wonderware and ethernet

Hello
I just finished a job for a customer:wonderware in touch 7.1 + PLC Momentum 171CCC96030-IEC in a MACO DS controller. The Racksystem runs on Modbus+, the I/O mostly on Interbus S and some data are transfered
via Ethernet to increase the transfer rate. This is the first time I realized a controller with this setup. Now the customer asked me to show different signals like alarm messages in his office. I am thinking about using the ethernet to show little red, gree, and blue bulbs on his computer (in a small application). I never did this before and now I am wondering, if somebody knows how this can be done over the ethernet (ICP/TCP)...
Thank you very much, Oli

Short answer: Use NetDDE between conputers. Your WW I/O driver and View are DDE enabled. Establish a link from the driver/view from Excel on the Boss computer. See the WW NetDDE.pdf file that should be on the CD or installed in the Books dir.

Longer way: Write a VB program that gets the data via DDE and acts as a TCP/IP server. Write another program that is a TCP/IP client. Both TCP/IP programs are done for you as VB6 Example programs. Add to as needed.

A Hint for VB & DDE: Set your links up in Manual Mode, change in your program to Auto when program starts & check every minute via a timer that they are still Auto. If not, reset to Auto to re-establish the link.

If you have not used DDE, use Excel to explore topic/conversation/item parameters. It should be something like: " =ABTCP|ABPLC!'N7:0' " See your I/O manual for more info. You can also get the values from View, somthing like: " =VIEW|your_tagname_here!VALUE ", IIRC (check parameters as that one is form memory).


A 3rd way: In WW View Scripts you can Poke via DDE values to other programs. I haven't tried this.

Watch your use of NetDDE. XP SP2 does not support NetDDE.

[email][email protected][/email] said:

I am thinking about using the ethernet to show little red, gree, and blue bulbs on his computer (in a small application).
[/B]

Click to expand...

What kind of application are you thinking about creating? An app in Excel, a custom VB app, another Wonderware app?

Look into OPC, it pretty much replaced DDE. Wonderware should have a OPC driver available.

Thank you for your quick answers !
I am not really sure what application I want to create. Like I said, I am very inexperienced in wonderware and Visual Basic, even in Excel I never wrote any kind of linkable programms . What I thought of was maybe a little window with three different light bulbs and if possible a sound appears when one of this bulbs comes true, controlled by some wonderware tags. I heard about the NetDDE, but I never used it. I would really appreciate if you could help me with setting the wonderware up, making the datatransfer over the companies ethernet to boss´ computer (XP) with the litte application . What would be easier, making a new litte wonderware app, a VB programm or any Excel?
Thanks all of you so far, Oli

Gotcho said:

Watch your use of NetDDE. XP SP2 does not support NetDDE.

Click to expand...

Yes it does. Like many network security things changed in SP2 you first have to start it's dependent service Network DDE DSDM and then Network DDE, both which now default to Disabled. You do this in: Control Panels: Administrative Tools:Services

100 MOhm: Your best bet, without any programming is DDE:

1. Define a Memory Integer tag in WW, call it TEST1
2. Put an analog input link to this tag on a screen.
3. Switch to View, enter a value.
4. Open an Excel sheet, put in a cell: =VIEW|TAGNAME!TEST1

The cell will now show the value that you entered in View.

Play with more calls & tags.


NetDDE:

Now that DDE is working on one computer, time to change & get NetDDE up and going.

Read the WW doc FactorySuite NetDDE User Guide (NetDDE.pdf) and start & configure WW NetDDE:

Looks like you use the NetDDEExtensions app to create an entry with Application Name: View, and select Any Topic , set Security of it to Read Only. Set Configure Default Security to Read Only. This programs configures Network DDE Shares on the View machine.

Run DDEShare (a windows app) to see the NetDDE share names that are setup.

In Excel, soemthing like: =\\ES1\view|TAGNAME!TEST1

is used to get the data, with ES1 being the name of my remote (WW View) computer, change to your computers network name.

