Industrial Automation Automation Industrielle Industrielle Automation

4 Access to devices
4.3 OLE for Process Control (OPC) 4.3.2 Data Access Specification

2007 May, HK

Prof. Dr. H. Kirrmann ABB Research Centre, Baden, Switzerland

OPC DA: Overview

OPC Common Overview: usage and specifications OPC as an integration tool Clients and Servers: configuration OPC Technology, client and custom interface OPC Data Access Overview: Browsing the server Objects, Types and properties Communication model Simple Programming Example Standard and components OPC Alarms and Events Specification Overview: definitions and objects Events Alarm Conditions Automation Interface OPC Historical Data Specification Overview Industrial Automation 4.3.2 OPC DA - 2/48

OPC DA: Scope of specification

An OPC DA Server is configured using the information coming from the development tools for the controllers Variables defined in the controllers are mirrored to the OPC DA server tags (variables) controller plant measurement points controller

OPC DA Client e.g. visualization

OPC DA specified interface OPC DA Server

OPC DA Client e.g. performance indicator

e.g. Ethernet controllers

field bus
field devices

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OPC DA: Example of access to a variable

OPC application
ReadItem ("OPC:Reactor1: Program2.MotorSpeed")

controller programming
Reactor_1.Program2 MW%1003 MotorSpeed Temperature .

Value: 112

MW%1004

OPC server
Get (192.162.0.2), MW%1003)

load symbol table

Return (MW%1003, 112)

symbols
code

Network
Reactor_1
Marker: MW%1003

analog input to : IXD.11.2.1

Oven controller

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OPC DA: Objects as viewed by the OPC server An OPC server is structured as a directory with root, branches and leaves (items)

Process Line 1 Controller 1 Controller 2 Controller_3.Prog_1 Controller_3.Prog_2 Cell 1 Machine 2

Tag Name
Level_1 Level_2 Ramp4

TAG TAG TAG

An item is identified by its "fully qualified ItemID",

e.g.
"Process_Line_1.Controller_2.Level_2"

the hierarchical position may differ from the fully qualified ItemID this will be detailed under browsing

Branches may contain other branches and items The structure may also be flat instead of hierarchical This structure is defined during engineering of the attached devices and sensor/actors. (Intelligent servers could configure themselves by reading the attached devices)

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OPC DA: Browsing - methods An OPC DA server presents an interface that allows the client to explore its structure, with the methods: MoveDown MoveUp MoveToRoot

showBranches showLeafes * GetItemID: retrieves the fully qualified item ID (see later)

(*the English error is unfortunate)

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OPC DA: Browsing: Fully Qualified ItemID and hierarchy A server has internally two ways to access the items: 1) the path shown when exploring the tree, and 2) the fully qualified ItemID, which is the internal path name used by the server.

Example: an item reached as: needs to be accessed internally as:

Root.SimulatedItems.UserDefined.Ramp.Ramp1 UserDefined!Ramp.Ramp1

Clients usually search for an item though the hierarchical way. They position the browser on the corresponding branch and retrieve the fully qualified item ID, which is the name of the item as the server understands it.

The fully qualified name is only used at configuration time, afterwards, objects are accessed over client handles and server handles (see later)

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OPC DA: Object Types and properties

OPC Common Overview: usage and specifications OPC as an integration tool Clients and Servers: configuration OPC Technology, client and custom interface OPC Data Access Overview: browsing the server Objects, types and properties Communication model Simple Programming Example Standard and components OPC Alarms and Events Specification Overview: definitions and objects Events Alarm Conditions Automation Interface OPC Historical Data Specification Overview Industrial Automation 4.3.2 OPC DA - 8/48

OPC DA: Item properties

The process data are represented by three dynamic properties of an item:

value: time-stamp: numerical or text the time at which this data was transmitted from the PLC to the server this time is UTC (Greenwich Winter time), not local time. validity of the reading (not readable, dubious data, o.k.)

