OPC client and subscriber development in C#

QuickOPC makes it easy for you to integrate OPC client functionality into your Visual C# solution. Reading a value from OPC Data Access or OPC Unified Architecture server, or writing a data value can be achieved in just one or two lines of code. You can also set up subscriptions and receive event notifications about data changes. What's more, in your OPC C# program, connections to OPC servers do not have to be created and recreated in case of a network failure or similar problems - QuickOPC handles this automatically, behind the scenes.

Component interfaces hide the complexities of OPC, are designed specifically with Microsoft .NET and C# developer in mind, making you feel right at home when referencing and using them.

The components can be used from various environments: Windows Forms, ASP.NET pages, console applications, Windows services, and WPF applications are all supported. The C# development tool we have targeted primarily is Visual Studio.

QuickOPC also supports OPC UA Alarms&Conditions.

For OPC server development in C#, see OPC Wizard instead.

QuickOPC Price List

Simple OPC-UA C# Example Using QuickOPC

The code below (in C#) reads and displays a monitored item value, using QuickOPC:

// Obtain value of a node and display it in a message box 
MessageBox.Show(EasyUAClient.SharedInstance.ReadValue(
    "opc.tcp://opcua.demo-this.com:51210/UA/SampleServer",
    "nsu=http://test.org/UA/Data/;i=10853").ToString());

The code below subscribes to changes of a monitored item value, and displays the value with each change:

// The callback is a lambda expression that displays the value 
EasyUAClient.SharedInstance.SubscribeDataChange(
    "opc.tcp://opcua.demo-this.com:51210/UA/SampleServer", 
    "nsu=http://test.org/UA/Data/;i=10853", 1000,
    (_, args) => Console.WriteLine(args.AttributeData.Value));

OPC UA PubSub

The PubSub variety of OPC UA (as opposed to client-server) uses message-oriented middleware to deliver the data. QuickOPC supports it as well, as shown in the example below.

// The callback displays information about the dataset message received.
EasyUASubscriber.SharedInstance.SubscribeDataSet(
    "opc.udp://239.0.0.1", 
    (_, args) => Console.WriteLine(args.DataSetData));

OPC Data Access "Classic"

The code below (in C# language) connects to an OPC server, and reads and displays an item value, using QuickOPC.NET component. It works in multiple versions of Microsoft Visual Studio.

// Read item value and display it in a message box 
MessageBox.Show(EasyDAClient.SharedInstance.ReadItemValue(
    "", "OPCLabs.KitServer.2", "Demo.Single").ToString());

The code below subscribes to changes of an item, and displays the value with each change:

// The callback is a lambda expression that displays the value 
EasyDAClient.SharedInstance.SubscribeItem(
    "", "OPCLabs.KitServer.2", "Demo.Single", 1000,
    (_, args) => Console.WriteLine(args.Vtq.Value));

No other product can do this in such a clear and concise code, in a single statement! The programming is straightforward, and the developer can focus on getting the work done and not on fighting the intricacies of OPC protocols.

The same code simplicity is maintained in other programming languages. Here are the corresponding examples in Visual Basic (VB.NET).

Try It

Useful links: C# Examples / C# in Knowledge Base / C# examples GitHub repository

Footnote & required disclosure: QuickOPC (including its Options) is a software development kit (SDK) for development of OPC clients and subscribers. Installing QuickOPC or its Options does not change system settings.

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