Creating a Variable

Variables are the data points on a ControlCom Connect device. Before you can wire an Edge Server client (Modbus, BACnet, OPC UA, etc.) to a register, the variable that will receive its value must already exist on the device. This guide walks through creating one.

Prerequisites

This guide requires the ControlCom Edge Server to be onboarded. See our Onboarding Guide for the Edge Server to get started.

Steps

Navigate to Administration > Devices
Select an onboarded device
In the device page, click the Variables tab
Click the "+ New Variable" button
Enter the Variable Name, Description, Topic Property path
Select the Type of the data with options boolean, number, or string.
Enable the Store Data toggle if wanting to view historical values through Visualization

Important Note If Store Data is disabled, it will still allow live data to come into the system for viewing, but the system will not save the data and you will not be able to visualize it

Click the "Add Variable" button

Devices Page — Devices page in ControlCom Connect

Device Variables Menu — Variables Menu for a Device in ControlCom Connect

Add new device variable — Add new variable dialog in ControlCom Connect

Next Steps

Once a variable exists on the device, you can point a client at it. See Reading Modbus Data for an end-to-end example that uses the variable you just created as the Topic Property Path for a Modbus tag.