Home
Business Logic / Control
Endless possibilities in data processing for your projects.
NextGen Archiver Backend-API
This chapter describes the NextGen Archiver Backend API
Project structure
This chapter describes the project structure of the TemplateNextGenArchBackend project (lib, exe and plugin projects as well as the dplist directory).

Version Information
Release Notes, Update information, Certifications and Frequently Asked Questions.
Concepts
Your first step into modern and powerful process visualization.
Deployment
Topics, you need to know, before using WinCC OA.
Security
Go beyond the norm in cybersecurity.
Engineering
Powerful tools for easy or complex engineering tasks.
Data Management
Classify, structure and archive your data.
Business Logic / Control
Endless possibilities in data processing for your projects.
- Introduction to CTRL
  An introduction to the product's own programming language Control(CTRL).
- Control Classes
  The overview of classes available in Control.
- Types of Control Functions
  An overview of the types of functions distinguished within Control.
- Control graphics
- CONTROL Functions
- CtrlExtension
  The CtrlExtension allows the addition of custom C++ code.
- CTRL Debugger
  You can use the CTRL debugger to debug the Control programming language. The debugger can be used via its own panel, which also enables the monitoring and setting of variable values during the execution of a script.
- SQL in CONTROL
  The database functions enable you to quickly carry out value queries on data points and elements.
- API Manager
  The WinCC OA API (Application Programming Interface) offers a number of functions adding special Managers to this process control system.
- NextGen Archiver Backend-API
  This chapter describes the NextGen Archiver Backend API
  - Architecture
    This chapter provides an overview of the NGA system architecture.
  - Backend
    Description of what is a backend.
  - Segment Management
    The segments are used for NGA archiving. In order to keep the data manageable, NGA structures the data of each archive group into segments.
  - Requirements
    Contains the requirements for the NGA Backend API.
  - Project structure
    This chapter describes the project structure of the TemplateNextGenArchBackend project (lib, exe and plugin projects as well as the dplist directory).
  - Build steps
    Build steps contains the steps Create new project and Updating third-party libraries in an existing project.
  - Work modes
    The backend can work in various modes.
  - Backend API architecture
    This chapter describes what classes you must implement to implement your backend.
  - Redundancy
    Describes the NGA redundancy.
  - Backend lifetime
    This chapter describes the backend lifetime consisting of the different steps for starting and stopping such as Create a CommonBackend instance and Get DatabaseParameters.
Data Visualization
User interfaces, Trends and Reports for every purpose and device.
Southbound Interfaces
The process connection to the actual machines/sensors.
Northbound Interfaces
Your portal to the cloud or supervising systems.
Web Connectivity / Network Interfaces
Data exchange, APIs and web technologies
User Management
All about authorization, authentication and login-customization.
Availability
How to get your system uptime to the maximum.
Reporting
Create state of the art project reports without limits.
Addons
Useful tools and enhancements for special demands.
Reference Tables
Detailed and extensive content for special project adaptation.
Videos & Tutorials
Explore the capabilities of WinCC OA with our carefully selected collection of video tutorials and guides.
WinCC OA Documentation
Basic information about terms and functions within the documentation.
Disclaimer
A brief clarification of liability exclusions or legal notices.

Project structure

This chapter describes the project structure of the TemplateNextGenArchBackend project (lib, exe and plugin projects as well as the dplist directory).

The TemplateNextGenArchBackend project has the following structure:

TemplateNextGenArchBackend/
	├─ dplist/
	├─ Exe/
	├─ ExternLibs/
	├─ Lib/
	├─ Plugin/
	├─ _TEMPLATE_CMakeLists.txt

Lib project contains the main logic of the backend.

Exe project builds the backend that can be run in "out-of-proc" mode. The result of building this project is an executable file:

For Linux - NGABackendNameBackend
For Windows - NGABackendNameBackend.exe

Plugin project builds the backend that can be run in "in-proc" mode. The result of building this project is a library:

For Linux - libNGABackendNameBackendPlugin.so
For Windows - NGABackendNameBackendPlugin.dll

dplist folder contains .dpl file with internal datapoints of the backend. This .dpl file must be imported into the WinCC OA project to let the NGA work with the backend. DpList contains the following data points:

_NGA_B_BackendNameBackend datapoint of _NGA_Backend datapoint type - Describes the backend settings such as operation mode, ZMQ address for interacting with the frontend, database connection settings, database specific settings, etc.
_NGA_B_BackendNameBackend_2 datapoint of _NGA_Backend datapoint type - Required for a redundant project.
_NGA_G_EVENT_BackendName datapoint of _NGA_Group datapoint type - Describes an archive group for event archiving.
_NGA_G_EVENT_BackendName_2 datapoint of _NGA_Group datapoint type - Required for a redundant project.
_NGA_P_BackendNameBackend_Profile datapoint of _NGA_P_BackendNameBackend_Profile datapoint type - The Profile comprises the following settings:
- Send DPE (data point element) as
- Time Parameters
- Specific Settings.

For more details about internal data point types, see subchapter Internal Data Points.

ExternLibs folder contains external libraries that are required to build the backend. The following folders are part of the Backend API delivery: Protobuf and ZeroMQ. These libraries will be downloaded by the newNextGenArchBackend script.

CMakeLists.txt contains commands to build BackendNameBackend files.