Easylon OPC Server L
Contents
1. OPC Clients The OPC Clients use their standard VBA or C code to connect to the Easylon OPC Server and access available groups and items of LonW orks objects A client can subscribe to specific network variables monitor points and configuration properties on the OPC Server W hen an OPC Client opens a connection to the OPC Server the desired items are subscribed The Easylon OPC Server checks access authentication data and retrieves the current values for the desired items from the LN S Server As soon as values change the new values are passed to the OPC Client for the subscribed objects There are several OPC Clients available on the market An overview of the available applications can be found on the OPC Foundation web site http www opcfoundation org 05_products 05_category asp cat Client Y ou can find some prominent clients tested for use with the Gesytec OPC Server in the appendix LonMaker for Windows Basing on the functionality of Microsoft Visio the LonM aker tool was developed by Echelon to design install describe and maintain LonW orks networks A LonW orks specialist can create the structure of a network using a graphical user interface LA F 10 Er Server L User s Manual Introduction 1 4 OPC Data Model To understand some important features of the OPC Server the OPC data model is in troduced here It is based on the OPC Data Access Automation Specification 2 which may be downloaded from the hom2. Manual Easylon OPC Server for Lon W orKs networks running LN S Gesytec Gesellschaft f r Systemtechnik und D atenverarbeitung mbH Pascalstr 6 52076 Aachen Germany Phone 49 24 08 9 44 0 Fax 49 24 08 94 4 100 email info gesytec de www gesytec com Doc ID EOS D oku U serDod EOS L M anual E doc V 01 02 Date June 2004 bavo Server L User s Manual About this manual T his manual provides information about installation configuration and operation of the Easylon OPCTM Server L focusing on the handling of the Easylon OPC Server software For descriptions of the LN S Server the Lon W orks technology by Echelon and the OPC interface definition please consult the respective documentation of Echelon at www echelon com and the OPC Foundation at www opcfoundation org Chapter 1 of this manual provides general product information The installation and start up of the Easylon OPC Server are described in chapter 2 Chapter 3 focuses on the various configuration options of OPC Server The different diagnosis options of OPC Server L are described in chapter 4 Chapter 5 presents different client demos which are included in the installation package while chapter 6 gives an overview of the implemented naming items Chapter 7 describes how to acquire a full license of the Easylon OPC Server This manual refers to program version 1 01 and higher of the Easylon OPC Server L For the complete specification of the OPC a
3. cial OPC Standard document for reference This document can be retrieved from the OPC Foundation web site http www opcfoundation org The current release of the Easylon OPC Server supports the OPC Standard document version 1 0a as well as version 2 02 In this section of the user documentation the following information is available Identifying Items The N aming Items section explains which names a client can use to iden tify NV s of interest to the OPC Server and how to address subfields of structured N V s Fig 6 1 NV Properties in OPC Server L VBA for Excel The VBA for Excel section gives step by step procedures to write an OPC Client in Excel using the DataCallBack feature of the OPC interface to automatically update the spreadsheet when OPC item values change Al though some of the code is specific for Excel the structure of the client pro gram is the same in other Microsoft Office applications or any other applica tion that supports VBA LA F 46 Gesytec Er Server L User s Manual Writing OPC Clients 6 1 Identifying Items The client specifies an item it is interested in via the access path in the network hier archy You can acquire the path for a desired item in the network structure of the OPC Server L or the object information dialog in a client Refer to paragraph 4 1 6 for more information Hebvnrk variable properties x Mara rati renari Fig 6 1 NV Properties in OPC Se
4. Gesytec 5 FO orc Server L User s Manual Installation and Start up Dew a me ts ol Tih Sin Gesytec i Keer DFD eve Tar O7 log es ee ee ar od zx Fig 2 5 Installation in Progress Once the installation process is completed confirm the dialog window by clicking Finish ee ee een TED hH rated rong idee DC ere OE Eg OE N ed Fig 2 6 Installation Completed 7 Restart your computer After installing the Easylon OPC Server L and rebooting your computer you will find the following new program group the applications NVT Editor and XIFEditor are parts of the Easylon OPC Server M r k be sterren Dora G nA Server L footy E Essen OPS Server deur E Eager OPC Seer MH icrrdig E Earle OPC Server Miun ff MAT Eden jj Echos Fig 2 7 Programm Group after Installation 8 Configure the Easylon OPC L Server for your network To access a LonW orks network the connection to a LNS Server must be config ured For detailed information about the configuration options see chapter 3 Configuration of this manual 7 Gesytec 1 16 FE orc Server L User s Manual Installation and Start up 2 1 4 Gesytec OPC Server Name An OPC client needs the name of the Easylon OPC Server L to get a connection The name of the Easylon OPC Server L for an OPC client is Gesytec ElonLnsO PC2 Multiple Instances The Easylon OPC Server L may run in more than one instance Each instance may con
5. command in the Viav menu the particular bar will be toggled e g switched on when off and vice versa All statistics in the D iagnosis menu can be reset using the command D iagnosis gt R se Statistics The status bar shows information on how many clients are currently connected how many N V s are subscribed by those clients which network interface is used and also indicates a trial version Accessing OPC Items The OPC Client has to know each end point network variables monitor points and configuration properties in a LN S hierarchy to be able to access it Those items are clearly identified by their position within the network structure The item ID is built from adding the path descriptions separated by dots Examples Test1 Subsystem 1 Subsystem564 D evice 142 nvi01V alue Test1 Subsystem 1 D evice 12 1 K 1 SCPT offsetT emp There are three possibilities to enter the item ID in the OPC Client 1 In the client the user can enter the item ID manually in the description field Access Path 2 ThelD can also be copied to the clipboard from the item within the server network structure by right clicking on it in the OPC Server network struc ture and selecting the command Copy path string 7 Gesytec 1 3 bavo Server L User s Manual Diagnosis t Cb ree I male i maily hb me ere 0 er Ch rec TET i U rein SAAT tii remit SAAT setting Ch mesie NT Korper LE fre NT vy Ef de Fig 4 6 Copy
6. Artrean Cl ho perform Pr of F Eep Y Aiar 1 0 Tea Lry ASF Barr A Ta ie 4 gt CEC Aforan 2 0 Language tarslard Fig 6 4 Integrating OPC Support to Excel Writing an OPC Client for Excel To write an OPC Client for Excel you must have the Easylon OPC Server software installed on your PC before starting Excel This is necessary to make the OPC objects available to the Visual Basic Editor Installing the Easylon OPC Server software automatically registers the OPC libraries containing the interface definitions The program structure of an OPC Client written in VBA is as follows Declarations Starting the Easylon OPC Server Adding a Group Adding Items to an OPC Group Using the D ataCallBack feature Stopping the D ataCallBack mechanism Releasing items and or groups Stopping the server connection The explanations below are related to VBA Demo 0 PCD emo2 xls of chapter 5 3 Declarations Sample OPC Client in VBA for MS Excel Const ITEMSMAX 3 we need an OPCServer Private gOpcServer As OPCServer this is the groups collection Private gOPCGroups As OPCGroups we need an OPCGroup receiving events Public WithEvents gOPCGroup As OPCGroup An own index Private gIndex As Long 7 Gesytec 1 9 Er Server L User s Manual Writing OPC Clients The objects and variables defined here are required to establish a connection to the Easylon OPC Server The ITEMSMAX constant indicates how many N Vs can be subscribe
7. By checking the D dault option a standard interval will be set Enter ing zero for the poll interval will disable polling T hrottle Interval For binding mode the push interval for the N V value by the LN S Server can be throt tled to a specified time in milliseconds Even if the network variable provides data more frequently the LNS Server will not be able to transmit the value more often than defined here Trion 14 SEER IE ANA el Cary Frances Teresa set im PLA 36 Gesytec bavo Server L User s Manual Diagnosis Gesytec Fig 4 11 Config Properties W hile configuration properties can be arbitrarily assigned to LNS items no individ ual properties are available for these objects via the context menu Instead there is a general value T imeoffse for all config properties It can be set via the G eneral options dialog See also paragraph 0 Change Item Value Right clicking on a network variable a monitor point or a subfield of these two items opens a context menu Selecting Change value on network variables or monitor points displays a window containing the values of the containing subfields Clicking on the button M odify or directly issuing the Change value command on a subfield shows the M odify Variable Value dialog In addition to detailed information on the selected variable this window contains a text field Valu where you can enter a new value for the selected variable As soon
