The GagePort Mitutoyo OPC Server represents device point values in a canonical (or baseline) format. This format, or data type, is compatible with Microsoft COM/DCOM technology and is called a VARIANT data type.

As any Visual Basic programmer knows, a VARIANT can hold several types of data, usually according to what is assigned to it or how it is used. The VARIANT data type is expressed by a constant that begins with VT_.

Example

VT_I2 means the variant holds a two-byte signed integer.

VT_BOOL means it holds a Boolean value, etc.

The GagePort Mitutoyo OPC Server always returns the following variant types:

For Devices	Variant Type	Description
GPFP	VT_R4	Four-byte IEEE floating point value, sometimes called a REAL value.
MIG2	VT_R4	Four-byte IEEE floating point value, sometimes called a REAL value.
SIMPLE device types	VT_BSTR	String value.

More information

	Data type coercion
	GagePort Mitutoyo OPC item naming convention.

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