Nodes Disabled, But Configuration Nodes Still Running (and Causing Problems)

[ChZeman]

I have a single flow I deploy to a Pis in a large number of machines. Each machine is different (different PLC, tags, etc.). I have everything set up so I can make updates (code fixes, additional features, etc.) from my development machine and trigger an inject node to deploy the flow to all the Pis so I don't have to update each one individually. This was working fine until now.

I have one tab of the flow which contains a node for each machine in the field. The following screenshots show an example of what I have. Each of the eth-ip nodes are configured for different machines. The PLCs in two of the machines have the same IP address (each machine is on an isolated network) and different tags. The eth-ip 4 in machine 1 (which uses eth-ip 1) generates an uncaught exception.

I disabled all the eth-ip nodes except for the one required by that particular machine, but the configuration node was still active and had the same result. I disabled all the configuration nodes except for the one required by that machine and everything worked well. Since enabling/disabling configuration nodes at runtime isn't possible from what I'm seeing in the forum, I'm at a loss. I could leave everything disabled, deploy, and then log in to each instance of Node Red and enable what is needed, but that's between 40 and 50 Pis I would have to do that with. I'm looking for a much better solution. I can't programmatically configure an eth-ip or pccc node because they lack that functionality and @machadotiago indicated in another thread that it's not possible to implement that functionality.

23 Apr 13:23:21 - [error] TypeError: Cannot read properties of undefined (reading '_members')
    at TagList.getTemplateByTag (/home/sftp/.node-red/node_modules/st-ethernet-ip/src/tag-list/index.js:212:47)
    at Controller.newTag (/home/sftp/.node-red/node_modules/st-ethernet-ip/src/controller/index.js:1327:43)
    at extController.addTag (/home/sftp/.node-red/node_modules/st-ethernet-ip/src/controller-manager/index.js:91:22)
    at createTags (/home/sftp/.node-red/node_modules/node-red-contrib-cip-st-ethernet-ip/red/ethernet-ip.js:140:41)
    at extController.onConnect (/home/sftp/.node-red/node_modules/node-red-contrib-cip-st-ethernet-ip/red/ethernet-ip.js:192:13)
    at extController.emit (node:events:513:28)
    at /home/sftp/.node-red/node_modules/st-ethernet-ip/src/controller-manager/index.js:52:12
    at processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:96:5)

[Steve-Mcl]

Do you deploy the exact same flow to all devices or a custom version flow to each device?

[ChZeman]

It's the same flow to every device.

[Steve-Mcl]

For reference, @ChZeman raised an issue here: Populate Vartable from Environment Variables · Issue #36 · st-one-io/node-red-contrib-cip-ethernet-ip · GitHub

In the MQTT nodes, we permit the user to uncheck "Auto Connect" in the config node and permit the user to send a the string "connect" or "disconnect" in msg.action to any regular MQTT node. Additionally, the MQTT node permits dynamic subscriptions by sending "subscribe" or "unsubscribe" in the msg.action - along with the topic to subscribe in msg.topic

I suspect this node requires something similar. Perhaps you could mention something like this as a feature request in the issue. OR fork the node, add the feature and raise a PR back to the original node.

[ChZeman]

That would be an excellent approach, Steve! It's frustrating that the config nodes are still active even when the nodes they're configured for are disabled.

[Steve-Mcl]

Some config nodes are used for more than one node. Also, depending on the type, it might need to stay enabled. It is up to the developer to provide a means of dynamically controlling what their config node does - node-red can't assume I'm afraid.