8. Manual Diagnosis Subsystem Subsystem Nodes LonMark Objects Varibies _ Variables onfiguration Monitor Sets Properties Monitor Points Fig 4 3 Hierarchy of LN S Items Monitor Sets The user can create individual monitor sets for an easy management and a better over view of a range of monitored network variables The N Vs are represented in a moni tor set by monitor points Monitor sets are available for each of the three connection methods L ocal Remote Full Client and R emote Lightwaght Client They can be turned on or off separately Once created monitor sets provide a fast and easy method to manage and monitor a specific range of network variables Compared to the general administration of NVs via the network structure monitor sets can be started and stopped more rapidly as their overhead is lower Monitor sets are self caching and offer the best data format ting support The folder M onitor Sets can be found in the network structure view in the D iagnosis menu on the second level of the hierarchy below the current network representation It always exists even if it is still empty Tip Duplicate your client groups of data points by creating similar monitor sets in the OPC Server This will help you managing and monitoring existing logical sets of network variables Adding a Monitor Set To create a new monitor set right click on the folder M onitor Sets and select the command A dd M onitor Set Enter
9. Path String in theOPC Server The item ID is now in the clipboard and can be pasted into the appropriate field in the client using the context menu Paste command or the keyboard shortcut Ctri V kpn agp imen Find PN Fee TETE pe EMA eee Te Ee EE Lea Iper i mr rey z rs a Fi em ergen F eri ed 1 m ai sd rin air ad en iD Ere ers gee bekom gei ie a kri Fig 4 7 Add Item in OPC Client 3 TheA dd Item dialog also offers an item browser in the lower left section of the window You can search for the desired object by navigating through the network hierarchy as used in W indows operating systems If you select a spe cific item by single clicking on it with the left mouse key the appropriate path information will automatically be entered in the field A ccess P ath 4 1 7 Editing Item Properties A context menu can be called by right clicking on network variables monitor points and monitor sets The configuration of the selected item can be changed via the menu instruction Properties Depending on the item type a dialog window appears containing miscellaneous options 7 Gesytec 1 7 bavo Server L User s Manual Diagnosis The item properties can only be modified in config mode In run mode the current settings can be inspected but not modified Polling vs Binding For each item you can define if its values should be acquired via polling or binding By polling an item s value the OPC Server itself retrieves
10. Server Demos oe Visual Basic for Applications Demo Excel uses Visual Basic for Applications VBA to write macros Since this program ming system supports the OLE automation interface which is part of OPC it is quite easy to connect elements from your Excel spreadsheet to the Easylon OPC Server To run the example that is discussed below the Easylon OPC Server must be installed and of course you will need Microsoft Excel For this example we use a demo database which does not require a connection to an actual LonW orks network Instead of polling the requested N V s for changes in their values these values are simulated The difference to a real network producing the values is realized in the DLL that forms the lower level of the Easylon OPC Server software and does not affect the behavior of the rest of the software H ow to Run the Visual Basic Demo 1 Make sure you have installed the Easylon OPC Server 2 Start the VBA demo You can simply double click the OPCD emo xls sheet in the Easylon EO S2 V BAD emo directory W hen starting the Excel program you have to activate the macros The following picture will be shown H Fig 5 2 Start up of VBA D emo 3 Click the Connect button to start the Easylon OPC Server In row 8 you can see the text connected to server 4 To find NV addresses that are valid use the NV browser in the Easylon OPC Server The Itemnames of the Excel Sheet have to be the same as t
11. clicking on the column head also toggles the sequence be tween increasing and decreasing order Individual columns of the group items diagnosis can be switched on or off via the Show hide columns options dialog See paragraph 3 2 6 for details 7 Gesytec 1 a Easylof OPC Server L User s Manual Diagnosis 4 3 Protocol View Alt 2 An additional diagnosis feature is given by the protocol that stores various OPC and LNS system events The protocol can be configured the way that only events of a certain kind are gathered using the options dialog Additional administrative pa rameters can be altered there as well Refer to paragraphs 3 2 2 and following for more information Additional commands can be accessed by opening a context menu with a right click on the protocol window Besides some standard functions two commands need fur ther explanation The logging of system events can be paused with the Stop command in the context menu A log entry will confirm the halt To proceed select the instruction Continue The log text can be saved to a file using the menu item Export Select a target lo cation and a valid file name to output the event information to disk mi f ur rr I ra Lat TAN DIET SEIEN LEEG EER SAMIA ew ha cl es Moms a Rem AN RL Ter eve TEL on EL Ur me n era T1 derd Tell Vaha e T dT ID ET TIM TEE Tara aar d bur kore Set mr DPT en Loer IE gods Eee n en OT card Teil Cole Ed Er ID KES 2100 ES Aut mae Fika o
12. defines the refresh interval of the configuration properties default 60 000 ms You can alter the length of the interval by editing the value in the text field Independent from polling the properties by the OPC Server the information will also be up dated by the LN S Server in form of a push event The length of the push inter val is defined at the LN S Server and cannot be altered by the OPC Server License The License options dialog contains two fields The M achine ID shows a unique identification code which is built from information on your individual computer configuration BIOS motherboard and hard drive If you buy a license for the OPC Server you have to send this machine ID to Gesytec who will generate your personal U nlock key If no unlock Key is entered the software will run in trial mode Enter the Unlock key you received from Gesytec into the appropriate field you can also copy and paste the value and press the button Validate license If the key Is valid the OPC Server software will be unlocked and all functions will be available Please note that each instance of the Easylon OPC Server L needs a separate U nlock key For information on how to acquire a valid license refer to chapter 7 7 Gesytec 1 2 Easylof OPC Server L User s Manual Configuration Machina ID af 2B DEE AI EA 1906 Fig 3 9 Entering License Key he AT Gesytec 7 bavo Server L User s Manual Diagnos
13. demo You can simply double click the VBdemo exe program in the V BD emo subdirectory The following picture will be shown em ss Le T bard a DeLee F UFI bimg eee 26 Lzegyter Lomb Er rs in wa Fig 5 1 Start up of VBDemo Click the Connect button to start the Easylon OPC Server Enter one or more NV names To find NV addresses that are valid use the N V browser of the Easylon OPC Server Press Start to get the simulated N V values If you want to change NV names press Stop first change the names and press Start again The connection to the Easylon OPC Server is kept open until you quit the demo If you have a LonW orks network connected to your PC you can use the Visual Basic demo to access N V s from your network Read the chapter 3 on configu ration of the Easylon OPC Server to see how you can tell the program to scan your network and upload the NV information to the database After making changes you need to exit the Easylon OPC Server save the changes to a new glo file and restart the Visual Basic demo Take a Look at the Code If you have installed the Easylon OPC Server on your PC the VBdemo files are also copied to the Easylon EOS2 V BD emo directory or wherever you have installed it to This directory contains the source code of this Visual Basic demo including the Vis ual Basic Project file for Visual Studio 7 Gesytec 1 a Er Server L User s Manual Easylon OPC
14. een 9 11 Server actions ee RR 18 Server structure rrr 9 OPC Automation 20 48 OPC Eens oie ee nn 19 46 OPG POUROAEON entente I OPC Server N ame 17 OPC standard I Poll interval ne nenn 36 ele OE N 35 Project settings 21 Protocol 41 Protocol window 22 Registration ee een 54 Remote Full Client 21 Remote Lightweight Client 21 PO ee 20 a a ur 14 Simulate 22 simulate mode 43 NYT nee EE EE EE N 32 RIDE oo E En neee 18 SUR URL EO OE EE 18 60 bavo Server L User s Manual supported hardware nn Supported hardware nnee synchronous access for read and write Throttle interval areren Time for Mat neenstemmen Timeoffset namei a Trial VERSION en uncached value Tee ME dranken he Para Gesytec Index FOG Kae 26 Unlock ER EE EE EE 55 Ui EE N EE EE 32 Update by exception 36 Value CAC OC see ee N ER N NR 11 UR CAERE OR AE EN 11 Vorne 10 44 45 48 49 version history 56 Visual Basic 42 Visual Basic demos 42 Visual Basic for Applications 44 61
