Port properties.

Server is running.

Option

Description

Report unchanged values to OPC clients

In traditional OPC only changed values can be sent to the client. This check box allows the user to send unchanged values as well as changed values to the OPC client; e.g. if the same bar code is scanned twice, two updates will be sent instead of just one.

Number of COM Ports…

Select the number of serial ports that will be configured. This directly affects the number of items in the Showing Properties for Port combo box. If this value is lowered, a warning is displayed that configuration will be lost for the ports being removed. This value cannot be less than one. At least one serial port must be configured.

Showing Properties… 

Select the serial port to be configured.

Port Settings, Device Settings and Message Terminator controls will update to reflect the configuration of the selected serial port. This is a navigation tool for the dialog box, not an actual stored property.

Port Settings

These are the standard serial port configuration options:

Baud Rate

The Baud Rate for communication with the device.

Parity

The Parity for communication with the device.

Data Bits

The Data Bits for communication with the device.

Stop Bits

The Stop Bits for communication with the device.

Device Settings

The type of device tied to the serial port:

No Device

Use this option if there is no device tied to this serial port. For example, if four ports are being configured (COM 1 through COM 4), but there is no device on COM 3, use this option to indicate this.

GPFP Hub

Use this option to indicate there is a GagePort or a FlexPort hub tied to this serial port. Use the spinner control to select the number of ports on the hub.

MIG2 Hub

Use this option to indicate there is a Mitutoyo MIG2 hub tied to this serial port. Use the spinner control to select the number of ports on the hub.

Simple Serial Device

Use this option to indicate there is a Simple serial device tied to this serial port (such as a bar code reader). The OPC server assumes this device will send ASCII strings to the serial port in an unsolicited manner. The value is delivered to the OPC client as a string (VT_BSTR) type.

Message Terminator

Define the structure of the data being received by the OPC server.

CR Only

This option indicates the message sent by the device ends with a Carriage Return character (ASCII 13).

LF Only

This option indicates the message sent by the device ends with a Line Feed character (ASCII 10).

CRLF

This option indicates the message sent by the device ends with a Carriage Return character (ASCII 13) followed by a Line Feed character (ASCII 10).

None
(fixed Length)

This option indicates that the message has no terminating character(s), and therefore must be fixed length. Use the spinner to indicate the number of characters that make up the message.

Note: There is a special case use of this option for simple devices that send variable length, not terminated messages. If the number of characters is set to 0, this special case will take effect. In this case, the OPC server will make use of the serial port Timeout value by using the first timeout, after a series of characters, to indicate the end of the message. This is very useful for bar code readers that do not terminate the messages they send, but may be used to read codes of varying lengths!

Custom

This option indicates that a custom message terminator will be defined. Enter a comma-delimited list of ASCII values that define how the message terminates. For example, entering 13, 10 would be the same as using the CRLF terminator.

Note: This type of terminator can be used to strip extra characters from the message. Since the custom terminator is stripped from the message before it is sent to the OPC client, you can specify trailing characters in the message that you want stripped off.

Ignore First xxx

This option allows any number of prefixed characters to be stripped from the message before it is sent to the OPC client.

OK

Save the serial port settings to the document, and close the COM Port Properties dialog box.

Important: This does not save the document to disk! Be sure to use the File-Save or File>Save As menu options to permanently save any changes to an .xml configuration file.

Cancel

Close to the COM Port Properties Dialog without saving the changes.

User interface menu options.