TOP Server Release Notes - 2003

This page lists TOP Server updates release notes from 2003.

October 2003

TOP Server Version 4.103.252 Released

  • General Server (servermain.exe) - addressed deadband issue when applying to scaled values.
     
  • AB ControlLogix Driver updated to version 4.70.81
    • Added support for ControlLogix Controllers via 1761 NET-ENI
    • Added support for CompactLogix 5300 Controllers via Ethernet and 1761 NET-ENI
    • Added support for FlexLogix 5400 Controllers via Ethernet and 1761 NET-ENI
    • Added Float (F) support for the ENI:Micrologix model.
       
  • AB DF1 Driver updated to version 4.61.70
    • Added link protocol type KF2/KF3 Half Duplex Master
       
  • Omron FINS Serial (V4.20.29) & Ethernet Drivers (V4.20.33) updated to address issue with E/EM strings
     
  • Honeywell HC900 Ethernet driver Version 4.10.27
    • Added Tag import support
    • Modified address ranges for Signal Tags
       
  • Sixnet UDR driver Version 4.21.10
    • Addressed issue with closing sessions on server shutdown.

August 2003

TOP Server Enhancements for 3 drivers

  • AB ControlLogix - added Inactivity Watchdog timer device property - lets you control how long a connection with the PLC will remain connected even when no reads or writes are being requested. Helps reduce or eliminate CIP errors when working with larger projects.
  • User Configurable Driver (UCON) - Added additional Custom check sum
  • Wago Ethernet Driver - Expanded address range for 750-342 model

July 2003

OPC Server Manager for the TOP Server released. (Click Here for Information)

  • Automatically monitors comm. error tags
  • Logs comm. errors to internal log and Windows Event Viewer
  • E-mails any error or change
  • Automatically changes configuration for Redundant PLC's or Network cards
  • Automatically varies timeout settings for serial devices

TOP Server adds 2 new drivers and updates to others

  • NEW: ODBC Client driver - reads data out of any ODBC compliant database and exposes it as OPC items for your OPC client to read. - more information
  • NEW: Red Prairie driver - provides a two-way, transactional link between the TOP Server and RedPrairie logistics systems. Also, this driver can be used totally independent of RedPrairie systems to provide a transactional based means of communicating between two or more TOP Server systems. Click for details on this driver.
  • AB DF1 driver - performance enhancements
  • AB Unsolicited Ethernet driver - added option to drop idle connections
  • UCON driver - major feature addition and update with minor bug fixes.
    • Added capability to handle variable length data fields in delimited list format.
    • Added BCD format option for 16-bit check sum types.
    • Bug fix: Would report good quality data with NULL value if no Update Tag command called for tag. Now hold tag's quality bad until successful execution of Update Tag command.
    • Bug fix: Length property of variable length device data formats would change during runtime. This could cause erroneous validation errors when editing format properties. Constant dummy length is now used in dialog.

June 2003

TOP Server adds 2 new drivers and updates others

  • InTouch Client Driver - also known as the OPC to InTouch Bridge driver. Automatically reads the list of available tags from Wonderware InTouch systems, configures the OPC Server tag list, and makes the InTouch tag data available as OPC Items -- any OPC Data Access client can now connect directly and read/write InTouch tag data. Click for more info and free demo
  • Allen Bradley Ethernet Unsolicited Messages -this new member of the Allen-Bradley Suite allows the TOP Server to receive unsolicited messages from AB PLCs. The driver supports receiving the AB PLC2 Unsolicited Message functions from any AB PLC that can send out an Unsolicited Message in PLC2 format - consult your PLC documentation. The Unsolicited driver allows an OPC client application to appear as 1 to 256 AB devices on the network. The slave mode allows the server to receive data by exception from an AB master. As with any slave device, the AB Unsolicited driver will only transfer data when being read or written by a master.
  • Updated: ControlLogix Ethernet Driver (v4.60.75) - now supports the AB SoftLogix 5800 controller
  • Updated: S5 AS511 serial driver (v4.23.21) - improved handling of write items when comm errors occur
  • Updated: UCON driver (v4.01.07) - Increased data buffer size, added ASCII Hex option, added support for 64-bit IEEE floating point values

May 2003

TOP Server version 4.90.237

  • Major enhancements to the ControlLogix driver to include a new highly optimized block read method of communication that can get the list of available tags from the PLC directly and adds performance statistics to help users tune their performance. read more here
  • New driver - Sattbus Driver
  • Updated drivers to add String access for tags
    • Omron FINS Ethernet
    • Omron FINS Serial
    • Mitsubishi FX
  • Full details of release notes, click here.

February 2003

TOP Server v 4.84.227

  • Improvements to Wonderware Suitelink interface
  • Improvements to S7-300/400 TCP/IP Ethernet driver
  • Improvements to Allen-Bradley Ethernet driver
  • All Automation Direct Drivers updated to support latest Automation Direct models - DL-05, DL-06, DL-260
  • New Honeywell HC900 Ethernet driver and Honeywell Suite
  • Full details of release notes, click here.