15. gegen wel st Tre Lt et Cabs re are rg ds a rd ee dd ra Lords ik ze Dre Gern daaar Dia pan ms pd od er ber vi Be pe ay Lee geerd pee Hl de m hae m mad od rbn eee go ed oe Bers gene te CE Fig 2 1 License Agreement 4 Choose destination location Define a destination location by clicking Browse Confirm your selection with a click in N ext Thay Darren or el me S ee N pede ela re N Gesytec an m ml ri Epen iN eee nn erg de Torpa a ha bhp irh Age Ne eel n pes en rh Beep ral ker ears am herin CRETE es el Fig 2 2 Choose Destination Location LA F 14 Gesytec boor Server L User s Manual Installation and Start up 5 Select setup type The installer package contains both versions OPC Server L and M The Easylon OPC Server L operates with LNS the Easylon OPC Server M operates as a standalone application without LN S to access the Lon W orks network Select the Easylon OPC Server L to have the LN S version or click on Custom Configura tion rrijto install both Veel ale ark s I an re amp Cons ee Lj J Cresytec Tip repe MA Saree ba HEK mn Fig 2 3 Server T ype 6 Select program folder Set a name for the new W indows program group by accepting the default defini tion or by entering a new one Confirm with the button N ext Vor aid aria Sr ard E she Pa Tk PiE bele n org ten eci Geyta Fig 2 4 N ame of Program Group The software will now be installed he AT
16. is terminated Automatic Start up and Shutdown by OPC Clients If an OPC Client tries to open the Easylon OPC L Server it will browse the W indows registry to find the program If the server is already running a connection will be es tablished If the server is not running it will be started automatically using the run command line option The Easylon OPC L Server will be operative until the last OPC Client has discon nected removing the last remaining group If an OPC Client started the server automatically it will then terminate automatically even if the last remaining OPC Client was not the one that caused the server to start Automatic Start up by Windows You can copy the Easylon OPC Serve L run shortcut to the Autostart directory of your W indows PC to cause the server to start automatically when the PC is booted The server will automatically open the recent configuration file and immediately start its OPC services LA af 19 Er Server L User s Manual Configuration 3 Gesytec Configuration This chapter explainsthe Easylon OPC Server L configuration options The Easylon OPC Server L connects to a LN S Server on the network The LN S Server provides the data of the selected LonW orks network data which is made available to OPC Clients The configuration settings tell the Easylon OPC where the LN S Server can be found Further options allow configuring the logging of system events the altering of time values an
17. properties must be assigned to existing objects If monitoring is active indicated by pressed in button in the toolbar and entry in the status bar the parameter columns Value and T imestamp of N V s and MPs are dis played and constantly updated In Simulatemode configurable under Con trols Options gt P rojet Settings the displayed values are randomly created by the OPC Server Right clicking on a network variable monitor point or monitor set shows a context menu containing instructions to alter the item s properties or to directly change an item s value Refer to paragraph 4 1 7 Editing Item Properties and 4 1 8 Change Item Value both in this chapter for further information he Para Gesyteci 2 bavo Server L User s Manual Diagnosis Fig 4 2 Context Menu of Network Variables 4 1 2 Item Types The following table gives an overview of the items that can be found in the network structure System subsystem monitor sets collection N ode commissioned on line N ode not commissioned Output network variable Input network variable LonM ark object Configuration property 8 Monitor point Monitor set ra N ode commissioned not attached failed IS Subfield according to type definition Table 4 1 Item Types in the OPC Server Network Structure Figure 4 3 shows the possible hierarchical relations between LN S items SAN RRR 30 Gesytec RN oc Server L User s
18. the values from the LN S Server in the given interval In binding mode the LN S Server automatically updates the val ues Input network variables are always polled He Peper anahe properlics Fig 4 8 Network Variable Properties Initial Fetch This property determines whether the value of the network variable will be fetched immediately when monitoring starts If set to off the value will not be updated until an update event is received A anior Pose Lielault Pragerties ORC et 1 Fimer 1a ara CU rA TE ail FF los del mal vakan Folr erva Taser 1 a Mote Uien ofdie He re ae he perd ee eee mieria urdid the oie pH n chee ee Cara Fig 4 9 Monitor Point Properties 7 Gesytec zz 5 bavo Server L User s Manual Diagnosis U pdate by Exception If this property is active a network variable s value will only be altered if the appro priate value has changed since the last report Monier Sei Properties Hare Pea Anri C Pkg Baird Pad iere JD rag Th s riete 1000 rar Fig 4 10 Monitor Set Properties Monitor Set State Properties The State section in the monitor set properties dialog shows the status of the object The three values M onitor set opened M onitor set enabled and Polling enabled represent individual status flags and cannot be altered manually Poll Interval This property determines the time in milliseconds between polls when using the polling method
19. types which are used in control networks temperature heat luminosity pressure etc Manufacturers may also create User Network Variable Types UN VT s which de fine data types specific to a device or devices All Device Ressource Files registered to the LN S database are used by the Easylon OPC Server L either in Simulation or in Auto mode 7 Gesytec 1 2 bavo Server L User s Manual Diagnosis 4 1 5 Customize View The View menu allows for the individual configuration of the view of the network structure The menu instruction M onitor Shift F9 toggles the online monitoring of the dis played network items on or off depending on the current state The status of the monitoring can be learned from the appearance of the appropriate button in the tool bar under the menu Monitoring is active if the button appears to be pressed in otherwise it is inactive The type of items displayed in the network structure can be limited to N V s or CPs only by selecting one of the menu items N Vs only respectively CPs only The current network structure will collapse W hen you reopen the network tree by clicking the icons only the selected items will be displayed N ote that only one of the two view modes N Vs only and CPs only can be active at the same time The toolbar and the status bar of the OPC Server can be switched off e g to maxi mize the available display space on small monitors By selecting the appropriate
20. E Fig 71 Trial Version Stopped In this state all values are marked as bad The server then has to be restarted manually LA F 54 bavo Server L User s Manual Licensing 1 2 Acquiring a Valid License If you want to purchase a full version of the Easylon OPC Server L please follow the steps below The License options dialog contains two fields 1 Start the Easylon OPC Server L in Config mode by double clicking the applica tion icon Easylon OPC Server L config in the Easylon program group Open the Options menu in the Controls menu Select the License panel The text field MacinelD will contain a unique identifier for your computer which is gen erated on the basis of individual characteristics of your machine s BIOS hard drive and motherboard Important notice If you change one of these components your present license number will expire Y ou will have to request a new one on the basis of your new system configuration from Gesytec Please note that each instance of the Easylon OPC Server will need a separate Unlock K ey Send a purchase order for the Easylon OPC Server L by fax or email to info gesytec de Include the machine ID displayed in the options dialog in your order For new customers Gesytec insists on payment in advance For your and our convenience we prefer credit card payment After your payment has been made Gesytec returns a specific license key for your computer Re
21. UP Eeu Ever Heia aan Per de OPT ni Tian TERT UP Cas iret Hoiu aka Fiat ME CO Taal Pc Eise dr m eri ee de Fear GE ET Voed Plea 1 FE die Taryn ar ol bur rie Sen Pee ET DEL a Toer IT pan TT uiri UiT alie siel Tara ike od des Honde Lai Poon AT IPC AE Tera Ba Gl de Dil dad adele d les bk da Date Ae OPT Tea Fir Ad a T ngen Gl ciara Thari Chasity Hin Van ge re vel ee em od Fan wan Cl OF Tee EF et LL af L mon Va bel et ade en and Fee paly of bee Heren Br Hoa RIT OH led Hoer kg rr ngen GT rarr lied Daars dad Tara vkm od dre Honde aid Pen MF TEE D gou TEL ed Heer re Der Via Eed dad al d Ier Piria Tel Para Dl OPC a Fier AT ask E Hd ed PM ar in gece GT dert Died Dade Bad dade raur cd dese Homo Gti Fase dar AE Tee Eten LE area bl delf mg Val sd er ee Bad Famy poty el ier Heren hen Aers IE ET N An HELE ies Feel Tr Vel eerd Tied Dal it arm an ol gern Vonke Sb Ploem eee TEL Eee EMC ren er ee oe bereit es ce ee i gen DI der Til Fig 4 17 Extract of the Protocol Window with Context Menu An Gesytec 1 a bavo Server L User s Manual Easylon OPC Server Demos 5 1 Gesytec Easylon OPC Server Demos Two demonstrations of the Easylon OPC Server have been installed together with the program one for Visual Basic V B D emo and the other one for Visual Basic for Ap plications VBA Demo Requirements The Easylon O PC Server L always need a connection to a LNS server Please specify a dat
