OPC Foundation Message Board

OPC on WinCE 5.0

Gerardi — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 21:15:06 GMT

Hi,

Can someone please help?

I am building a custom version of Windows CE 5.0 on the x86 platform for an unattended industrial application (written in C# under Visual Studio 2005), utilizing a WinSystems WPX-C3 single board computer. I need to communicate to an HMI application on another computer on the local network using OPC.

After various google searches trying to find some information about OPC on the CE platform, I found the WinTech web site which provides the WinTECH Software Rapid Development DLL for OPC Servers, which sounded like it could probably be used with Win CE. Their installation documentation references the OPC Proxy/Stub DLL�s from OPCFoundation, but the only information I have found here about being able to include those DLL's in a CE build is "Your have to build the WinCE proxy/stubs yourself".
That unfortunately means very little me. What files need to be rebuilt? How do I go about rebuilding them? How would I go about including it in my version of Windows CE (built using Microsoft Platform Builder for Windows CE 5.0), and how would I access the information in my C# application?

Unfortunately I am new to OPC, and know nothing about it, although I do have a copy of the OPC Fundamentals Textbook, written by Juergen Lange and Frank Iwanitz. and am trying to figure it out, and I have only limited skills with Platform Builder, but enough (I think) to get the job done.

Any help in this matter would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

Jim Gerardi

RE: DCOM configuration

adrielmichaud — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 19:13:06 GMT

Short answer is yes. Your COM/DCOM settings are allowing connection for whatever user OPC Explorer is running as. You can check this using the Windows Task Manager.

In the screenshot below, you can see that my OPC Explorer is running as the user "adriel.michaud".

If you're still having difficulty connecting or you are unable to set the OPC Client to a user that has permissions to the OPC Server, you may want to consider OPC Tunneller http://matrikonopc.com/products/opc-data-management/opc-tunneller.aspx

Adriel Michaud
MatrikonOPC

RE: Remote Connection with VB6

Fred_Loveless — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 15:21:50 GMT

The fist thing to do is to make sure that DCOM security is set on both PC's. It is very possibly that Matrikon has programmatically relaxed DCOM security when connecting between its explorer and server. This allows them to prove the server is getting data rather then proving DCOM. We do this at Kepware as well. The advantage is that you can quickly narrow down problems to OPC.

If the ProgID is correct and the Node name is correct then the connecton should happen unless DCOM is not configured properly. I would verify the DOCM security settings on both PC's.

By the way your code is correct.

RE: method with extension object failing

BrentBowers — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 15:12:35 GMT

I dug into this a bit further and realized that the namespace table in some of our model design XML files had an extra namespace that was not being included in the corresponding NodeSet.xml file. So I removed the extra unreferenced namespace, which corrected the problem with the fragmented namespace table. However, the generated order of the namespaces in the NodeSet.xml file is different than the order of namespaces in the corresponding model design XML file, which is still causing method argument type validation failures.

Here's the namespace table from our model design XML file.

Code:

<opc:Namespaces>
<opc:Namespace Name="OpcUa" Prefix="Opc.Ua" InternalPrefix="Opc.Ua.Server" XmlNamespace="http://opcfoundation.org/UA/2008/02/Types.xsd">http://opcfoundation.org/UA/</opc:Namespace>
<opc:Namespace Name="ModelsCore" Prefix="Tks.GuardOne.Models.Core">http://www.guard1.com/TKS/G1E/Models/Core</opc:Namespace>
<opc:Namespace Name="ModelsSystem" Prefix="Tks.GuardOne.Models.SysLib">http://www.guard1.com/TKS/G1E/Models/SysLib</opc:Namespace>
</opc:Namespaces>

And here's the namespace table from the corresponding NodeSet.xml file.