quality:

and two optional static property: description: a text string describing the use and of the variable (optional)

engineering unit: the unit in which the variable is expressed (optional) (when writing, only the value is used)

ID
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U
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OPC DA: Item types

Each item value has a type:

Boolean, Character, Byte, (1 byte) Word, (2 bytes) Double Word, (4 bytes) Short Integer (2 bytes) Integer (4 bytes) Long Integer: Long Unsigned Integer Single Float (4 bytes) Double Float (8 bytes) Currency, Date, String, Array of "the above"

When accessing an item, the client may request that it is returned with a specific type, which could be different from the server's type. (The server's type is returned by browsing) Type conversion is left to the server, there are no rules whether and how a server does the conversion. (use with caution) Care must be taken that the data types in the programming language or in the database match those of the OPC Server. Items also may have engineering units, but this option is not often used.

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OPC DA: Objects as viewed by the OPC client A client builds its own hierarchy, using the servers hierarchical view.

A client builds groups, populating them with items it is interested in.

Items of a group are expected to have similar real-time requirements Items in the server are defined by the programmer of the PLC a full fledged PLC may export some 10000 items, a client needs only a subset. For instance, the client can make a group for all time-critical variables to be displayed in each screen page. Or, a client may create a group for each equipment part (and possible shut down that group when the equipment is inactive). Each client may be interested in a different subset. Groups are not hierarchical, but flat.

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OPC DA: Mapping items to groups Each client structures its items by groups, independently from the server. Initially, the client browses the server structure to check if the items it is interested in exist.
GroupX
clients Client1 Client2

GroupZ

A client registers its groups and items at the server. The server keeps the structure of all its clients.
Server root Area 1 Oven_1 TAG TAG Temperature Heat_On

Item1 Item2 Item3 Item1 Item2

server

Tank_1
Area 2 Area 51

TAG TAG TAG

Level
Empty_Valve Fill_Valve

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OPC DA: Client Handle and Server handle client 1 group1 1, 76584 2, 87689 3, 23443 group2 3, 53664 4, 43222 client 2 group1 1, 1 2, 2 3, 3

client1 The fully qualified item is not sufficient to identify an item, a client may subscribe the same item in different groups
3, 54
2, 1201 3, 1202 1,1 2, 2

client2
x 2, 2

The pair { ClientHandle, ServerHandle } uniquely identifies an item.

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OPC DA: Communication Model

OPC Common Overview: usage and specifications OPC as an integration tool Clients and Servers: configuration OPC Technology, client and custom interface OPC Data Access Overview: browsing the server Objects, types and properties Communication model Simple Programming Example Standard and components OPC Alarms and Events Specification Overview: definitions and objects Events Alarm Conditions Automation Interface OPC Historical Data Specification Overview Industrial Automation 4.3.2 OPC DA - 14/48

OPC DA: Write Communication Models (per group)

client
myGroup.SynchWrite()

server
Call myGroup.AsyncWrite()

client
Call

server

Reply
myGroup_AsyncWriteComplete()

Reply

The OPC interface accesses only groups, not individual items. However, the "automation interface" allows to access individual items, but this does not give rise to a communication

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OPC DA: Read Communication Models (per group) synchronous client

myGroup.SynchRead()

asynchronous server
Call myGroup.AsyncRead()

client
Call

server

Reply
myGroup_AsyncReadComplete()

Reply

client
myGroup.IsSubscribed

server

Subscribe Notify

on change ("subscription-based")

myGroup_DataChange() Notify myGroup_DataChange()

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OPC DA: Transmission by subscription (events) client

myGroup.IsSubscribed

server

Subscribe

Notify
myGroup_DataChange() Notify myGroup_DataChange() myGroup.Refresh() Notify myGroup_DataChange()

