I'm working on a project that involves reading data from a OPC server and sending this data to various applications.
One of the things we want to do is to run a webserver with webpages showing live data from this OPC server.

I'm a total newbie in webservers and webpages and would like to find a not-too-complicated while still affordable way of doing this.

All and any hints are appreciated.

Thanks,
Bob

 

You only need to add an OPC ActiveX to an HTML webpage and set the node/server/item properties.

Search Google for [opc activex]. One of the many is: http://www.opcactivex.com/.

Hope this helps.

Warren.
(http://www.pc-pid.com)
"the PC-based PID Controller people"

 

It sounds like what you are after is an OPC client that serves up data using ASP or ASP.NET. There are quite a few systems out there that will allow you to web-enable OPC data. A fairly inexpensive one is Merz's Easy OPC:

http://www.merz-sw.com/opc/opc_easyopc.php3

If you are keen and want to learn some of the technology behind it you can always write your own (as I've been doing in my spare time) but the commercial products look pretty good.

Chris
http://www.procdev.com

 

Bob,

Check out www.webdock.net and the DataPort product. DataCollection with a built in web server that allows you to view your data, graph your data and run SQL queries from the web interface from anywhere on your network.

http://www.webdock.net/view.phtml?aid=121

Thanks
Eddie

 

Iconics WebHMI will do it for you. See http://www.webhmi.com

Jonas Berge
SMAR
===========
[email protected]
www.smar.com
Learn fieldbus at your own pace: www.isa.org/fieldbuses

 

Bob,

Have a look at WebDock's DataPort product with built-in webserver reports and graphs.

Eddie

 

You only need to add an OPC ActiveX to an HTML webpage and set the node/server/item properties.

Search Google for [opc activex]. One of the many is: http://www.opcactivex.com/.

Hope this helps.

Warren
(http://www.pc-pid.com)
"the PC-based PID Controller people"

 

Probably the easiest way to put live OPC Data on a Web Server is using the ICONICS WebHMI Product. Pages are easily created with GraphWorX and then published to the Web Server as HTM documents with live OPC Dynamic Links. GraphWorX and WebHMI have lots of great features such as Layering, Display and Data Entry Points, Color Changes, Size Changes, Multifunction Buttons, and a complete User Modifiable Symbol Library. VB and JScripts are supported directly inside of the GraphWorX Display Configuration and Runtime Environments as well as in the published WebHMI pages. For more information contact me at [email protected] or visit http://www.iconics.com.

Jon Brown
ICONICS Strategic Accounts and Business Development

 

Oops! Take a look at http://www.webhmi.com also. This is a live demo of the WebHMI product from ICONICS.

Jon Brown

 

I have used OPCWare - http://www.opcware.com/OPCWare.html. This is an active-x and u can read and write OPC data in ASP pages (thin client, active-x runs on IIS server) or in ur HTML pages with VBScript or JavaScript (fat client, active-x runs on web browser). It takes a bit of setting up as u need to know ASP or HTML but u can use the examples provided to get off to a running start. IMHO best of the lower cost options by far.

 

On this topic...

Do any of the vendors provide live demos of their "web" enabled products on the internet?

I find it immensely ironic that any company that purports to sell a web-based product is unable to provide/doesn't want to risk failure in a live demo.

-Rob

 

The only live demo I looked at was the ICONICS web hmi. It downloaded some cab file and trhen told me I had to restart my PC?! I agree...ironic indeed. Ironic Iconics! I'm a poet I know it you know it.

 

Rob,

To clarify, our product OPCWare Client Developer can be used in a whole variety of applications and architectures. It is not just a web-based product; that is just one of the many possible applications. We provide a wide range of demos and samples to support many of these different applications. With the range of examples we already offer, I think we offer the best value for money available.

However Rob, I thank you for raising your point here because even with all the examples we provide, a live web demo isn't one of them! We will look at adding a live demo very soon, as I'm sure many folks such as yourself would find it useful to see a live demo before deciding to evaluate our product.

For the time being, what I will say is that not only do we purport to sell a web-based product, but:
- we provide examples of ASP pages to run with our product
- the actual product can be downloaded from our website so engineers and developers can put it to the test in their own real web applications for 30 days prior to making a purchase decision
- we list our prices on our website
- we provide secure online purchasing facilities on our website
- and perhaps most importantly regarding your point is this:
- We offer a 30 day money back guarantee. So this combined with the trial period means there's a total of 60 days during which time an application could fail if it was ever going to. Does that tell you we don't want to risk failure? I think you'll agree it shows we have 100% confidence that our software will work in our customer's production applications, and so people will want to buy it.

The architecture of a typical web application using our software really is quite simple:
- OPC server to connect to PLCs
- OPCWare Client Developer to acccess the OPC server
- IIS web server with ASP to serve up the web pages and call the OPCWare Client Developer ActiveX components to read and write the OPC data

All of these are proven components and technologies, and I think you'll agree there is no unusual risk of failure here. There is no Flash, Java, ActiveX or any other plug-in on the web client side, thus simplifying things significantly, and making the architecture extremely robust.

Neil Kingston,
Data Layers

Connecting processes with IT
http://www.opcware.com