Code:

<NamespaceUris>
<String>http://opcfoundation.org/UA/</String>
<String>http://www.guard1.com/TKS/G1E/Models/SysLib</String>
<String>http://www.guard1.com/TKS/G1E/Models/Core</String>
</NamespaceUris>

Notice that the second and third namespaces are switched. The namespace table in the NodeSet.xml is built based on the order that the namespaces are referenced in the model design file. This in itself shouldn't be a problem, but in some cases the namespace indexes in the NodeSet.xml file are being assigned based on the namespace table of the model design file, not the namespace table of the NodeSet.xml file. The particular one that is causing our method argument type validation to fail is in the following method.

Code:

private void ExportMethodArguments(MethodDesign method, VariableDesign variable, VariableNode variableToExport)
{
Parameter[] parameters = method.InputArguments;

if (variable.BrowseName == "OutputArguments")
{
parameters = method.OutputArguments;
}

Argument[] arguments = new Argument[parameters.Length];

for (int ii = 0; ii < parameters.Length; ii++)
{
arguments[ii] = new Argument();
arguments[ii].Name = parameters[ii].Name;
arguments[ii].Description = new Opc.Ua.LocalizedText(parameters[ii].Description.Value);
arguments[ii].DataType = GetExportedNodeId(parameters[ii].DataTypeNode); // !!!!! Here's the problem !!!!!
arguments[ii].ValueRank = GetExportedValueRank(parameters[ii].ValueRank);
}

variableToExport.Value = new Variant((object)arguments);
}

The GetExportedNodeId method calls the GetNamespaceIndex method which uses the model design's namespace table. This results in an incorrect namespace index being placed in the NodeSet.xml file. It seems to me that NodeSet.Export should be used instead.

For now, we can work around this issue by specifying the namespaces in the model design file in the same order that they get specified in the NodeSet.xml file.

Randy, can you please review the use of the GetNamespaceIndex function in ModelDesigner\ModelGenerator.Xml.cs?

RE: OPC Callback Access Denied after using Remote Desktop

sswaim — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 14:35:34 GMT

That was a great suggestion to check which account the program is running under in task manager. I did that and it shows my standard nt domain login account which is correct.

But, it will not work unless I 'Run As' and use the exact same account.

I always get the weird ones.

HistoryAggregateContainer

Pawel — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 07:19:25 GMT

The Historical Access specification specifies that HistoryServerCapabilities object should have a HistoryAggregates property of HistoryAggregateContainer type. However when I try to create the HistoryAggregates node in the address space

Code:

HistoryAggregateContainer histAggregates = HistoryAggregateContainer.Construct(server);
histAggregates.Create(historyCapabilities.NodeId, Opc.Ua.ReferenceTypes.HasProperty, null,
new QualifiedName("HistoryAggregates", namespaceIndex), 0, null);

I get a service result exception "Targets of HasProperty references must be Variables."

RE: Remote Connection with VB6

binh-nhp — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 06:51:56 GMT

canuck75 wrote:

I am new to the OPC game and am developing a client in VB6. I have found many good examples and have a working version for a local server. However, when trying to connect to a remote server I cannot connect.

I can exchange data between the two PC's using Matrikon's Explorer and Simulation Server so I know that DCOM works.

It fails when I input a name for the the remote machine in Nodename.text. How do I browse to a remote machine to browse for OPC servers? I thought I just use the PC name. It does not work however

Any help would be appreciated...

Code:

Private Sub BtnConnect_Click()

On Error GoTo BtnConnect_Click_errHandler

If bConnect = False Then
Set MyServer = New OPCServer
MyServer.Connect ServerName.Text, NodeName.Text
Set MyBrowser = MyServer.CreateBrowser
MyBrowser.ShowBranches
Call msg_disp("OPC Server connected")
bConnect = True
BtnAddGroup.Enabled = True
BtnConnect.Caption = "Disconnect"
iBroweLevel = 0
Else
If BtnRemoveGroup.Enabled Then
Call BtnRemoveGroup_Click
End If
MyServer.Disconnect
Set MyBrowser = Nothing
Set MyServer = Nothing
Call msg_disp("OPC Server disconnected")

bConnect = False
BtnConnect.Caption = "Connect"
BtnAutoRead.Caption = AUTO_BTN_STRING
LblIndicator.BackColor = &H8000000F
BtnAddGroup.Enabled = False
LstDeviceList.Clear
End If
Exit Sub

