ISO 20242-5:2020

Industrial automation systems and integration — Service interface for testing applications — Part 5: Application program service interface

This document defines the formatting, syntax and semantic rules for describing ? an object oriented interface for using services provided by a coordinator and ? the configuration of virtual devices and the environment for their use.

Systèmes d'automatisation industrielle et intégration — Interface de service pour contrôler les applications — Partie 5: Interface de service des programmes d'application

General Information

• Status: Published
• Publication Date: 23-Jun-2020
• ICS: 25.040.40 - Industrial process measurement and control
• Technical Committee: ISO/TC 184/SC 5 - Interoperability, integration, and architectures for enterprise systems and automation applications
• Drafting Committee: ISO/TC 184/SC 5/WG 6 - Application service interface
• Current Stage: 6060 - International Standard published
• Start Date: 24-Jun-2020
• Due Date: 14-Aug-2019
• Completion Date: 24-Jun-2020

Relations

• Consolidated By: ISO 22042:2021 - Blast chiller and freezer cabinets for professional use — Classification, requirements and test conditions
• Effective Date: 06-Jun-2022

Standards Content (Sample)

INTERNATIONAL ISO
STANDARD 20242-5
First edition
2020-06
Industrial automation systems and
integration — Service interface for
testing applications —
Part 5:
Application program service interface
Systèmes d'automatisation industrielle et intégration — Interface de
service pour contrôler les applications —
Partie 5: Interface de service des programmes d'application
Reference number
ISO 20242-5:2020(E)
©
ISO 2020

---------------------- Page: 1 ----------------------
ISO 20242-5:2020(E)

COPYRIGHT PROTECTED DOCUMENT
© ISO 2020
All rights reserved. Unless otherwise specified, or required in the context of its implementation, no part of this publication may
be reproduced or utilized otherwise in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, or posting
on the internet or an intranet, without prior written permission. Permission can be requested from either ISO at the address
below or ISO’s member body in the country of the requester.
ISO copyright office
CP 401 • Ch. de Blandonnet 8
CH-1214 Vernier, Geneva
Phone: [phone]
Email: [e-mail]
Website: www.iso.org
Published in Switzerland
ii © ISO 2020 – All rights reserved

---------------------- Page: 2 ----------------------
ISO 20242-5:2020(E)
Contents         Page
Foreword . iv
Introduction . v
1 Scope . 1
2 Normative references . 1
3 Terms and definitions . 1
4 Symbols and abbreviated terms . 3
5 Application Program Service Interface . 3
5.1 Introduction . 3
5.2 Parameterization . 5
5.3 Configuration . 6
5.3.1 PID based configuration . 6
5.3.2 Service based and mixed configuration . 6
5.4 Coordinator structure . 7
5.4.1 Workspace. 7
5.4.2 Interface variants . 9
5.5 Details for using APSI . 12
5.5.1 Workspace structure . 12
5.5.2 Callback methods and references . 12
5.5.3 Workspace extension . 13
5.5.4 Workspace transfer . 14
5.5.5 Data monitoring . 14
5.5.6 Data types . 15
5.5.7 Streaming . 16
5.6 Error handling . 18
(normative) Programmer's reference guide — Smart Access Interface . 19
(normative) Programmer's reference guide — Extended Access Interface . 79
(normative) Programmer's reference guide — Full Access Interface . 125
(normative) Reference guide — Enums and status/ident informations . 222
(informative) Sequence diagrams . 235
(informative) Streaming . 243
(informative) Data alignment and byte order . 247
(informative) Testing applications with the ISO 20242 (APSI) series and the
ISO 13209 (OTX) series . 250
(normative) Conformance test methods, criteria and reports . 279
Bibliography . 283
© ISO 2020 – All rights reserved iii

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ISO 20242-5:2020(E)
Foreword
ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) is a worldwide federation of national standards
bodies (ISO member bodies). The work of preparing International Standards is normally carried out
through ISO technical committees. Each member body interested in a subject for which a technical
committee has been established has the right to be represented on that committee. International
organizations, governmental and non-governmental, in liaison with ISO, also take part in the work.
ISO collaborates closely with the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) on all matters of
electrotechnical standardization.
The procedures used to develop this document and those intended for its further maintenance are
described in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1. In particular, the different approval criteria needed for the
different types of ISO documents should be noted. This document was drafted in accordance with the
editorial rules of the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2 (see www.iso.org/directives).
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of
patent rights. ISO shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights. Details of any
patent rights identified during the development of the document will be in the Introduction and/or on
the ISO list of patent declarations received (see www.iso.org/patents).
Any trade name used in this document is information given for the convenience of users and does not
constitute an endorsement.
For an explanation of the voluntary nature of standards, the meaning of ISO specific terms and
expressions related to conformity assessment, as well as information about ISO's adherence to the World
Trade Organization (WTO) principles in the Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT), see
www.iso.org/iso/foreword.html.
This document was prepared by Technical Committee ISO/TC 184, Automation systems and integration,
Subcommittee SC 5, Interoprability, integration and architectures for enterprise systems and automation
applications.
A list of all parts in the ISO 20242 series can be found on the ISO website.
Any feedback or questions on this document should be directed to the user’s national standards body. A
complete listing of these bodies can be found at www.iso.org/members.html.
iv © ISO 2020 – All rights reserved

