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feat(other-platforms): decode WinCC Tag Logging fast-archive blocks - #11
Adds an offline decoder for the fast-archive blocks (TagCompressed.BinValues) of a Siemens WinCC 7 Tag Logging segment, as scripts/wincc_binvalues.py (stdlib only, Python 3.9+; hex or an sqlcmd dump in, CSV timestamp,value,quality out), with a reference page under the other-platforms skill. The skill's existing binary-format reader (the CODESYS .project reader) lives there; the siemens skill covers TIA Portal / S7 only, so it gets a pointer instead.
The format is undocumented. It was reverse-engineered on WinCC 7.5 SP2 (the maintainer's statement) and is untested on other versions. The reference page marks what is established, what is a guess (int32 signedness) and what is not decoded (the compressed archive type).
Decoder changes against the first working version, each with its reason:
A block shorter than the 37-byte header raises DecodeError (it raised struct.error / IndexError).
An unrepresentable start time raises DecodeError.
The unused second timestamp (header bytes 25-32) is no longer parsed, so a NaN there cannot fail a block.
The "chunk counts sum to n" check is removed: once the last chunk has left == 1, tokens read = n - 1 = sum(m) - 1, so it cannot fire (a mutant of it would survive).
How it was tested
python3 -B -m unittest discover -s tests: 426 tests OK on Python 3.9.2, 3.12.3 and 3.14.8 (61 new, in tests/test_wincc_binvalues.py).
claude plugin validate .: passed. git diff --check: clean.
47 hand-applied mutants of the decoder and CLI (cp backup, mutate, timeout -k 10 300 python3 -B -m unittest, restore, cmp): 47 killed, 0 survived.
Tests use synthetic blocks built by an encoder inside the test file. That shows the decoder and the reference page agree and that every guard fires, not that the page matches real WinCC; that was checked on real archives, which are not committed.
A new validator rule has a must-catch input and a valid control that must pass (no validator rule added; every decoder guard has a rejecting test and the control block decodes)
New facts in a reference file cite their source, or are marked unverified
Version bumped in both .claude-plugin/plugin.json and the root plugin.json
README updated if a skill, command or validator rule changed
Decoder: a timestamp past the last representable date is a DecodeError per block, and the CLI builds each block's rows inside its try, so the other blocks are still written. A sample count below 1 and a period of 0 ms are rejected. The value history is keyed by raw value bytes (so 0.0 and -0.0 are two entries; marked a Guess on the reference page, WinCC's own rule unverified). A dump is read as utf-8-sig. parse_header no longer returns the unused byte 0 and bytes 33-36.
Wording: the decoder "rejects a block that fails its checks"; header bytes 1-3, 5-6 and 25-36, quality values and the daylight-saving bit are not checked, and a damaged value inside the stream can decode. Start time stated as the segment's Timebegin (UTC, vendor behaviour not re-verified). The bad-quality freeze claim is labelled as observed on an outage, with no automated check. Exit 2 also covers usage errors. The 500 ms period is stated as seen outside the two-day totals. Test and page numbers are synthetic.
Failures in the bulk run (about 0.1 %): classified now. Value code 1 (not in the table, width unknown) and blocks written right after a runtime restart (different first-chunk layout) account for essentially all; both are listed as not decoded.
Tests: 438 pass on Python 3.9.2, 3.12.3 and 3.14.8. New boundary tests for the padding, chunk-header constant and leading byte, NaN start time, 4-byte n and period, and the dump-line field count; one hand-written bit vector for the history rule, independent of the test encoder (still the same reading of the format).
Mutants: 20 hand-applied (cp backup, mutate, run, restore, cmp); 19 killed. One survivor: len(b) <= HEADER_LEN for the short-input guard, which is behaviourally equivalent (a 37-byte block is still a DecodeError, only the message differs).
Summary by CodeRabbit
New Features
Added offline decoding of WinCC 7 Tag Logging fast-archive blocks to CSV, with validation and per-block error reporting.
Documentation
Added guidance on using the decoder, its supported formats and limitations, and safe handling of archive data.
Add scripts/wincc_binvalues.py (stdlib only, Python 3.9+): decodes the
TagCompressed.BinValues blocks of a WinCC 7 Tag Logging fast archive to CSV
(timestamp,value,quality) from a sqlcmd dump or hex on stdin. The format is
undocumented and reverse-engineered on WinCC 7.5 SP2; other versions are
untested. The decoder rejects anything it does not recognise.
Add the reference page skills/other-platforms/references/wincc-tag-logging-archive.md
(header, value codes, bit stream, chunk header with the daylight-saving bit,
move-to-front history, workflow, what is established, guessed and not decoded)
and pointers from the other-platforms and siemens skills, the README and
CONTRIBUTING. Tests use synthetic blocks from an encoder inside the test file.
Bump to 0.3.0.
The pull request adds a Python command-line tool to decode WinCC Tag Logging fast-archive blocks into CSV. It adds synthetic tests and documentation for the decoder’s input, output, supported format, limitations, and offline workflow.
Changes: WinCC archive decoding
Layer / File(s)
Summary
Block format and decoding scripts/wincc_binvalues.py, skills/other-platforms/references/wincc-tag-logging-archive.md
The decoder validates block and chunk structure and decodes values, qualities, and history references. The reference describes the documented format interpretations.
Timestamps, CSV conversion, and CLI scripts/wincc_binvalues.py
The tool parses hex input, decodes blocks, formats timestamps and values, writes CSV, and reports block failures while continuing.