BtnConnect_Click_errHandler:
Debug.Print "BtnConnect_Click error : " + Err.Description
MsgBox "Error happen on OPC Connecting : " + Err.Description
End Sub

Can you give me your code, i need it to write my program to get connection to Remote OPC Server.
my email : binh.bits@gmail.com
Thanks

DCOM configuration

Sudesh — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 02:03:22 GMT

hello

if MatrikonOPC explorer can connect to remote pc and remote opc server successfully then DCOM configuration is OK, correct?

thanks,
sudesh

OPC Core Components Redistributable

Sudesh — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 01:58:43 GMT

hello

do we need to install "OPC Core Components Redistributable" on remote server too or just local pc??

thanks,
sudesh

RE: Can't access Group Information

Fred_Loveless — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 20:06:18 GMT

that is the laster wrapper and the server version is only one version out. So you are reading data with now problem. Are you getting any errors posted inthe server message log. Can I see a code snipppet of your write code.

RE: method with extension object failing

jhoffman@guard1.com — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 16:17:31 GMT

We determined the root cause of our problem.

The NodeSet.xml file is being generated with an improper namespace index under the following circumstance.

1. Define a datatype that inherits from a datatype defined in another namespace.
2. Use the new datatype in a method in the dependent namespace.

When the nodeset.xml file is imported in server startup the code does not check for the null uri returned from the lookup. That's why our namespace table was all messed up.

Our workaround was to change the method to expect the base class datatype not the subtype. The nodeset.xml file correctly specified the namespace of the basetype.

Server name not found in registry or empty

Sudesh — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 16:12:34 GMT

hello

1.
"Server name not found in registry or empty"

whats reason for this error message when trying to connect to remote PC and opc server? connection to opc server from local pc works ok.

since Matrikon or dOPC explorer can connect to remote pc and opc server successfully, DCOM configuration is OK, am i correct?

2. do we need to install "OPC Core Components Redistributable" on remote server too or just local pc??

thanks in advance,
sudesh

RE: How to create groups on the OPC server

Grimo — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 16:04:22 GMT

Fred_Loveless wrote:

What you are refering to is called dynamic addressing. This is when your request a devices address rather then a static tag that is defined fo that address.

In the simulator driver you have ramping tags that begin wiht and "R" you have contant tags that begin with a "K" and you have user defined tags that are simple simulations for data. For intance you could have an item defined as <channel>.<device>.R0001 or <channel>.<device>.K0001 or <channel>.<device>.SINE (10, -1.000000, 1.000000, 1.000000, 90)

This last example is a tag that provides a sine value the parameters are for the Rate, Low limit, High Limit, Frequency and phase. All kepware driver help files will provide a lost of the proper sysntax to be used for device data addresses.

For moe help you can contact Kepware Technical Support at technical.support@kepware.com.

Fred Loveless

This is exactly what I need.
I am starting with the OPC. Thank you very much!!!

RE: How to create groups on the OPC server

Fred_Loveless — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 14:35:49 GMT

RE: How to create groups on the OPC server

Grimo — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 14:05:50 GMT

Fred_Loveless wrote:

Does item Testx exist in the KepserverEx SimDemo project. It is not an item that was in the deleivered project so you will have to add the item first. I suspect that if you looked in the server event log you would fine an error message indicating and item that does not exist was requested.

Fred Loveless
Senior Application Engineer
Kepware Technologies

The 'Testx' item is not exist in the KepserverEx SimDemo project. On the KepserverEx eventlog is this error
"attempt to add OPC client item 'Channel_0_User_Defined.User.TestX' failed"
I need add it programaticaly, but I dont know how to do it.