22. abase as mentioned in the Configuration chapter Set the startup mode to Simu lation so a physical connection to a network will not be necessary for test purposes Random values will be generated by the Easylon OPC Server L now Changing a value for an input network variable NV is done by clicking with the right mouse button to an OPC item in monitoring mode A small context menu is shown the second entry of which is Change value Following this entry will display a dialog box to change the value of the item After changing the item s value it becomes static which means that the usual automatic updates of the simulation mode are turned off thus allowing to test a user interface The Visual Basic demos are available in the VBdemo subdirectories that were placed in the directory where you installed the Easylon OPC Server Examples C Easylon EOS2 VBDemo and C Easylon EOS2 VBADemo To run the demos described in this chapter the Easylon OPC Server has to be in stalled on your PC LA F 42 bavo Server L User s Manual Easylon OPC Server Demos 5 2 Visual Basic Demo The Visual Basic example is a simple application which shows a couple of N V s from the LonW orks network The data are requested from the Easylon O PC Server which is automatically started when you run the demo program named VBDemo exe How to run the Visual Basic demo 1 Make sure you have installed the Easylon OPC Server 2 Start the Visual Basic
23. as you confirm the dialog with OK the new value will be set The automatic update of this specific variable will be stopped after you manually alter its value Using the command Change Value allows to set the value of a tag manually when the Easylon OPC Server is running in simulation mode The user may check the operation of his OPC Client by setting different values Modily Yaris Value earder SHYT zeedh Hare Gr Cord sie aken cha Bert J wel a Fig 4 12 Value information for NVs and MPs By changing a value manually the Easylon OPC Server will stop generating values automatically By using this command the Easylon OPC Server will open an NV editor dialog using Device Ressource Files to format SNVT SCPT and UNVT UCPT values LA af 37 bavo Server L User s Manual Diagnosis Modily Variable Value Fig 4 13 Change Value 7 Gesytec 1 bavo Server L User s Manual Diagnosis 4 2 Group Items Diagnosis Alt 1 The G roup ltem diagnosis allows for an extensive diagnosis on O PC level displaying the qualities of the OPC items and of the OPC groups The appropriate window shows the hierarchy of all connected clients together with the present groups on the left side Per default general information on the local OPC Server is displayed on the right side ee comes ia Fig 4 14 Group ltem Diagnosis General Information By selecting a client from the structure on the left side add
24. bavo Server L User s Manual Writing O PC Clients Stopping the D ataCallback Mechanism Before releasing items from the group you need to tell the Easylon OPC Server to stop using the callback mechanism Releasing the group itself does this Releasing Items and or Groups Private Sub RemoveGroup If gOpcServer Is Nothing Then Exit Sub remove the group If Not gOPCGroup Is Nothing Then gOPCGroup IsSubscribed False Set gOPCGroup Nothing End If Remove groups gOpcserver OPCGroups RemoveAll End Sub By removing a group all the items in that group are removed as well In this exam ple all added groups the ones that were added by this OPC Client are removed Stopping the Server Connection Set gOpcServer Nothing If the Easylon OPC Server was started by the OPC Client and no other clients have connected since then releasing the connection to the server will cause it to finish LA af 53 Gesytec bavo Server L User s Manual Licensing 7 1 Gesytec Licensing Trial Version Without a valid license number the Easylon OPC Server L will only run in trial mode This will be indicated by the expression T rial version in the status bar Running in trial mode the OPC Server L will offer the same functionality as the licensed ver sion but it will quit after a running time of 30 minutes showing the following mes sage er EE D ae N Rae ee bekend eee Fe Tee Le ULE birak ehr Lore eee i ar ML EL
25. d The group is used as a container object for items belonging to an OPC Client A client can add more than one group and connect to more than one OPC Server Adding Items to an OPC Group add the items to the Group Private Sub Addltens Add items the ItemIDs to acces the Items Dim itemIDs ITEMSMAX As String our own handles Dim ClientHandles ITEMSMAX As Long access patch to the items unused in this sample Dim accessPaths ITEMSMAX As String the handles assigned by the OPC Server Dim serverhandles As Long some errors Dim errors As Long the datatypes for our items Dim dataTypes ITEMSMAX As Integer Dim count As Long count 0 Dim I As Integer For I 0 To ITEMSMAX 1 If Worksheets General Cells I 1 1 Value lt gt Then count Count 1 read the ItemIDs out of the worksheet itemIDs count Worksheets General Cells I 2 1 Value ClientHandles count I no access patch WT accessPaths count use string as datatype for all dataTypes count 8 End If Next I add the items gOPCGroup OPCItems AddItems count itemIDs ClientHandles serverhandles errors dataTypes accessPaths start the subscription gOPCGroup IsSubscribed True MW ShowStatus Format count amp items defined End Sub aD Gesytec zz s bavo Server L User s Manual Writing O PC Clients Items are the OPC representation of process variables N V
26. d at the same time The glndex variable is used to identify the D ataCall Back connection to the Easylon OPC Server Starting the Easylon OPC Server Connect to the OPC Server Private Sub CmdConnect Click On Error Golo Err Connect Click ShowStatus Connecting to Server Create server object set gOpcServer New OPCServer connect to the Easylon OPC Server by using it s name gOpcServer Connect Gesytec ElonLnsOPC2 attach to the groups collection ser OOPCGEOUDS GOpcoerver OPCGroups ShowStatus connected to server EXLE Sub Ere Connect Click ShowStatus Err Description MsgBox Error connecting amp Err Description End Sub If the server had not been started yet this will be done now If an Easylon OPC Server was already the new gO pcServer object refers to the active server The identi fier Gesytec ElonOPC2 should be used as indicated This is the name that is en tered in the W indows registry Adding aGroup Add a Group Private Function AddGroup As Boolean Add a group with name Gl Set gOPCGroup gOPCGroups Add G1 If gOPCGroup Is Nothing Then MsgBox Error AddGroup AddGroup False Exit Function End If use an update rate of 500 ms gOPCGroup updateRate 500 End Function 7 Gesytec 1 s E orc Server L User s Manual Writing OPC Clients Before the OPC Client can subscribe items a group needs to be created using the AddG roup metho
27. d be 7 Gesytec zz u Er Server L User s Manual Introduction favored This can cause problems with synchronous operations as values won t be written to the bus because the cache timeout wasn t reached before writing Also note that the LN S Server may be using its own cache while accessing LonW orks devices As the LNS Server manages all communications between the OPC Server and a LonW orks network this can result in cached values even if no caching is active at the OPC Server There is no way to determine if a LN S Server outputs cached or un cached data An OPC Client offers several options to access the data on the OPC Server 1 Thefirst and favored method is to use the subscribe mechanism A group Gesytec object is defined by the client and filled with OPC items The OPC Server sends data change events to the client if an item has changed Communica tion bandwidth between server and client is controlled by a timeout mecha nism prohibiting the server from sending update information too frequently Furthermore the client is able to define a hysteresis Especially for analog val ues such as temperatures it is possible to reduce the bandwidth Of course by using this method the client is not able to write any values The second method uses an asynchronous mechanism The client starts a transaction which will be either a read or write The OPC Server decides on its own when the transaction will be performed After completing
28. d er cas Sat Pica A OP Tas Utzon TE aie CHCM et wan ad ue tj ur dha Dart da 0 ee O0 Na pen ol er Ti a Cah Fa Na We Evora ee 1 Figen TE Enter EM orl ieh TI 2 Charge make ter TIP af 1 From TUE arie E Nd rd werk sed pe IT keel De iese Dm 3 erg De KA ere aa cl han DPTT an cm 12 AE ander H mE ec a ni grec GT Herr Thu da 10 5 dr ID TE 71 Na mal Gl he dn ve rebel Gl hare Cha eat ra ata inn Ne MF eri Sona Farms a DOC m Fous 1 area VOS tere nl i Cheri d ber kke Heino ET DEL 1 ed Hoer Leen ee DT eri The air ne Pd mi od ru us a Pam MET AF Tar Less Dee Idees ed n gom Ti died er aam Co TE ae derd eetl in Ge Tel chere Ch NE MA eri Ha Sani Fa OH DPT Tim 1 Finn 12 ee Deere hare ale ri ter Teheran iph Hor IT N Ted Arae I Et mpn Eee EN n rn HT card Tial Cie n Bend a an od rn za 1 Poen A ee ee Lee D er ee N ciel ee Ci ae 17 rae n gap Gl der Theil ne paa AE Tea i Pas 1 E E ingie Kad ra eerd E dy a ATE DI ve Er DEC es 1 Fr 1 75 Emmen Ba or Bl sept shed 29 Charge pay of bee TT ae TF TE epi Dd re meee TI hand N hars Goes n El ak od aas DELTA Par ZE hrs EHC ee Er wkn El se Conor Era PCT dae Vs Ze Caplan CA eee di FIT ent Fist 17 2E gehe EM ore hat Select dl Oak reed n gap DY chert Died p Terg paky of ter TIP lag 1 Pe 12 E ariar DMC EL pen Daan dad ET il Jang Fika ci Mu DPT ani 1 Fan 12 Ca y EE rr A arn N rd ee ee rd ch Ai VE TTE RO Pa 1 Pie Ta We UR ee Kerr ce Yopi Pe Ti Fi Dh
