What's new in QuickOPC 2022.1

See also: Versions; Previous version: What's new in QuickOPC 2021.3

Internal version number: 5.63

Key changes:

• Initial support for .NET 6.0

Targeting

• .NET 6.0 is now a supported .NET runtime. Note: When you develop for .NET 6, use .NET Standard 2.1 as target framework. Windows-specific technologies (Windows Forms, WPF) and features that depend on them (Live Binding, Browse Dialogs and Browse Controls, ...) are not yet supported.

Component Improvements

OPC UA PubSub

• Added ability to load and resolve PubSub configurations from Web resources, using FTP, HTTP or HTTPS.
• In JSON message mapping, added support for DataSetWriterName and ReversibleFieldEncoding flags, introduced in OPC UA specification 1.05.01.

COM Components

• Updated QuickOpc.h include file (Microsoft C++) for use with ISO C++ 20 Standard.

Services

• Added the IEasyUAClientConnectionControl service on the EasyUAClient component (Professional Edition and higher). It provides methods to control the OPC UA client connections to the server, and contains methods like LockConnection and UnlockConnection. When the connection is locked, the component will attempt to open it and keep open, and will not automatically disconnect from the server after the connection is unused for certain time. The service is also available via COM, as _EasyUAClientConnectionControl interface. In .NET, it is also possible to use the DisposableLockConnection extension method, which works nicely with "using" statements in C# and VB.NET.
• Added the IEasyUAClientNodeRegistration service on the EasyUAClient component (Professional Edition and higher). It provides methods to register and unregister nodes, using the corresponding OPC UA services. Node registration (with OPC UA servers that support it) can improve performance with repeatedly accessed nodes. The service is also available via COM, as _EasyUAClientNodeRegistration interface.

Component Refactorings

OPC UA

• The ServerConditionChanged event, previously available on the IEasyUAClient interface, has been moved to a new service, IEasyUAClientConnectionMonitoring, available from the EasyUAClient component. The service is also available via COM, as _EasyUAClientConnectionMonitoring interface.

Tools and Online Services

Connectivity Explorer

• The Connectivity Explorer now has a node for OPC UA PubSub, and it allows the user to browse the relevant parts of the Publish/Subscribe model in the servers, selected dataset fields form published datasets, and display their values in the Live Point Data view.

OpcCmd Utility

• Using the new --!inputFile|--!if <fileName> command option, it is now possible to switch the tool input to the specified file.
• The .opccmd file extension is now associated with executing the file using the OpcCmd utility.
• Added uaClient getService uaClientConnectivityControl command, with lockConnection and unlockConnection subcommands.
• Added uaClient getService uaClientNodeRegistration command, with registerNode and unregisterNode subcommands.
• More dense output of trace entries, by shortening the trace event type column to a 3-letter symbol.

Examples

OPC UA Client-Server

• Added a C# example showing how to lock and unlock connections to an OPC UA server, using the new IEasyUAClientConnectionControl service.
• Added a C# example showing how to register an unregister nodes in an OPC UA server, using the new IEasyUAClientNodeRegistration service.
• Added a VBScript example showing how to connections to and disconnections from the OPC UA server, using the IEasyUAClientConnectionMonitoring service and the event pull mechanism.