OPC server configuration inside Labview

[Patrick Kerstholt]

Hello

At the moment I'm busy on a project to make a system that does IO simulation on controlboxes that contain plc systems.

The current possibilities are hardware IO simulation, profibus DP simulation, modbus master / slave simulation and component simulations.

Now we want to at OPC to read out information out of the PLC systems.

At the moment I've got a working labview project that can read and write out of an OPC server (MatrikonOPC Siemens PLC server).

The problem with this is that the end user has to make an configuration outside of Labview for each new controlbox that includes an PLC to test.

Are there any easier OPC servers out there that can be configurated within Labview?

We don't want that the end user has to go out of the frontpanel to configurate the OPC server before he can use it inside labview.

The must have for the OPC server is that we can import s7project files to create tags in the OPC server because the programs contain about +- 8000 symbols each. This is just way to much work to assign by hand.

After importing: inside labview the end-user just have to select witch opc item he wants to read or write, not more.

With the matrikon opc server for siemens plc we don't get this working like we want to so I hope anyone here has got a good suggestion.

Thanks in advantage.

[Patrick Kerstholt]

Anyone ? 🙂

[David. B]

Hello Patrick,

My name is David and I am an Applications Engineer at National Instruments UK.

Just to clarify the problem, your application is working however it is preferred that it is able to work without the user having to exit the front panel to enable it to do so. Could you provide more information as to how you have currently got the application working? I have looked into how the issue could be solved and have come across the following tutorial:

http://zone.ni.com/devzone/cda/tut/p/id/3980

This talk through the steps of using a Front Panel Data Socket to connect LabVIEW to an OPC server. Is this the way that you currently have implemented? Also there is an example on the example finder withing LabVIEW that could be of use that I have attached in this message.

If you could look through these two pieces of information and reply whether or not they work. If they are not quite what you are looking for then I will be happy to look into it further if you could provide me with more information.

Hope it goes well.

Regards

David B

Applications Engineer

National Instruments UK

[ninlmartijn]

Dear Patrick,

I noticed some software which can convert the project files to CSV / EXCEL format (for example Runmode); please notice this was just a short google search from me. Please contact them if this is a solution for your problem. I don't know any OPC server which can import these files directly, the NI OPC server uses CSV files.

If the manufacturer of the OPC server offers activeX components, you are able to control the OPC server through activeX.

Best regards,

[Patrick Kerstholt]

Sorry for the delayed reply, I was working on an other project that has got a higher priority.

The problem at the moment is that the tags have to be created extern, for the end user the situation at the moment is:

• open labview

Than go extern

1. start matrikon opc server
2. edit the configuration (address etc.)
3. import s7 project.
4. choose tags to add in matrikon opc server.

go back to labview again.

• choose tags to communicate with in labview.

So most of the steps have to be done outside labview.

I want to make the configuration and tags assignment inside labview. Now the end user have to open multiple programs. This can lead to confusion and is much work. I hope there will be an easier solution. Maybe I have to use other software to make the opc connection that are made to be integrated into labview applications? I don't know if these exists?

I couldn't find any possibilitys to use activex in combination with matrikon opc servers? Or I just didn't searched good enough, who knows.

If you need more info, just ask

Thanks in advantage!

[ninlmartijn]

Dear Patrick,

The first part (starting the OPC server) is quite simple; we can use CMD commands within LabVIEW to do that. I have a NI OPC server installed on my computer; I can open the project file from the OPC server to load the right configuration. The first time I did this Windows asked me which program should be used to open the file. You can use the option that the exe you are choosing should always be used for this extension. Please see the small example I've made; you can adjust this for your OPC server.

I hope the part above brings you a little bit further. For the parts you want to do within the OPC server (edit configuration, import the s7 project, choose tags) we are totally depending on the manufacturer of this software. ActiveX is one example but we need some way to talk to this software. Best is to inform with the manufacturer if they have any possibility to have an external application (in your case you are using LabVIEW, but this counts also for other development environments) control their software.

Best regards,