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ISO 20242-5:2020(E)
Introduction
The motivation for the ISO 20242 series stems from international automotive industries and their
suppliers to facilitate the integration of automation and measurement devices, and other peripheral
components for this purpose, into computer based applications. It defines rules for the construction of
device drivers and their behaviour in the context of an automation and/or measurement application.
The main goal of the ISO 20242 series is to provide users with:
— independence from the computer operating system;
— independence from the device connection technology (device interface/network);
— independence from device suppliers;
— the ability to certify device drivers with connected devices and their behavior in the context of a given
computer platform;
— independence from the technological device development in the future.
The ISO 20242 series will not force the development of new device families or the use of special interface
technologies (networks). It encapsulates a device and its communication interface to make it compatible
with other devices of that kind for a given application.
© ISO 2020 – All rights reserved v

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INTERNATIONAL STANDARD ISO 20242-5:2020(E)

Industrial automation systems and integration — Service
interface for testing applications —
Part 5:
Application program service interface
1 Scope
This document defines the formatting, syntax and semantic rules for describing
— an object oriented interface for using services provided by a coordinator and
— the configuration of virtual devices and the environment for their use.
2 Normative references
The following documents are referred to in the text in such a way that some or all of their content
constitutes requirements of this document. For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For
undated references, the latest edition of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies.
ISO 20242-1, Industrial automation and systems integration — Service interface for testing applications —
Part 1: Overview
ISO 20242-2, Industrial automation and systems integration — Service interface for testing applications —
Part 2: Resource Management Service Interface
ISO 20242-3, Industrial automation and systems integration — Service interface for testing applications —
Part 3: Virtual Device Service Interface
ISO 20242-4, Industrial automation and systems integration — Service interface for testing applications —
Part 4: Device Capability Profile Template
ISO 13209-1, Road vehicles — Open Test sequence eXchange format (OTX) — Part 1: General information
and use cases
ISO 13209-2, Road vehicles — Open Test sequence eXchange format (OTX) — Part 2: Core data model
specification and requirements
3 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the terms and definitions given in ISO 20242-1, ISO 20242-2,
ISO 20242-3, ISO 20242-4, ISO 13209-1, ISO 13209-2 and the following apply.
ISO and IEC maintain terminological databases for use in standardization at the following addresses:
— ISO Online browsing platform: available at https://www.iso.org/obp
— IEC Electropedia: available at http://www.electropedia.org/
© ISO 2020 – All rights reserved
1

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ISO 20242-5:2020(E)
3.1
communication object
existing object which may be accessed with a communication function to read or write a value
[SOURCE: ISO 20242-1:2005, 2.3]
3.2
coordinator
program with a specified interface to handle the access of an application program to one or more device
drivers (3.5) and to manage real-time application aspects, synchronization and events
[SOURCE: ISO 20242-1:2005, 2.4]
3.3
coordinator capability description
text file containing information about the capabilities of coordinators (3.2) in a defined format (i.e.
structure, syntax)
[SOURCE: ISO 20242-4:2011, 3.3]
3.4
coordinator services
services of a coordinator (3.2) for the exchange of data with application programs
3.4
device capability description
text file containing information about the capabilities of virtual devices (3.9) in a defined format (i.e.
structure, syntax)
[SOURCE: ISO 20242-1:2005, 2.5, modified — Note 1 to entry deleted.]
3.5
device driver
software module providing an ISO 20242-specified interface with service functions to call a platform
adapter to access physical devices
[SOURCE: ISO 20242-2:2010, 3.1]
3.6
function object
instance describing one capability of a virtual device (3.9)
[SOURCE: ISO 20242-3:2011, 3.4]
3.7
operation
instance describing one complete procedure
[SOURCE: ISO 20242-3:2011, 3.5]
3.8
parameterization instance description
information about the configuration of a coordinator (3.2) and of virtual devices (3.9)
[SOURCE: ISO 20242-4:2011, 3.8]
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ISO 20242-5:2020(E)
3.9
virtual device
representation of one or more physical devices and/or stand-alone software modules that provide an
unambiguous view of the resources of a communication interface
[SOURCE: ISO 20242-3:2011, 3.7]
3.10
workspace
grouping of coordinators (3.2) resources providing an access point for an application
4 Symbols and abbreviated terms
APSI Application Program Service Interface
ASCII American Standard Code for Information Interchange
CCD Coordinator Capability Description
CO Communication Object
DCD Device Capability Description
DCPT Device Capability Profile Template
DSL Domain Specific Language
EAI Extended Access Interface
FAI Full Access Interface
FO Function Object
NIL Null pointer or null reference, does not refer to a valid object
OP Operation
OTX Open Test sequence eXchange
PID Parameterization Instance Description
SAI Smart Access Interface
VD Virtual Device
VDSI Virtual Device Service Interface
XML eXtensible Markup Language (see REC-xml-20040204)
5 Application Program Service Interface
5.1 Introduction
This clause describes a set of services that shall be provided by a coordinator to be used by several
application programs (Figure 1).
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ISO 20242-5:2020(E)
Application 1 Application 2 Application 3
Measurement
Visualization Monitoring
Automation
Application 4 Application 5
Device Device
Parameterization Maintenance
C o o r d i n a t o r