The server notifies the client if an item changed - in a particular group (myGroup_DataChange) or - in any of the groups (myGroups_GlobalDataChange) In the second case, only the group in which the item changed will be sent.
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OPC DA: "Cache" or "Device" ? "SynchRead" reads the data either from cache (local to the PC) or reads synchronous from the device. "Write" is always to device (DA 3.0 allows write to cache)

client application (OPC client) OPC server cache synchronous call over the field bus to the end device (takes a while)

server samples items (at the RequestedUpdateRate) and puts them into cache

FB manager

fieldbus
fieldbus connection fieldbus fieldbus proprietary protocol

device
no need for device access when fieldbus operates cyclically FB agent

device
FB agent

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OPC DA: When are subscribed data transmitted ? A group has two properties to control when a data change is to be transmitted: myGroup.Refreshrate: (called UpdateRate in DA 3.0) rate at which the server samples the process values, expressed in seconds ! (1/rate) earliest interval between changes of value are communicated to the client, but minimum rate at which the cache should be updated. (throttles changes, but may miss some) The server never sends data to a client at a rate faster than the client requests. myGroup.Deadband applied only to analog values: deadband = % the range (in Engineering Units). value is transmitted if the difference since last transmission exceeds deadband.
Applies to all items of a group, DA 3.0 allows settings per group and per item. = refresh rate max range deadband min time Industrial Automation 4.3.2 OPC DA - 19/48

OPC DA: communication paradigm OPC DA works according to the shared memory paradigm. This means that a newer value overwrites the older one, no queues or history are kept.

The server does not guarantee that different clients see the same snapshot of the plant.
The server does not guarantee that all changes to variables are registered, changes may be missed if the polling period is too low.
OPC DA Client OPC DA Client

OPC DA Server

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OPC DA Part 2

Part 1 explains the concepts Part 2 shows how they are implemented and programmed

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OPC DA: Programming Example

OPC Common Overview: usage and specifications OPC as an integration tool Clients and Servers: configuration OPC Technology, client and custom interface OPC Data Access Overview: browsing the server Objects, types and properties Communication model Simple Programming Example Standard and components OPC Alarms and Events Specification Overview: definitions and objects Events Alarm Conditions Automation Interface OPC Historical Data Specification Overview Industrial Automation 4.3.2 OPC DA - 22/48

OPC DA: Object hierarchy at the client

Description

OPCServer OPCGroups (collection)

An instance of an OPC Server. You must create an OPCServer object before you can get references to other objects. It contains the OPCGroups Collection and creates OPCBrowser objects. A collection containing all of the OPCGroup objects this client has created within the scope of the OPCServer that the Automation Application has connected to via OPCServer.Connect() An instance of an OPCGroup object. this object maintains state information and provides the mechanism to access data for the OPCItems Collection object that the OPCGroup object references. A collection containing all of the OPCItem objects this client has created within the scope of the OPCServer, and corresponding OPCGroup object that the Automation Application has created. An automation object that maintains the items definition, current value, status information, last update time. Note the Custom Interface does not provide a separate Item Object. An object that browses item names in the servers configuration. There exists only one instance of an OPCBrowser object per instance of an OPC Server object.

OPCGroup OPCGroup OPCItems (collection) OPCItem OPCItem OPCItem OPCBrowser

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OPC DA: Automation interface summary

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OPC DA: Program - initialising a connection find out existing OPC servers create an OPCServer object
myDummyServer.GetOPCServers myServer = new OPCServer

connect to that OPC server

create an OPCBrowser object create an OPCGroups object

myServer.Connect
Set myBrowser = myServer.Browser Set myGroups = myServer.Groups Set myGroup1 = myGroups.Add Set MyItems = MyGroup1.OPCItems FQItems1[1] = "Device1.Temp1" ClientHandle1[1] = 101 ReDim ServerHandle1(nrItems) ReDim ServerErrors1(nrItems) ReDim Value1(nrItems) myGroup1.AddItems myGroup1.IsActive myGroup1.IsSubscribed

create an OPCGroup object

build array of items
checking with the browser that these items exist in this server

next group

add item array to the group activate and subscribe group

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OPC DA: Program - Declarations

