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This article will show howto read and write toWonderware from VB

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Licence GPL3

First Posted 18 Aug 2010

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Using .NET with WonderwareBy earl the dead cat, 24 Aug 2010

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Introduction

This article is born out of several projects I have had extending Wonderware by calling VB.NET applications.

Wonderware is an HMI/SCADA front end made by Wonderware. Wonderware is fairly easy to use, although I am

not a huge fan of it, I don't have much against it either. It is just a common program in the SCADA industry. This will

show you how to write applications that communicate with Wonderware. I usually have to do this to extend the

functionality or to fill in the gaps between what Wonderware can do and what the customer requires.

Background

I write HMI/SCADA software mostly for the oil and gas industry. In this industry, many companies use a product called

Wonderware. I have also come across it in waste water plants as well as food processing plants (Cheese Cake to be

exact!!!). At most of these facilities, they need a function in the Wonderware application, but Wonderware can't do it.

This will give you another option. I have seen other options using DDE. However, DDE is no longer supported so we

will be using the Wonderware Toolkit. This code will contact the Wonderware running on the same computer.

Using the Code

Using the code will be pretty easy. We will create 2 VB files that are required to call the Wonderware toolkit (ptacc.dll

and wwheap.dll). After that, all that will be left is your application to call the read/write functions of the Wonderare

Toolkit. These files were created based on information from Wonderware West and my experience with using the 2

DLLs.

To do this, you need to copy the Intouch.vb and the Ptacc.vb into your project as well as reference the wwheap.dll and

the ptacc.dll. Doing this will allow you to communicate with the Wonderware database.

The Ptacc.vb file will contain everything necessary to communicate with Wonderware. However it isn't very pretty, so

that is why we use the Intouch.vb file. It is just the basic level.

The Intouch.vb file is going to contain our commands for reading and writing values with the Wonderware database.

This will allow you to read/write Strings, Floats, Booleans(Discrete), and Integers.

So if you want to read the first 132 characters from the string variable with the tag SBuffer, then you call

IntouchToolkit.ReadString("SBuffer", 132) or you can use ReadInteger, ReadDiscrete and ReadFloat

for the respective types. Also, the similar is true but the functions is WriteString, WriteFloat, WriteInteger

and WriteDiscrete. The Tag name is always a string.

Now that we got the basics out of the way, you need to call this from your application. This is pretty simple. In your

main VB file, whether it is Windows Form or console application doesn't matter. I have not tried this with a web form,

but I would like to hear your experience with it if you do try it.

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Public Class Form1 Dim accid As Integer Dim hPt As Integer Dim SB As String Dim IntouchToolkit As Intouch

'------------------------------------------------ 'Form1_Load '------------------------------------------------ Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, _

3.33 (6 votes)

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Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, _ ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load

IntouchToolkit = New Intouch(0, 0) SB = IntouchToolkit.ReadString("SBuffer", 132) 'SBuffer is the Tag 'I want to read in Wonderware

End Sub Private Sub btnOpen_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, _ ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles btnOpen.Click IntouchToolkit = New Intouch(0, 0) IntouchToolkit.WriteDiscrete("SomeTag", 1) End SubEnd Class

These are the write functions available to call:

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IntouchToolkit.WriteString("SomeTag", "FooBar")

This is to write a string value.

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IntouchToolkit.WriteFloat("SomeTag", 3.1415)

This is to write a float value.

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IntouchToolkit.WriteInteger("SomeTag", 10)

This is to write an integer value.

Collapse | Copy Code

IntouchToolkit.WriteDiscrete("SomeTag", 1)

This is to write a boolean value.

These are the read functions available to call:

Collapse | Copy Code

IntouchToolkit.ReadString("SomeTag")

This is to read a string value.

Collapse | Copy Code

IntouchToolkit.ReadFloat("SomeTag")

This is to read a float value.

Collapse | Copy Code

IntouchToolkit.ReadInteger("SomeTag")

This is to read a integer value.

Collapse | Copy Code

IntouchToolkit.ReadDiscrete("SomeTag")

This is to read a boolean value.

*NOTE: Replace "SomeTag" with the tagname you want to read or write from.

Points of Interest

As you can see, this is pretty simple. I have used this code several times on Wonderware 7.1 to 10.0. I usually put in

some code that starts my application when an icon in Wonderware is clicked. This is the reason why I get the x and y

values from Wonderware. It took me about a week with Wonderware support to find this information, and they do

not support the Wonderware toolkit, but it has been reliable for me.

History

Well, this is the initial version.

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License

This article, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The GNU General Public License (GPLv3)

About the Author

earl the dead catSoftware Developer (Senior)

National Oilwell Varco

United States

Member

I am a Developer and Electrical Engineer. I work mostly on HMI

and SCADA systems in the Houston area. I have worked mostly

around oil and gas industry. I have also spent time in Indiana

working on automotive assembly plants.

Comments and Discussions

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Member 9993496 22 Apr '13 - 22:01

do you know about .sdf files? sdf is a sql database for mobile devices (sql compact version)

i am going to make a sdf viewer but i dont know where to start.

can you help me?

i need to make a sdf viewer application using vb.net (window-based)

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earl the dead cat 24 Apr '13 - 2:57

a) this has nothing to do with the article above

b) yes.. it is simple... you can attach a db at runtime using a connection string.

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Member 8637012 14 Mar '12 - 7:46

can u please show me how can i call dll file?

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Member 8637012 14 Mar '12 - 9:30

BTW when i try to reference this dll files, does it need to be located in my project bin folder or in programfile

folder? my windowviewer needs to be running while i try to add refrence?

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need help

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folder? my windowviewer needs to be running while i try to add refrence?

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Member 8637012 14 Mar '12 - 10:51

Are you using this dll file in visual studio 08 or 10? i guess u might be using this in older vb version.

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earl the dead cat 14 Mar '12 - 14:20

I originally wrote this for VS.NET 08, you need to go to references and add the dlls you need.

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Member 8637012 15 Mar '12 - 2:46

error:Please make sure that the file is accessible, and that it is a valid assembly or COM component

i did put this files in my project folder.

do you remember what version of intouch you were using also what version of .net framework you

used.

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Member 8637012 16 Mar '12 - 4:32

i have both dll files in their location but i am not sure i have toolkit install or not. my question

would be do i need that toolkit in order to run the application.

please reply i want this to work.

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earl the dead cat 16 Mar '12 - 16:05

The toolkit is on a disc that comes with WW and Archestra. As long as you have WWHeap.dll

and PTACC.dll you are good. Have you referenceed the dlls in Visual studio?

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Member 8637012 19 Mar '12 - 2:33

As I said earlier when i try to reference there dll files it gives me error

error:Please make sure that the file is accessible, and that it is a valid assembly or COM

component

now i am guessing these files are not compatible with vs 10, do you know any other way i

can reference them into my application.

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