veeder-root-tls-socket-library 1.2.1

Socket library for querying and extracting data from Veeder-Root TLS systems.

Veeder-Root TLS Socket Library

This is an unofficial Python sockets wrapper for querying Veeder-Root automatic tank gauges remotely through the Internet. This wrapper is primarily made to support the TLS-3xx and TLS-4xx series of automatic tank gauges.

You can install this library on your machine by running pip install veeder-root-tls-socket-library.

If you believe there is something about this library that can be improved upon, please feel free to submit a issue or a pull request. I will do my best to respond to any inquiries promptly.

Commands

The commands used to interact with Veeder-Root TLS-4XX series systems can be found in the Serial Interface Manual in the docs directory of this repository. You will want to look through Section 5 to get a better idea of how commands are sent, Section 6 to see how the responses are formatted, and Section 7 to see the available functions and their specific outputs. This is exactly the same for the TLS-3XX series apart from the available functions.

You will want to use either the Computer or Display format of the function as listed under the Command Format header. For example, if you would like to use function code 101 (System Status Report) in the Display format, you would use the command I10100 to do so. You do not need to add the start of header CTRL + A to the command as this is automatically prepended when using my wrapper, as is the end of tranmission character CTRL + C. If your TLS system needs security codes in front of the commands, then you would simply type the security code before the command.

Examples

This script demonstrates how you can programmatically connect to an automatic tank gauge system and get a system status report.

Script:

from veeder_root_tls_socket_library.socket import TlsSocket

tls = TlsSocket("127.0.0.1", 10001) # initial connection
response = tls.execute("i10100") # get system status report

print(response)

Output:

"2312301342020402"

This output shows the response from the TLS system. The data 2312301342020402 is provided to you through the execute() function as a string. You can see that the start of header \x01, the original command i10100, the checksum separator &&, the checksum FB3B, and the end of transmission \x03 have all been automatically stripped from the output for your convenience. The checksum is automatically checked against the output and a ValueError is produced if the integrity check fails.

Review the Veeder-Root Serial Interface manual provided with your model of automatic tank gauge for information about how response data is structured for each function. The serial interface manual for the TLS-4XX systems is linked at the beginning of this Markdown file.

I have also created various functions that can be used to query information from TLS-3XX systems and output a Python dict object rather than the raw output that is typically given by these systems. This serves well for extracting specific bits of data from these commands (e.g. the ullage of a specific tank).

Script:

from veeder_root_tls_socket_library.socket import TlsSocket
from veeder_root_tls_socket_library import tls_3xx

tls = TlsSocket("127.0.0.1", 10001) # initial connection
response = tls_3xx.function_101(tls, "00") # function_101() used instead of execute("i10100")

print(response)

Output:

{
  'year': 24, 
  'month': 5,
  'day': 26,
  'hour': 16,
  'minute': 14,
  'alarms': [{'alarm_category': 2, 'alarm_type': 5, 'tank_number': '01'}]
}

This looks much more readable than a string of numbers! By using these dedicated functions, you can have this data more readily accessible through a Python dict object. Another notable upside of this is that strings and floats are converted by these functions as well, so you do not have to worry about implementing your own IEEE-compliant hex to float function like I did.

The downside of this is that not every TLS-3XX function code has been added yet. Please feel free to submit a feature request or pull request with additional functions if you would like them added to my library.

Using the TLS Client

You can also use the tls_client.py file that I created for this library to interact with the automatic tank gauge systems through a command line interface, similar to how you would with other systems through Telnet, SSH, or Putty. This is not currently included with the PyPI distribution.

Script:

python tls_client.py "127.0.0.1" 10001

Output:

You are connected to 127.0.0.1 using port 10001.

>>

From here, you can type in any function code to interact with the TLS system. As an example, you can type in I10100 to output a system status report in display format, and i10100 to display a system status report in computer format. The required start of header CTRL + A is automatically prepended to your command, so you do not need to worry about that.

>> i10100
2312301229020402

>> I10100 
DEC 30, 2023 12:29 PM

GAS STATION
1234 GAS LANE
HOUSTON, TX
H07188463105001

SYSTEM STATUS REPORT

T 2:OVERFILL ALARM

>>

The time between responses will vary based on how large the responses are. The response for a command like i10100 will be significantly smaller than that of I11100. I have implemented a dynamic waiting function to stop receiving response data once the end of transmission character is hit. If this is not hit, the program will raise an error after waiting for a bit.