Unfortunatly, due to network restrictions here at work, I am unable to 100% test everything that I've written in this NETDDE section on two different machines, rather it's all on one PC.


See
http://www.ioserver.com/ddexls.htm

and

http://www.angelfire.com/biz/rhaminisys/ddeinfo.html for more info about DDE

Thank you theDave2
These are a lot of informations I want to concentrate on this weekend.

Both TCP/IP programs are done for you as VB6 Example programs. Add to as needed.

Click to expand...

Could you please send this samples over to me to get a better understanding.
I probably have some more questions on monday , after I tried all the stuff you provided.
Thanks so far

I was able to read tags in excel on the same computer . I also tried to
read the tag (TEST1) in an excal sheet on a computer with the setup you explained in your post, but I wasn´t able to get it there. I am not quite sure about the NetDDE and DDE thing. If I understand it right I do not have to set anything up when I use the DDE on the same computer What is the NetDDE Extensions App actually doing and do I have to set up the NetDDE Extensions on both computers, Server and Client Why did I have to start the DDEShare ?
I didn´t set up any DDE Apps on the computer I wanted to read the tag, but I guess, I have to, right? Do i have to install any NetDDE software on the client ? I know, these are a lot of questions, but I tried to read me through a lot of faq´s and stuff, but couldn´t really find the right way. Thanks again

The following is taken from: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q181946/ which tells how to program NetDDE in VB. I’ve changed parts to reflect using WW View. The hickup in getting NetDDE to work was to define the share name (in DDESHARE.exe) with a ‘$’ (dollar sign) at the end. Or maybe it was also entering info for 'newsytle' and 'static' parameters as before I only entered for 'oldstyle'.

===================================================================

Creating the DDE Share on the Server
1. Start the DDE Share Manager Application on the Computer designated as the Server. Select Run from the Windows Start menu, and then run DDESHARE.

2. Select "DDE Shares" from the "Shares" menu. A list of shares that have previously been set up will be displayed in the list box.

3. Click the "Add a Share" button.

4. Enter "view$" in the "Share Name" textbox.

NOTE: When creating the share name it is not necessary to place a trailing "$," although it is conventional to do so.
5. Enter the following values in the corresponding Application and Topic Text boxes:
Application Name Topic Name
------------------- ---------------
oldstyle view.DDE tagname
newsytle view.OLE tagname
static view tagname


NOTE: The DDESHARE utility for WFW/WIN95/WIN98 only supports defining one Application and Topic name each. Use the static Application and Topic names from the list above.

6. Click OK to close the DDE Share Properties dialog.

IMPORTANT: Due to a bug in the DDE Share Utility, when exiting the DDE Share application, a new serial number is created for the Share but is not updated in the Trusted DDE Shares section of the registry; therefore, the next two steps are very important.

7. Select the VIEW$ share in the list and click on the "Trust Share" button.

8. Make sure that "Initiate to Application Enable" is selected and then click the "SET" button.

9. Press OK on both open dialogs and then exit the DDE Share Utility.

==============================================================

On the computer running WW, setup a User with a Name of FOO and a blank password. Make Foo a member of the Guests group.

In Excel, I put in a cell: =\\aibo\view|tagname!test1

Where 'aibo' is the computer name that has WW View running.

When you open the spreadsheet, it may ask if you want to Update Remote Links. Say Yes.

Wait a few seconds and a Username & Password login box will popup. Enter FOO and no password. Tell the user it’s for security. Note: If I defined a password for FOO, it wouldn't connect.

Now the cells will update.

I'll email you a VB6 app that does NetDDE with the same setup as Excel. I've tested it by running Excel (and VB) on W2K with WW running on NT4.

Oh, yes you have to make sure the NetDDE & Network DDE DSDM services are running on both computers per my previous post. All the above was on WW v7.1

Dave