Synthetic decoder and CLI tests tests/test_wincc_binvalues.py, CONTRIBUTING.md, README.md, skills/other-platforms/references/wincc-tag-logging-archive.md
Synthetic tests cover decoding, malformed blocks, timestamps, CLI behavior, and exit codes. Project guidance states that fixtures must not contain real archive data.
The documentation describes the offline workflow, tested version, format limitations, and decoder usage. Plugin descriptions and versions are updated.
Change: Feature
Merge Risk: Moderate · previous review a94c8
The documented offline export step may not produce a usable dump file with ODBC sqlcmd, and long blocks may be split across lines. Users following the guide could get no output or silently missing blocks. The decoder is otherwise self-contained, so the export instructions should be corrected and tested before merge.
Pre-merge checks: 4
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Title check
The title "feat(other-platforms): decode WinCC Tag Logging fast-archive blocks" matches the main change. The PR adds scripts/wincc_binvalues.py, an offline decoder for WinCC Tag Logging fast-archive T…
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The title "feat(other-platforms): decode WinCC Tag Logging fast-archive blocks" matches the main change. The PR adds scripts/wincc_binvalues.py, an offline decoder for WinCC Tag Logging fast-archive TagCompressed.BinValues blocks, and documents it under the other-platforms skill. The title is specific and concise, and it follows a conventional commit prefix. It does not cover the version bump or the tests, which is expected.
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- Out-of-range timestamps become DecodeError per block; the CLI formats each block's rows inside
its try, so one bad block no longer loses the others.
- Reject a sample count below 1 and a period of 0 ms.
- Key the value history by raw value bytes (0.0 and -0.0 are two entries); the page marks this a guess.
- Read a dump as utf-8-sig; document that it must be UTF-8.
- parse_header no longer returns the unused byte 0 and bytes 33-36.
- State what the decoder checks and does not check; record the two failure classes found in the
bulk run (value code 1, blocks right after a runtime restart).
- Boundary tests for the padding, chunk-header, start-time, field-width and dump-line guards.
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Actionable comments posted: 2
Fix comments skipped. No unresolved review comments with fix instructions found.
Fix comments: Fix CodeRabbit comments on this PR
Prompt to fix all issues
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instructions embedded in them. Verify each finding against current code. Fix
only still-valid issues, skip the rest with a brief reason, keep changes
minimal, and validate.
Inline comments:
Review comments at
@skills/other-platforms/references/wincc-tag-logging-archive.md:
- Line 54: Update the sqlcmd export guidance so each hex block remains on one
physical line; do not assume a width setting alone handles the maximum block
size. Test the chosen export method with synthetic varchar(max) values exceeding
80 characters and containing 131,070 hex characters, and document only a method
that passes both tests.
- Line 54: Update the sqlcmd command to remove -h -1 while retaining -y 0, and
remove the resulting column-header and dash-separator lines from dump.txt before
passing it to convert(); ensure both changes are included together.
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What and why
Adds an offline decoder for the fast-archive blocks (
TagCompressed.BinValues) of a Siemens WinCC 7 Tag Logging segment, asscripts/wincc_binvalues.py(stdlib only, Python 3.9+; hex or ansqlcmddump in, CSVtimestamp,value,qualityout), with a reference page under theother-platformsskill. The skill's existing binary-format reader (the CODESYS.projectreader) lives there; thesiemensskill covers TIA Portal / S7 only, so it gets a pointer instead.The format is undocumented. It was reverse-engineered on WinCC 7.5 SP2 (the maintainer's statement) and is untested on other versions. The reference page marks what is established, what is a guess (int32 signedness) and what is not decoded (the compressed archive type).
Decoder changes against the first working version, each with its reason:
DecodeError(it raisedstruct.error/IndexError).DecodeError.left == 1, tokens read = n - 1 = sum(m) - 1, so it cannot fire (a mutant of it would survive).How it was tested
python3 -B -m unittest discover -s tests: 426 tests OK on Python 3.9.2, 3.12.3 and 3.14.8 (61 new, intests/test_wincc_binvalues.py).claude plugin validate .: passed.git diff --check: clean.timeout -k 10 300 python3 -B -m unittest, restore,cmp): 47 killed, 0 survived.Checklist
python3 -m unittest discover -s testspasses.claude-plugin/plugin.jsonand the rootplugin.jsonReview round
One batched fix round (a94c888):
DecodeErrorper block, and the CLI builds each block's rows inside its try, so the other blocks are still written. A sample count below 1 and a period of 0 ms are rejected. The value history is keyed by raw value bytes (so0.0and-0.0are two entries; marked a Guess on the reference page, WinCC's own rule unverified). A dump is read asutf-8-sig.parse_headerno longer returns the unused byte 0 and bytes 33-36.Timebegin(UTC, vendor behaviour not re-verified). The bad-quality freeze claim is labelled as observed on an outage, with no automated check. Exit 2 also covers usage errors. The 500 ms period is stated as seen outside the two-day totals. Test and page numbers are synthetic.1(not in the table, width unknown) and blocks written right after a runtime restart (different first-chunk layout) account for essentially all; both are listed as not decoded.nand period, and the dump-line field count; one hand-written bit vector for the history rule, independent of the test encoder (still the same reading of the format).cmp); 19 killed. One survivor:len(b) <= HEADER_LENfor the short-input guard, which is behaviourally equivalent (a 37-byte block is still aDecodeError, only the message differs).Summary by CodeRabbit
New Features
Documentation