Building Scalable Automation Systems in Visual Studio .NET Introduction to OPC Systems.NET Hello everyone, thank you for joining us on this webinar. My name is slim-shady and I am excited to show you how you can rapidly build scalable SCADA/HMI systems without writing any lines of code. I would agree that this sounds like an impossible task, but today we’re going to see just how this is indeed possible. Win Worrall Applications Engineer & Developer Email: wworrall@softwaretoolbox.com Direct Line: +1 (704) 708-6491

Agenda Introduce OPC Systems.NET General Architecture New OPC Gauge.NET Live Demo – Creating SCADA/HMI Screens Live Demo – Deploying Applications Live Demo – Web Applications Summary Questions & Answers Here’s the agenda for today. We’ll begin by introducing the OPCSystems.NET suite of tools. Then we’ll move onto our Live Demos (as quickly as we can) which is where we’re going to actually build an HMI and deploy it to other computers. Then we’ll wrap-up with a summary and some Q & A.

Purpose OPCSystems.NET solves the following needs: Build Complete HMI/SCADA Solutions Easy configuration: easy User Interface Windows, Web (Ajax) & Mobile Development Tools Easy Deployment: SmartClient Technology Data Logging, Reporting with Notifications Trending in Windows or via Web Pages Alarm Logging with Notifications Open API – lets you control the software Let’s begin by explaining WHAT the OPCSystems.NET product-line is… First, it is a complete suite of tools that allows you to build a complete HMI/SCADA solution in Visual Studio.NET, be it C# or VB.NET etc. The whole thing is extremely easy to setup and configure, and we’ll see that in the live demo. The development tools available for developing Windows applications, Web Applications or Windows Mobile applications allow for code-less development, that is to say, you can create applications using just your mouse – so you lock your keyboard in a box somewhere as you won’t be needing it to do any coding. You’ll enjoy the convenience of SmartClient Technology that will make deployment a breeze. If you’ve heard of 1-click deployment, well, this is that! A Data logging tool is part of the suite, so you won’t need to build one or buy a separate Data Logger. Reporting your historical data is always important, well you can build reports and have them automatically build at specific times or on events and have them automatically printed and emailed to you etc. Ditto on the logging of your Alarms, and being notified when alarms are active. Last of all, the big one, the entire system has an open API which means that you can create your own applications to control the system, to add more functionality, to use the existing functionality – basically, you have complete access which means your own imagination is your limiting factor. Now you don’t hear that too often do you?

Benefits OPCSystems.NET provides these benefits Data can come from any OPC DA Server and/or Databases Math Engine, for dynamic calculations to Tags etc. Scalable System, Service based architecture Multi-Threaded for faster, and more Reliable operations Buffers data, eliminating data-loss for short outages Modular, components available separately or as a suite 100% Managed Code for all versions of Visual Studio .NET OPC Self-Certified, for assurance in quality NO MORE DCOM HEADACHES Alright, so we now know what the point of this system is, so lets quickly gain an understanding of some of the benefits in the system, the very things that you can’t see, hear, smell or touch… Scalability: you know you need it! The system you implement today is likely going to grow tomorrow, and when those needs arise, you’ll need a system/platform that will give you that flexibility. Well, it’s in there and we’ll see what this means in just a moment. Multi-threaded: concurrent processing enables the software to be more responsive and utilize your computing power more efficiently. Likewise, put this system on a multi-processor PC and watch the performance increase. Buffers data: Zero data-loss is possible even with temporary network outages. Obviously this is a big deal, but you’ll see what this means in just a moment. Modular: Means you can buy just what you need, to keep costs down, or maximize on your investment and savings and go with the entire suite. Affordable: You’re about to see that there’s a lot to this system, but you’ll be surprised at how affordable and cost-effective this solution is. OPC Self-Certified: This is a big-deal. If you use OPC software, it should be Self-Tested by a minimum, if not, don’t use it. This is a seal of quality, meaning that the software has been to OPC Interoperability Workshops where it has been tested against other vendors software, but also tested by the OPC Foundation’s error injection server that passes bad and invalid information to the client to ensure that it gracefully handles and recovers from problematic situations. Oh, what’s that bottom bullet? Oh yeah, no more DCOM headaches… why? Because OPCSystems.NET is based on .NET technology and consequently uses .NET Remoting instead – which is the platform that Microsoft wanted us to migrate towards so that DCOM could die a peaceful death.

How it works… Data Consumers Data Source YOUR Custom Applications (Windows, Web, Mobile etc) Data Logging Alarming Reporting Trending Batching Bridging Data Consumers OPC Systems .NET Service (Tag Repository) Other OPC Systems .NET Services Other OPC Systems .NET Services OPC Server PLC DCS Other Database Your App? Data Source So here’s a picture of how all the pieces fit together… In the middle of the picture is the heart of the system, the OPC Systems .NET Service. This is your Tag Repository. This is the center of the universe. All of your tags are defined here, as well as where the values of those tags come from – which could by an OPC Server, a database or your own application. All of the OPC Systems.NET applications and components communicate directly to the OPC Systems .NET Service. Notice how they don’t communicate to the OPC Server? That’s by design. If they went directly to the OPC Server then you would be using DCOM and we don’t want to use that now do we? So we go to the Service instead using .NET Remoting. Well, let’s talk about these Client application connections…

OPC Systems .NET Service (Tag Repository) Reliable Connections OPC Systems .NET Service (Tag Repository) Client Application Queue Local Network Internet Tag Repository individually “caches” data to each client If a client goes temporarily offline, it will “catch-up” on the next update. Applies to ALL OPC Systems .NET Components (data logging, alarms, WinForms, WebForms etc.)

