Software Toolbox Technical Blog

Video Tutorial - Logging Dynamic JSON Data to SQL or MES

3 min read

By Rodrigo Restrepo on May 4, 2023 2:00:00 PM

JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) is a file format that has become fairly common in the industrial automation industry for storing data or information (including such things as configuration files). But also as one of the most common data formats used by RESTful APIs and web services, which are commonly used for providing a range of useful information including energy prices and weather data.

Sometimes, of course, depending on the application, some or all components of JSON packet might be variable or dynamic in nature, which can make it difficult for off-the-shelf industrial software solutions to properly parse the information from those packets.

In this post, I will cover step-by-step how to leverage the scripting capabilities of the OPC Router to access and parse JSON packets either from a JSON file saved to a specific file directory or from a RESTful web service after which that data can be used with any of the other connectors that OPC Router supports. For this example, we log the data to a SQL database.

Continue Reading

Tech Support Corner: Client/Server Roles & Read Types with TOP Server

7 min read

By Nicole Knox on Feb 23, 2023 2:00:00 PM


A common misconception about TOP Server as an OPC server is that TOP Server will poll your device/devices automatically with no OPC client connected. So, when you are getting started with TOP Server, it is good to have an accurate understanding of how interactions occur between each node of a basic OPC architecture— client-server and server-device— to ensure that the configuration meets your needs and can be scalable to more demanding projects.

Continuing our Tech Support Corner blog series, in this blog post, we will discuss some basics of the interactions between an OPC client and server, including different types of reads and the expected behavior that you'll see as a result of those interactions.

Continue Reading

Let's Take a REST...API and Integrate a Wide Variety of Data

5 min read

By Kevin Rutherford on Feb 9, 2023 2:00:00 PM

So, no, we're not actually taking a rest - we're looking at what REST the acronym means from a practical perspective. But perhaps after reading this, if you're looking to connect to a RESTful API, you can give your mind a rest knowing you have a path forward.

I know the first time I ever heard the term, I had no idea what it meant or how to approach it. Maybe you've been told a certain data source has a REST API for accessing it, but you're not sure where to get started leveraging that API with your control system.

This post will provide a practical explanation of what REST is, how it can be useful to you and how you can take advantage of data provided by RESTful APIs or web services in your operations.

Continue Reading

Using OPC Router for Real-Time Process Updates to Microsoft Teams Chat

13 min read

By Kevin Rutherford on Dec 1, 2022 2:00:00 PM


It's pretty common these days for companies to use Microsoft Teams™ for internal communications within and between departments and maybe even between IT and OT segments in an organization. This has become more and more important with increasing remote office scenarios, enabling vital collaboration between key members of an organization.

But what if you could also have real-time updates from your process and other systems in the same fashion? Rather than a colleague messaging you about an urgent matter, what if your actual processes and even business systems could message you via Teams with actionable information (possibly a line is down, or a tank level is approaching maximum level)?

In this blog post, we'll cover the steps necessary to use OPC Router to integrate your variety of systems with Teams so that you can have real-time updates and make important decisions about your business more quickly.

Continue Reading

Did You Know Google IoT Core is Shutting Down? Start Preparing Now!

4 min read

By Zachary Parham on Oct 27, 2022 2:00:00 PM


If you have been following our blog for a while or have been exploring IoT platforms available in the market, you may know that the Google Cloud Platform combined with the Google IoT Core is a frequently used combination in the industry. Google has recently announced that it will be shutting down the Google IoT Core. In doing so, Google is forcing many of its Cloud Platform users to switch platforms.

In this blog post, we will review detailed information about the alternatives to the Google Cloud Platform that are available for use with all of the IoT capable products we provide, and how the change works.

Continue Reading

Video Tutorial - Email Reports / Alerts from OPC & Other Data Sources

2 min read

By John Gonzalez on Sep 29, 2022 2:00:00 PM

It's important for any enterprise to have actionable data in the timeliest fashion for making decisions. Minimizing downtime and increasing performance are important to the profitability of any company and knowledge at the point of action is key.

To that end, automating notifications or reports based on the latest process data from your various systems can ensure you're never in the dark when it comes to your processes.

In this post, I will cover step-by-step how to easily automate email notifications and reports for OPC and data sources with the OPC Router for giving you and other decision makers the knowledge you need to make informed decision as quickly as possible.

Continue Reading

Enabling Rapid Interoperability Between OPC UA & MQTT Sparkplug B

5 min read

By John Weber on Jul 21, 2022 2:00:00 PM


Ongoing digital transformation and operational visibility initiatives continue to demand the integration of different systems using different technologies. With increased adoption of secure OPC UA and MQTT Sparkplug B, it’s only to be expected that users will have systems that support one or the other technology but need to communicate with each other.

Although OPC UA supports a publish-subscribe mechanism with OPC UA PubSub, and adoption of OPC UA is strong and growing, the reality is there will be situations where the user is already using MQTT Sparkplug B and needs to integrate it with OPC UA or vice-versa, without writing custom code or going through complex configuration.

Software Toolbox was founded in 1996 on the principal of making data and device integration easy by using configurable off-the-shelf software to avoiding writing custom solutions and knowing the pros and cons of and ins and outs of many technologies. That mission remains strong, as you’ll see, as we discuss interoperating between OPC UA and MQTT in this blog post.

Continue Reading

Understanding OPC UA Certificates and Certificate Authorities

5 min read

By Zachary Parham on Jul 14, 2022 2:00:00 PM


If you use OPC UA, you are likely at least somewhat familiar with OPC UA certificates. OPC UA client and server applications typically have Application Instance Certificates to provide application-level security. They are used for establishing a secure connection using Asymmetric Cryptography.

OPC UA certificates include a digital signature by the generator of the certificate. This digital signature can be self-signed or can be signed by a Certificate Authority (CA). Both types of certificates provide the same level of security and can be used in Asymmetric Cryptography. The major difference between CA signed and self-signed certificates in an OPC UA installation is the effort required to deploy and maintain the certificates. The choice of when to use a CA issued certificate versus a self-signed certificate depends on the installation and site requirements.

Many of our products leverage the OPC UA Configuration tool from the OPC Foundation to create and trust certificates and certificate authorities (CA). This tool actually installs with our OPC Data Client toolkit but is also available from the OPC Foundation. But how do we navigate this tool and the use of OPC UA certificates as a whole?

In this blog post, we will cover both methods of UA certificate signing, as well as the tool mentioned above for easily managing UA certificates for your OPC UA applications.

Continue Reading

About this Blog

We're engineers like you, so this blog focuses on "How to" appnotes, videos, tech team tips, product update announcements, user case studies, and other technical updates.  Subscribe to updates below. Your feedback and questions on posts are always welcomed - just use the area at the bottom of any post.

Subscribe to our Blog

Recent Posts

Posts by Topic

See all