Step 2.3. Set OPC Device Settings Properties

OPC device settings information is required for the OPC Client configuration.

Enter information on the OPC Device Settings tab of the Device dialog box as follows:

	Check Box	Displays
	Show Normal Settings	Required device properties.
	Show Trace Settings	Runtime trace diagnostics properties.
	Show Advanced Settings	Advanced properties. Important: These properties should not be changed unless they resolve a specific issue. For assistance with changing the Advanced properties, contact GE Fanuc technical support.

Field

Description

OPC Server Address

The OPC Address field is used to specify up to four pieces of information. The four pieces of information specified in the OPC Address field are (in order):

Remote Machine Name (Optional)

OPC Server Application ID (Required)

Access Path for device (Optional)

Server Configuration File (Optional)

Note: The only requirement is the OPC Server's application ID. This is specific to the OPC Server, and should be documented by the OPC Server's manufacturer.

You can enter the OPC address in this field or you can use the browse button to the right of the field to open the OPC Server browser to locate the address. For OPC addressing examples, see OPC Address Examples.

Device Enabled

Set to YES to enable this device when the project is started. Set to NO to disable this device when the project is started.

Normal Settings	Value		Description
PingInterval	Default		5000 ms. Determines how often the OPC client pings the OPC server. Enter the Ping interval in milliseconds (ms).
PingTimeout	Default		3000 ms. Determines how long the OPC Client waits for a response from the OPC Server. Enter the Ping timeout in milliseconds (ms). A communication error is declared if this timeout period passes with no response.
UseLocalReg	True		Enables the OPC Client to access the local registry information to find the OPC server ID first. If the OPC Client fails to find the server information in the local registry, it logs a warning message and searches the information in the remote node. Setting this parameter to True resolves the multi sessions issue.
	False		Default
DCOMTimeoutThreshold	Default		10000 ms. Determines how long the OPC Client waits to abort the connection to the OPC server after detecting that the server has not responded to a ping. Enter the DCOM timeout threshold in milliseconds (ms).
PingBeforePoll	True		Causes the OPC Client to ping the OPC server before sending a poll request. Pinging the OPC server immediately before the poll eliminates most potential DCOM timeouts. Default
	False		Can cause all device communications to hang until the poll times out.
PingBeforeWrite	True		Causes the OPC Client to ping the OPC server before sending a write request. Pinging the OPC server immediately before the write eliminates most potential DCOM timeouts. Default
	False		Can cause all device communications to hang until the write request times out.
ReAddAsEmptyOnBadType	True		Enables the OPC Client to automatically re-add a point to the OPC server that was rejected by the server based on the point's data type. The OPC client changes the data type of the rejected point to VT_EMPTY. The OPC server will not reject the point based on this type. Default
	False		Enables the OPC server to reject points based on the configured data type. Investigate and determine why the point type(s) are rejected by the OPC server.
RestartDelay	Default		Determines how long the OPC client waits before attempting to re-establish a lost connection. Enter the delay time in milliseconds (ms). The OPC client attempts to reconnect until it succeeds.
ReconnectInterval	Default		1000 ms. Determines the time between reconnection attempts (i.e. RestartDelay). Enter the interval time in milliseconds (ms). This time does not include the time it takes Microsoft's COM (DCOM) engine to determine if it is able to launch the OPC server application.
RemoveItemsOnGroupRemove	True		Deletes items from a group before the group is removed.
	False		Deletes items at the same time the group is removed.
ItemAccessPathEnable	True		Enables access paths for a given device.
	False		Access paths are not enabled.
Trace Settings	Value		Description
TraceSeparate	True		Trace records from this device are written to a separate log file. For a detailed description of the Trace Separate property, refer to Enable Tracing.
	False		Default
TraceLevel			The Trace Level determines how much trace data is written to the log file. Options are:
		1	BIGERRORS Default
		2	ALLERRORS
		3	BIGSUCCESSES
		4	ALLSUCCESSES
		5	ITEMDETAILS
		6	DEVELOPER LEVEL 1
		7	DEVELOPER LEVEL 2
	Important: If the TraceLevel property is not set, nothing is written to the log file. For detailed descriptions of trace levels, refer to Enable Tracing.
TraceAll	True		Traces all OPC Client activities.
	True		Default
TraceConnection	True		Traces OPC connections.
	False		Default
TraceGroupActivity	True		Traces OPC group activity.
	False		Default
TraceItemActivity	True		Traces OPC item activity.
	False		Default
TracePinging	True		Traces pinging activity.
	False		Default
TracePolling	True		Traces polling activity.
	False		Default
TraceEvents	True		Traces event activity.
	False		Default
TraceWriting	True		Traces writing activity.
	False		Default
TraceDequeue	True		Traces dequeuing activity.
	False		Default
Advanced Settings	Value		Description
StartupDelay	Default		0 ms. Provides the OPC server extra time to start in order to process points being loaded by the OPC Client. Enter the startup delay time in milliseconds (ms). This delay occurs after the OPC server starts, but before any points are added by the OPC Client.
ReadDelay	Default		0 ms. Provides the OPC server extra time to get the initial values from the points added by the client. Enter the read delay time in milliseconds (ms). This delay occurs after the OPC Client adds points to the OPC server, but before performing the first poll. If a poll occurs too soon after the OPC server starts, values of Bad Quality are provided.
AbortShutdown	True		Shuts down the OPC Client when the CIMPLICITY project shuts down, without releasing any references to objects in the OPC Server. It is not recommended that you set this property to True, as it is against the rules of OLE. If you set this property to True, the OPC Server does not shut down because it does not know that the OPC Client has disconnected.
	False		Default The OPC Client does not shut down when the project shuts down.
ForceOPC1Server	NA		Data Access 1 specification is not supported.
	False		Default The client establishes a connection using OPC DA 2.0 methods if the server supports it. OPC DA 1.0 methods are used if the server does not support OPC DA 2.0.
HRBothActive	True		Both servers in a Host Redundant system are active. Setting this property to True results in both servers advising the client, causing more traffic and a slower transition time. By default, in Host Redundancy environments, the acting master advises the points that are defined to be: unsolicited. unsolicited on change. poll once. poll once on change (i.e. the server polls the data and notifies the client only of those items that have changed). Some servers may be slow in collecting the data, resulting in longer transition times for unsolicited data. However, all data is advised and refreshed (unless refresh is disabled) on host transition.
	False		Default
PingShutdown	Default		0 ms. Determines how long it takes to shut down pinging. This property is useful if the OPC server is slow or has heavy traffic. Enter the Ping shutdown value in milliseconds (ms). If set to zero (0), the Ping shutdown rate is equal to twice the defined PingTimeout value.
DeviceShutdown	Default		10000 ms Determines how long it takes to shut down the device. This property is useful if the OPC server requires more time to clean up large configurations.
ChangeGroupStateOnDeviceTransition	True		Changes the state of the group associated with the device to match the state (enabled/disabled) of the device when it is changed. Default
	False		The state of the group does not change when the state of the device changes.
ChangeGroupStateOnHostTransition	True		Changes the state of the group associated with the device when the servers in a Host Redundancy system transition between primary and secondary.
	False		Default
ItemAccessPathDelimiter	Default		semi-colon (;). Defines the token to use for the access path if the ItemAccesspathEnable property is set to True. A space cannot be assigned as a delimiter.

