QuickOPC User's Guide and Reference
Examples - OPC Data Access - Get a value of single property
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Basic example

.NET

// This example shows how to get a value of a single OPC property.
//
// Note that some properties may not have a useful value initially (e.g. until the item is activated in a group), which also the
// case with Timestamp property as implemented by the demo server. This behavior is server-dependent, and normal. You can run 
// IEasyDAClient.ReadItemValue.Main.vbs shortly before this example, in order to obtain better property values. Your code may 
// also subscribe to the item in order to assure that it remains active.

using System;
using OpcLabs.EasyOpc.DataAccess;
using OpcLabs.EasyOpc.OperationModel;

namespace DocExamples.DataAccess._EasyDAClient
{
    partial class GetPropertyValue
    {
        public static void Main1()
        {
            // Instantiate the client object.
            var client = new EasyDAClient();

            object value;
            try
            {
                value = client.GetPropertyValue("", "OPCLabs.KitServer.2", "Simulation.Random",
                    DAPropertyIds.Timestamp);
            }
            catch (OpcException opcException)
            {
                Console.WriteLine("*** Failure: {0}", opcException.GetBaseException().Message);
                return;
            }

            Console.WriteLine(value);
        }
    }
}

COM

// This example shows how to get a value of a single OPC property.
//
// Note that some properties may not have a useful value initially (e.g. until the item is activated in a group), which also the
// case with Timestamp property as implemented by the demo server. This behavior is server-dependent, and normal. You can run 
// IEasyDAClient.ReadItemValue.Main.vbs shortly before this example, in order to obtain better property values. Your code may 
// also subscribe to the item in order to assure that it remains active.

const Timestamp = 4;

$Client = new COM("OpcLabs.EasyOpc.DataAccess.EasyDAClient");

try
{
    $value = $Client->GetPropertyValue("", "OPCLabs.KitServer.2", "Simulation.Random", Timestamp);
}
catch (com_exception $e)
{
    printf("*** Failure: %s\n", $e->getMessage());
    Exit();
}

printf("%s\n", $value);

Example with time measurement

Rem This example measures the time needed to get values of all OPC properties of a single OPC item "one by one".

Option Explicit

Dim ServerDescriptor: Set ServerDescriptor = CreateObject("OpcLabs.EasyOpc.ServerDescriptor")
ServerDescriptor.ServerClass = "OPCLabs.KitServer.2"

Dim NodeDescriptor: Set NodeDescriptor = CreateObject("OpcLabs.EasyOpc.DataAccess.DANodeDescriptor")
NodeDescriptor.ItemID = "Simulation.ReadValue_I4"

Dim Client: Set Client = CreateObject("OpcLabs.EasyOpc.DataAccess.EasyDAClient")

Dim PropertyElementCollection
On Error Resume Next
Set PropertyElementCollection = Client.BrowseProperties(ServerDescriptor, NodeDescriptor)
If Err.Number <> 0 Then
    WScript.Echo "*** Failure: " & Err.Source & ": " & Err.Description
    WScript.Quit
End If
On Error Goto 0

'EasyDAClient.ReadItemValue "", "OPCLabs.KitServer.2", "Simulation.ReadValue_I4"
Dim startTime: startTime = Timer
Dim PropertyElement: For Each PropertyElement In PropertyElementCollection
    Dim propertyID: Set propertyID = PropertyElement.PropertyID
    On Error Resume Next
    Dim value: value = Client.GetPropertyValue("", "OPCLabs.KitServer.2", "Simulation.ReadValue_I4", propertyID.NumericalValue)
    If Err.Number <> 0 Then
        WScript.Echo "*** Failure: " & Err.Source & ": " & Err.Description
        WScript.Quit
    End If
    On Error Goto 0
    'WScript.Echo value
Next
WScript.Echo "Time taken (milliseconds): " & (Timer - startTime)*1000

Example with type casting

The GetPropertyValue Method returns a generic object, regardless of the property involved. You may therefore need to cast the returned value to the expected type, and possibly do further processing on the value, as in the the example below.

// This example shows how to obtain a data type of an OPC item.

using System;
using OpcLabs.BaseLib.ComInterop;
using OpcLabs.EasyOpc.DataAccess;
using OpcLabs.EasyOpc.OperationModel;

namespace DocExamples.DataAccess._EasyDAClient
{
    partial class GetPropertyValue
    {
        public static void DataType()
        {
            // Instantiate the client object.
            var client = new EasyDAClient();

            // Get the value of DataType property; it is a 16-bit signed integer
            short dataType;
            try
            {
                dataType = (short)client.GetPropertyValue("", "OPCLabs.KitServer.2", "Simulation.Random",
                    DAPropertyIds.DataType);
            }
            catch (OpcException opcException)
            {
                Console.WriteLine("*** Failure: {0}", opcException.GetBaseException().Message);
                return;
            }
            // Convert the data type to VarType
            var varType = (VarType)dataType;

            // Display the obtained data type
            Console.WriteLine("DataType: {0}", dataType);   // Display data type as numerical value
            Console.WriteLine("VarType: {0}", varType);     // Display data type symbolically

            // Code below illustrates how decisions can be made based on type
            switch (varType.InternalValue)
            {
                case VarTypes.R8:
                    Console.WriteLine("The data type is VarTypes.R8, as we expected.");
                    break;

                // other cases may come here ...

                default:
                    Console.WriteLine("The data type is not as we expected!");
                    break;
            }
        }
    }
}

 

See Also

Examples - OPC DA Layered Extensions

Conceptual