This Guide Article has been written for Version 2.1 of the DATAFLOW Software. For Previous Releases use the version selection in the navigation bar at the top of this page.

To reduce the number of channels for concepts such as logging, alerting or central status broadcasting, a new port type has been added. Multicast ports support 2 patterns:

• Publisher/Subscriber (Single sender, multiple receivers)
• Notifier/Responsible (Multiple senders, single receiver)

In both cases, the user does only define the ports based on the role of an active part. All channels are generated automatically on code generation and do not appear in the diagram.

Typical Use Cases

Define Broadcast Channel

To define a broadcast channel, the following steps need to be performed:

1. Create a publisher port in the active part or active interrupt that shall send messages to the channel.
2. Assign a protocol to the publisher port.
   This protocol must be unique and should not be used by other channels. All broadcast ports using the same protocol will be connected to the same broadcast channel.
3. Create a subscriber port in any active part that needs to receive message from the channel.
4. Assign the same protocol as for the publisher port to all subscriber ports.

Note: It is possible to define multiple broadcast channels, as long as each channel uses its own protocol.

Note: A broadcast channel will be generated using regular ports and channels as if the user had connected the ports manually.

Define Notify Channel

To define a notify channel, the following steps need to be performed:

1. Create a responsible port in the active part that shall receive all messages from the channel.
2. Assign a protocol to the responsible port.
   This protocol must be unique and should not be used by other channels. All multicast ports using the same protocol will be connected to the same notify channel.
3. Create a notify port in any active part or active interrupt that needs to send messages to the channel.
4. Assign the same protocol as for the responsible port to all notify ports.

Note: It is possible to define multiple notify channels, as long as each channel uses its own protocol.

Note: A notify channel will be generated using regular ports and channels as if the user had connected the ports manually.

This Article has been written based on V2.1.1 of the DATAFLOW software. 
Latest update 2023-06-21 by WUM.