Option Base 1 Dim WithEvents MyServer optional) Dim WithEvents MyGroups Dim WithEvents MyGroup ' items Dim nrItems As Dim MyItems Dim MyItem Dim ItemsID(2) Dim ClientHandles(2) Dim ServerHandles() Dim ServerErrors() 'OPC arrays indices start with 1 As OPCAutomation.OPCServer 'OPC Server Object

As OPCAutomation.OPCGroups As OPCAutomation.OPCGroup

'OPC Group Collection 'OPC Group Object

Integer As OPCAutomation.OPCItems 'OPC Item Collection As OPCAutomation.OPCItem 'OPC Item Object As String 'fully qualified items (see later) As Long As Long ' must be a dynamic array As Long ' must be a dynamic array

Reference: "OPC Automation 2.0" must be included into Visual Basic project

(if missing: copy opcdaauto.dll to C:\WINNT\System32\opddaauto) and register it: C:\>regsvr32 C:\WINNT\System32\opddaauto.
A simple way to do it: install Software Toolbox's TopServer (freeware)
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OPC DA: Program - Finding the OPC servers

The GetOPCServers function applied to a dummy Server object allow to list the existing servers on this node or on another node (over DCOM - security must be set correctly). The information about which OPC servers exist is taken from the registry, where it has been put by each server at its installation time
Private Sub ShowServers(netNodeName As String) Dim dummyServer As OPCAutomation.OPCServer Dim Servers As Variant Dim cntServers As Integer Set dummyServer = New OPCAutomation. OPCServer Servers = dummyServer.GetOPCServers(netNodeName) For cntServers = LBound(Servers) To UBound(Servers) MsgBox Servers(cntServers) Next cntServers Set dummyServer = Nothing Exit Sub End Sub

' this is an array of strings

' create a dummy server object ' returns all available servers ' display the names

' delete object (created by New)

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OPC DA: Program - Connecting to the OPC server

Set MyServer = New OPCAutomation.OPCServer ' create server object MyServer.Connect ("Matrikon.OPC.Simulation") ' connect to Matrikon server

Before connecting, it is safe to check the name of the server from the server's list. Also, it is preferable to include the connection in a separate routine since it can fail:
Function ServerGetCare(Name As String, ServerNode As String) As OPCAutomation.OPCServer On Error GoTo ServerGetCareErr Dim MyOPCServer As New OPCAutomation.OPCServer MyOPCServer.Connect ServerName, ServerNode ' connect risky Set ServerGetCare = MyOPCServer Exit Function

ServerGetCare_Err: Err.Clear MsgBox "Could not connect" Set MyServer = Nothing Exit Function

' error handler if connect fails

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OPC DA: Program - Browsing the server The object OPCBrowser (of type "collection") acts as a pointer to the server's tree:
Dim MyServer As OPCAutomation.OPCServer Dim MyBrowser As OPCAutomation.OPCBrowser Dim vName As Variant MyServer.Connect "Matrikon.OPC.Simulation", "Orion" Set MyBrowser = MyServer.CreateBrowser MyBrowser.ShowBranches For Each vName In MyBrowser MsgBox "Branch: " & vName Next vName MyBrowser.ShowLeafs For Each vName In MyBrowser MsgBox "Leaf: " & vName Next vName 'server and node name (DCOM) ' create an OPC browser ' show the branches ' display the branch name

' explore the leaves

' display the leaves's name

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OPC DA: Navigating There may be leaves at every branch, since a branch may have properties
MyBrowser.MoveDown (strBranch) MyBrowser.MoveUp
Server root Site A Tank TAG Machine Room Wash Room TAG Grinder Climate Store TAG

' go down the selected branch tree ' go up the selected branch tree

server
TAG site properties

Level Temperature Valve_On

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Access path

The Access Path is an optional information that the client may provide regarding how to get to the data, where several possibilities exist. Its use is highly server specific. Do not confound with hierarchical path.

The optional function GetAccessPath retrieves the access path for items that can be accessed over different ways.

