VBOpc
With VBOpc you are able to browse the servers on your machine, pick the tags in the OPC servers that you want to have in your Visual Basic program and press a button and in just a couple of minutes you will have an object for your VB program where every tag in your OPC servers has a simple, intuitive name in VB! VBOpc even makes a help file for you that shows the object model for your object that VBOpc built. VBOpc is one of those "must have" tools if you are going to write a VB OPC client because of the large amount of engineering time and code debugging that it will save you by encapsulating the complexity of OPC Client-Server communications in a simple object.
How Does it Work? VBOpc builds an in-process object based on the tags you browse and pick from your servers. Then in your Visual Basic program you reference that object with an object variable. Type the object name and press the period key and the Microsoft Intellisense in VB6 shows us a list of all the tags that we picked for our object! All the complexity of the OPC communications is taken care of inside the object. You can also include timestamp and quality information in your object. The object reports back the status of the OPC server so your VB program can monitor for failed connections and communications. The included help file shows in detail with example VB screens how to deploy your VBOpc object in your VB application.
How is VBOpc Licensed?
Development - Single user development licenses of VBOpc are only $995. If you have more than one developer on your team using VBOpc you will need additional development licenses. Multi-user development licenses are available in 5 packs that save you 15% versus single development licenses.
Runtime - There are NO run-time licensing fees for VBOpc! You can create as many VBOpc objects as you wish and distribute the DLLs free of any distribution fees!
Is there a demo available and how does the demo work? Yes we have a powerful demo along with sample code and you may download a trial version of VBOpc. You will be able to develop complete objects with VBOpc with the demonstration version and deploy them for testing in your VB application. The limitation in the demo is that after 30 minutes your object will stop reading/writing from the OPC servers and will need to be restarted. When you purchase your license, all you need to do is enter your Activation Code and you are ready to go!
What OPC Servers does this work with? VBOpc will work with any OPC server supporting the Data Access 1.0 or 2.0 specification. We have tested VBOpc with a large number of OPC servers. If you need an OPC server to connect to your PLC or automation hardware, visit Software Toolbox at www.softwaretoolbox.com as they offer a wide range of OPC Servers.
System Requirements Windows 98, Windows 2000 or Windows NT with SP3 or higher. On the development machine where you will be building your VBOpc object, you will need a copy of Visual Basic 6.0 with SP3 or higher. If you want VBOpc to generate a help file for your object, you will need to download and install the free HTML Help Compiler from Microsoft. A link to download the free HTML help compiler is included in the help file for VBOpc.
VBLogic, Inc., 1991 Sossoman Springs Road, Midland, NC 28107. Tel: 704-784-2671; Fax: 704-784-3231.