Flint v1 + Designer bridge module for Ignition

Ignition
1

Hey everyone,

After a long stint of it being privately developed and tested on, I've decided that now is a better time than ever to push a release of v1 of Flint.

For those that dont know, Flint started as a VS Code extension for developing in Ignition, and now it also comes with a pair Ignition module to allow your VS Code extension to attach to a running designer to get some cool new features.

I built Flint specifically focused on development environments, and enabling software focused development in the Ignition platform. I would say at this time the module is specifically recommended for local dev environments, or at least thats our primary use case!

Extension: Flint for Ignition - Visual Studio Marketplace

Extension Github Repository: GitHub - bw-design-group/flint-vscode-extension: Flint — VS Code extension for Ignition SCADA/HMI development · GitHub

Module Github Repository: GitHub - bw-design-group/flint-designer-bridge-ignition-module: Flint Designer Bridge — Ignition module connecting the Designer to VS Code · GitHub

A few new features worth testing out:

  • Project browser for more Ignition project resources (Perspective views, named queries, scripts, session props, and more)
  • Resource management: create, rename, duplicate, and validate resources with proper resource.json handling
  • Multi-gateway configuration with environments (dev/staging/prod) via a simple flint.config.json
  • Designer-backed Jython (Python 2.7) language support via LSP: completion, hover, go-to-definition, references, and diagnostics for `system.*` and project scripts.
  • Search across all project resources, triggering Kindling launch for backups/logs, Designer Launcher integration, etc.
  • Remote script console from VS Code when leveraging Flint Designer Bridge
  • Debug Adapter Protocol implementation allowing for breakpoint debugging of all scripts when leveraging Flint Designer Bridge

Install the extension from the Marketplace, and grab the module from the GitHub releases. Feedback, issues, and PRs are welcome on either repo.

2

Impressive! I may have to start playing with VSCode after all.

3

Can't wait to get into this one! Thanks @kgamble for making stuff like this available for everyone.

4

I'm going to try it with VScodium which usually works with the same extensions but avoids the Microsoft telemetry.

5

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The debugger is by far the biggest feature. I literally jumped in the air when I was able to set breakpoints in vscode and step through my functions. Looking forward to digging through the code to understand it more.

Thanks for the great work Keith!

6

Hi Matt,

Not sure how you plan on downloading it but I am the one who originally published the package to Open VSX Registry so the vsix is like two years old. You will want to download from the Releases page until Keith claims the namespace.

7

I didn't even know that Open VSX Registry was a thing! If I set it up publishing to it and claim the namespace will it step on top of what you've done?

8

Yes but that's fine. To keep things simple I will go ahead and remove the package from the registry and you can follow the guide below: