View source for What's new in OPC Studio 2024.2

[[Category:Documentation]] [[Category:Examples]] [[Category:Installation]] [[Category:Object Aliasing]] [[Category:OPC Wizard]] [[Category:Python]] [[Category:User Authentication]] [[Category:What's New]] 
<div style="text-align: right; direction: ltr; margin-left: 1em;">See also: [[Versions]]; Previous version: [[What's new in OPC Studio 2024.1]]</div>
Internal version number: 5.81

''Key changes: ''
* New product: OPC Wizard
* User Authentication Improvements
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= Fundamentals =
* Introduced a new product in the OPC Studio family: '''OPC Wizard'''. OPC Wizard a toolkit for rapid OPC UA server development.
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= Targeting = 
* .NET 7 is no longer supported (Microsoft end of support May 14, 2024), but will likely work. .NET 6 and and .NET 8 continue to be supported.
* Windows 11 version 21H2 is no longer supported (Microsoft end of support October 10, 2023), but will likely work.

= Technology =
* OPC UA Client-Server parts are now based on OPC Foundation UA-.NETStandard 1.5.374.78.

= Licensing =
* The {{Style=Identifier|LicenseInfo}} property on the main components now returns the dictionary alphabetically ordered.
= Packaging =
* There is a new NuGet package, '''OpcLabs.QuickOpc.Design''', which provides (part of) the design-time features. The package is marked as "development dependency", i.e. its assemblies will not be referenced by your project.
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= Delivery =
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= Installation and Uninstallation =
* The Setup wizard for QuickOPC now offers a choice of "express installation" for Python development. When selected, only the setup components relevant for Python developers are installed.
* The .NET examples group is split into sub-groups for C#, C++/CLI, F#, PowerShell and VB.NET.

= Component Improvements =
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== OPC Classic ==
== OPC Data Access and OPC XML-DA ==
== OPC XML-DA ==
== OPC Alarms&Events ==
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== OPC UA ==
* Added static method {{Style=Identifier|UANodeId}}.{{Style=Identifier|FromUABuiltInType}}, and an implicit conversion operator, for conversion from {{Style=Identifier|UABuiltInType}} to a {{Style=Identifier|UANodeId}} representing the datatype Id for the built-in type.
* Added method {{Style=Identifier|UANodeId}}.{{Style=Identifier|ToUABuiltInType}}, and an explicit conversion operator, for conversion from {{Style=Identifier|UANodeId}} representing the data type Id to {{Style=Identifier|UABuiltInType}} that corresponds to the data type.
* Added constructors to {{Style=Identifier|UADataValue}} and {{Style=Identifier|UAAttributeData}} that allow specifying just the value and source timestamp.
== OPC UA Client-Server ==
* Added static property {{Style=Identifier|ObjectsStrict}} to the {{Style=Identifier|UABrowseParametersClass}}, and modified the behavior of the {{Style=Identifier|Objects}} static property. The {{Style=Identifier|ObjectsStrict}} static property now returns browse parameters according to strict interpretation of the OPC UA specification, and browses only the '''HasComponent''' references. The {{Style=Identifier|Objects}} static property uses a loose interpretation (needed for some non-compliant servers), and browses any '''HierarchicalReferences'''.
* Added a new overload of the {{Style=Identifier|IEasyUAClient}}.{{Style=Identifier|Browse}} extension method. The overload takes an endpoint descriptor, node descriptor, node classes, and reference type id as inputs.
* '''It is now possible to dynamically change the identity of the user on an existing connection (OPC UA session). This is sometimes called "user switching", and is done by defining the {{Style=Identifier|UserIdentity}} with an {{Style=Identifier|AliasName}} instead of a concrete user, and defining and later changing the corresponding alias value, using the methods on the {{Style=Identifier|AliasManagement}}.{{Style=Identifier|Instance}} object.'''
* Added {{Style=Identifier|WithIdentityAlias}} extension method on the {{Style=Identifier|UAEndpointDescriptor}} object. The method returns the endpoint descriptor modified to use the specified alias name for the user identity, which is useful for dynamic user identity changes.
* For a username token identity, added method and constructor overloads that allow to specify just the user name, providing a default (empty) password.
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== OPC UA Complex Data ==
== OPC UA File Transfer ==
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== OPC UA PubSub ==
* The "tls" scheme can now be used in resource addresses, and is equivalent to "mqtts" or "ssl".
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== COM Components ==
== User Interface ==
== Services == 
== Specialized Client Objects ==
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== OPC UA Administration and PKI ==
* On Windows, certificate directory store paths that are too long to work normally are automatically detected and transformed to Windows extended-length paths.
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== Performance ==
== Other ==
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= Component Refactorings =
* Renamed properties in {{Style=Identifier|NotifyingWidget}}: {{Style=Identifier|QueueCallbacks}} to {{Style=Identifier|QueueNotifications}}, {{Style=Identifier|CallbackQueueCapacity}} to {{Style=Identifier|NotificationQueueCapacity}}, and {{Style=Identifier|CallbackQueueIdleTimeToSleep}} to {{Style=Identifier|NotificationQueueIdleTimeToSleep}}.
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== OPC Classic ==
== OPC XML-DA ==
== OPC Alarms&Events ==
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== OPC UA ==
* Turned {{Style=Identifier|UACodeBits}} static class (with list of integer constants) to an enumeration. Added implicit conversion operator from {{Style=Identifier|UACodeBits}} enumeration to {{Style=Identifier|UAServiceResult}}.
* Renamed classes (generally by adding the word "Client", in order to achieve the necessary distinction from classes used in server development); corresponding COM interfaces have been renamed in the same way:
** {{Style=Identifier|EasyUAAdaptableParameters}} to {{Style=Identifier|EasyUAClientAdaptableParameters}}.
** {{Style=Identifier|EasyUAEngineParameters}} to {{Style=Identifier|EasyUAClientEngineParameters}}.
** {{Style=Identifier|EasyUAInstanceParameters}} to {{Style=Identifier|EasyUAClientInstanceParameters}}.
** {{Style=Identifier|EasyUASharedParameters}} to {{Style=Identifier|EasyUAClientSharedParameters}}.
** {{Style=Identifier|UAEnhancedSessionParameters}} to {{Style=Identifier|UAEnhancedClientSessionParameters}}.
** {{Style=Identifier|UASmartEngineParameters}} to {{Style=Identifier|UASmartClientEngineParameters}}.
** {{Style=Identifier|UASmartSessionParameters}} to {{Style=Identifier|UASmartClientSessionParameters}}.
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== OPC UA PubSub ==
== Specialized Client Objects ==
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== OPC UA Administration and PKI ==
* The default application URI template string has changed. It now uses canonicalized host name, and "http" scheme instead or "uri". For more information, see [[OPC UA Application URI Derivation]].
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== COM Components ==
== Services ==
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= User Interface = 
== OPC UA Administration and PKI ==
* On the "Application certificate" tab in the "Administer OPC UA Application" dialog, the program now detects a mismatch between the application URI configured in the application manifest, and the application URI in the certificate (Subject URL Name). A warning is issued when the mismatch is detected, and an automatic fix (regenerating the self-signed certificate) is offered.
* In the methods that invoke the "Administer OPC UA Application" dialog, you can now programmatically control whether the Pull Certificate Management features are allowed in the dialog (the Pull Certificate Management is typically used with OPC UA clients, but not with OPC UA servers).
* The "Administer OPC UA Application" now allows the user to specify Host names that go into the application instance certificate (used with applications that are Servers).
* The property grid on the "Application certificate" tab of the "Administer OPC UA Application" dialog now also has a dedicated row for the the Domain Component element of the certificate Subject Name.

== Windows Forms Dialogs ==
* Added {{Style=Identifier|LooseReferenceTypes}} property to the {{Style=Identifier|UADataDialog}} class. When {{Style=Keyword|true}} (the default), it causes the dialog to browse following very wide set of reference types, in order to cope with non-compliant servers.
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= Development Productivity =
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== Code Analysis ==
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== Visual Studio Integration ==
* The Visual Studio extension (VSIX) has been renamed from "QuickOPC" to "OPC Studio".
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= Excel Connector = 
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= Configuration and Instrumentation = 
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== OPC Classic ==
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== OPC UA ==
* There are now three separate event log sources: '''"OPCLabs-UAClientEngine"''' for events coming from the OPC UA client part of QuickOPC, '''"OPCLabs-UAPubSubEngine"''' for events comings from OPC UA PubSub part, and '''"OPCLabs-UAServerEngine"''' for event coming from the OPC UA server part of OPC Wizard (previously, single '''"OPCLabs-UAEngine"''' event source was used).
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= Application Deployment =

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= Tools and Online Services =
== Connectivity Explorer == 
* Added two new endpoints under "Well-known" OPC UA Client-Server points: One for the standard OPC UA server endpoint on the local computer ("opc.tcp://localhost:4840"), and the other for default server endpoint of servers created with OPC Wizard ("opc.tcp://localhost:48040").
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== Demo Servers and Publishers ==
== License Manager ==
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== OpcCmd Utility ==
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=== OPC UA Client-Server ===
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=== OPC UA Client ===
* The '''uaClient collectSoftwareInfo''' command now also collects the new server capabilities introduced in OPC UA 1.05 (such as MaxSessions, MaxSubscriptions, etc.).
=== OPC UA Server ===
* The '''uaServer start''' command starts an OPC UA server with pre-defined content (data variables without various behavior and data types under the standard Objects folder). By default, it opens its endpoint on "opc.tcp://localhost:48040/".
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=== OPC UA PubSub ===
=== Common ===
== All Command-Line Tools ==

== OPC UA PubSub Formatter ==
= Product Options =
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= Examples =
== Platform: .NET ==
* Wherever feasible, converted the C# and VB.NET example projects for Console and Windows Forms to the "SDK" (multi-target) format, allowing them to be built for and run on either .NET Framework 4.7.2+, or .NET 6+.
* Split the example solutions to separate client development, subscriber development, and server development. Some common projects are shared between the solutions.
* Renamed project folders, adopting a naming convention which clearly distinguishes between common, client, server, and subscriber examples (using "Common-", "Client-", "Server-", and "Subscriber-" prefix).
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== Platform: COM ==
== Platform: Python ==
== OPC Classic ==
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== OPC UA Client-Server ==
* Added C# example showing how to read the build information of the server.
* Added C# example showing how to remove the own application certificate.
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== OPC UA PubSub ==
== Excel Connector ==

= Bonus Material = 

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= Documentation and Help =
* Significantly improved the reference documentation.
* Removed integration with Visual Studio help system (Microsoft Help Viewer). Instead, links to the full Web-based reference documentation are provided from all IntelliSense topics.
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= Deprecation =
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