Pipeline
Pipelines move data between sources and targets, and can apply logic and transformation to the data. For example, a pipeline can monitor an OPC UA tag for a data change, and on change it can read an Instance composed of data from the OPC UA server and publish it to MQTT on a unique topic.
Pipelines are composed of Triggers and Stages.
Triggers
Triggers generate events that start the pipeline. Triggers can be based on a timer or event or poll driven data sources. When data enters a pipeline, the data is called an event. All events enter the pipeline at the pipeline start stage.
Stages
Stages perform transformation and I/O using the events. Stages have an input and one or more outputs depending on the stage type. Example stages include writes, reads, modeling, buffering, etc.
Creating a pipeline
- Click Pipeline in the configuration’s Main Menu and then click New Pipeline to get started.
- Enter a Name to represent the pipeline. Optionally enter a Description, Tags, and Grouping.
- Choose to create an Empty Pipeline or choose Build Flow.
- Empty Pipeline creates a pipeline with no triggers or stages that must be manually configured.
- Build Flow continues the wizard and displays flow triggers settings to create a simple pipeline that reads and writes.
- Once the Pipeline is created, navigate to Stages in the top left of the Pipeline to view and drag and drop Trigger or other Stages onto the Pipeline.
Pipeline Status
The list view shows the name, status, and active trigger count for each Pipeline. A Pipeline’s Status is Good or Error based on the success of the last event processed by the pipeline. A pipeline is Not Started if it has had no events (ex. no active triggers). To enable/disable all triggers for a pipeline, select the pipeline in the list view and select Actions and Enable/Disable.
Pipelines are a powerful tool to move and transform data. See the links below to learn more about pipeline components, replay, monitoring, and more.
Pipeline Auto Layout
For large pipelines use the auto layout feature in the lower right hand corner of the pipeline canvas to automatically layout the stages.
