Help NetDDE Wonderware to Excel

[allscott]

I currently have a Wonderware application on our plant network and I am trying to display tag values in an Excel spreadsheet on my PC.

After reading the manual I have set up an appplication name of VIEW and Topic name of TAGNAME in the DDE security browser and set the access to Read only, start on connect, and trust share.

In excell I am trying the following command;

\\Wwnode\6750xycom\VIEW|TAGNAME!'Linespeed'

The prefix \\Wwnode\6750xycom is the path to the WW PC on the network. Linespeed is a valid WW tag

Excel gives an error of "cannot open the specified file"

Any idea of what I could be missing?

As always, thanks in advance.

 

[Oakley]

1. Is the computer name actually Wwnode? If not, replace this with the actual computer name.

2. What operating system are you utilizing?

 

[Jezz]

Have you got an = sign in front of the DDE call?

If you have what OS are you using as I can get NetDDE to work on my Win 2000 server but no on the XP laptop.

 

[allscott]

No, the name of the PC is 6750Xycom, the Wwnode is the workgroup that it was in. I tried it without the Wwnode and still no luck.

The touch panel and my machine are both XP pro

 

[allscott]

Have you got an = sign in front of the DDE call?

If you have what OS are you using as I can get NetDDE to work on my Win 2000 server but no on the XP laptop.

I've tried it with both an = and without

 

[cciblazer]

When another Windows application requests a data value from InTouch, it also must know the three I/O address items. The following describes the I/O address convention for InTouch:​

[font=TimesNewRoman,Bold]VIEW [/font][font=TimesNewRoman,Italic](application name) [/font]identifies the InTouch runtime program that contains the data element.
[font=TimesNewRoman,Bold]TAGNAME [/font][font=TimesNewRoman,Italic](topic name) [/font]is the word always used when reading/writing to a tagname in the InTouch database.
[font=TimesNewRoman,Bold]ActualTagname [/font][font=TimesNewRoman,Italic](item name) [/font]is the actual tagname defined for the item in the InTouch Tagname Dictionary.

For example, to access a data value in InTouch from Excel, a DDE Remote​

Reference formula would be entered in the cell into which the data value is to be written:​

=VIEW|TAGNAME!'ActualTagname'
[font=Arial,Bold]Note [/font]If you are networking using Wonderware NetDDE, the [font=TimesNewRoman,Italic]application name [/font]portion of the I/O address must be prefixed with the remote node's name preceded by two backslashes and followed by one backslash. For example:

\\NodeName\VIEW|TAGNAME!'ActualTagname'

Does that make sense? Don't use view use the intouch apllication name. Don't use tagname use the topic name.




​

 

[allscott]

When another Windows application requests a data value from InTouch, it also must know the three I/O address items. The following describes the I/O address convention for InTouch:​

[font=TimesNewRoman,Bold]VIEW [/font][font=TimesNewRoman,Italic](application name) [/font]identifies the InTouch runtime program that contains the data element.
[font=TimesNewRoman,Bold]TAGNAME [/font][font=TimesNewRoman,Italic](topic name) [/font]is the word always used when reading/writing to a tagname in the InTouch database.
[font=TimesNewRoman,Bold]ActualTagname [/font][font=TimesNewRoman,Italic](item name) [/font]is the actual tagname defined for the item in the InTouch Tagname Dictionary.

For example, to access a data value in InTouch from Excel, a DDE Remote​

Reference formula would be entered in the cell into which the data value is to be written:​

=VIEW|TAGNAME!'ActualTagname'
[font=Arial,Bold]Note [/font]If you are networking using Wonderware NetDDE, the [font=TimesNewRoman,Italic]application name [/font]portion of the I/O address must be prefixed with the remote node's name preceded by two backslashes and followed by one backslash. For example:

\\NodeName\VIEW|TAGNAME!'ActualTagname'


Does that make sense? Don't use view use the intouch apllication name. Don't use tagname use the topic name.

I must admit I am a little confused with my naming conventions. In my WW application I have configured an access name as follows;

Application Name:
DASABTCP

Topic Name:
m6750

Protocal:
DDE

This is how WW accesses the PLC (PLC 5/20Ethernet)

So is this the Application and Topic Name I should be using in Excel? Do I have to set this up in the DDE share security configuration?

Thanks again, my head feels a little thick.

 

[allscott]

I should mention, to clarify, that I had originally set up an application name of "view" and a topic name of "tagname" so that I could follow along with the instructions.

I will try to get a hold of WW tech support in the morning to see if they can help

thanks

 

[ggchavhan]

hi allscott

Instead of that why don't u try as under
make a tag which u want to displayin excel
Type: - I/O Real or I/O: - Integer
Give appropriate access name say xyz
Node Name : - 6750Xycom
Application : - excel
Topic Name : - all.xls (This file must exist)
Item Name : - r2c2

By configuring NetDde definatly it wii solve the problem

 

[DaveW]

If you are accessing tags from View.exe (Viewer) then the string is:
=\\NodeName\View|Tagname!'ActualTagname'
You would only change the NodeName to match the remote node name and the ActualTagname to match the tag you are looking for.

If you are accessing plc addresses from the IO server, then the string is:
=\\NodeName\DASABTCP|m6750!'PLCAddress'

A quick test you can do if you have Intouch on the local node is:
=View\Tagname\'$Second'
This should show the $second tag counting up 0-59.

Do the same for the remote node:
=\\NodeName\View|Tagname!'$Second'
If the remote gives you an N/A, then check that you can actually ping the nodename by name, check that netdde is running, and check your firewall.

 

[Marc]

Allscott have you tried the WWclient utility to see if the data is available?


Marc

 

[kb5won]

I am having fits with the same thing. I have read things that indicate Windows XP SP2 disables NetDDE and blocks it through the use of its firewall. Not sure though. Does anyone have experience with this?

 

[Marc]

Have you run the OS configuration utility from wonderware? That should eliminate firewall issues.


Marc

 

[kb5won]

Marc, I have not tried that, thanks.

I did learn that you need to manual enable and start two services related to NetDDE.