Developing your application

In this screencast, we'll introduce OptoDataLink, the easy way to share data between the SNAP PAC System and your company database.

Watch this eight-minute OptoScreencast demonstrating OptoDataLink, the easy-to-use database communication application that lets you share data between your company database and the SNAP PAC System. You'll find out answers to questions like these:

• What kinds of Opto 22 devices can exchange data with a database?
• What are the four simple questions you answer to configure a data link?
• How many data links can a configuration file contain?
• What color is a link while it's logging data?
• If you log out of OptoDataLink, will it stop logging data?
• And more...

In this screencast, we'll show you the multiple uses of PAC Manager: assigning IP addresses, configuring protocols, testing I/O, troubleshooting hardware, and more.

Watch this nine-minute OptoScreencast demonstrating some of the many things you can do with PAC Manager, the configuration and troubleshooting tool for the SNAP PAC System. You'll learn:

• When to use PAC Manager instead of PAC Control for configuration
• A quick way to get the latest firmware file from Opto 22's website
• How to easily identify all the Opto 22 Ethernet devices on your network (If you've ever lost an IP address, this one's for you.)
• All the ways you can send an event message, and what a plugin is
• How to test an analog or digital point by writing directly to it
• How to assign a secondary IP address to a SNAP PAC controller
• And much more

In this screencast, we'll demonstrate how easy it is to create and use realtime and historical trends in PAC Display Basic.

Watch this five-minute OptoScreencast and learn about setting up realtime and historical trends in PAC Display Basic. You'll see how to draw, configure, and run a trend. And you'll find out:

• How much PAC Display Basic costs (hint: it's free)
• The three kinds of charts you can build in PAC Display
• What makes a SuperTrend super
• How many trend pens you can plot simultaneously
• Kelly's preference for label colors
• How to find out how much memory your historical trend files will use
• How operators switch from real-time to historical data
• The options available to operators for viewing historical data
• And more...

In this screencast, we'll show you many of PAC Control's debugging tools, such as auto-stepping, breakpoints, and watch windows. Learn how to force output I/O points and simulate input values.

Watch this five-and-a-half minute OptoScreencast that introduces the powerful debugging tools available in PAC Control Basic. Learn about:

• Auto-stepping through a control program (or "strategy")
• Breakpoints for pausing program execution
• Watch windows for monitoring variables in real time

In this screencast, we'll show you some of the features of Opto 22's programming language. Watch how easy it is to configure I/O and build a strategy.

Watch a six-minute OptoScreencast that introduces the programming environment for PAC Control Basic. You'll learn the basic building blocks of a PAC Control program and see how easy it is to build a tagname database and a control strategy using simple dialog boxes and plain English commands. You'll also see:

• The Strategy Tree: all the elements of your control program in one place
• Charts: these logical subsections of your program can run simultaneously or separately
• Action, Decision, and Continue Blocks: building blocks for flowchart logic
• OptoScript: an optional programming tool, great for complex loops, math, and string handling
• Subroutines: one secret to faster development time
• Variables & I/O: when you've named these, you've already created a database for PAC Display (HMI) and OPC clients

In this screencast, we'll demonstrate many of the features of Opto 22's HMI software. You'll see how to configure a touch button in just seconds!

Watch this six-minute OptoScreencast demonstrating the features of PAC Display Basic, such as trending, alarming, and animation. You'll see PAC Display's graphical capabilities and learn how to create a toggle button object, and then connect that button to your common PAC Project tagname database. Plus:

• Graphics: use ours, import yours, or draw your own
• Runtime: see how the HMI will look and act
• Trending: interact with real-time and historical data to see trends
• Data input: find out the big advantage of a single tagname database
• Alarming: learn eight alarming features
• Animation: update the display based on controller data and operator actions

In this screencast, we'll show you how to quickly configure PID loops by filling in the blanks and how to tune your PID loop using the graphical debugging window.

Watch this five-minute OptoScreencast that introduces the PID loop control capabilities of PAC Control Basic. The screencast demonstrates:

• Selecting PID inputs from different I/O points
• Tuning a PID loop using the graphical debugging window