tentavarious
asked on
OPC tools and help vb.net?
Hello,
I am interesting in learning all I can about OPC and vb.net. Does the net framework provide any classes for building OPC clients? I have visited plenty of sites and there are a lot of tools to choose from. I am having a hard time deciding which ones are the best. So far I have visited the OPC Foundation which requires a 600 dollar membership fee. Matrikon, which has plenty of tools, but they dont provide support for costum developing. The best one I have found so far is Metadynamics, they have provide me with a handy dll file that contains all the com and wrappers to read, write to opc servers, the problem with them is they cost 200 dollars for every machine; that I wish to install an app on, that can get spendy. Mainly I am just looking for some experienced developers who have used OPC before and know what the best tools are for developing custom apps in vb.net.
I am interesting in learning all I can about OPC and vb.net. Does the net framework provide any classes for building OPC clients? I have visited plenty of sites and there are a lot of tools to choose from. I am having a hard time deciding which ones are the best. So far I have visited the OPC Foundation which requires a 600 dollar membership fee. Matrikon, which has plenty of tools, but they dont provide support for costum developing. The best one I have found so far is Metadynamics, they have provide me with a handy dll file that contains all the com and wrappers to read, write to opc servers, the problem with them is they cost 200 dollars for every machine; that I wish to install an app on, that can get spendy. Mainly I am just looking for some experienced developers who have used OPC before and know what the best tools are for developing custom apps in vb.net.
http://www.opcconnect.com/dotnet.php
ASKER
I should have been more clear in my question, I was actually looking for more of a opinion on a good tool. What a developer from this site may have used in the past and is cheap and efficent.
ASKER
I actually referenced these two com objects,I am not real sure what they do, any ideas?
Imports OpcEnumLib.OpcServerListCl ass
Imports OpcTimeDLL.OpcServerClass
Imports OpcEnumLib.OpcServerListCl
Imports OpcTimeDLL.OpcServerClass
now do a Dim blah as Op and as you wite youll see the opc options...
ASKER
i found this block of c# code, when I reference the class there is no method for server.connect
Dim server2 As OpcTimeDLL.OpcServer
server2 = New OpcTimeDLL.OpcServer
server2.connect ' this wont work
server = new OPCServerClass();
server.Connect( "?????????????", null );
// this cast fails:
// OPCGroupsClass ogrps = (OPCGroupsClass) server.OPCGroups;
object tmpg = server.OPCGroups;
OPCGroupsClass ogrps = (OPCGroupsClass) Marshal.CreateWrapperOfTyp e( tmpg, typeof(OPCGroupsClass) );
tmpg = null;
int ct = ogrps.Count;
OPCGroupClass og = (OPCGroupClass) ogrps.Add( "MyNewGroup" );
ct = ogrps.Count;
int ur = og.UpdateRate;
Dim server2 As OpcTimeDLL.OpcServer
server2 = New OpcTimeDLL.OpcServer
server2.connect ' this wont work
server = new OPCServerClass();
server.Connect( "?????????????", null );
// this cast fails:
// OPCGroupsClass ogrps = (OPCGroupsClass) server.OPCGroups;
object tmpg = server.OPCGroups;
OPCGroupsClass ogrps = (OPCGroupsClass) Marshal.CreateWrapperOfTyp
tmpg = null;
int ct = ogrps.Count;
OPCGroupClass og = (OPCGroupClass) ogrps.Add( "MyNewGroup" );
ct = ogrps.Count;
int ur = og.UpdateRate;
ASKER
Looks like this would work, but i cannot find the dll file to reference in my project
Imports EASYOPCDALib
I downloaded the files and this is not a part of the download.
Imports EASYOPCDALib
I downloaded the files and this is not a part of the download.
ASKER
Have you done opc communication before? If so how did you do it?
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ASKER
Yep, thats the same package. I went through every folder and I couldnt find the dll file. I did a system search for the file name and found nothing. The package doesnt contain any vb.net examples just vb and c++ no .net examples.