Logging Data in Access Database with Intouch
To work with Wonderware Databases, Intouch has a specific application for this called the Historian. However, in a simpler application, we can use the functions that Intouch incorporates to work with Databases, and this practice consists of using the functions to log data into an Access database. I use Access for its simplicity, but any other Database Management System can be used.
If we were working with the Application Server, a prerequisite for its installation is to have installed SQL Server 2005, which is the default Database Management System of Wonderware.
1.- The first step is to create the Database, and except for the Id field, the others will be the values we want to log; these are variables that we use in Intouch.
2.- Once the Database is created, we need to create a new DSN. To do this, we go to:
Start -> Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Data Sources
We add a new one by selecting the type of Database Management System, in this practice Microsoft Access Driver (*.mdf), and select our Database.
3.- Once these steps are completed, we can start our project in Intouch, and the next step is to create a Bind List. The first time we click on Bind List, a pop-up window appears asking if we want to create a file *** Important to say YES, as this file is where the configuration of all the Bind Lists we create is saved.
Once accepted, the following configuration window for our Bind List appears.
The first field to fill in is the name we assign to our BindList, then we have Tagname.FieldName and ColumnName; these two fields are related and refer to the name of the variable and the name of the column in our Database.
We can now proceed to implement our Script. To see the operation in this practice, I will log data every 10 minutes or when an equality occurs with an assigned variable. Within the Scripts, I will create 3: one to establish the connection, another to insert, and another to disconnect from the Database.
The variables we will need to implement our SQLConnect, SQLInsert, and SQLDisconnect functions are as follows, and the Scripts can be observed below:
We run the Runtime and test our Script; we enter 1 to connect, 5 to insert or at certain intervals, and 0 to disconnect.
Now we open our Database to check that the data has been entered correctly.
August 5, 2012