Building Web-Based HMI

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Building Web-BasedHMIs inVisual Studio .NET

• Introduction to
• OPC Systems.NET

Renee Sikes Applications Engineer Email
rsikes_at_softwaretoolbox.com Direct Line 1 (704)
708 6493
Win Worrall Applications/Development
Engineer Email wworrall_at_softwaretoolbox.com Direc
t Line 1 [phone]
2
Agenda

• Talk about Web-Applications, why they matter!
• Briefly discuss the merits of a web-based
  application
• Introduce OPC Systems.NET
• Live Demo Creating HMI Screens for the Browser
• Questions Answers

Well get here quickly!
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Web-Applications matter!
Why are we here? Why web-applications?

• Accessible via Browser such as Internet Explorer
  and Firefox.
• iPhone, Smart Phone, Internet Tablets etc.
• Security already built-into the Web-Server.
• Single application to maintain and deploy.
• No software or components to deploy.
• Accessible via LAN Internet
• Development is easier than ever!

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Web Benefits that matter!

• Firewall-friendly HTTP
• No need to open firewall Ports
• No DCOM headaches
• Security built-in
• Assign access-rights to users/groups for the
  entire site, or per-page
• Use SSL for secure connections insuring
  data-integrity and privacy
• Abundance of security tools available
• Cluster Server(s) and Application(s) for High
  Availability

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Web Development Changed

• Code-less, no more learning languages
• AJAX delivers dynamic pages, no reload
• Winform/Webform development same!
• Easy debugging with Visual Studio.NET
• Streaming OPC data is now Easy!

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Web-App Capabilities

• Display data from OPC Servers
• Get user-input for writing to OPC Items
• Trending/Charting live OPC Data
• Alarm displays and acknowledgements

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Web-HMI, does it make sense?(AJAX Polling)
When it makes sense
Not a good fit!

• Simple screens with few graphics
• Data response can be slow
• Restrict access to users/groups
• Must be accessible
• Inside/outside LAN
• Desktop, Laptop, Phone etc.

• Large quantities of data on-screen.
• High-speed data (sub 1-second)
• High concurrent user with above.
• Continuous process control / monitoring
• We have other solutions that meet these needs

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OPC Systems .NET Benefits

• Suite of Components
• Codeless development
• WebControls.NET, WebTrend.NET, WebAlarm.NET
• OPC Systems .NET provides these benefits
• Central always-on tag repository faster
  performance
• Tag data can come from OPC DA and/or Databases
• Multi-Threaded for faster, and more Reliable
  operations
• Buffers data, eliminating data-loss for short
  outages as well as maximizing the performance of
  your web-link
• Modular, components available separately or as a
  suite
• Affordable, not as expensive as you might think
• OPC Self-Certified, for assurance in quality
• NO MORE DCOM HEADACHES

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How it works

• Tag repository stores Data, and some history
• Data can come from OPC Servers
• OPC Connection is always ON eliminating
  connectivity overhead
• Browsers see OPC Data when page opens
• Async polling retrieves data to be shown in page,
  no refresh!

OPC Systems .NETService(Tag Repository)
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How it works

• Browser requests an update of the items/tags it
  needs.
• OPC Systems .NET Server responds with values that
  have changed
• If value remains same, empty data-set returned
• If 1-value changed, that value is returned
• If the value changed multiple times, all updates
  sent

OPC Systems .NETService(Tag Repository)
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Tolerance

• 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 Clients(data
  logging, alarms, WinForms, WebForms etc.)

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Live Demo

• Setup the Tag repository, creating tags coming
  from OPC Servers
• Create a multi-page Web Site
• Display some real-time data
• Changing colors based on a value
• User-entry form, for writing values to Tags
• Charting page
• Alarm display and acknowledgement page

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Affordable
Tag Counts 1 Feature 3 Features 5 Features All 14 Features
100 Tags 195 495 735 995
250 Tags 295 745 1,115 1,495
500 Tags 395 995 1,495 1,995
1,000 Tags 495 1,245 1,865 2,995
2,500 Tags 795 1,995 2,995 4,995
Contact us for pricing for higher tag counts

• No OPC Server Connection or Client
  Connection Counts
• No Text File or Database Connection Counts

• Code-less development tools are
• Runtime-free
• Fully documented, lots of examples
• SmartClient Technology ready

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Other Features Available

• Data Logging (text files and databases)
• Report generation
• Alarm logging and notification
• Windows Forms development tools
• Recipe management

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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.

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More Information
get through to an expert!
Questions
Win Worrall Email wworrall_at_softwaretoolbox.com T
el 1 [phone] Renee Sikes Email
rsikes_at_softwaretoolbox.com Tel 1 (704)
708-6493 Technical Support Tel 1 (704)
849-2773 Web http//support.softwaretoolbox.com
www.softwaretoolbox.com/opcsystems