29. d the management of the license Configuration File Configuration information is stored in a separate file with the extension glo N or mally the configuration options are edited prior to the start of the Easylon OPC Server To start the Easylon OPC Server L without a configuration file you can use the shortcut E asylon OPC Server Config in the Easylon OPC Server program group The current state run or config can also be read in the title of the OPC Server win dow title bar If additional instances of the OPC Server are run on the same machine the title bar also contains a numerical identifier Opening a Different Configuration File If you want to open a different configuration file or if you started the server with the Config shortcut choose the Open command from the Filemenu If the server was al ready started and at least one OPC Client is connected this action is refused a dialog box will tell you why Otherwise the server is stopped and the new configuration file is read in Then the server will restart Saving the Configuration File After you have edited the options you can save the configuration information in the current configuration file or choose the name for a new one If you save the settings to a new configuration file this file will automatically be activated after saving and also after the next start up of Easylon OPC Server L LA F 20 bavo Server L User s Manual Configuration 3 2 The Options D
30. e Options OE EE iseen eaneneteikenneneternee TOVO HOLOU nebe N eie EEE Er old ie En General Options ee ee RR RR RR ee ER Re ee ee Re ee ee Re ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee Re ee ee ee ee ae aa a am a on Network Structure W INdOW cccccccccsesccccuucccccuuscccccauecececauececesueuseeeauueseeusuaeseneaaaess Context M enu of N etwork Variables ccccccccccccccceceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeueeeaeeceeeeeeeeeeeeeeneneeees RE LNS a cab D ee AE EE EE A O Paste Network Variable ee ee ee RR Re ee ee RR RR ee ee ee eed Copy Path String in the OPC SEVE ER Re Add lten MOF CHENU AA EE EE OR ER OE N N Network Variable Properties Monitor Font Properties een Montor se Peene ae lb a ob une Config PROD id AR N EnEn EEEn Value information for N Vs and MPS ee ee ee RR RR ee ee ee ee RR RE en Group ltem Diagnosis General Information Re RR RR ennen Group Item Diagnosis Client Information Group ltem Diagnosis Group Information Extract of the Protocol W indow with Context Menu RE Be ee een SAME Dane Graph of VBA Demon ns NV Properties in OPEL en Integrating OPC Support to Visual Basic Starting the Visual Basic Editor 7 Gesytec zz List of Figures 58 FMM orc Server L User s Manual List of Tables Fig 6 4 Integrating OPC Support to Excel cessscssssssessssreesssreessssressssseeesesstessenstessenaes 49 Fig 7 1 Bat RES Ee GR rr EN A EE N 54 Fig 7 2 Aa CAS ee eee 55 11 List of Tables Table4 1 Item Types
31. epage of the O PC Foundation http www opcfoundation org The OPC Server offers two objects An OPC Client is able to read information re garding all items available on the OPC Server The server can present this information hierarchically for instance it can sort the data points by physical devices By using the OPC Browser the client can determine addressing information for each of the data points Of course the client must know how to specify the data to be read The OPC Browser provides an access path and item ID for each data point All data has to be organized in groups To access the data the client defines an OPC Group object A group consists of different OPC items which represent individual data points OPC Server OPC Browser OPC Groups OPC Group OPC Items OPC Item 7 Fig 1 4 OPC Data Model The OPC item manages two values a cached and an un cached one Both access methods have their own advantages and disadvantages Managing values without caching directly addresses the LNS Server with each access resulting in most actual readouts This can of course considerably increase network traffic Alternatively the access to the device values on the LN S Server can be cached Read ing the data from the cache will not effect new traffic as long as the last direct device reading has been within the cache timeout Using the caching method significantly reduces bandwidth for the communication with the devices and therefore shoul
32. g these systems work together is the most pressing need of process manufacturers What is O PC Based on Microsoft s OLE now ActiveX COM and DCOM technologies OPC consists of a standard set of interfaces properties and methods for use in process control and manufacturing automation applications T he ActiveX COM technologies define how individual software components can interact and share data OPC pro vides a common interface to communicate with diverse process control devices re gardless of the controlling software or devices in the process Fig 1 1 From Proprietary Solutions to a Plug and Play Standard From the OLE for Process Control Standard OLE for Process Control OPC is designed to be a method to allow business applica tions access to plant floor data in a consistent manner 1 Component Object Model 2 Distributed Component Object Model 7 Gesytec zz s Er Server L User s Manual Introduction OPC originally isthe product of a taskforce that had the objective of developing a standard interface for the process control industry to enable development of servers and cients by multiple vendors that shall inter operate seamlessly together The first objective of OPC is not to connect components in process control systems to each other but to create an interface between various existing process control sys tems and W indows PC s running business management applications accessing proc ess data and allowing
33. he Para Gesytec Er Server L User s Manual Introduction 1 3 Easylon OPC Server Structure A typical OPC network consists of specific standard applications OPC Server The OPC Server connects to an existing LN S Server on the network which is con nected itself to LonW orks using a network interface The OPC Server wraps process data from the LN S Server into OPC objects using the OLE interface allowing to monitor and modify its values Multiple OPC Clients can connect to the OPC Server to gain access to the monitored objects The OPC standard is based on the OLE COM automation interface and can be used by most W indows applications without the need for customization Everyone who can write macros in VBA Visual Basic for Applications can include process data from the LON in his spreadsheets or database applications Chapter 6 W riting OPC Clients describes how to develop your own client application OPC OPC OPC OPC Client Client Client Client SNVT UNVT Easvlon amp SCPT y LonMaker OPC Server UCPT for Windows for LNS formatter LNS Server Network Interface Fig 1 3 Easylon OPC Server Structure 7 Gesytec 1 bavo Server L User s Manual Introduction 1 3 2 Gesytec LNS Server The LN S Server connects to a LonW orks network via a network interface The server maintains a database of the available network objects managing the access to the data and the modification of the appropriate values
34. he Description of the NV 5 Press Start to get simulated N V values 6 By selecting the sheet named Archive you will see a graph with simulated changing values as follows 7 Gesytec 1 u FO orc Server L User s Manual Easylon OPC Server Demos 17500 OI 16500 16000 15500 15000 14500 14000 13500 13000 Fig 5 3 Graph of VBA Demo What the Code Looks like The VBA codeis written in a single module that is associated to the Excel worksheet into which the data for the chart are written To see the complete code load the demo in Excel and open the VBA Macro Editor in the Tools menu Macro item submenu Visual Basic Editor or press Alt F11 Then press F7 to see the code To see an explanation of the source code refer to chapter OFig 6 1 NV Properties in OPC Server L VBA for Excel he AT Gesytec s Er Server L User s Manual Writing OPC Clients 6 Writing O PC Clients To make use of the Easylon O PC Server you will need to write O PC Clients that re quest data from the OPC Server and use them in their visualizations and or calcu lations This section of the Easylon O PC Server documentation gives an introduction into writing O PC Clients by using Visual Basic and VBA for Excel Note This documentation is to be understood as an example so that you can see how the interface of a client to the OPC Server works If you want to write OPC Clients for the OPC custom interface please check the offi
35. ialog To configure the OPC Server select the Options command from the Controls menu Ba sic configuration options can be specified here Project Settings The Project settings contain connection and start up mode options of the OPC Server The parameters in this dialog cannot be changed once the OPC Server is running er CT af FTSE Fig 3 1 Project Settings Network access The Network access option defines the type of connection to the LonW orks network There are three possible options Local The network access is gained via the same computer as the OPC Server Select a network name and the USB interface from the two options Network and N dwork Interface in the same dialog window This configuration is most common Remote Full Clint The OPC Server connects to a LN S Server via the network using a full remote access LonW orks connection Select a N dwork interface connected to your server The appropriate LN S Server will automatically ap pear in the field N etwork Note This access method is not recommended as the access to the LNS Server will be very slow Remote Lightwaght Client The OPC Server connects to a LNS Server via the network using the TCP IP protocol From the range of available LN S Servers select the desired network using the option N dwork in the same dialog The N dwork interface will automatically be set to Internet To create a remote LNS 7 Gesytec 1 z Er Server L User s Manual Co
