Warning

The program is still under development, it is not yet suitable for its task.

v0.1-alpha2:
The next release with the following changes:

• Bug fixes,
• Modbus/ASCII and Modbus/RTU communication,
• handling of constants,
• three predefined constants and
• 28 new command (total: 94).
• Script syntax highlighting file for Micro.

v0.1-alpha1:
This test release is not yet suitable for work, although it is functional, but it can only communicate via Modbus/ASCII.

The purpose of this release is to test the program's construction, operation, packaging, and package installation in all supported environments. In addition, the documentation and other files are checked for possible typos and errors.

Modshell

Command-driven scriptable Modbus utility

Copyright (C) 2023 Pozsár Zsolt pozsarzs@gmail.com
Homepage: http://www.pozsarzs.hu
GitHub: https://github.com/pozsarzs/modshell
Online manual: https://github.com/pozsarzs/modshell/wiki

features
architecture	amd64, armhf, i386, x86_64
operation system	DOS, FreeBSD, Linux, Windows
version	v0.1
language	en, hu
licence	EUPL v1.2
local user interface	CLI and TUI
running modes	command line, full-screen or interpreter
local Modbus registers	2x10000 boolean and 2x10000 word type
variables	max. 128 variables or constants (stored as string)
built-in commands	94 commands in 9 categories
load from file	registers, script, settings
save to file	command history, console trafic, registers, communication settings, user log with timestamp
auto save to file	general settings and console traffic
export to file	history (TXT), registers (CSV, INI, XML)
import to file	registers (INI, XML)
configurable devices	max. 8 settings, serial and ethernet port
configurable protocols	max. 8 settings, ASCII, RTU or TCP
configurable connections	max. 8 settings by combining the previous two
raw serial communication	read/write serial port and mini serial console with char/hex echo
Modbus communication	read and write remote device and copy between devices
	internal server for remote access to own registers
	gateway to access devices using other ports or protocols
script size	max. 1024 line
example scripts	7 scripts (shellscript and batch file versions)
script syntax plugins	for Micro editor

1. Screenshots

Normal command line Fullscreen command line

Run example script on bash with ModShell interpreter

2. Used external libraries

• Convert - Bin/Oct/Dec/Hex number converter
  Unit for Turbo Pascal v3.0
  Public Domain, Copyright (C) 1993 Tom Wellige
• Ararat Synapse Release 40
  TCP/IP and serial library for FreePascal
  Modified BSD style license, Copyright (C) 1999-2012 Lukas Gebauer
• ProtCOM v0.1 Protected mode serial port handler for DOS
  Unit for FreePascal
  Creative Common Zero Universal v1.0, Copyright (C) 2024 Pozsar Zsolt

3. About

This is a utility that can be used on several operating systems, which can communicate with connected equipment using Modbus/ASCII, Modbus/RTU and Modbus/TCP protocols. The program can - even automatically - read, write or copy data from one device to another (e.g. transferring settings). When copying, the source and destination register areas can be different.

The program has a traditional (CLI) or full-screen (TUI) command-line interface and is also suitable for running pre-created scripts independently (as a command interpreter). The program provides help on the commands that can be used, and offers possible values when the parameters are entered incorrectly. The issued commands are placed in history, which can be browsed with the up/down arrow keys.

Operating principle

It must be defined the I/O devices, then the protocols and the connections. There can be eight of each. The data traffic takes place between the preset connections. In all cases, the data is sent to or read from the internal buffer. The size of the buffer is suitable for storing 2*9999 logical and word values of the same size. One hundred and twenty-eight variables or constant can be created in the program, to which we can assign a value of any type (eg.: string, boolean or integer register value, real number, etc.) Variables can be used to perform logical and arithmetical operations, and can be used to pass values to commands.

Projects

In the program, you can create projects for easier management of settings and data. The name of the current project is shown in the prompt. The project directory will be created in the program directory on DOS, and in the ModShell directory in the user's home directory on all other systems. If only filename is specified during file operations (without path), this directory will be the source/destination directory.

File operations

The command line history can be exported to a text file and provides it with the appropriate 'shebang' for the installation method and operating system. You can easily create a script from this raw file.

Device, protocol and connection settings can be saved and loaded in their own format. During saving, three typed files are created, with the following extensions: DDT, PDT, CDT.

All register values can be saved and loaded in their own format. During saving, two typed files are created, with the following extensions: BDT, IDT.

One or more same type registers can be exported to file. During saving, one text file is created, with CSV, INI or XML extension. The program can only import from INI and XML format files.

We can also create time-stamped log entries with the program and or script.

On exit, the command line history, echo mode and colors are preserved.

Script operations

The script on the disc can be loaded into the already running program and started manually.

The loaded script can be edited with a line editor, saved to disk or deleted from the buffer.