Figure 1 — Exemplary application programs using a coordinator
The concept for the Application Program Service Interface (APSI) is to be device neutral. It shall be
possible to access application-relevant data presented by any device without device-specific services or
parameters (Applications 1, 2 and 3 in Figure 1). Nevertheless, for the configuration of devices and other
device-specific tasks it should also be possible to transfer device-specific information (Applications 4 and
5 in Figure 1). Therefore, APSI defines different interfaces (see 5.4.2), whereas the Smart Access Interface
(SAI) is mandatory and shall not handle any device-specific access, and the Full Access Interface (FAI) is
optional and shall enable an access to virtual devices in device drivers (see ISO 20242-3). In a typical full
stack usage of the ISO 20242 series, the coordinator accesses device drivers via the Virtual Device Service
Interface (see Annex I and
ISO 20142-1:2005).
The application should use abstract data sources and sinks identified by instance names. Depending on
the application environment, data types of sources and sinks are known before or have to be identified
via the interface. Applications using APSI typically will not have information about the physical devices
providing the requested information processing. In addition, the coordinator shall implement a memory
separation between application data and device data (see 5.5.7). Therefore, device-specific data elements
shall be encapsulated and not be visible for the application.
This document describes the basics of coordinator services and their usage in typical applications. An
object-oriented model is used with a fundamental description of classes, attributes and methods. Services
are executable synchronous by default. The asynchronous operation is optional. Corresponding
capabilities of a coordinator shall be described in a datasheet delivered with the coordinator (see I.2).
Asynchronous operation is controlled via callback functions. For global event handling in a workspace
(see 5.4.1), the callback functions (e.g. see refCBInformationReport in A.2.2.7) shall be defined with
opening the workspace. Additionally local callbacks should be registered at each attribute (see 5.5.2).
Coordinator services will typically be mapped to the applied technology, platform and programming
language (e.g. CORBA, JAVA, C++). Therefore, this document defines services and not an interface for a
specific programming language. Details for a specific programming language shall be explained for the
respective mapping in a datasheet (see I.2). This also applies for the error handling, because technological
restrictions of data processing have to be considered for the corresponding implementation.
Annex H describes the usage of this standard with applications based on ISO 13209 (OTX). Conformance
tests for this document shall be carried out as specified in Annex I.
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ISO 20242-5:2020(E)
5.2 Parameterization
The coordinator shall be able to link and release applications and device drivers dynamically and to
create and delete data objects in device drivers (virtual devices, function objects and communication
objects as defined in ISO 20242-3). This procedure shall be identical for all device drivers. The sequence
of creating and deleting data objects shall not be fixed. It shall be possible to use a parameter instance
description (PID, as defined in ISO 20242-4) to control the procedure of instantiation.
NOTE 1 The coordinator does not know, which device capabilities are necessary for a specific application, but it
can communicate with each device on the basis of its device capability description (DCD, as defined in
ISO 20242-4).
NOTE 2 To achieve a balance between the functionalities needed by the application and the device capabilities
provided by the device drivers, a configuration is usually set up by means of a parameterization procedure. The
result is a parameterization instance description (PID) which contains the information for the coordinator to create
all necessary data objects. This procedure is the key for device independence, as the application does not need to
know the specific capabilities of the used devices. A parameterization tool can create the PID, which can be part of
the application itself or a stand-alone software.
The parameterization shall be based on the DCD available for the device drivers and should be supported
by multilingual text elements as defined in ISO 20242-4:2011, Clause 8.
NOTE 3 The PID can be created without a coordinator and it is not necessary to connect any device.
The PID shall not be altered by a coordinator.
The following information shall be included within the parameter instance description:
— workspace name,
— drivers (location) with version number,
— device capability descriptions (DCD) of drivers,
— virtual devices (VD) including identification and parameters for creation,
— function objects (FO) including identification and parameters for creation,
— communication objects (CO) and their default values,
— operations (OP) and their identification,
— in/out-structures of operations with values for input parameter,
— initializing order, and
— application references (instance names) for the abstract data sources and sinks.
The parameter instance description (PID) shall be based on the description of structured data types.
Thus, the typedef sections of the DCDs shall be resolved. See ISO 20242-4 for details.
NOTE 4 With this parameterization, the initialized values for virtual devices, function objects and
communication objects are established for an application-related configuration.
The generated PID shall be stored separately. The read configurations shall be reproducible by the
coordinator at any time.
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ISO 20242-5:2020(E)
5.3 Configuration
5.3.1 PID based configuration
With a PID based configuration, an XML file created using the specification in ISO 20242-4 will be
presented to the coordinator by the application at the creation of a workspace. This file shall be processed
automatically by the coordinator. When an application logs in at the coordinator, the instance description
to be used shall be identified by name.
If the application knows the instance names and types of the abstract data sources and sinks, it could
iterate over the object references created by the coordinator. This is a typical use case for the Smart
Access Interface.
If the application does not know the instance names and types of the abstract data sources and sinks, it
should iterate over the object references created by the coordinator and request the names and types of
the abstract data sources and sinks. This is a typical use case for the Extended Access Interface.
The coordinator shall instantiate the objects given with the instance description, and thus creates
abstract data sources and inside to be used by the application. The data objects of the device driver
assigned to these abstract data sources and sinks shall be instantiated within the corresponding virtual
devices.
NOTE During the life time of the device driver these abstract data sources and sinks can be updated by the
application via reading and writing. The coordinator can update the abstract data sources and sinks accessing the
data objects instantiated within the device drivers, as the coordinator knows the relations between the abstract
data sources and sinks inside and the function objects of the virtual devices.
The operating state of a virtual device will be "Working" (ISO 20242-3:2011, Clause 7) after running a
parameterization with the SAI or EAI. In this state, the modification of parameters is not possible. The
method GdiCoWorkspace::gdiSetAllowChangeParameter(boolean bEnable) resets this
prohibition and enables the application to write a parameter (see A.2.29.12). For this, the coordinator
shall transit the respective VDs to the appropriate states.
5.3.2 Service based and mixed configuration
If the full access interface is implemented in the coordinator, an application itself can do the configuration
without an accordingly prepared PID.
In a service based configuration, the structure (classes and data types) and the content (instances and
parameters) of the interface can be created. See Annex C for details of this step by step procedure of
configuration.
In a mixed configuration, a PID without instances and parameters (called empty PID in this document)
can be presented at the interface. The coordinator shall build the structure based on the DCD contained
in the empty PID. Instances and parameters can be created afterwards.
For both cases, the operating state of a VD can be controlled by the application.
6 © ISO 2020 – All rights reserved