36. in the OPC Server N etwork Structure 30 Table9 1 OPC Clients ne ee ee ee ee ee ee ee eneen eden 57 7 Gesytec 1 5 E orc Server L User s Manual 12 Index Naas PAU mr 33 died EE OE ONE 24 asynchronous mechanism 12 AUO a EE 22 automatic startup eeen 19 Automatic start Up ee 19 Binding annen ereen eenen eenen ener 35 cached Vele sie EE EO ee 11 change VALS se EE ei ER 37 Change Valle ara 37 Columns Show hide are 25 40 Command line options nnee 18 CONT Ge a ac 20 CONT OUNGTION een 20 Configuration een 20 Configuration file 20 Copy path SING aan 33 DE ON es eenen 5 Device Ressource Files 32 37 AINO EE nge 39 FOOD 41 Group ltems diagnosis 39 dentifzing items nennen 47 Initial fEECA none nennen 35 SCAN QUO te 13 MEE ae een 13 Installation requirements 13 VEO GIT OM een 5 tem properties ee RR RR 34 REE 30 FOAM a an 44 ICE MA EE 26 License REV a N 55 LEN IN een 54 EN SEO Sean 30 LN S SEVE stenen 10 24 OE Al EE EE en 21 LOG P een en 41 LORM AKO een 10 7 Gesytec 1 Index LONW orkS ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee 1 Machine ID nnen 26 55 MONO N OE 33 monitor set state properties 36 Monitor sets 31 multiple instances 17 naming items nennen I N WOK a a run 22 N etwork access is 21 Network interface nennen 22 Network structure nennen 28 OE N N N 6 dIE EE nn 5 CHE arena 11 data modal ae 11 EERS een 23 sClient for EXCEL see on de ie EE ei 49 SA VER
37. is 4 1 Diagno sis The Easylon OPC Server offers various features for the diagnosis of problems espe cially for the on site scenario This chapter describes the three functions which can be accessed via the D iagnosis menu Network structure The N dwork structure displays the hierarchy and the item details of the moni tored network as provided by the selected LNS Server The different item types in particular monitor sets are also explained in this paragraph Group ltem D iagnosis For troubleshooting purposes the G roup ltems D iagnosis gives a configurable overview over the OPC items and groups of connected clients Protocol OPC and LNS events can be logged for a later analysis The automatically created protocol can be viewed and saved to disk Network Structure Alt 0 Browsing the Network Once the Easylon OPC Server has started and connected to the specified LN S Server the window N dwork structure in the D iagnosis menu can be opened It contains an object explorer which shows a hierarchical representation of the attached LON net work It will appear under the name OPC Server W orkspace in the list of open windows in the W indow menu The Network structure window is divided into two sections The left section shows a tree view of the network structure and the available items for an overview of the different objects refer to the next paragraph On the right side detailed and current information on sub items is disp
38. itional information for this specific client is displayed in the right part of the window raip Fig 4 15 Group ltem Diagnosis Client Information By selecting a group specific information for this group this will be shown in the up per part of the right side of the window The table in the lower part of the window lists specific information for the individual OPC items belonging to this group 7 Gesytec 1 3 Er Server L User s Manual Diagnosis Item ID Read W rite status Canonical data type Requested data type Client H andle Value Timestamp Quality N umber of reads writes and updates The detailed information for client groups corresponds to the group information in the K eoware Quickclient BE IN HA NT EIEN asma p eet Woi ige EDk ER fe cot Coeurs free Hele i F TINTERF CEL him ria E n iar H ju EE MM N Ti SET EC Ress 7E Ti LIN TA TIRER ETA 71 THES LIEN ENA se Th SET AEFI BE SIEN RTE Ta INNS EE E u i a i a u a Ta ri TE u J ed men EE TE OT ee re bla dr Lid Kk LT ET l RE l Mond reke kie Bee sd ink eie Mere mr Boe ml EIER er drom PR dry vm oen ei OH bie dr id Home LET MT RE ee reke KAREE en ries sed N DR ee Mes id eee Pik d red rer ae ET oo Bied OE od GENE Po LE Fig 4 16 Group ltem Diagnosis Group Information T he table can be sorted according to one of the criteria by clicking on the appropriate column head Repeated
39. layed which are contained in one of the greater ob jects on the left side Opening the network or one of its items e g system subsystem monitor set is re alized according to W indows conventions by clicking the appropriate Lt icon to the left of it The object can be closed again with a left click on the I icon Further to the actual network description there is also a folder M onitor Sets M onitor sets are collections of monitor points monitored network variables that can indi vidually be created by the user For a detailed description of monitor sets see para graph 4 1 3 in this chapter 7 Gesytec 1 bavo Server L User s Manual Diagnosis tier Es ETES ILE hl Es ETES IEM es e A IE Hou Ed ad Ik H ou Ed ed im ie IE A Li ed Ik A rs IE AZ kk al Ik HI IE Fak IE HI EE Ed ak EEK IE AZ isle Ik HAT TEE Ik HT Hd ER IK HTA ik seat Ih H od ii sak Ik Hd i eee IEEE N IE Ed Fig 4 1 etwork Structure Window By clicking on a node a LonMark object or a monitor set the contained network variables configuration properties or monitor points will be shown in the right sec tion of the network structure window An identifies input N Vs an O stands for an output NV N Vs and MPs can be expanded to reveal the containing subfields Configuration properties can only be contained in LonM ark objects Unlike to net work variables that are explicitly defined configuration
40. nect to another LNS database by running as a remote client or several instances may connect to the same LN S database Multiple instances can be created manually A subfolder SVR x needs to be created where x is the number of the instance So a subfolder SVR_1 will be the first addi tional instance The executable file of the Easylon O PC Server L LnsO pcServer exe must be copied to this folder Afterwards this additional instance needs to registered by using this command line LnsOpcServer regserver After registering this instance will be available as Gesytec ElonLnsOPC2 1 The number of the instance is displayed in the title bar of the user interface LA af 17 Er Server L User s Manual Installation and Start up 2 2 Getting Started The Easylon OPC Serve L can be started either manually or automatically Manual start is done according to usual W indows procedures by either double clicking the program icon in its directory or by selecting one of the shortcuts that were placed in the Easylon OPC L Server program group D uring start up the server will display the following picture ee er er 1 id er Te rs a bre Fig 2 8 OPC Server Splash Screen Easylon OPC L Server Actions Open the configuration file The configuration file used in the last OPC Server session will automatically open on start up time The configuration file contains information about the network struc ture LN S Servers and further option
41. nfiguration 3 2 2 network you can use the Echelon LN S Remote Client Configuration Utility Refer to the appropriate documentation for details Network The available N dwork options depend on the selected N dwork access and the Network interface If the N dwork access is set to Local the name of the only avail able local network will be the one provided by the connected U SB interface If Remote Full Client is selected the content of the N etwork field will be deter mined by the selected Network interface If the connection method is Remote Lightwaght Client all available LNS Servers via the TCP IP protocol will be available here Network interface The option N dwork interface also shows values according to the selection of the N dwork access method If the N dwork access is Local or Remote Full Client the LON USB interfaces physically connected to the OPC Server will be shown If the network access option was set to Remote Lightwaght Client the network interface will be Internet Start up mode This option tells the Easylon OPC Server in which mode it shall run after start upT he available Start up modes are described below Auto The OPC Server connects to the selected LNS Server and reads the structure of the associated network and all appropriate values Simulate The OPC Server connects to the selected LN S Server and receives the network structure using an OLE interface but all values of the contained objects will be simulated Du
42. open the Controls Options License dialog Enter the license key into the field Unlock key and confirm by clicking the button Validate license The expression Trial version will disappear in the status bar and the Easylon OPC Server will change to a fully functional version Proc reining Laane Pull rer DPC E send LHS Erst hishma If FB DEE E Aone Shoah coburn Urdoch Kay Care al Fig 7 2 Entering License Key 7 Gesytec 1 ss Er Server L User s Manual Version History O Version History Version 1 01 04 06 04 Initial release he Para Gesytec so bavo Server L User s Manual Appendix 9 Appendix Manufacturer client Rm ARC Informatique PCVUE32 http mmw arcinfo comn Americas http com W onderware OPCLink Client Gensym G2 ht h matrikon com Table 9 1 OPC Clients 7 Gesytec s7 E orc Server L User s Manual 10 List of Figures From Proprietary Solutions to a Plug and Play Standard U se of Process D ata in Business Applications c cccsssssssrsssessessessreesssressesteesens a EEE EE EE OPC Data ie RE OE OR EN a DE Gie Ee Rd EG an Choose Destination Location AR an a a bay dlusasiewees En N ame of Program Group atakaton M ee MEE ME die ik C O annen N ee a Programm Group after stal LO ans ees Ge ee ee ve oe N Ek End OPC Server Splash Screen see EE ie n Ge Ee Re ke Ge en Ro nne AO ae o AE EE eee Protocol W indow Settings ENOS eenen ed eed L E ee een er Archiv
