OPC for swipe card reader

Hi everyone,
We have an application where a user wants to automatically login to a Wonderware Intouch app based on a swipe card located at the Intouch PC.

The idea is each operator will have a swipe card, and instead of logging out the previous user and logging themselves in, they will just swipe their card and automatically login to Intouch.

My problem is how to get the data from the swipe card reader into a tag in Intouch. I spoke to our wonderware agents and they say Intouch 2012 has a function but only if you are using ArchestrA or O.S. security, which we are not.

As far as I can make out I need an OPC server to talk directly to a swipe card reader and go from there to Intouch. I would prefer not to have to go from a swipe card reader to a PLC and then to Intouch.

Has anyone come across an application like this before?

Also, if it is possible I would be interested in getting information from a barcode scanner to an Intouch tag via OPC. We have done this via PLCs before but a barcode scanner straight to Intouch would be nicer.

Thanks in advance.

Convert to Modbus, and then read into Intouch by an OPC server for Modbus.

We have card readers that operate as keyboard wedges that we use for timeclock applications. The ones we have use PS2 connections (which few of our active computers have anymore) but I noticed online that the same reader is available in USB. You could open a text field (or login input) and get the data from the card that way.

If the Card reader software is OPC compatible you could use FSGateway to get the data to a Intouch Tag. FSgateway does not have any licensing requirements and will be a bridge between the OPC server and your Intouch.

This is the easiest way as for the scripting you will need to do some custom login scripts when new data is triggered. I would first get the data from the Card reader system into Intouch and take it from there.

WildeKurt:
As its an Intouch app the mouse will be moving around. I am trying not to have to click on a specific field before swiping.
That is why I wanted to get the data direct to an Intouch tag.


RheinhardtP:
That is what I was thinking originally, however finding card reader software that is OPC compatible seems to be the hard part. I have queried a few card reader manufacturers without any luck.
As you say once I get the data into Intouch I should be good, a data change script will take care of the rest.

JesperMP:
Interesting angle, I just need to confirm that wonderware have a Modbus 485 I/O driver. I know they have Modbus TCP.
The client SCADA PC exists and has an "Intouch with I/O" license, so I am hoping to use that.

Thanks everyone, I'll keep you posted on any updates.