read multiple points with OPC client

[gold]

In the examples the "Multiple OPC Items Monitor.vi" opens 5 separate channels to the OPC server and does individual reads on each channel, and then closes each channel.  This is done on each iteration and appears to be very inefficient.  Anyone know a way to do multiple reads/writes to an OPC server?  Perferably without having to go purchase a third-party DLL, or similiar add-on.

Running LV7.1 on XP

Gold

[Khalid]

You probably meant this, but just to clarify: all the connections are opened, once, at start (but since there are multiple of them, we need a loop to open all of them).  Then they are read in the While loop, continuously until asked to Stop.  And finally the connections are closed, once, at finish. 

Having said that, the fact that one connection is required per Item/channel is inefficient.  And can bog down the communications if you have many channels.  If you do have many (100+) channels, a better solution is to use DSC.  See the following thread, for instance:

http://forums.ni.com/ni/board/message?board.id=170&message.id=66423

Regards,

-Khalid