RE: How to create groups on the OPC server

Fred_Loveless — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 12:55:06 GMT

RE: Discovery Server

ClodProgea — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 09:46:47 GMT

I've tried to change the MaxRegistrationInterval configuration property, but without luck.

I'm using build 215.2
Changed line :

configuration.ServerConfiguration.MaxRegistrationInterval = 1000;

of the helpers.cs in the shared library of the UA Workshop Source Solution.

Running the Sample client from the UA Sample Source Solution I can discover the Sample Client Embedded server but I cannot find the any workshop sample server.

Can you please try it ?

RE: How to create groups on the OPC server

Grimo — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 08:28:48 GMT

Randy wrote:

Create a Subscription and add Items to the Subcription.

If I have this code:

Opc.Da.Item item = new Opc.Da.Item();
item.ClientHandle = System.Guid.NewGuid();
item.ServerHandle = null;
item.ItemName = "Channel_0_User_Defined.User.TestX";
item.ItemPath = "";
item.Active = true;
Opc.Da.Item[] items = new Opc.Da.Item[1];
items[0] = item ;
Opc.Da.ItemResult[] itemResult;
itemResult =subscription.AddItems(items) ;

I get itemResult 'E_UNKNOWN_ITEM_NAME', of course, because I would like add new item to server!

Can you help me please?
thank you

OPC AE Timestamp

gaz1977 — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 18:37:20 GMT

Hello forum,

I am currently configuring a HMI as an SOE using OPC AE Server to pass information from a PLC to the HMI. I am having problems regarding the timestamp. When OPC AE starts up it reads a time for each configured Event from the PLC. When an Event next occurs this timestamp changes as you would expect, however the HMI displays the original time and not the new timestamp time. This happens for each event. Has anybody witnessed this, and better still solved it! Could this be a driver issue?

Regards

Gaz1977

RE: method with extension object failing

BrentBowers — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 16:23:17 GMT

This also results in a problem on the client. I'm trying to set up an event filter for a subscription with the Sample Client when it is connected to our server. When I try to add an event filter element using Select Node... the SelectNodeDlg.ShowDialog method encounters the following exception:

Quote:

Value cannot be null.
Parameter name: item

at System.Windows.Forms.ComboBox.ObjectCollection.AddInternal(Object item)
at System.Windows.Forms.ComboBox.ObjectCollection.AddRangeInternal(IList items)
at System.Windows.Forms.ComboBox.ObjectCollection.AddRange(Object[] items)
at Opc.Ua.Sample.Controls.SelectNodeDlg.ShowDialog(Browser browser, NodeId rootId) in C:\OPC UA\Source\Samples\Controls\Sessions\SelectNodeDlg.cs:line 50
at Opc.Ua.Sample.Controls.ContentFilterElementListCtrl.SelectNodeMI_Click(Object sender, EventArgs e) in C:\OPC UA\Source\Samples\Controls\Subscriptions\ContentFilterElementListCtrl.cs:line 212

Here's the code.

Code:

public ReferenceDescription ShowDialog(Browser browser, NodeId rootId)
{
if (browser == null) throw new ArgumentNullException("browser");

BrowseCTRL.SetRoot(browser, rootId);

NamespaceUriCB.Items.Clear();
NamespaceUriCB.Items.AddRange(browser.Session.NamespaceUris.ToArray());

OkBTN.Enabled = false;

if (ShowDialog() != DialogResult.OK)
{
return null;
}

return m_reference;
}

The problem occurs at the line

Code:

NamespaceUriCB.Items.AddRange(browser.Session.NamespaceUris.ToArray());

The root cause is that for some reason our namespace table has null entries in it.

