Lookout 6.5/ Lookout 6.0.2

[23r23]

I have 25 large control systems designed with Lookout 6.0.2 and a a few data collections systems. They use OPC Server and Clients of Lookout, Opto 22, Rockwell, and Microcim (for a Delta Tau Motion Control card). I have tried before Lookout 6.1 and had to deal with serious graphics and database (SQL) issues. It was required to use better CPUs to increase processing power in computers and to increase the Ram memory. At the end, I switched back to Lookout 6.0.2 because 6.1 didn't work as expected. 

Now I received a CD with Lookout 6.5 that says that is good for Windows 7. We are considering here to switch to Windows 7 some of our systems, which implies to upgrade the computer hardware as well. That means money and time, on top of all.

I would like to know before making a mess here, if applications designed with Lookout 6.0.2 can run under Lookout 6.5 'free of trouble'. The control systems cannot be down for long, I need to be aware of possible problems before switching!

Any one have done this before?

Any secret command to set up properly SQL or ODBC?

What about permissions and administrator settings in Windows 7?

What about the database of Windows 7?

Office 2007 or 2010?

Which Office Excel would work better?

Recommendations and advices are welcome here!

Rudy.

[Ryan.S]

The application designed with 6.0.2 will be working without trouble in 6.5.

The configuration of ODBC in Windows7 is same as the one in XP. How do you use the ODBC? Do you use Lookout to connect other database, or use other software to connect NI Citadel?

How do you use the Excel with Lookout? If you just create Excel file and use Lookout to import/export data, Excel 2007 is okay. No need to upgrade the Excel. Lookout supports the 97/2003 Excel file format. Excel 2007 is able to save the file as this format, so it works. I'm not familiar with the Excel 2010.

The NetDDE on Windows 7 doesn't work anymore. It is removed from Windows. If you use the Network DDE to do data exchange, it will not work after you upgrade to Windows 7.

The web client can be a little bit difficult to configure because of the security of Windows 7.

[23r23]

Yes, I use DDE and SQLExec in some of the systems.

Upgrading from 6.0.2 to 6.1, it was a mess with SQLExec object and ODBC.

I had an issue in Lookout 6.0.2 with the Lookout Webbrowser when opening Word documents. It is not stable after some patching for Microsoft Office 2003: sometimes the Word documnet is shown, sometimes isn't. About Windows 7 security:

What about Lookout OPC Clients and Servers in the same network or VLAN with Windows 7? What about remote OPC connections in Windows 7?

Rudy.

[Ryan.S · Accepted solution]

If the DDE is just for local data exchange, it's not a problem. But NetDDE doesn't work any more.

The OPC uses DCOM technology. The DCOM configuration in Windows 7 is almost the same.