43. ore until you make addi tional room for it Note There will be no alert if the minimal space limit is reached In this case all re moved lines from the log are lost Show Hide Columns The dialog Show Hide Columns contains options to alter the appearance of the G roup Items W orkspace which correspond to the group information in the K eoware Quickclient Paraat ame CA Hatred OPC Ten_t Fig 3 6 Show or Hide Columns To avoid visual overload when browsing groups and items using the G roups tems View you can deselect individual columns Check those columns that should be dis played and uncheck those that should not DE ll pole LDA hii LP ram a a TR Anika kel Pr x INTER CEL him ria p en en Lira nr Mes Tai Te 1 dere aip Bou dd EL Ted MT ON ET r pee RR le LET kiiy nt Bme ind OO ee ee yk IN OT SE eee u DR ee Mn ii Auer Pik der ie VET en EE RO Pe Fig 3 7 Group Items D iagnosis D Gesytec x Er Server L User s Manual Configuration 3 2 1 General The G meal options allow for the altering of two time values Goma Tas km asia Cog Prared es Tama ed Fig 3 8 General Options The drop down menu T ime format offers different appearances for time and date in the OPC Server Note that all times in OPC Server are in UTC format Each con nected client hasto calculate its own time offset for the current environment The value Config Properties T imeotfset
44. ps and items properties will be logged If you select the option D atachange the OPC Server will also log the events Sync read write and A sync read writecancd For a stan dard operation with an OPC Client the activation of the option M anagement will suf fice he Para Gesytec 2 bavo Server L User s Manual Configuration 3 2 4 LNS Events The options dialog LN S Events specifies which types of LN S events will be logged in the protocol Mainly dynamical events will be covered eg if the network configu ration is altered with Echelon LonM aker Put ehr Finn re OPC Events Hedveodk variable Lindos Essais Achee ons PT 7 HY Mondor Poin Update Events Carrera LAS Syren Ermi achet Coase Less Fig 3 4 Options for LNS Events Y ou can activate logging for three different types of LN S events N etwork Variable up dates NV M onitor Point updates and LN S System Events like attachments commissions etc Archive Fig 3 5 Archive Options By using the Archive configuration panel you can define a minimal amount of hard disk space to avoid an overflow by the protocol log Enter a value of minimal disk space to be conserved by OPC Server T he default is 50 MB D Gesytec 7 bavo Server L User s Manual Configuration 3 2 6 If the minimal available hard disk space is reached the logging of events will continue but the removed lines will not be saved to the disk any m
45. ring a repeated access to a specific object new values will be created randomly Protocol Window All events of the OPC Server can be logged for a later analysis The option M aximal count of lines limits the amount of log entries to the defined value If the maximum value of lines is reached old entries will be removed to make room for new events The Optimal count of lines defines the fallback value of log entries If the amount of stored lines exceeds this value they will be saved until they reach the maximal amount as defined above Then the amount of lines stored in the log file will be re duced to the optimal count of lines Example If you set the maximal amount of lines to 3000 and the optimal amount of lines to 2000 the 1000 oldest lines in the log file will be removed once the maximal amount of 3000 lines is reached 7 Gesytec 1 2 bavo Server L User s Manual Configuration OPC Event LHS E vardr ier rs OR re Dat en Leere Fig 3 2 Protocol Window Settings You can choose to save removed lines to a file Activate the option Save removed lines and specify the name of the file by entering its name into the text field or selecting a file by pressing the button labeled OPC Events In the OPC Events dialog you can alter the type of events being logged by the OPC Server Fig 3 3 Options for OPC Events With the option M anagement activated the events A dd remove groups or items Change grou
46. rver L he Para Gesytec 7 Er Server L User s Manual Writing OPC Clients 6 2 VBA for Excel Preparations The support for OPC objects has to be enabled in Visual Basic and Microsoft Excel prior to create individual OPC Clients For this purpose the library OPCD AA uto dll has to be integrated into the references of your project in both applications Beleremces Weme vbp we rad Pre Fos App ears hou East rene ls ard CEA EE ers med ee r OF Campo LS Tau ler DAS BAS Prosa 1 0 Tps Lie ay Ihre Greta To Actes ah n Cor rol Library dress cond De Wear Artes CAL bo perform Pe ation of MG Repository ADS eyidar 1 0 Tea Library ASF Bua a Tare Ihre i CFT Ezra ien 2 0 Language tarslard Fig 6 2 Integrating OPC Support to Visual Basic Open the dialog T ools gt R eferences in the Visual Basic Editor and activate the checkbox of the OPC Automation 2 0 library Fig 6 3 Starting the Visual Basic Editor Repeat the process with Visual Basic Open your project and select Project gt R feens Activate the checkbox of the OPC Automation 2 0 library he AT Gesytec s bavo Server L User s Manual Writing OPC Clients Deieren VRP reject we Aid Bars Fe Arrie sere Fiercaoft Fred 10 0 jet Library OLE Bora Pirot Fa F O0 Cet Libary Perce fn D D Like Fi Heer COM Canmore 5 Tre Lie LAS RADIUS Probi 1 0 Tps Lira dires Director Te Actten bp oni Library tresse cond bape Mars
47. s Through OPEN 7 1 3 Easylon OPC Server Structure 9 1 5 1 OPE SEE a eenen 9 EZ EN OON EE EE ET N ER EO ONE EE nus 10 1 3 3 OPC Clients d ee RR Re ee RR ee ee ee ee ee Re Re ee 10 1 3 4 LonMaker for Windows RR RR RR ee ee ee ee Re ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee 10 1 4 OPC Data Model a a ea a sa 11 2 Installation and Start UP stine entente 13 2 1 I Tall ELO EE OE EE emeente nde ee 13 2 1 1 SUP PORES H Trawa ee a 13 2 1 2 Installation Requirements ana RR RR RR ee ee Re ee ee Re ee ee ee ee ee Re ee ee ee ee vens 13 2 13 Installation Proc oUFe oo EO ER AE ie ee DE Ee kel ee deden 14 2 14 OPC SEE NAME a a ee 17 21 5 Multipie MY SUA CCS ee een 17 22 Gend talenten netten 18 2 2 1 Easylon OPC L Server Actions Ni 18 2 2 2 Automatic Start up and Shutdown by OPC Clients 19 2 2 3 Automatic Start up by Windows nano RR RR Re ee RR ee ee ee Re ee ee Re ee ee ee ee ee 19 se ie ME ee ER EE N 20 3 1 CONA Ura GR re ee N 20 3 1 1 Opening a Different Configuration File 20 3 1 2 Saving the Configuration File 20 32 TREO BUS DIES ee ee 21 3 2 Pioed SCIOS a a De RE DE ER Ee 21 3 2 2 Protocol WINGOW os eer ee EER EE as N ee ee Ee Re Ee GE oe ten 22 3 23 OPG EVeNS mennen EE EE EE OE EED 23 AA LS EV ee Ge ee ee ide 24 Ee RE EE EE EE EE 24 3 2 6 ve ICS CO UM EE EE N 25 Mc ER EE EO RE N EE OE 26 EA Es EE EE EE RE EE EE EN EK 26 7 Gesytec 1 i bavo Server L User s Manual 4 DIaONONS sassen neten ne eenden 28 4 1 Network Struct
48. s in the case of Lon W orks To identify each item a number of variables need to be defined for each of them each item has a name an access path a data type and an active flag The arrays are initialized the code for one item is shown below reading the item name from a cell in the Excel worksheet After all parameters are set the ddltems method is used to subscribe the items U sing the DataCallback Feature The DataCallback is used by implementing an appropriate event handler for the group object handle the datachange event Private Sub gOPCGroup_DataChange _ ByVal TransactionID As Long ByVal NumItems As Long _ ClientHandles As Long _ ItemValues As Variant _ Qualities As Long _ TimeStamps As Date On Error GoTo err setValue ShowStatus Dim I As Long For I 1 To Numitems put the values to the worksheet Worksheets General Cells I 1 2 Value ItemValues 1 Next handle the little archive Worksheets Archiv Cells gIndex 1 Value ItemValues 1 Worksheets Archiv Cells gIndex 2 Value TimeStamps 1 gIndex gIndex 1 If gIndex gt 10 Then gIndex 1 Beru Sub err setValue showstatus Error during callback End Sub The datachange event receives some collections containing the data the status and a timestamp for each data N ow the procedure is able to set the received values to the cells of the worksheet LA af 52 Gesytec
49. s to be used See chapter 3 Configuration for details Check the command line options If no option is given the program starts with the regular user interface waiting for a start command before proceeding with the next steps If the command line option run is given the program doesn t wait but immediately continues with the next step using the recent configuration that was used in the last server session Connect to a LN S Server In Auto mode the OPC Server L will connect to the specified LN S Server read out its network structure via a browser interface and make it available to all connecting OPC Clients The Easylon OPC Server L can also run in Simulate mode see chapter 3 Configuration for details In this case a connection to the specified LN S Server will be made and the network structure will be read out but all values made available to OPC Clients will be simulated offline For repeated accesses to a specific value ran dom results will be generated Wait for connections from OPC Clients At this point the Easylon OPC Server L is running and waiting for OPC Clients to contact the server add groups and subscribe items 7 Gesytec 1 i bavo Server L User s Manual Installation and Start up Gesytec The Easylon OPC Server L will be found by a client as Gesytec ElonLnsOpc2 Serve OPC requests The Easylon OPC Server L now replies to any request arriving through one of the connected OPC Clients until the program