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ISO 20242-5:2020(E)
5.4 Coordinator structure
5.4.1 Workspace
The workspace in this document is defined as a grouping of coordinator resources and provides an access
point for an application. The coordinator shall provide several workspaces which shall be managed
separately. An application can use one or more workspaces. Workspaces shall be identified by name and
shall connect only to one application (Figure 2) and an optional monitoring application (see 5.5.5 for
details).
Monitor-
Application 1 Application 2
Application
Workspace A Workspace B Workspace C
C o o r d i n a t o r

Figure 2 — Applications and workspaces
APSI shall be a multi client interface, as several workspaces can be used at the same time. The content of
a PID file shall exactly describe one workspace, independent from the number of devices, device drivers
and DCDs.
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ISO 20242-5:2020(E)
GdiCoWorkspace
Description Instantiation
(Data Base) (Run Time)
GdiCoDriverCD GdiCoDriverRT
GdiCoVDRT
GdiCoModuleCD
GdiCoDataObjectRT
GdiCoInterfaceCD GdiCoFuncObjectRT
GdiCoOperationCD GdiCoOperationRT
GdiCoCommObjectCD GdiCoCommObjectRT
has reference to

Figure 3 — Workspace view for service organisation
With connecting to a workspace, an application shall get a handle for its further identification. Therefore
any interface access after connecting takes this application handle as parameter.
A coordinator shall be able to handle several applications simultaneously. The objects set up by the
coordinator for each application shall remain reserved for this application and shall be invisible for other
applications. If several applications need access to identical coordinator objects, this should be organized
by the application connected to the workspace.
Access services defined in this document shall be carried out as specified in Annex A for the Smart Access
Interface (SAI), Annex B for the Extended Access Interface (EAI) and Annex C for the Full Acces Interface
(FAI). Further services providing information about enums, status and identification shall be carried out
as specified in Annex D. The services are organized with a view on two sides of a workspace. One side is
called Description and the other side is called Instantiation (see Figure 3).
The Description side is also referred to as Data Base side, because the contained information is static and
represents the class descriptions from the DCDs of the corresponding device drivers. The Instantiation
side is referred to as RunTime side, because it represents the realized instances including default initial
values used at RunTime. If an application uses only the services from the RunTime side, the allocation of
the separate device drivers and VDs shall be not visible. Instead a pool of abstract data sources and sinks
shall be provided.
Device driver and DCD form a unit. For each device driver there is exactly one Description side, which
represents the respective DCD, and exactly one RunTime side. The classes of Description side and the
objects of RunTime have a tree structure. Each element is assigned to an unambiguous position in the
tree. The GdiCoDriverCD (see C.2.7) is the root element in the Description side and GdiCoDriverRT
(see C.2.9) is the root element in the RunTime side.
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ISO 20242-5:2020(E)
Instance names of function objects within a workspace (RunTime side) shall be unique over all used
drivers.
If an object from RunTime side is set up, there shall be an implicit set up of the corresponding instance
within the device driver. All parameters for set up shall be handed over directly by streaming (see Annex
F) when the service for the creation of a VD or FO is used.
Annex E describes typical use cases to get more grip on the services and to facilitate the development of
coordinator software.
5.4.2 Interface variants
This document defines three kinds of interfaces.
For PID based configuration there shall be the
— mandatory Smart Access Interface
and there should be the
— optional Extended Access Interface.
For service based or mixed parameterization there should be the
— optional Full Access Interface.
With view to the structure of APSI, these different interfaces are based upon each other. There is
additional functionality within the Extended Access Interface compared to the Smart Access Interface.
The classes and methods of individual objects are always identical for each interface variant (e.g.
GdiCoFuncObjectRT). An application can use any of the interface variants, if they all are implemented.
With creating a workspace, the parameter eRequiredCoordinatorInterface shall select the
required functionality.
With the Extended Access Interface, only the object GdiCoExtendedObjectNavigator (see B.2.6, it
contains methods for navigation over the objects and data) is defined additional to the Smart Access
Interface. With the Full Access Interface the classes GdiCoObjectNavigator (see C.2.18, it contains
methods for navigation over the objects and data) and GdiCoFactory (see C.2.11, it contains methods
for adding and deleting of objects) exist in addition to the Extended Access Interface. The Full Access
Interfaces shall be able to alter (extend, modify, delete) the RunTime side (Instantiation) and to also alter
(extend, modify) the Data Base side (Description). The capabilities of the different interfaces shall be
independent from the
...

