What's new in QuickOPC 2019.1

See also: Versions; Previous version: What's new in QuickOPC 2018.3

Internal version number: 5.55

Key changes:

• Targeting & Technology Updates

Targeting

• .NET runtimes: Removed .NET Framework 4.6.2 from the list of supported .NET runtimes (use .NET Framework 4.7 instead).
• .NET runtimes: Added support for .NET Framework 4.8.
• .NET runtimes: Removed .NET Core 2.0 versions from the list of supported .NET runtimes.
• .NET runtimes: Added support for .NET Core 2.1.3 - 2.1.12.
• Operating Systems: Removed Windows Server version 1709 (x64) from the list of supported systems.
• Operating Systems: Windows 10 now needs to be Anniversary Update or later.
• Operating Systems: Added Windows Server 2019 (x64), including Core, to the list of supported systems.
• Primary development tools: Removed Visual Studio 2013 and 2015 (although they may still work).
• Primary development tools: Added Visual Studio 2019.

Technology

• For .NET Standard OPC UA, uses OPC Foundation's OPC UA .Net Standard Library 1.4.355.26.
• Upgraded to BoxedApp SDK 2019.5.

Packaging and Delivery

• The binaries are now code-signed using both SHA-1 and SHA-256.

Component Improvements

• In .NET Standard, OPC UA security policies Aes128_Sha256_RsaOaep and Aes256_Sha256_RsaPss are now supported.
• The UADataValue (and, therefore, UAAttributeData) class now has additional properties, ServerPicoseconds and SourcePicoseconds. They specify the number of picoseconds intervals which shall be added to the ServerTimestamp or SourceTimestamp. Note that as opposed to the representation in the OPC UA protocols, the value of these properties is *not* in tens of picoseconds, but is rather in true picoseconds.
• When formatting the expanded text of OPC UA Node IDs and qualified names, the namespace URI (the text after "nsu=") is now separated with an additional space from the following semicolon, allowing the URI be easily separated by tools that are not aware of the specific syntax of OPC UA Node IDs and qualified names. Similarly, any trailing whitespace in the namespace URI part (the text after "nsu=") is ignored when parsing the OPC UA Node IDs and qualified names.
• Added a new property SessionTimeoutDebug to the UAClientSessionParameters class. The value of this property determines the requested OPC UA session timeout used when a debugger is attached. The normal SessionTimeout defaults to 1 minute, the SessionTimeoutDebug defaults to 10 minutes, making it easier to prevent expired sessions while debugging with breakpoints.
• Classes under the OpcLabs.EasyOpc.UA.AddressSpace.Standard namespace have been updated to OPC UA 1.04, bringing in many new members.
• Enhanced exception messages in various common error cases, for easier troubleshooting.

Component Refactorings

• In the event pull mechanism, added a maximumCount argument to multiple-result PullXXXX methods. Removed single-result PullXXXX methods from the .NET interfaces, and reimplemented them as extension methods.

User Interface

• All browsing dialogs (except those explicitly listed further) now have a Search box, allowing the user to enter text to search for, choose various search options, and navigate in the tree and/or list to nodes that fulfill the search criteria. Dialogs that do not have the Search feature are: ComputerBrowserDialog, UAEndpointDialog, OpcServerDialog, DAPropertyDialog, AEAttributeDialog, AECategoryDialog, AECategoryConditionDialog. The Search drop-down menu offers history of searches, list of visited nodes found, and search options: Starts with/End with/Contains/Does not contain/Precise text, Match case, and Regular expression.
• The Point Browser Control (used e.g. in Live Binding and Connectivity Explorer), and the Address Space Browser (in Connectivity Explorer) now have a Legend pane, allowing the user to view the list of node icons used in the control, and their meaning (descriptions). The Legend pane can be turned off and on from the Layout menu of the browse control.

Developer Tool Integration

• Data members that are not necessary for user debugging are now consistently hidden from the debugger (Visual Studio), making it easier to find the relevant information.

Examples

• Visual Studio example projects are now for Visual Studio 2017; can be opened in Visual Studio 2019.
• LINQPad examples are now for LINQPad 5.