Book Contents

About OLE for Process Control

OLE for Process Control (OPC®) is an open and inter-operable interface standard, based on the functional requirements of Microsoft’s OLE/COM technology that fosters inter-operability between automation/control applications and box systems/devices.

OPC offers advantages for connecting to non-Allen-Bradley devices, because OPC is

  • Highly efficient
  • Reliable (particularly over network)
  • Actively supported by Microsoft

    Tip:

    For applications running on PanelView Plus 7, PanelView Plus 6, PanelView Plus, PanelView Plus Compact, or PanelView Plus CE terminals, the OPC server must be local. Applications based on Windows 7 SP1, Windows 10, Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1, Windows Server 2012, and Windows Server 2016 operating systems.

To set up the application as an OPC client

  1. Set up an OPC data server, specifying the OPC server name (ProgID), host computer name (if the server is remote) and a local name and, optionally, a description.
  2. In the tag database, define a tag with Device as its data source.
  3. In the Address box, specify the OPC item that will provide values for the tag.

    Tip:

    Please refer to your server documentation for information on deploying OPC servers on a PanelView Plus 7, PanelView Plus 6, PanelView Plus, PanelView Plus Compact, or PanelView Plus CE terminal.

See also

Set up OPC communications

Communicate with programmable logic controllers

Keywords: OPC