<< Click to Display Table of Contents >> Navigation:  Instrument Connectivity > OPC Client Support - Overview > OPC - Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

 

I cannot see any OPC buttons anywhere in SpecView.

You need to update to the latest build of SpecView, go to http://www.specview.com

The OPC Server I want does not appear in SpecView’s OPC Browser.

You should cancel out SpecView’s OPC Browser and then start up the OPC Server; then go back into SpecView’s OPC Browser. If the OPC Server still does not appear in SpecView’s OPC Browser then try reinstalling the OPC Server.

The SpecView ‘instrument’ I created does not have all of the ‘Item IDs’ in it that were listed in SpecView’s OPC Browser.

This is either because:

Or:

'N/R's are shown for some ‘Item IDs’ but not all.

The OPC Server is returning the value back for the 'N/R' ‘Item IDs’ as bad, hence SpecView shows them as 'N/R's. Consult the OPC Server manufacturer for the cause of the bad value.

I cannot connect to a remote server that I know exists and is running.

Check that the case of the OPC Server and PC name you have typed in is correct and try again.

If you are still having problems then it could be an authorization issue. Does the ‘remote’ PC, with the OPC Server running, have authorization for the PC with SpecView running on it.  In other words,  the user logged onto the PC with SpecView running must be setup as a user (with the same password) of the PC with the OPC Server running on it and possibly even logged in and running the OPC Server. This is all dependent upon which version of Windows you are running.

NOTE: The following steps are taken at your own risk, beware that you will be editing registry settings; possibly losing personalized settings and rebooting your PC several times.  Read these instructions through VERY CAREFULLY before trying them:

If you are still having problems then it could be that DCOM has not been configured on the OPC Server PC to “Enable remote connection”; to do this is rather involved and may require reboot(s) of your PC.  What you have to do is to run DCOMCNFG.EXE (which is normally found in your Windows SYSTEM folder). This in itself may require you to go to the Network icon in the Control Panel and set User-level access control under the Access Control tab (and the Obtain list of users and groups from:  to be your Computer Name:  from the Identification tab) before DCOMCNFG.EXE will run. NOTE:  This step will cause your PC to lose its Shares and personalized settings for all users. DCOMCNFG.EXE has a tab called Default Security. Go there and check that Enable remote connection is checked. If it is enabled then you have a separate problem; if it is not checked then check it and (probably after a reboot) go back to the Network icon in the Control Panel and set Share-level access control under the Access Control tab on your OPC Server. This whole process will have removed any Shares that you had setup on the OPC Server PC, so reset them as the last step.

If you are still having problems then ensure that the following registry entry has the value 1 (this is documented in Microsoft’s article Q174024 “DCOM95 Frequently Asked Questions”):

 HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Ole\LegacyAuthenticationLevel

NOTE:  If you are still having problems then consult the OPC Server manufacturer.

If you still have a problem then consult SpecView’s website http://www.specview.com

I am experiencing problems with an OPC Server such that the OPC Server crashes or runs up and then disappears.

Try adding the following to SV3.INI, which may solve the problem:

[OPC]

OPCServersToBeTraversedByBranch1=<OPC Server Name>=1

OPCServersToBeTraversedByBranch2=<OPC Server Name>=1

etc.

 

Replacing <OPC Server Name> with the OPC Server Name

 

For example:

OPCServersToBeTraversedByBranch1=MSL.Datascan=1

Supported Data Types

Currently SpecView only supports the following OPC data types:

 

VT_BOOL

VT_BSTR

VT_DATE

VT_FILETIME

VT_I1

VT_I2

VT_I4

VT_INT

VT_R4

VT_R8

VT_UI1

VT_UI2

VT_UI4

VT_UINT

 

If your SpecView instrument does not contain the ‘Item IDs’ that you expect, then check with the OPC Server’s manufacturer to see if it is a type in the above list.