Kepware's ClientAce OPC .NET Toolkit provides simple-to-use tools for developers wanting to build an OPC client application. ClientAce is an object oriented programmming tool consisting of two main parts: the DA Junction and the .NET API.
Note: A help file for this Toolkit is available for download from the OPCTI Free Product page.
DA Junction Control
The DA Junction control is a customized .NET control that enables Visual Basic .NET and C# programmers to easily develop OPC client applications that access any OPC DA servers. No detailed knowledge of OPC Data Access interfaces is required. The DA Junction will perform the connection handling procedure between your custom client application and the OPC server, as well as monitor and reconnect when necessary.
ClientAce DA Junction Features:
Server Browser Control The Server Browser control provides functionality to browse OPC Data Access servers on local and remote machines. The Server URL is returned in an event to be used in the application for establishing connections and data acquisition.
Item Browser Control The Item Browser control provides functionality to browse Tags/Items in an OPC Data Access server on local or remote machines. Items/Tags are selected and their information is returned to the application. The selections are used to request updated data from the server.
Channel Settings Control The Channel Settings control provides functionality to view and make certain changes to the properties of a channel and devices within an OPC server provided by Kepware Technologies. The ability to write to System level tags must be enabled in the server.
Server State Control The Server State control provides functionality to view the properties of a Kepware OPC Server project. The Properties include, the number of Clients connected to the server, total number of tags added by the clients and the total number of tags that are actively being polled.
ClientAce .NET API The ClientAce .NET Application Programming Interface (API) provides users of languages such as C# and Visual Basic .NET with a simple, intuitive and optimized class library to quickly develop OPC client applications for accessing OPC servers.
ClientAce .NET API Features:
Licensing:
Free tools included with ClientAce install:
OPC Data Access Requirements ClientAce supports OPC Data Access (DA) servers that support the following specifications:
Note: Other DA and OPC servers are not supported at this time.