A browsable library of automation hardware - controllers, I/O modules, drives, valves, sensors, actuators. Each entry is contributed by an installed extension, carries a stable ID, and feeds the Machine editor with channel definitions you do not have to type by hand.
Open the AutomationView sidebar from the activity bar and select the Equipment Catalog view. With no equipment provider installed, the view shows an empty state pointing at the documentation - install at least one provider to populate it.
Extensions contribute entries through the AutomationView API (api.registerEquipment). The official plugins:
| Plugin | Contributes |
|---|---|
| AutomationView - CODESYS | CODESYS V3 generic controllers and runtime targets |
| AutomationView - Siemens | S7-1200 and S7-1500 controllers |
| AutomationView - Rockwell | Allen-Bradley ControlLogix and CompactLogix controllers |
| AutomationView - Festo | CPX-E remote I/O modules and a VTUG valve terminal |
Third-party extensions can register their own equipment through the same API.
Entries are nested by manufacturer, then equipment family, then individual items, then versions, and finally the channels they expose (I/O, network ports, drive axes). Expand a node to drill down. Each leaf shows the display name, manufacturer, short description, and an ID badge. Use the filter at the top of the view to narrow by name, manufacturer, or ID.
Click a catalog entry to open its Details view alongside - electrical specs, channel map, supported protocols, links to vendor documentation. The same view opens from the right-click Show Equipment Details action or the AutomationView: Show Equipment Details command.
Every entry has a stable, vendor-prefixed ID such as festo.io.cpx-e-8di or siemens.cpu.1515-2pn. You paste these IDs into the Machine editor's controller and equipment fields. Right-click an entry and choose Copy Equipment ID (or run AutomationView: Copy Equipment ID), then paste with Ctrl+V.
The Machine editor is where catalog entries become real configuration.
Open main.machine in the visual Machine editor. In the Controller field, paste an equipment ID or click Browse to pick from the catalog. The CPU model, supported instructions, and default communication parameters are filled in for you.
With a controller selected, open the I/O Modules section and click Add Module. Pick the module from the catalog; its channels (digital in, digital out, analog) are populated automatically, each with its hardware address.
Cylinders, valves, drives, and the like work the same way: open Equipment, click Add Equipment, pick from the catalog. The equipment's sensor and command channels appear underneath, ready to be wired to variables.
When you add a catalog entry, AutomationView reads its channel definition and creates one I/O channel per physical signal, with a default name (the vendor's convention), data type (BOOL, INT, REAL, BYTE...), and optional default address. If the vendor updates the module later, refreshing the catalog and re-applying the entry pulls in the new channels.
Channels are the bridge between equipment and Sequence logic. In the Machine editor, drag a variable onto a channel - or pick a channel from the variable's address field. The variable becomes the symbolic name you reference in steps and transitions, and at translation time the binding is exported into the target PLC's I/O configuration.
For how variable scope interacts with binding, see the Variable Scope Reference.
After installing or updating a provider extension, click Refresh in the view title bar or run AutomationView: Refresh Equipment Catalog. Every provider is reloaded and reindexed.
| Symptom | Fix |
|---|---|
| Catalog is empty | Install at least one equipment provider extension |
| New entries do not appear | Run Refresh Equipment Catalog |
| Details panel is blank | Provider did not ship a datasheet for this item - check vendor docs |
| Equipment ID not recognised in Machine editor | Provider extension may be disabled - re-enable it in Extensions |