Quote:

browser.Session.NamespaceUris.ToArray()
{string[9]}
[0]: "http://opcfoundation.org/UA/"
[1]: "http://www.guard1.com/TKS/G1E/Instance/User"
[2]: "http://www.guard1.com/TKS/G1E/Instance/System"
[3]: "http://www.guard1.com/TKS/G1E/Models/Core"
[4]: "http://www.guard1.com/TKS/G1E/Models/PipeDevices"
[5]: null
[6]: "http://www.guard1.com/TKS/G1E/Models/SysLib"
[7]: null
[8]: null

RE: Can't access Group Information

ramana_forums — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 14:43:18 GMT

Hi Thanks for quick reply.
my OPCDAAuto.dll version is 2.2.5.30(which is in C:\WINDOWS\System32)
and my kepware server version is 4.270.416
Nope.. I don't see any errors in my .NET code.
I can connect to the OPCserver then i can add Groups to the Server then i can able to add OPCItems to the Groups...
every thing looks fine..
But only thing is i can't access the added Group..
Please help me out fix this issue..

RE: Environment variable strings in file paths

BrentBowers — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 14:08:12 GMT

Thanks, Randy. Works like a charm.

RE: Can't access Group Information

Fred_Loveless — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 13:52:42 GMT

It sounds like you may be useing an olde version of the OPC Automation wrapper. What version of KepserverEX are you useing and what version of the OPCDAAUTO.dll automation wrapper are you using?

Also are you seeing errors in the .Net applicaiton.

Fred Loveless
Senior Application Engineer
Kepware Technologies
http://www.kepware.com

RE: Error setting the Event Filter with the sample client

BrentBowers — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 13:44:15 GMT

Thanks, Randy. I upgraded to 215.2 and it's working much better now.

RE: OPC DA Data change event

Fred_Loveless — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 13:41:10 GMT

The Global Data change is an event of the group collection. Simply advise the group collection, in VB Dim with events.

Code:

Dim WithEvents AnOPCGroupCollection As OPCGroups

Private Sub AnOPCGroupCollection_GlobalDataChange (TransactionID As
Long, GroupHandle As Long, MasterQuality As Long, MasterError As
Long, NumItems As Long, ClientHandles() As Long, ItemValues() As
Variant, Qualities() As Long, TimeStamps() As Date)
� write your client code here to process the data change values
End Sub

This event will be invoked for each OPCGroup object that contains an item, whose value or state of
the value has changed since the last time this event, was fired. The individual event on the
OPCGroup object is also fired as well. Your application, when using both event handlers will receive
the data value twice, once for the individual group event, and once for the AllGroupsDataChange
Event.

Typically you can ignore the group Data change event.

Can't access Group Information

ramana_forums — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 13:02:50 GMT

'Hi
I have created sample OPC Client using VB.NET 2005.my client using ArchestrA and Kepware OPCServers.
using my .NET application i can create Groups and Items into OPCServers.
After that i am trying to Write a value to my OPC Items.
But I can't see the Group Information.It is giving me 'error: can not obtain value'
i DONT understand why i can't access the Group.Almost i was spend 3 days but no clue.
Can any one help me out Please....

Thanks in Advance

RE: How to create groups on the OPC server

Grimo — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 09:36:19 GMT

Randy wrote:

Create a Subscription and add Items to the Subcription.

Thank you, but if I add item
subscription.AddItems(items);

I don't see any changes on the server.

will be possible write some sample code?

thank.

RE: OPC DA Data change event

anandhancs — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 03:19:36 GMT

Thanks Fred_Loveless,

Can you please explain about how to get the "global Data change event" implemented in this case?

Anand

RE: OPC DA Data change event

Fred_Loveless — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 18:12:06 GMT

I have many customers taht have multiple VB apps they have created for exctly this reason.

You could also use the global Data change event insted of the individual group data change events. This sends all group data changes to the global data change. The added paramter in the data change is the Goup Name.

RE: How to create groups on the OPC server

Randy — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 14:52:59 GMT

Create a Subscription and add Items to the Subcription.