Scalability Add more OPC Systems Bridge them together… Across Internet OPC Systems .NET Service (Tag Repository) Client Application(s) Across Internet OPC Systems .NET Service (Tag Repository) Client Application(s) Across LAN OPC Systems .NET Service (Tag Repository) Client Application(s) So once you’ve got a system in place, you want to be sure it can grow. Well, you can connect your client applications to OPC Systems.NET Services on the local machine, across the network or even the internet. That’s represented here by the orange lines. These red lines represent how the Services themselves can be connected to each other using bridging. This could also be useful in a redundancy scenario.

New - OPC Gauge.NET No programming required, just define the properties Circular and Sliding Gauges Each gauge can support up to 4 axis with up to 4 needles and 5 ranges per axis for a total of 16 values per gauge. Access both local and remote Tag Parameters for values and alarm limits Assign tag values to more than just the Value. Full programmatic support for modifying all properties Ok, here we are, live demo time… so we have quite a lot of things to demo here. This will be a good test of all those things I’ve been talking about are true, can I show all of this in the remaining time? We’ll setup our Tag repository to acquire tags from an OPC Server. We’ll data-log those tags to a Text File. We’ll then create a simple Windows HMI application with some data, charting and alarming capabilities. Then we’ll see how to deploy it. We’ll quickly create a web-based HMI screen. So let’s switch over to our Virtual PC and demo all of this stuff.

Live Demo Collect Tag data from an OPC Server Create a small WinForms HMI Simple data display Add some Charting and Alarming controls Deploy our application Create a small WebForms HMI Ok, here we are, live demo time… so we have quite a lot of things to demo here. This will be a good test of all those things I’ve been talking about are true, can I show all of this in the remaining time? We’ll setup our Tag repository to acquire tags from an OPC Server. We’ll data-log those tags to a Text File. We’ll then create a simple Windows HMI application with some data, charting and alarming capabilities. Then we’ll see how to deploy it. We’ll quickly create a web-based HMI screen. So let’s switch over to our Virtual PC and demo all of this stuff.

Affordable List of Components OPC Controls.NET OPC Trend.NET OPC Alarm.NET OPC Gauge.NET OPC Web Controls.NET OPC Web Trend.NET OPC Web Alarm.NET OPC Database.NET OPC Report.NET OPC Recipe.NET OPC Client.NET OPC Mobile.NET OPC Route.NET No Limit to OPC Server Connections or Number of Tags Connect Unlimited applications to the OPCSystems Service No Limit to the number of Text File or Database Connections Fully documented, lots of examples Current Licensed Users should contact us for pricing details Maintenance Agreements are available for 20% of list price So what do you think? Not bad eh? There’s a lot in there huh? I’ll bet you’re wondering “yeah, but what’s the damage?” – well, you can get the whole thing for just $4995.00. Now, we don’t care or count things like OPC Server connections, tag points, how many files or databases you’re going to log to. Likewise, the development tools are Runtime-free. All the documentation and tutorials are part of the package. And the SmartClient technology is a benefit of the .NET Framework and Visual Studio .NET, so guess what? That’s FREE. Any One (1) Component $795 Any Three (3) Components $1995 Any Five (5) Components $2995 All Thirteen (13) Components $4995

Summary Convenience: Quickly and easily build & deploy HMIs Scalable Framework: allowing your system to grow Reliable: OPC Self-Certified, plus Buffering Alerting: Data Logging, Reporting, Alarming & Notifications Open: API provides interface for your apps to control Affordable: modular, buy what you need. So to wrap-up: We’ve seen what convenience means in terms of rapid development and easy deployment means We understand some of the ways in which you can scale-up your system We can trust the software because of its OPC Self Certified status, and also trust in the communications infrastructure which can eliminate data-loss for short network outages. You’ve got the alerting capabilities for alarms and reports. You’ve got an open API for those developers out there that want and/or need to build custom software to further enhance/extend their overall systems. And it’s affordable folks. Go out there and add-up the cost of equivalent tools giving this functionality – that’s assuming that you don’t have to re-invent parts of the system yourself.

More Information www.softwaretoolbox.com/opcsystems … get through to an expert! Questions: Win Worrall: Email: wworrall@softwaretoolbox.com Tel: +1 (704) 708-6491 Technical Support: Tel: +1 (704) 849-2773 Web: http://support.softwaretoolbox.com So at this point, we have finished the Presentation and now I’d like to open-up the phones for Questions and Answers. www.softwaretoolbox.com/opcsystems