If you do not know the address of the OPC server you want to access, use the browse button to the right of the OPC server address field to locate the OPC server you want, whether it is on the local machine or on a remote machine.

If you know the address of the OPC server you want to access, use the following guidelines for entering the address.

OPC Address Examples

We will use GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms' OPC Server, which has an application ID as follows:

OPCServer.1

If the OPC Server resides on a different computer than the CIMPLICITY project:

You must specify a Remote Machine Name. The Remote Machine Name MUST be:

Preceded by two backslashes, and

Have a trailing backslash.

If the OPC Server resides on a computer named: OPCServerBox, the Device Address field would look like this:

\\OPCServerBox\OPCServer.1

If the OPC Server requires an Access Path to reference a particular device:

The Access Path will follow the application ID, separated by the token defined in the ItemAccessPathDelimiter property (by default, a semi-colon).

Example

If the Access Path to the device we are configuring is: Box01.Device01.Slave01, the Device Address field would look like this:

\\OPCServerBox\OPCServer.1;Box01.Device01.Slave01

If The OPC Server uses the OLE interface IpersistFile to load a configuration file:

The name of this configuration file will follow the Access Path, by the token defined in the ItemAccessPathDelimiter property.

Example

If the configuration file is named: ServerConfig.dat, the Device Address field would look like this:

\\OPCServerBox\OPCServer.1;Box01.Device01.Slave01;ServerConfig.dat

If:

You want to specify a Server Configuration File, but not an Access Path, you may leave the Access Path field empty. Be sure to provide the correct number of semi-colons, like this:

\\OPCServerBox\OPCServer.1;;ServerConfig.dat

More information

	Configure an OPC Client device.
	Select an OPC Server.