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OPC DA: Program - get the Fully Qualified ItemID

To get the "fully qualified itemID", one positions the browser at the place where the leaf is attached to the branch and calls GetItemID

myOPCBrowser.MoveDown("TankArea") myOPCBrowser.MoveDown("Tank1")

FQI = myOPCBrowser.GetItemId ("WaterLevel")

e.g. FQI could be "Controller1;Tanks!WaterLevel" Of course, one can write an Item ID directly when defining a group, but it is safer to browse the server and get the FQI from there, since the delimiter depends on the server.

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OPC DA: Program - Creating OPCGroups and OPCItems

Set MyGroups = MyServer.OPCGroups Set MyGroup1 = MyGroups.Add("GRP1") Set MyItems = MyGroup1.OPCItems FQItemIDs(1) = "Area2.Tank1.WaterLevel" ClientHandles(1) = 5 FQItemIDs(2) = "Area2.Tank1.Temperature" ClientHandles(2) = 6 nrItems = 2 MyItems.AddItems _ nrItems, _ FQItemIDs, _ ClientHandles, _ ServerHandles, _ ServerErrors ' create groups collection ' add group, name private ' define the OPCItems of group ' ' ' ' fully qualified itemID arbitrary fully qualified itemID arbitrary (but different)

' ' ' ' ' '

adds the items to collection input parameter input fully qualified ID input ClientHandles return parameter ServerHandles return parameter ServerErrors

MyGroup1.ClientHandle = 1 MyGroup1.IsActive = True MyGroup1.IsSubscribed = True

' handle of the group (no s) ! ' now ready to send and receive ' and to generate events

The role of the ServerHandles and ClientHandles will be explained later

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OPC DA: Data structures at the client The client prepares data structures for its items and gives the server the corresponding pointers so the server can update them. Items to be written and read can be mixed in the same group. The type of the item (Boolean, Float,) is implicit, but known at the server
communicated to server by registering group
FullyQualifiedItemID

returned by server when registering

dynamic changes (refreshed on change)

Value Quality TimeStamp

ClientHandle ServerHandle ServerError

"Channel1.Device1.Temp1"
"Channel1.Device1.Speed1" "Channel1.PLC2.Door" "Channel1.PLC2.Valve3"

100
102 203 204

34543
22532 534676 787234

0
0 0 0

123.4
999.8 0 1

OK
OK OK OK

12:09.234
12:02.214 12:03.002 12:02.345

"Channel1.PLC2.CloseDoor"
..

205

58432
..

0
..

0
..

BAD
..

12:02.345
..

Note: OPC indices start with 1 !

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OPC DA: Synchronous Read of a group

Dim Dim Dim Dim Dim Dim thisGroup As OPCGroup cntItems As Integer source As Integer serverHandles(2) As Long values() As Variant errors() As Long

client
myGroup.SynchRead()

server
Call

serverHandles(1) = serverHandles(2) = source = OPCcache thisGroup.SyncRead source, nrItems, serverHandles, values, errors

Reply ServerHandle(11) ' copy from global variables ServerHandle(14) ' could also be OPCDevice

' identifies the items to be read ! ' returns be a dynamic array ' returns a dynamic array

For cntItems = LBound(serverHandles) To UBound(serverHandles) ' 1..n MsgBox CStr(cntItems) & " : " & values(cntItems) Next cntItems

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OPC DA: Asynchronous read of single Items

Dim WithEvents MyGroup ... MyGroup.AsyncRead nrItems, ServerHandles, ServerErrors, TransactionID, CancelID

client
AsyncRead()
Call

server

Reply

AsyncReadComplete()
Private Sub Mygroup_AsyncReadComplete ( ByVal TransactionID As Long, ByVal NumItems As Long, ClientHandles() As Long, ItemValues() As Variant, Qualities() As Long, Asynchronous read separates Call and Reply. TimeStamps() As Date, Errors() As Long) MsgBox ("Async Read Complete") End Sub