FINAL
INTERNATIONAL ISO/FDIS
DRAFT
STANDARD 20242-5
ISO/TC 184/SC 5
Industrial automation systems and
Secretariat: ANSI
integration — Service interface for
Voting begins on:
2020-03-20 testing applications —
Voting terminates on:
Part 5:
2020-05-15
Application program service interface
RECIPIENTS OF THIS DRAFT ARE INVITED TO
SUBMIT, WITH THEIR COMMENTS, NOTIFICATION
OF ANY RELEVANT PATENT RIGHTS OF WHICH
THEY ARE AWARE AND TO PROVIDE SUPPOR TING
DOCUMENTATION.
IN ADDITION TO THEIR EVALUATION AS
Reference number
BEING ACCEPTABLE FOR INDUSTRIAL, TECHNO-
ISO/FDIS 20242-5:2020(E)
LOGICAL, COMMERCIAL AND USER PURPOSES,
DRAFT INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS MAY ON
OCCASION HAVE TO BE CONSIDERED IN THE
LIGHT OF THEIR POTENTIAL TO BECOME STAN-
DARDS TO WHICH REFERENCE MAY BE MADE IN
©
NATIONAL REGULATIONS. ISO 2020

---------------------- Page: 1 ----------------------
ISO/FDIS 20242-5:2020(E)

COPYRIGHT PROTECTED DOCUMENT
© ISO 2020
All rights reserved. Unless otherwise specified, or required in the context of its implementation, no part of this publication may
be reproduced or utilized otherwise in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, or posting
on the internet or an intranet, without prior written permission. Permission can be requested from either ISO at the address
below or ISO’s member body in the country of the requester.
ISO copyright office
CP 401 • Ch. de Blandonnet 8
CH-1214 Vernier, Geneva
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Email: [e-mail]
Website: www.iso.org
Published in Switzerland
ii © ISO 2020 – All rights reserved

---------------------- Page: 2 ----------------------
ISO/FDIS 20242-5:2020(E)
Contents Page
Foreword . iv
Introduction . v
1 Scope . 1
2 Normative references . 1
3 Terms and definitions . 1
4 Symbols and abbreviated terms . 3
5 Application Program Service Interface . 3
5.1 Introduction . 3
5.2 Parameterization . 5
5.3 Configuration . 6
5.3.1 PID based configuration . 6
5.3.2 Service based and mixed configuration . 6
5.4 Coordinator structure . 7
5.4.1 Workspace. 7
5.4.2 Interface variants . 9
5.5 Details for using APSI . 12
5.5.1 Workspace structure . 12
5.5.2 Callback methods and references . 12
5.5.3 Workspace extension . 13
5.5.4 Workspace transfer . 14
5.5.5 Data monitoring . 14
5.5.6 Data types . 15
5.5.7 Streaming . 16
5.6 Error handling . 18
(normative) Programmer's reference guide — Smart Access Interface . 19
(normative) Programmer's reference guide — Extended Access Interface . 79
(normative) Programmer's reference guide — Full Access Interface . 125
(normative) Reference guide — Enums and status/ident informations . 222
(informative) Sequence diagrams . 235
(informative) Streaming . 243
(informative) Data alignment and byte order . 247
(informative) Testing applications with the ISO 20242 (APSI) series and the
ISO 13209 (OTX) series . 250
(normative) Conformance test methods, criteria and reports . 279
© ISO 2020 – All rights reserved iii

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ISO/FDIS 20242-5:2020(E)
Foreword
ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) is a worldwide federation of national standards
bodies (ISO member bodies). The work of preparing International Standards is normally carried out
through ISO technical committees. Each member body interested in a subject for which a technical
committee has been established has the right to be represented on that committee. International
organizations, governmental and non-governmental, in liaison with ISO, also take part in the work.
ISO collaborates closely with the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) on all matters of
electrotechnical standardization.
The procedures used to develop this document and those intended for its further maintenance are
described in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1. In particular, the different approval criteria needed for the
different types of ISO documents should be noted. This document was drafted in accordance with the
editorial rules of the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2 (see www.iso.org/directives).
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of
patent rights. ISO shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights. Details of any
patent rights identified during the development of the document will be in the Introduction and/or on
the ISO list of patent declarations received (see www.iso.org/patents).
Any trade name used in this document is information given for the convenience of users and does not
constitute an endorsement.
For an explanation of the voluntary nature of standards, the meaning of ISO specific terms and
expressions related to conformity assessment, as well as information about ISO's adherence to the World
Trade Organization (WTO) principles in the Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT), see
www.iso.org/iso/foreword.html.
This document was prepared by Technical Committee ISO/TC 184, Automation systems and integration,
Subcommittee SC 5, Interoprability, integration and architectures for enterprise systems and automation
applications.
A list of all parts in the ISO 20242 series can be found on the ISO website.
Any feedback or questions on this document should be directed to the user’s national standards body. A
complete listing of these bodies can be found at www.iso.org/members.html.
iv © ISO 2020 – All rights reserved