Serial connection

The program also provides the possibility to send and receive raw data via a serial port, and also includes a very simple serial console. The display of sent and received data can be turned off or raw text and hexadecimal viewing can be selected.

Already implemented commands:

command	category	hotkey	description
add	arithmetic		addition
avg	arithmetic		average calculation
conv	arithmetic	ALT-C	convert numbers between BIN, DEC, HEX and OCT format
cos	arithmetic		cosine function
cotan	arithmetic		cotangent function
dec	arithmetic		decrement integer
div	arithmetic		division
exp	arithmetic		natural exponential
idiv	arithmetic		integer division
imod	arithmetic		modulus division
inc	arithmetic		increment integer
inrange	arithmetic		check the value is in the range
ln	arithmetic		natural logarithm
mul	arithmetic		multiplication
mulinv	arithmetic		multiplicative inverse
odd	arithmetic		odd or event
pow	arithmetic		exponentiation
pow2	arithmetic		exponentiation of two
prop	arithmetic		propotional value calculation (with zero and span)
rnd	arithmetic		create random integer
round	arithmetic		round real number
sin	arithmetic		sine function
sqr	arithmetic		square
sqrt	arithmetic		square root
sub	arithmetic		substraction
tan	arithmetic		tangent function
copy	communication		copy one or more remote registers between two connections
mbgw	communication		start internal Modbus gateway
mbsrv	communication		start internal Modbus slave/server
read	communication	ALT-R	read one or more remote registers
sercons	communication	F7	serial console
serread	communication		read a string from serial device
serwrite	communication		write a string from serial device
write	communication	ALT-W	write data to one or more remote registers
get	configuration	ALT-G	get setting of a device, protocol, connection or get project name
reset	configuration	ALT-T	reset device, protocol or connection or reset project name
set	configuration	ALT-S	set device, protocol or connection or set project name
applog	file		append a record to log file (LOG)
exphis	file		export command line history to file (TXT)
expreg	file	ALT-E	export one or more registers to file (CSV, INI, XML)
impreg	file	ALT-I	import one or more registers from file (INI, XML)
loadcfg	file	F3	load settings of device, protocol and connection (?DT)
loadreg	file	F5	load all buffer registers from typed file (?DT)
savecfg	file	F2	save settings of device, protocol and connection (?DT)
savereg	file	F4	save all registers to typed file (?DT)
ascii	general		show ASCII table
beep	general		make a beep with internal speaker
cls	general	F8	clear screen
color	general		set colors
const	general		show all constant with theirs value or define a new one
cron	general		loaded script scheduled execution
date	general		show system date and time
echo	general	F9	enable/hexadecimal/disable local echo for serial connections
exit	general	F10	exit
goto	general		jump to specified label
for	general		loop iteration
help	general	F1	show description or usage of the commands
if	general		selection statement
label	general		define label (for goto command)
pause	general		waits for a keystroke or specified time
print	general	ALT-P	print message, value of the variable and register
var	general		show all variable with theirs value or define a new one
varmon	general	ALT-M	monitoring the value of variables
ver	general		show version and build information of this program
and	logic		AND logical operations
bit	logic		value of the specified bit
not	logic		NOT logical operations
or	logic		OR logical operations
roll	logic		roll bit of integer to left
rolr	logic		roll bit of integer to right
shl	logic		bit shift to left
shr	logic		bit shift to right
xor	logic		XOR logical operations
dump	register	F6	dump all registers in binary/hexadecimal format to a table
let	register	ALT-L	set value of a variable or register
edit	script		edit loaded script with line editor
erase	script		erase script from buffer
list	script	F11	list loaded script
loadscr	script		load ModShell scriptfile from disc
run	script	F12	run loaded script
savescr	script		save loaded script to disc
chr	string		convert byte to char
concat	string		concatenate strings
length	string		length of string
lowcase	string		conversion to lowercase
mkcrc	string		make CRC value
mklrc	string		make LRC value
ord	string		convert char to byte
strdel	string		delete specified element(s) of the string
strfind	string		find specified element in the string
strins	string		insert element into string
stritem	string		specified element of the string
strrepl	string		replace element in the string
upcase	string		conversion to uppercase

(Commands with function keys (F?) are executed immediately, modifier keys (ALT-?) only make typing easier.)

Predefined constants

name	value
$?	exit value of the commands
$PI	value of Pi (3.1415926535897932385)
$EULER	value of e (2.7182818284590452354)

Documentation and Help

Modshell has a minimal built-in help which you can access by typing help. Additionally, you can view the manual page from *nix shell (man modshell) or modshell.txt on other systems.

Contributing

If you find any bugs, please report them! I am also happy to accept pull requests from anyone. You can use the GitHub issue tracker to report bugs, ask questions, or suggest new features.