I am trying to create an Omron CX-Supervisor project to communicate to a Siemens S7-300 PLC via OPC over industrial ethernet. I have ordered a CP343-1 ethernet module for the PLC & SOFTNET S7 for the PC that will run Omron CX-Supervisor.
I have done a similar project communicating to an Allen Bradley SLC5/05 PLC via OPC over ethernet. I assume that the principles will be the same as the OPC protocol is a defined standard. The Omron CX-Supervisor principles for the Allen Bradley system are as follows:
Server Name - Once the OPC server was installed I just selected the appropriate item from a list box i.e. RSLinx OPC Server. I assume for SOFTNET S7 I will see a similar item.
Adding an item
Name - Arbitrary really but I usually give a name similar to the addressing syntax i.e. DB1_DBD0, DB1_DBW0, M0_0 etc
Item ID - This is the important part. As I understand this has to be the exact addressing syntax as used in the PLC normally i.e. DB1.DBD0, DB1.DBW0, M0.0 etc However, this is just for single words, dwords & bits. To make communications more efficient in the Allen Bradley system I could pass data as arrays i.e. N7:0,L100 (passing 100 integers starting at N7:0). Will I able to do DB1.DBW0,L100 or is the ,L# specific to the Allen Bradley OPC server or is it an OPC standard syntax? If not how do I address arrays with SOFTNET S7?
Access Path - As I understand not all OPC servers support this. For Allen Bradley I defined "Allen_Bradley" in the OPC server & defined the ethernet driver as the preferred path. Does SOFTNET S7 support access paths?
Data type - Pretty self explanatory.
Array - a tick box which I tick.
Any help or guidance on this would be gratefully received. My area of expertise is with Omron CX-Supervisor, Microsoft Visual Basic, Allen Bradley... so I can be of assistance on these matters in return for help on this matter.
Best regards
Neo
PS Sorry for the length of the post