---------------------- Page: 4 ----------------------
ISO/FDIS 20242-5:2020(E)
Introduction
The motivation for the ISO 20242 series stems from international automotive industries and their
suppliers to facilitate the integration of automation and measurement devices, and other peripheral
components for this purpose, into computer based applications. It defines rules for the construction of
device drivers and their behaviour in the context of an automation and/or measurement application.
The main goal of the ISO 20242 series is to provide users with:
— independence from the computer operating system;
— independence from the device connection technology (device interface/network);
— independence from device suppliers;
— the ability to certify device drivers with connected devices and their behavior in the context of a given
computer platform;
— independence from the technological device development in the future.
The ISO 20242 series will not force the development of new device families or the use of special interface
technologies (networks). It encapsulates a device and its communication interface to make it compatible
with other devices of that kind for a given application.
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FINAL DRAFT INTERNATIONAL STANDARD ISO/FDIS 20242-5:2020(E)
Industrial automation systems and integration — Service
interface for testing applications —
Part 5: Application program service interface
1 Scope
This document defines the formatting, syntax and semantic rules for describing
— an object oriented interface for using services provided by a coordinator and
— the configuration of virtual devices and the environment for their use.
2 Normative references
The following documents are referred to in the text in such a way that some or all of their content
constitutes requirements of this document. For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For
undated references, the latest edition of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies.
ISO 20242-1, Industrial automation and systems integration — Service interface for testing applications —
Part 1: Overview
ISO 20242-2, Industrial automation and systems integration — Service interface for testing applications —
Part 2: Resource Management Service Interface
ISO 20242-3, Industrial automation and systems integration — Service interface for testing applications —
Part 3: Virtual Device Service Interface
ISO 20242-4, Industrial automation and systems integration — Service interface for testing applications —
Part 4: Device Capability Profile Template
ISO 13209-1, Road vehicles — Open Test sequence eXchange format (OTX) — Part 1: General information
and use cases
ISO 13209-2, Road vehicles — Open Test sequence eXchange format (OTX) — Part 2: Core data model
specification and requirements
3 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the terms and definitions given in ISO 20242-1, ISO 20242-2,
ISO 20242-3, ISO 20242-4, ISO 13209-1, ISO 13209-2 and the following apply.
ISO and IEC maintain terminological databases for use in standardization at the following addresses:
— ISO Online browsing platform: available at https://www.iso.org/obp
— IEC Electropedia: available at http://www.electropedia.org/
3.1
communication object
existing object which may be accessed with a communication function to read or write a value
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ISO/FDIS 20242-5:2020(E)
[SOURCE: ISO 20242-1:2005, 2.3]
3.2
coordinator
program with a specified interface to handle the access of an application program to one or more device
drivers (3.5) and to manage real-time application aspects, synchronization and events
[SOURCE: ISO 20242-1:2005, 2.4]
3.3
coordinator capability description
text file containing information about the capabilities of coordinators (3.2) in a defined format (i.e.
structure, syntax)
[SOURCE: ISO 20242-4:2011, 3.3]
3.4
coordinator services
services of a coordinator (3.2) for the exchange of data with application programs
3.4
device capability description
text file containing information about the capabilities of virtual devices (3.9) in a defined format (i.e.
structure, syntax)
[SOURCE: ISO 20242-1:2005, 2.5, modified — Note 1 to entry deleted.]
3.5
device driver
software module providing an ISO 20242-specified interface with service functions to call a platform
adapter to access physical devices
[SOURCE: ISO 20242-2:2010, 3.1]
3.6
function object
instance describing one capability of a virtual device (3.9)
[SOURCE: ISO 20242-3:2011, 3.4]
3.7
operation
instance describing one complete procedure
[SOURCE: ISO 20242-3:2011, 3.5]
3.8
parameterization instance description
information about the configuration of a coordinator (3.2) and of virtual devices (3.9)
[SOURCE: ISO 20242-4:2011, 3.8]
3.9
virtual device
representation of one or more physical devices and/or stand-alone software modules that provide an
unambiguous view of the resources of a communication interface
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ISO/FDIS 20242-5:2020(E)
[SOURCE: ISO 20242-3:2011, 3.7]
3.10
workspace
grouping of coordinators (3.2) resources providing an access point for an application
4 Symbols and abbreviated terms
APSI Application Program Service Interface
ASCII American Standard Code for Information Interchange
CCD Coordinator Capability Description
CO Communication Object
DCD Device Capability Description
DCPT Device Capability Profile Template
DSL Domain Specific Language
EAI Extended Access Interface
FAI Full Access Interface
FO Function Object
NIL Null pointer or null reference, does not refer to a valid object
OP Operation
OTX Open Test sequence eXchange
PID Parameterization Instance Description
SAI Smart Access Interface
VD Virtual Device
VDSI Virtual Device Service Interface
XML eXtensible Markup Language (see REC-xml-20040204)
5 Application Program Service Interface
5.1 Introduction
This clause describes a set of services that shall be provided by a coordinator to be used by several
application programs (Figure 1).
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ISO/FDIS 20242-5:2020(E)
Application 1 Application 2 Application 3
Measurement
Visualization Monitoring
Automation
Application 4 Application 5
Device Device
Parameterization Maintenance
C o o r d i n a t o r

