application will create this folder if it doesn't exist.
• DATABASE_NAME: The name of the SQLite database file (e.g., audit_mods.sqlite3) used to track all modifications.

2. Execution & Extraction

When you run main.py, the tool begins by creating the destination directory. It selectively copies only the essential project structure from the source:

• project.json
• com.inductiveautomation.perspective/views
• ignition/script-python

3. Scanning and Injection

Once the files are staged in the destination folder, the application performs two primary passes:

• Perspective Views: Recursively parses view.json files for Perspective views. It scans for script nodes, tag bindings, and query bindings, injecting modified structures where necessary.
• Project Scripts: Scans all .py files within the ignition/script-python library. It searches for specific target functions (e.g., system.tag.readBlocking, system.db.runNamedQuery) and modifies the code to wrap these calls with auditing logic.

4. SQLite Traceability Feature

For every injection or modification performed, the application logs a detailed record into the SQLite database specified in config.py. The audit_mods table tracks:

• The specific resource (script path or view path) that was modified.
• The binding or function targeted.
• The line number or size of the modification.
• The mod_type (indicating what kind of injection occurred).
• The original_data (the exact script content or binding configuration before it was changed).

This database serves as an exhaustive audit trail, giving you full visibility into the modifications and allowing you to reference the original logic if needed.

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How to Replicate in Your Environment

1. Prepare Your Ignition Project:

   • Export your project from the Ignition Gateway (.zip format).
   • Unzip the project archive into a folder on your local machine.
   • Update: Make sure to add a session custom property pageSelected to your project to capture the page which the logging is pointed to.

2. Configure the Tool:

   • Open config.py.
   • Set SOURCE_PROJECT_PATH to the path of your unzipped project folder.
   • Set DESTINATION_PROJECT_PATH to the desired output directory for the modified files.
   • Set DATABASE_NAME to your preferred SQLite file name.

3. Run the Modifier:

   • Execute the main script using Python 3:

     python main.py

   • The script will output its progress to the console, detailing which views and scripts are being processed.

4. Review and Import:

   • Open the generated SQLite database using any standard SQLite viewer to review the modifications.
   • The modified components in your DESTINATION_PROJECT_PATH can now be zipped back into a .zip archive (ensure project.json is at the root of the zip) or dropped directly into your development Gateway's data/projects/ directory.