FactorySoft OPC Server Toolkit

Table of Contents

Introduction....................................................................................................................................................3

OPC Data Access 2.0......................................................................................................................................3

Upgrading from previous Toolkit versions..................................................................................................4

OPC Server Toolkit features.........................................................................................................................4

OPC Server Toolkit Contents.......................................................................................................................4

System requirements and installation procedures......................................................................................5

Running the Modbus sample.........................................................................................................................8

In-Process Server for CE.............................................................................................................................14

Registration...................................................................................................................................................14

The OPC Interfaces - COM and Automation...........................................................................................15

General operation.........................................................................................................................................15

OPC Groups..................................................................................................................................................15

IDs..................................................................................................................................................................17

Connecting to a Server.................................................................................................................................17

The COM Server interfaces........................................................................................................................18

The COM Group interfaces........................................................................................................................18

Creating an OPC server..............................................................................................................................20

Threads..........................................................................................................................................................27

Variants.........................................................................................................................................................29

In the COM interface...................................................................................................................................29

In the Automation interface........................................................................................................................30

Memory allocation and COM.....................................................................................................................31

OPC object lifetimes....................................................................................................................................32

The Registry..................................................................................................................................................32

Platforms.......................................................................................................................................................33

OPC Architecture.........................................................................................................................................34

Module Architecture....................................................................................................................................34

OPC Server Toolkit (Version 2.0)

the most current version of the OPC specification (Version 2.0, November 1998) for use in developing

next generation industrial software applications.

The FactorySoft OPC Server Toolkit supplies everything you need to quickly design OPC Server

products, including the information and software architecture required for designing an OPC server. This

Toolkit contains sample source code, documentation, three example servers, a client test application, and

a Visual Basic test application.

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The OPC Data Access 2.0 specification is an evolutionary change from the first version. There is only

one new feature for end users, and some new methods for doing what was possible in the previous

version. The 2.0 specifications are available at www.opcfoundation.org in the specification area. The

they wish. Also, these properties can be queried while browsing rather than after adding the item to a

group in the server.

 Connection Points – Connection Points are used as the callback mechanism in place of

IDataObject/IDataSink. Connection Points simplify the programmer’s work mostly on the client side.

It seems that unpacking the data stream in the IDataSink was error prone. A callback has also been

added to the OPCServer object to notify clients that the server is shutting down.

 Registration – Servers now register themselves in component categories as well as the previous

entries typical of COM servers. Clients should be able to find the registered servers quickly, using

the server browser component.

 Automation – The Automation interface has been completely redesigned and implemented. The new

interface is easier to use from Automation languages, easier to understand, and it is general purpose.

 FactorySoft provides an installation called OPC_DA20_Components.exe that installs the Server

Browser, the Data Access 2.0 proxy dlls, and the Automation dll in the System directory. This

installation can be redistributed with your products. It can be used to install the OPC components

clients.

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Data Access 2.0 has changed the interfaces so that OPCDa.h replaces OPC.h, and OPCComn.h has been

added. Make sure that you do not have versions of OPC.h, OPC_i.c, OPC_p.c in an include path. There

are also 2 proxy dlls, OPCProxy.dll and OPCComn_ps.dll. These should be installed in the system

directory as shared dlls, and registered there. We recommend using the OPC_DA20_Components.exe to

install the proxy dlls and other dlls on either the server or client computers.

If you are upgrading from a toolkit version 1.3 or above, the ServerDLL has been enhanced and should

replace the old one. See the documentation for that dll for more information. Otherwise, your server

should be rebuilt using the new version of the files in the OPCBase directory. The changes are contained

in those files mostly. In either case, a recompile using the OPCBase classes or the ServerDLL will

upgrade a server to be 2.0 compliant, but with no support for Item Properties. By adding 3 or 4 virtual

functions to return these properties, you have a fully 2.0 ready server.

Make sure that the file OPCGroup.cpp uses m_itemMap the same way the files in the samples do. The

item’s client handle used to be the key for adding and removing items. It should be changed to use the

item’s address for adding and removing items.

If you have an existing server based on the In-process or Modbus servers, be sure to:

then it disconnects its COM objects and terminates.

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The OPC Servers you develop with this toolkit take advantage of advanced features, such as the free-

threading model, for improved performance. You can use the OPC Server Toolkit sample programs and

configuration files as test cases for debugging your servers. The interface for the Modbus OPC server

contained in this toolkit is implemented using Microsoft’s ActiveX Template Library, which is the best

way to do COM programming.

If you are using the RSServer Toolkit, contact FactorySoft for source code that interfaces Rockwell

Software’s RSServer Toolkit to the Modbus sample server. This toolkit provides DDE, AdvanceDDE,

and FastDDE.

Automation interface for server debugging.

the following:

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32-bit MFC application with an explorer-style user interface featuring OLE cut/copy/paste and drag

and drop.

Project can be built for ASCII or Unicode.

OPC Modbus server uses the free-threading model.

OPC interfaces implemented using ATL.

Server supports self-registration (and un-registration).

Server makes use of data quality and data conversion to client’s requested type.

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in a subdirectory under CE, and compiling it requires the Visual C++ 5.0 CE Embedded Toolkit.

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OPC interfaces implemented in a reusable DLL called FSServer. This DLL has an interface defined

in the FSServer User’s Guide. A sample Shell application shows how to provide data to the DLL.

FSServer uses the free-threading model.

FSServer OPC interfaces implemented using ATL.

Shell supports self-registration (and un-registration).

Server makes use of data quality and data conversion to client’s requested type.

Shell now demonstrates how to browse a hierarchical namespace.

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2.0.