Call supplies the ServerHandles

Reply returns the corresponding ClientHandles

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OPC DA: Transaction ID client server

Call

AsyncRead (source= device)

AsyncRead (source= cache)

AsyncRead (source = device)

Reply

AsyncReadComplete() AsyncCancel () AsyncCancelComplete ()

Although the AsynchReadComplete carries the ClientHandle of each item, it does not tell which AsynchRead caused the AsynchReadComplete event to fire. Call and Reply are linked by the TransactionID: this ID is returned in AsynchReadComplete It can also be used to cancel the operation
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OPC DA: Reading (by events) the OPC group

Dim WithEvents MyGroup ... Private Sub MyGroup_DataChange( _ ByVal TransactionID As Long, _ ByVal NrItems As Long, _ ClientHandles() As Long, _ ItemValues() As Variant, _ Qualities() As Long, _ TimeStamps() As Date) Dim cntItems As Integer For cntItems = LBound(ClientHandles) TextValue(cntItems - 1).Text TextTimeStamp(cntItems - 1).Text TextQuality(cntItems - 1).Text Next cntItems

' returned by the server to the client

To UBound(ClientHandles) ' index 1..n = ItemValues(cntItems) ' display = DateAdd("h", 9, TimeStamps(cntItems)) = Qualities(cntItems)

End Sub

This function is called each time an item in the group changes The ClientHandles (here: 5 and 6) identifies the variables, not the fully qualified itemID The values are displayed in the TextValue, TextTimeStamp and TextQuality fields. The refresh rate is given in the group definition.
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OPC DA: Groups Events

Although transmission by groups is more efficient than AsyncRead, it can be improved by using Groups Events (Global Data Change)

This event is fired whenever a variable of a group changes.

If the group is subscribed also to a Group Event (DataChange), I.e. if the group is declared WithEvents, then both Events will be fired. The application must sort out the groups and the items.

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OPC DA: GlobalDataChange

Dim WithEvents MyGroups As OPCGroups ... Private Sub MyGroups_GlobalDataChange( ByVal TransactionID As Long, ' =0 if called by Refresh ByVal GroupHandle As Long, ByVal NumItems As Long, ClientHandles() As Long, ' identifies the items ItemValues() As Variant, ' value of the items Qualities() As Long, ' value of the items TimeStamps() As Date) ' timestamps of the items Select Case GroupHandle Case 1 ' treat group 1 Case 2 ' treat group 2 ' depending on the group ...

The GlobalDataChange event is fired when any item in a group changed. (if Groups is also with events, the corresponding Group_DataChange will also be called)

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OPC DA: Server Events

Dim WithEvents MyServer As OPCServer ' define the event .. .. Private Sub MyServer_ServerShutDown(ByVal Reason As String) MsgBox "my OPC Server " & MyServer.ServerName & " quit" End Sub

This event signals to the client that the server shut down. The client must declare its server WithEvents and provide the corresponding event Subroutine This should stop all actions, otherwise exceptions will occur.

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OPC DA: Do not forget cleanup ! To speed up connection/disconnection, an OPC server remembers its groups and clients when a client disconnects. To do this, an OPC server initialises its structures with a client counter of 2, instead of 1. Therefore, it is imperative to shut down explicitly the server, otherwise links will subside (and you will have kill the server to clear them).

Private Sub ServerShutdown Dim dummyServer As OPCAutomation.OPCServer Dim Servers As Variant Dim cntServers As Integer Set myGroup1 = Nothing Set myGroups = Nothing MyServer.Remove MyServer.RemoveAllGroups MyServer.Disconnect Set MyServer = Nothing

' this is an array of strings

' create a dummy server object ' returns all available servers

' delete this object (was created by New)

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OPC DA: Standard and components

OPC Common Overview: usage and specifications OPC as an integration tool Clients and Servers: configuration OPC Technology, client and custom interface OPC Data Access Overview: browsing the server Objects, types and properties Communication model Simple programming example Standard and components OPC Alarms and Events Specification Overview: definitions and objects Events Alarm Conditions Automation Interface OPC Historical Data Specification Overview Industrial Automation 4.3.2 OPC DA - 43/48

OPC DA: Libraries The OPC DA specification is not formal, conformance can hardly be checked against this document. To ensure that the standard is observed, the OPC foundation distributes on its website the DLLs (opcdaauto.dll, opccomn_ps,) that contain the type libraries to access the OPC server.

