What's new in QuickOPC 2017.2

See also: Versions; Previous version: What's new in QuickOPC 2017.1

Internal version number: 5.51

Key changes:

Targeting

• Operating systems: Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 (x64) with SP1 is no longer supported.
• Development tools: Visual Studio 2017 added to the list of primary development tools.

Technology

• Microsoft Code Contracts are no longer used. The actual checks on public surface APIs remain in place.
• The product is now developed mainly with Visual Studio 2017.

Component Improvements

OPC "Classic"

• The DAGroupParameters class now has additional static properties Normal, Slow, Fast, VerySlow and VeryFast, allowing the developer to quickly obtain pre-defined parameter sets. Also Live Binding users can choose these easily using the drop-down selection next to Standard Name property.

OPC Unified Architecture

• The OPC UA components are now based on OPC Foundation .NET Stack 1.03.342.
• OPC UA security policy Basic256Sha256 is now supported.
• Improved type inference logic with OPC UA writes and ValueRank-s of ScalarOrOneDimension, Any, or OneOrMoreDimensions. The component now uses the value to be written as a hint for the resulting type rank.
• New parameter: UAClientEngineParameters.DebuggerDetectionOverride. Allows to enforce the behavior as if the debugger was or was not attached. Useful for troubleshooting scenarios having to do with OPC UA session keep-alive or lifetime mechanisms.
• A new CertificateAcceptancePolicy property has been added to UAEndpointDescriptor. When set to non-null, it allows the developer to override the certificate acceptance policy just for the specified endpoint.
• The UAMonitoringParameters class now has additional static properties Slow, Fast, VerySlow and VeryFast, allowing the developer to quickly obtain pre-defined parameter sets. Also Live Binding users can choose these easily using the drop-down selection next to Standard Name property.
• Added a TypeConverter to UAIndexRangeList, with ability to convert from strings (either with or without surrounding square brackets). This allow e.g. the users of Live Binding or Connection Explorer to simply type in the index ranges, instead of having to go through the collection editor.
• Improved error checking when parsing OPC UA index range lists (disallow negative indices).
• Improved error messages when parsing OPC UA index range lists. The messages now consistently contain specific information about the offending input.
• When more OPC UA sessions display a notification asking the user to accept or reject a certificate, the requests are now presented in parallel.
• OPC UA endpoint domain check warning, and a certificate check validation warning, if they happen on the same session, are now presented in parallel.
• Improved OPC UA interoperability.

Component Refactorings

• The CertificateAcceptancePolicy property has been moved from UAClientSessionParameters to UAClientEngineParameters.
• Finally removed the obsoleted EasyUAClient.MonitoredItemChanged event, and everything that related to it.

User Interface

• In browsing dialogs and controls, the Node Information box for OPC UA endpoints now contains information about the user identity provided (the types of tokens present). The text is displayed in bold, if the user identity is not "Anonymous" only.

Instrumentation

• New log entry: An information log entry added when OPC UA subscription has been successfully created and checked. The subscription's ID, revised publishing interval, and keep-alive and lifetime counts are recorded. (Some event IDs have been renumbered in relation to this).
• When the directory-based certificate store is used, the OPC UA engine now logs the resolved directory path of the application certificate.

Tools

Connectivity Explorer

• Many more automatically managed columns are now created with each point type. The new columns are hidden by default, but can be turned on (made visible) by simply changing their Visible property to 'true', without having them to be manually created and configured. For example, "Server Timestamp (UTC)" and "Source Timestamp (UTC) columns are now automatically created.
• The user can now add "Index Range List (OPC-UA)" nodes in the Point Editor. This makes it easier to specify points with index ranges. It is no longer necessary to switch into the Properties tab, click "..." in the "Index Range List" row, and then "Add" each index range and enter its index values. Instead, simply "Add" the "Index Range List (OPC-UA)" under any OPC UA node, and then type in the required index range(s), e.g. "5:10".
• The Parameters Editor window now has a Reset button, allowing the user to revert the parameters for the selected point type to their default values quickly and all at once.
• For OPC-DA Item Points and OPC-UA Attribute Points, the user can now use the Standard Name drop-down in the Properties tab of the Parameters Editor window to select from additional Fast, Slow, VeryFast or VerySlow pre-defined settings.
• Columns in Live Data view now have Visible property, allowing them to be hidden.
• The user can now use a horizontal splitter to change the height of the node information pane height in the Point Editor - Browse. Also, some screen estate has been gained by omitting the node information label.
• The properties of Live Data view columns has been split into several categories (e.g. "Appearance" and "Data"), making it easier to find and modify the information needed.
• The main window's location, size and opacity are now persisted in user settings, and restored when the application is started anew.
• Added a "Reset Window" command to the system menu: Resets window size, state, and opacity back to defaults.
• The event records are now internally captured right from the program start. When the user makes the Event Records window visible, events captured earlier are already present in the window.
• Filtering events in Event Records windows made more user friendly by displaying just the event names in the check list, and not their type signatures.

Documentation

• Separated reference documentation for COM Components from the main "User's Guide and Reference".
• The reference documentation for COM Components is now available only online (is not contained in the Visual Studio integrated help).

Removed Parts

• Code contracts assemblies have been removed.