How to create groups on the OPC server

Grimo — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 12:50:33 GMT

Hello,
I neeed to create groups on the OPC server. I used Opc.Da.Server
MyDaServer = new Opc.Da.Server(Factory, URL);
from MyDaServer I can create subscription and I can read/ write values. But there is missing method for create new groups and tags on the OPC server.
Do you have some idea, how to create new groups and tags?
thank you.

Build 215.1 Notes

Randy — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 09:56:26 GMT

This release includes more detailed quick starts that illustrate how to use the SDK. More documentation is currently the top priority for the next releases.

All merge modules, installers and DLLs/EXEs are signed with the OPC-F key.

This release includes two new merge modules and a setup for redistributables.

Redistributable Applications MergeModule (x86):
Installs the discovery server and the certificate tool in the CommonProgramFiles directory.

The LDS is installed as a Service that runs in the SYSTEM account. The merge module sets permissions on the certificate to ensure the SYSTEM account can access it. The merge module also configures the windows firewall.

Redistributable APIs MergeModule (x86):
Installs the ANSI C Stack Libs and Headers in the CommonProgramFiles directory.
Installs the .NET Stack Assemblies and Documentation in the ProgramFiles\Reference Assemblies directory

Nothing is placed in the GAC at this time because of problems with Managed C++ DLLs

Redistributables Setup (x86)
Installs the Redistributable Applications and APIs MergeModules

Sample Binaries Setup (x86)
Installs the binaries for the sample applications

The sample applications are configured using an XML file called SampleApplications.xml. This file is passed to a command line version of the Configuration Tool. The XML file allows the installer writer to control how the application security is configured. For example, this file can specify the certificate to use and the application URI. For the sample applications the tool creates a unique application URI from the hostname and the application name.

The configuration tool has some issues which I am working on but it works for the sample apps.

There are bugs fixes for the ANSI C stack DLL that I have not incorporated into this build.

Note that the COM config tool is not in this build because the functionality was merged into main configuration tool but it is not ready yet.

RE: Discovery Server

Randy — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 09:33:30 GMT

The SDK takes care of this.

But you will need to set the MaxRegistrationInterval in the application configuration file to something other than 0

RE: Discovery Server

ClodProgea — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 09:26:38 GMT

ok for the merge module, but what I meant was regarding the server implementation. Since the server has to be the client of the Discovery Server, do I need to provide this logic (notify the discovery server of the presence of my server) inside my server or the UA SDK will do it for my server ?

I'm trying the sample servers from build 214 but it seeems that none of them register to the Discovery Server.

thanks

RE: Discovery Server

Randy — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 09:00:57 GMT

Build 215 will be posted shortly. It includes a merge module for the discovery server.

RE: Sample Server with an enormous amount of OPC Objects

Randy — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 09:00:21 GMT

Build 215 includes a sample for a custom NodeManager

RE: Environment variable strings in file paths

Randy — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 08:59:27 GMT

Build 215 adds support to app.config and InvalidCertificateDirectory, DiscoveryServerCacheFile, OutputFilePath and EndpointCacheFilePath.

However, there is a subtle change: it uses the strings from the Enviroment.SpecialFolder enumeration first and falls back to the environment variable if the text between the % % is not found.

RE: Error setting the Event Filter with the sample client

Randy — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 08:54:17 GMT

It appears to be a bug in the server which does not handle the case where the same monitored item could subscribe multiple times.

I changed the code in Build 215 to handle this case:

Line 729 in NodeSource.cs

m_monitoredItems[monitoredItem.Id] = monitoredItem;

AE Server method - QueryConditionNames

ViswaSiva — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 05:12:50 GMT

We are planning to develop OPC AE client. I would like to understand the use of QueryConditionNames, QuerySubConditionNames and QuerySourceConditions. Do AE clients really use these methods? What is the purpose behind?

RE: OPC DA Data change event

anandhancs — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 02:48:18 GMT

Thanks Fred for the quick reply.So to get rid off this problem, if i use different application running parallely for each server object connected with its own groups,will it solve my problem of detecting the data change on many group objects from different servers at the same time?Thanks.

Anand