The vendors are not compelled to implement all features. For instance, the description of the variables is seldom used. Calling unimplemented functions causes exceptions that must be caught in Visual Basic with "On Error " statements.
There exist three versions of DA, 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0, that behave differently, however, older servers do not have a property indicating which version they support.

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OPC DA: Custom Interface While the Automation Interface is easy to use and quite powerful, some OPC functions are missing and special operations can only be done in Visual C++ using the custom COM interface. This is only recommended for experienced programmers.
IOPCCommon IOPCServer IConnectionPointContainer IOPCItemProperties [IOPCServerPublicGroups] IConnectionPointContainer [IOPCBrowseServerAddressSpace] IPersistFile IOPCDataCallback IOPCServerShutdown

OPC client

OPC server
IOPCItemMgt IOPCGroupStateMgt [IOPCPublicGroupSteatMgt] IOPCSyncIO IOPCAsyncIO2 IConnectionPointContainer IEnumOPCItemAttributes IOPCSyncIO IDataObject

OPC group

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OPC DA: Assessment

What is OPC ?

Which are the read and write operations ?

Is communication done by items, by groups or by collection of groups ?

What is the difference between cache and device reading ?

Can a change of an OPC variable be notified as an event, or shall the client poll ?

How is browsing done ?

Why is browsing necessary, even when one knows the variable's location in the server ?

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To probe further. OPC Foundation: Specifications http://www.opcfoundation.org SoftwareToolbox Examples in Visual Basic
http://www.softwaretoolbox.com/Tech_Support/TechExpertiseCenter/OPC/opc.html

The Code Project OPC and .NET

http://www.codeproject.com/useritems/opcdotnet.asp

Matrikon Free client and server:

http://www.matrikon.com

WinTech Toolkit for an OPC server

http://www.win-tech.com/html/opcstk.htm

NewAge Automation Toolkit for an OPC server

http://www.newageautomation.com

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OPC DAOPCGroup Custom Interface: comparison (1)

This checklist for experienced programmers (custom interface) shows the differences between the DA versions Required Interfaces OPCGroup IUnknown IOPCItemMgt IOPCGroupStateMgt IOPCGroupStateMgt2 IOPCPublicGroupStateMgt IOPCSyncIO IOPCSyncIO2 IOPCAsyncIO2 IOPCAsyncIO3 IOPCItemDeadbandMgt IOPCItemSamplingMgt DA 1.0 Required Required Required N/A Optional Required N/A N/A Required N/A N/A N/A DA 2.0 Required Required Required N/A Optional Required N/A Required N/A N/A N/A DA 3.0 Required Required Required Required N/A Required Required Required Required Optional

IConnectionPointContainer
IOPCAsyncIO IDataObject

N/A
Required Required

Required
Optional Optional

Required
N/A N/A

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OPC DA OPCServer 1.0, 2.0 & 3.0 comparison (2)

This checklist for experienced programmers (custom interface) shows the differences between the DA versions

Required Interfaces OPCServer IOPCServer IOPCCommon IConnectionPointContainer IOPCItemProperties IOPCBrowse IOPCServerPublicGroups

1.0 Required N/A Required N/A N/A Required N/A Optional

2.0 Required Required Required N/A N/A Optional

3.0 Required Required Required N/A

IOPCBrowseServerAddressSpace
IOPCItemIO

Optional
N/A

Optional
N/A

N/A
Required

The differences do not yet appear in the automation interface

Industrial Automation

4.3.2 OPC DA - 50/48