Figure 1 — Exemplary application programs using a coordinator
The concept for the Application Program Service Interface (APSI) is to be device neutral. It shall be
possible to access application-relevant data presented by any device without device-specific services or
parameters (Applications 1, 2 and 3 in Figure 1 — Exemplary application programs using a coordinator).
Nevertheless, for the configuration of devices and other device-specific tasks it should also be possible to
transfer device-specific information (Applications 4 and 5 in Figure 1). Therefore, APSI defines different
interfaces (see 5.4.2), whereas the Smart Access Interface (SAI) is mandatory and shall not handle any
device-specific access, and the Full Access Interface (FAI) is optional and shall enable an access to virtual
devices in device drivers (see ISO 20242-3). In a typical full stack usage of the ISO 20242 series, the
coordinator accesses device drivers via the Virtual Device Service Interface (see Annex I and
ISO 20142-1:2005).
The application should use abstract data sources and sinks identified by instance names. Depending on
the application environment, data types of sources and sinks are known before or have to be identified
via the interface. Applications using APSI typically will not have information about the physical devices
providing the requested information processing. In addition, the coordinator shall implement a memory
separation between application data and device data (see 5.5.7). Therefore, device-specific data elements
shall be encapsulated and not be visible for the application.
This document describes the basics of coordinator services and their usage in typical applications. An
object-oriented model is used with a fundamental description of classes, attributes and methods. Services
are executable synchronous by default. The asynchronous operation is optional. Corresponding
capabilities of a coordinator shall be described in a datasheet delivered with the coordinator (see I.2).
Asynchronous operation is controlled via callback functions. For global event handling in a workspace
(see 5.4.1), the callback functions (e.g. see refCBInformationReport in A.2.2.7) shall be defined with
opening the workspace. Additionally local callbacks should be registered at each attribute (see 5.5.2).
Coordinator services will typically be mapped to the applied technology, platform and programming
language (e.g. CORBA, JAVA, C++). Therefore, this document defines services and not an interface for a
specific programming language. Details for a specific programming language shall be explained for the
respective mapping in a datasheet (see I.2). This also applies for the error handling, because technological
restrictions of data processing have to be considered for the corresponding implementation.
Annex H describes the usage of this standard with applications based on ISO 13209 (OTX). Conformance
tests for this document shall be carried out as specified in Annex I.
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ISO/FDIS 20242-5:2020(E)
5.2 Parameterization
The coordinator shall be able to link and release applications and device drivers dynamically and to
create and delete data objects in device drivers (virtual devices, function objects and communication
objects as defined in ISO 20242-3). This procedure shall be identical for all device drivers. The sequence
of creating and deleting data objects shall not be fixed. It shall be possible to use a parameter instance
description (PID, as defined in ISO 20242-4) to control the procedure of instantiation.
NOTE 1 The coordinator does not know, which device capabilities are necessary for a specific application, but it
can communicate with each device on the basis of its device capability description (DCD, as defined in
ISO 20242-4).
NOTE 2 To achieve a balance between the functionalities needed by the application and the device capabilities
provided by the device drivers, a configuration is usually set up by means of a parameterization procedure. The
result is a parameterization instance description (PID) which contains the information for the coordinator to create
all necessary data objects. This procedure is the key for device independence, as the application does not need to
know the specific capabilities of the used devices. A parameterization tool can create the PID, which can be part of
the application itself or a stand-alone software.
The parameterization shall be based on the DCD available for the device drivers and should be supported
by multilingual text elements as defined in ISO 20242-4:2011, Clause 8.
NOTE 3 The PID can be created without a coordinator and it is not necessary to connect any device.
The PID shall not be altered by a coordinator.
The following information shall be included within the parameter instance description:
— workspace name,
— drivers (location) with version number,
— device capability descriptions (DCD) of drivers,
— virtual devices (VD) including identification and parameters for creation,
— function objects (FO) including identification and parameters for creation,
— communication objects (CO) and their default values,
— operations (OP) and their identification,
— in/out-structures of operations with values for input parameter,
— initializing order, and
— application references (instance names) for the abstract data sources and sinks.
The parameter instance description (PID) shall be based on the description of structured data types.
Thus, the typedef sections of the DCDs shall be resolved. See ISO 20242-4 for details.
NOTE 4 With this parameterization, the initialized values for virtual devices, function objects and
communication objects are established for an application-related configuration.
The generated PID shall be stored separately. The read configurations shall be reproducible by the
coordinator at any time.
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ISO/FDIS 20242-5:2020(E)
5.3 Configuration
5.3.1 PID based configuration
With a PID based configuration, an XML file created using the specification in ISO 20242-4 will be
presented to the coordinator by the application at the creation of a workspace. This file shall be processed
automatically by the coordinator. When an application logs in at the coordinator, the instance description
to be used shall be identified by name.
If the application knows the instance names and types of the abstract data sources and sinks, it could
iterate over the object references created by the coordinator. This is a typical use case for the Smart
Access Interface.
If the application does not know the instance names and types of the abstract data sources and sinks, it
should iterate over the object references created by the coordinator and request the names and types of
the abstract data sources and sinks. This is a typical use case for the Extended Access Interface.
The coordinator shall instantiate the objects given with the instance description, and thus creates
abstract data sources and inside to be used by the application. The data objects of the device driver
assigned to these abstract data sources and sinks shall be instantiated within the corresponding virtual
devices.
NOTE During the life time of the device driver these abstract data sources and sinks can be updated by the
application via reading and writing. The coordinator can update the abstract data sources and sinks accessing the
data objects instantiated within the device drivers, as the coordinator knows the relations between the abstract
data sources and sinks inside and the function objects of the virtual devices.
The operating state of a virtual device will be "Working" (ISO 20242-3:2011, Clause 7) after running a
parameterization with the SAI or EAI. In this state, the modification of parameters is not possible. The
method GdiCoWorkspace::gdiSetAllowChangeParameter(boolean bEnable) resets this
prohibition and enables the application to write a parameter (see A.2.29.12). For this, the coordinator
shall transit the respective VDs to the appropriate states.
5.3.2 Service based and mixed configuration
If the full access interface is implemented in the coordinator, an application itself can do the configuration
without an accordingly prepared PID.
In a service based configuration, the structure (classes and data types) and the content (instances and
parameters) of the interface can be created. See Annex C for details of this step by step procedure of
configuration.
In a mixed configuration, a PID without instances and parameters (called empty PID in this document)
can be presented at the interface. The coordinator shall build the structure based on the DCD contained
in the empty PID. Instances and parameters can be created afterwards.
For both cases, the operating state of a VD can be controlled by the application.
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ISO/FDIS 20242-5:2020(E)
5.4 Coordinator structure
5.4.1 Workspace
The workspace in this document is defined as a grouping of coordinator resources and provides an access
point for an application. The coordinator shall provide several workspaces which shall be managed
separately. An application can use one or more workspaces. Workspaces shall be identified by name and
shall connect only to one application (Figure 2) and an optional monitoring application (see 5.5.5 for
details).
Monitor-
Application 1 Application 2
Application
Workspace A Workspace B Workspace C
C o o r d i n a t o r

