Add gitignore template for Automation Studio 4 Projects

[shanereetz]

Reasons for making this change:
B&R Automation Studio is an IDE for developing industrial software for Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs). B&R is part of the ABB group and is one of the major names in industrial automation software. I work for a company, Loupe, that develops open-source libraries and custom software for this platform, and other automation platforms like Beckhoff TwinCAT that support modern software development practices.

Links to documentation supporting these rule changes:
https://help.br-automation.com/#/en/4/projectmanagement%2Fprojectorganisation_datastructure.html

• Binaries - contains generated data
• Diagnosis - contains generated files relevant for diagnostics and monitoring
• Temp and TempObjects - more temporary files

https://help.br-automation.com/#/en/4/automationruntime%2Fenhancedtransfer%2Fgeneral-description%2F04-x-pip-til.html

• *artransfer.br, *arTrsfMode.nv - files related to the transfer of programs to PLCs

https://help.br-automation.com/#/en/4/ncsoftware%2Farnc0ext%2Farnc0ext.html

• *arnc0ext.br - special library files subject to special terms of use that must be obtained from B&R

AS file types

• *.bak
• *.isopen - marks if a project file is open
• *.orig
• *.log
• *.asar
• *.set - user settings files

Library outputs

• RevInfo.var - variable files with embedded Git commit information generated by RevInfo
• .csvlog - log files generated when using CSVFileLib

Misc

• */MPLogs/
• */DLFiles/
• *.DS_Store - Mac files to ignore

Link to application or project’s homepage:
https://www.br-automation.com/en-us/products/software/automation-software/automation-studio/
https://github.com/br-automation-com
https://github.com/loupeteam
https://github.com/loupeteam/StarterAsProject

[wirecat]

Thank you for contributing!

I think this is a template we want to pull in, but there are some changes I would like to see first. 🙇

[wirecat]

We don't accept template files for specific versions in the root. Please see our docs for more details and adjust accordingly.

[shanereetz]

To clarify, this version number is not for the .gitignore template itself, but is referencing a specific Automation Studio version. An existing .gitignore template for automation software, TwinCAT3, follows this format.

Would it still be best to remove the version number from the filename?

More context: I'm not sure which would be most appropriate as "current supported version." Automation Studio 4 was released in 2013 and is the current standard. But later this year, Automation Studio 6 will be released (5 was skipped) so this distinction seemed useful, as I'm unsure if there will be similarities with regards to gitignore. The automation space moves somewhat slowly, so most users will still be using version 4 for years to come, because so many machines were developed with it and it is more proven.

[wirecat]

I did some checking around and I'm not sure Autmoation Studio quite reaches the degree of widespread use and popularity we're looking for to be included in our root.

Would you be willing to move it to the community folder?

[shanereetz]

Is there data I could provide that might be useful in that decision? Otherwise I defer to you on what would be most appropriate.

According to B&R, Automation Studio has programmed machines for 30,000 factories worldwide, and is used by about 4,000 machine builders worldwide. They are unique in the industrial automation space as their PLC code is stored in plaintext, and can be effectively used with source control. I know it might be surprising to hear that as a unique metric, but it is.