Software Toolbox Automation Tech Tips Blog

Video Tutorial: Using TOP Server with AVEVA InTouch via SuiteLink

Written by Lauren Conrad | Oct 10, 2024 6:00:00 PM

Software Toolbox has provided AVEVA™ (formerly Wonderware) users, integrators, OEMs, and channel partners in over 100 countries with best-in-class connectivity solutions since 1996. Many of you will be familiar with our TOP Server for AVEVA that offers a wide range of device connectivity options and client interfaces such as SuiteLink, OPC DA, and OPC UA. While TOP Server is known for its extensive list of driver options that allow for connectivity to thousands of device types, they are only part of how TOP Server helps with integrating your industrial data with AVEVA software. How does the device data actually make its way into AVEVA?

In this video blog, we'll show you how to make a basic connection from AVEVA InTouch to TOP Server using SuiteLink, a communications protocol that runs over TCP/IP at the application layer, created by Wonderware to succeed FastDDE in the mid-1990's. Unlike OPC DA, SuiteLink doesn’t rely on COM or DCOM technology, making SuiteLink a common choice for remote connectivity to Software Toolbox solutions. With an integrated SuiteLink interface, no OI Gateway or FSGateway is required to get your InTouch application connected to a wide range of additional device types.

Watch this video to learn how to connect AVEVA InTouch to TOP Server via SuiteLink, including basic setup, for integrating your industrial data with InTouch.

Just to summarize, in this video, we've shown you:

  1. How to configure TOP Server to enable FastDDE/SuiteLink communications.
  2. How to configure the TOP Server Alias Map and designate the update rate for your topic when connecting via SuiteLink (or other non-OPC clients).
  3. How to configure the Access Name and Tagname in AVEVA InTouch.
  4. How to configure a basic text value display and view simulated live data from TOP Server in AVEVA InTouch WindowViewer.

In a future post, we'll provide a video demonstration on using SuiteLink to connect TOP Server to AVEVA System Platform. Make sure you don't miss out by subscribing to our blog, and as always, please reach out to our team if you have any questions.

More Resources on TOP Server with AVEVA SuiteLink:

Ready to integrate your own devices with AVEVA InTouch using TOP Server? Download the fully-functional free trial.