Figure 2 — Applications and workspaces
APSI shall be a multi client interface, as several workspaces can be used at the same time. The content of
a PID file shall exactly describe one workspace, independent from the number of devices, device drivers
and DCDs.
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ISO/FDIS 20242-5:2020(E)
GdiCoWorkspace
Description Instantiation
(Data Base) (Run Time)
GdiCoDriverCD GdiCoDriverRT
GdiCoVDRT
GdiCoModuleCD
GdiCoDataObjectRT
GdiCoInterfaceCD GdiCoFuncObjectRT
GdiCoOperationCD GdiCoOperationRT
GdiCoCommObjectCD GdiCoCommObjectRT
has reference to

Figure 3 — Workspace view for service organisation
With connecting to a workspace, an application shall get a handle for its further identification. Therefore
any interface access after connecting takes this application handle as parameter.
A coordinator shall be able to handle several applications simultaneously. The objects set up by the
coordinator for each application shall remain reserved for this application and shall be invisible for other
applications. If several applications need access to identical coordinator objects, this should be organized
by the application connected to the workspace.
Access services defined in this document shall be carried out as specified in Annex A for the Smart Access
Interface (SAI), Annex B for the Extended Access Interface (EAI) and Annex C for the Full Acces Interface
(FAI). Further services providing information about enums, status and identification shall be carried out
as specified in Annex D. The services are organized with a view on two sides of a workspace. One side is
called Description and the other side is called Instantiation (see Figure 3).
The Description side is also referred to as Data Base side, because the contained information is static and
represents the class descriptions from the DCDs of the corresponding device drivers. The Instantiation
side is referred to as RunTime side, because it represents the realized instances including default initial
values used at RunTime. If an application uses only the services from the RunTime side, the allocation of
the separate device drivers and VDs shall be not visible. Instead a pool of abstract data sources and sinks
shall be provided.
Device driver and DCD form a unit. For each device driver there is exactly one Description side, which
represents the respective DCD, and exactly one RunTime side. The classes of Description side and the
objects of RunTime have a tree structure. Each element is assigned to an unambiguous position in the
tree. The GdiCoDriverCD (see C.2.7) is the root element in the Description side and GdiCoDriverRT
(see C.2.9) is the root element in the RunTime side.
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ISO/FDIS 20242-5:2020(E)
Instance names of function objects within a workspace (RunTime side) shall be unique over all used
drivers.
If an object from RunTime side is set up, there shall be an implicit set up of the corresponding instance
within the device driver. All parameters for set up shall be handed over directly by streaming (see Annex
F) when the service for the creation of a VD or FO is used.
Annex E describes typical use cases to get more grip on the services and to facilitate the development of
coordinator software.
5.4.2 Interface variants
This document defines three kinds of interfaces.
For PID based configuration there shall be the
— mandatory Smart Access Interface
and there should be the
— optional Extended Access Interface.
For service based or mixed parameterization there should be the
— optional Full Access Interface.
With view to the structure of APSI, these different interfaces are based upon each other. There is
additional functionality within the Extended Access Interface compared to the Smart Access Interface.
The classes and methods of individual objects are always identical for each interface variant (e.g.
GdiCoFuncObjectRT). An application can use any of the interface variants, if they all are implemented.
With creating a workspace, the parameter eRequiredCoordinatorInterface shall select the
required functionality.
With the Extended Access Interface, only the object GdiCoExtendedObjectNavigator (see B.2.6, it
contains methods for navigation over the objects and data) is defined additional to the Smart Access
Interface. With the Full Access Interface the classes GdiCoObjectNavigator (see C.2.18, it contains
methods for navigation over the objects and data) and GdiCo
...