Software Toolbox Technical Blog

When it comes to modern data workflows, REST APIs are one of the most flexible and widely adopted methods of integrating different systems. Whether you’re working with enterprise software, cloud services, or custom applications, REST provides a lightweight way to exchange data.

In this post, we’ll explore how OPC Router’s REST Client plug-in simplifies connection to RESTful endpoints. We’ll then walk through a practical demonstration using Software Toolbox’s Data Caster product, covering: A step-by-step demo of configuring the REST Client in OPC Router to collect data from an API and display that data with Data Caster.

By the end, you’ll see how REST fits neatly into your industrial data architecture, giving you a flexible bridge between OT and IT systems.

Industrial data is most valuable when it can be seen, understood, and acted upon. OPC UA has long been a widely adopted standard for securely exchanging data in industrial automation, but many users still face challenges: quickly visualizing live values without heavy software, sharing those values with non-technical stakeholders, and reducing setup complexity. 

That’s why we’re excited to announce a new feature in DataCaster: direct OPC UA connectivity. So excited that we made a video about it that you can watch further down this blog in which I will show you how easy this new feature is to implement.With this enhancement, DataCaster can now connect to your OPC UA servers, browse and select tags, and stream live data values into simple displays where they matter most: bridging the gap between raw data and real-time decision-making with just a few clicks.

Industrial teams often find that valuable information lives in more than one place. You can make better decisions when you have access to both live and historical data in one place. Real-time values from PLCs and sensors are essential for monitoring, but SQL databases often hold equally important information, like productions records, quality results, or business transactions. Without a way to easily and quickly connect these sources, teams may spend extra time running manual queries or waiting on reports, slowing down decision making.

Why it matters

Without connecting live and historical sources, operators and engineers are forced to piece together information from separate systems, which slows response time and increases the risk of errors. When SQL data like production orders, quality checks, or inventory status is available side-by-side with live sensor and PLC values, teams gain the full context they need to make decisions faster and with greater confidence.

This post is part of our Summer of IoT blog series, where we spotlight practical tools that solve real-world industrial challenges. In this installment, we dive into how DataCaster helps teams visualize key metrics, quickly, clearly, and without the hassle.

For engineers and operations teams, getting the right data in front of the right people at the right time can make all the difference. But too often, valuable metrics like uptime, downtime, production rates, and OEE stay buried in PLCs, SCADA systems, or databases, while teams rely on outdated methods like whiteboards, spreadsheets, or even handwritten notes.

If you’ve ever said, “I just want to see this data on a screen over there so the team can act on it,” there’s now a straightforward way to do just that, without writing code, managing a PC, or spinning up an IT project.