50. some degree of influence on the process control system T 0 do these things fectivay manufacturers need to access data from the plant floor and integrate it into thar existing business systems M anufacturers must be able to utilize off the shelf tools SCADA Packages D atabases spreadsheets etc to assem ble a system to meet thar needs T he key is an open and effective communication en abler concentrating on data access and not the types of data Of course exchanging data between business applications and process control sys tems is not new but it used to be done with proprietary drivers or with DDE links OPC is defining a standard interface allowing a much wider range of business appli cations to connect to a much wider range of process control systems Since OPC is based on the existing OLE COM interface that is used by most W indows applica tions an OPC Server provides a process control system for many business applications at the same time SAN RRR N Gesytec bavo Server L User s Manual Introduction 1 2 Why Use the Easylon OPC Server Use of Process Data in Business Applications Microsoft initiated OPC makes it important enough to keep track of But there are more reasons why an Easylon OPC Server can be of advantage for you A Standard Interface to Process Control Systems The OPC interface was designed to allow any business application with an OLE in terface the access to process control systems witho
51. strongly re commended to uninstall the existing version by using the W indows uninstall tool before installation of the new version Supported Hardware The OPC Server connects to an LN S Server on the network which itself is connected to a LonW orks network via a compatible network interface Thus the hardware sup port has to be ensured by the LN S Server Installation Requirements e TheEasylon OPC Server L works with Microsoft W indows 2000 or W indows X P Professional version recommended For test purposes W indows 98 and greater versions also can be used e A LNS Server with LN S 3 Service pack 8 must be available on the network e Pentium III 500 MHz or larger e 256 MB RAM or more e 20 Megabyte or more available hard disk space e Ethernet interface 7 Gesytec 1 13 FE orc Server L User s Manual Installation and Start up 2 1 3 Installation Procedure 1 Close all applications currently running on your computer 2 Start the OPC Server installer The setup program will allow you to determine a target location for the Easylon OPC Server L software It will guide you through the necessary installation step for steo To install run the following program lt your CD gt Easylon OPC Server Setup Setup exe 3 Accept the license agreement Accept the license agreement by clicking Ye Leere gonna ad ee ei te lid Gevtec Pe ra LEE DH a vert el ee UFI ss ET Zr mit ul Le best Thu bcra CE ae Re ke
52. the name for the new set to be created 7 Gesytec 1 a bavo Server L User s Manual Diagnosis Pe Habart ORC Tet J PT et a Eaton ca 0 LMS Harat Irdarf an laren CTI 73 Fig 4 4 Add Monitor Set Adding Monitor Points to a Monitor Set To add monitoring support to a specific network variable browse through the connected network by navigating in the explorer view above the folder M oni tor Sets There are two possible ways to add the desired network variable to the monitor set in form of a monitor point 1 Drag and drop the network variable onto the tag of an existing monitor set The OPC Server will display a status window and create a monitor point for the N V in the selected monitor set 2 Right click on the network variable to be added From the context menu select Copy Select the target monitor set right click on it and choose Paste from the context menu A monitor point for the new network vari able will be created Fig 4 5 Paste N etwork Variable D eleting Monitor Points from a Monitor Set An existing monitor point can be deleted from a monitor set by right clicking on it and executing the command D dde from the displayed context menu SNVT UNVT Data Types By employing device resource files the OPC Server can automatically use the prede fined data types of a specific manufacturer Standard Network Variable Types SN VT s are contained in the standard typ file covering most standard data
53. the trans action the OPC Server will send an appropriate event to the client In case of a read request it contains the data The asynchronous methods can be used either for the item cache or for direct access Due to the undetermined execu tion time the user has to be careful in using the asynchronous mechanism Fast access is possible with the third method the synchronous access for read and write A synchronous access will be directly executed If it has to be performed on the device value and not on the item cache it will be immedi ately performed So reading or writing a value with synchronous access on the Easylon OPC Server will send direct messages on the LonW orks network Obviously this method should be used deliberately because of bandwidth is sues SANS ad 12 bavo Server L User s Manual Installation and Start up 2 2 1 Installation and Start up This chapter describes all aspects of installing and starting the Easylon OPC Server L Subjects covered are Installation Explains how to install the Easylon OPC Server L software Starting the Easylon OPC Server L Describes how the Easylon OPC Server is started either manually or automatically Installation To install the Easylon OPC Server L on your PC follow the steps described below N ote that the Easylon OPC Server L should be installed on aPC with an interface to the LN S network If you are already using an older version of the Easylon OPC Server L it is
54. ure Alt On KERR ee AR Ee ee ee ge ee Ee ee 28 4 1 1 Browsing the Network 28 LZR EE N 30 ALS MONTON O EN ER EE ee 31 414 SNVT UNVT Data T yp S annen RR ER Re ER Re ee ee PR ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee 32 1 5 oi ei EE EE E nennernanctnees 33 2 1 6 Naos OPC MN a ee ie EG a a 33 4 1 7 Editing Item Properties 34 4 1 8 Changelten VEE ee EE ee ee ee ee ie De 37 4 2 G6roup ltemsDiagmoss Alt Des 39 4 3 Protocol View RE a a Ee 41 5 Edsvlon OPG Server D mos un ae 42 5 1 REQUIF MENES nennen 42 52 WSU ic DOM ee ee 43 5 3 Visual Basic for Applications Demo 44 6 Writing OPC CHentS nisse si dassie ennn er dennen 46 oL Ko EN ren 47 DE MBA OP CR a EE a ON 48 Bek PAINS a De De TAN 48 6 2 2 Writing an OPC Client for Excel aan 49 7 Ee Ee AE E E in ann nnen 54 r a N e ee E E eee 54 7 2 ACQUITING a Valid License RR RR RR Re ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee 55 o Version Hl Eg AE EE EE N 56 9 APPEND AE EE ER EE a 57 10 EISEOF PIQUE ae 58 IKE ie EE EE E EE N 59 12 TAO CREER EE EE EE EE EN 60 LA San Ban BIN lt Gesytec Er Server L User s Manual Introduction l 1 1 Introduction This chapter gives an introduction to basic OPC concepts and the Easylon OPC Server The use of microprocessors has proliferated in manufacturing plants Often though they often don t co operate well Application software is not always ready to communicate with digital plant floor devices or other applications Makin
55. ut any interfacing operation in volved This means that the only addition needed is on the part of the process control system manufacturers as soon as they provide an OPC Server for their process con trol system virtually every business application can connect up and use the process data Combine D ata from Various Devices or Field Bus Systems Since the OPC interface builds on DCOM the source of process data can be any where on the intranet As long as your business application knows the address of an OPC Server it can connect and use the available process data More than one OPC Server can be combined in the same business application in m 1 1 x H 4 1 ae Control Network Fig 1 2 U se of Process D ata in Business Applications Why Connect LonWorks Networks Through OPC Include D ata from the Control network in Standard Business Applications Business applications use the OLE interface to connect to data sources Since the O PC interface is defined at OLE level any business application can use LonW orks net 7 Gesytec 1 7 Er Server L User s Manual Introduction works data simply by connecting to the Easylon OPC Server For those who write their own applications in C the COM level OPC interface is available If you want to include NV values in an Excel spreadsheet visualize your control network with Intouch or use NVs in other business applications the Easylon OPC Server is the solution to your problem
56. utomation interface as well as for the OPC custom interface please refer to the OPC Foundation web site where you can download the OPC interface definition document The complete specification of the OPC automation interface and of the OPC custom interface are available on the OPC Foundation web site for download at http www opcfoundation org This documentation is subject to modification at any time without prior notice G esytec does not take over any responsibility for mistakes or inaccuracies in this documentation and eventually occurring consequences In no case Gesytec as well as its representatives and staff are liable for eventual defaults damages caused indirectly or during use occurring due to the use or non usability of the software or the ac companying documentation Microsoft Visual Basic and W indows are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation Easylon is a registered trademark of Gesytec GmbH Echelon LON LONMARK LONW ORKS and N euron are registered trademarks of Echelon Corpo ration Other names may be registered trademarks of the respective companies 7 Gesytec 1 i Er Server L User s Manual Contents 1 16516 Hier 6 RE De Ee en 5 Lel de a N 5 1 2 W hy Use the Easylon OPC Server ee ee ee ee ee Re RR Re ee Ee Re ee ee Re ee Ee Re ee ee ee ee ee 7 1 2 1 Use of Process Data in Business Applications cccsscsssssessssresssstesssstesssstesessntens 7 1 2 2 Why Connect LON W orks Network
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