Ignition Explained: SQL Bridge Module

BlogIgnition

Dec 5

Welcome to Ignition Explained. We're going through the Ignition Modules one by one and talking about what you get with each of them, and how Corso uses them to build a project. There always seems to be questions about what each module does and doesn't do so we're going through them one by one. Check out this post If you missed the first video on the Ignition Vision Module.

This time we're talking about the SQL Bridge Module. For those who don't know, SQL stands for Structured Query Language. SQL is the catch all term used to describe database software. Most commonly this will end up being either a SQL Server, MySQL, or PostgreSQL database.

Please note that most of the SQL Bridge information below is part of the core functionality of Ignition. The major addition for the SQL Bridge Module is for Transaction Groups.

The Ignition SQL Bridge Module

SQL Bridge allows you to connect to your SQL database and build some structure without having to know anything about SQL to begin with. Inductive Automation calls it a "SQL Swiss Army Knife". It uses transaction groups to move data bi-directionally between OPC Servers and SQL databases. Using Transaction Groups you can structure your data in a meaningful way right from the designer and send it to the database in a number of ways.

Ignition Modules in General

We talk about this a lot in the videos. Ignition is a platform and allows you to pick and choose the items that you need for your solution. SQL Bridge is an amazing addition to the Vision (and now Perspective) Module. Now we can both see the data with Vision (and Perspective) Module as well as having a bi-directional data transfer between OPC Server and SQL Databases. SQL Bridge allows you to communicate with your ERP, inventory data, and more.