Visual Studio, Basic (VB.NET) and C# for Factory,
Laboratory, Manufacturing and Industrial Automation Systems
The purpose of this section of our website is to promote the use of Visual
Studio (Visual
Basic (VB.NET) and C# (pronounced C sharp)) for use in factory, laboratory, manufacturing, and industrial automation. Although there
are many websites for other uses of VB.NET and C#, we have not found any other
websites for factory & laboratory automation. Where it makes
sense we reference (link to) these other websites. We want to provide a
forum for programmers to share code, ideas, and other information that helps all
of us.
Microsoft's marketing is saying "more for less" -- which, in
our humble opinion, is exactly
what Visual Studio offers. We think that VB.NET and C# are good choice for factory automation applications for the
following reasons:
The price is low. Pay once, use forever.
There are more training resources for Visual Basic and C# than any other
factory automation application development software. In fact, the
amount of resources to learn Microsoft technologies is overwhelming.
VB.NET and C# can do more than any other factory automation software.
VB.NET and C# are not proprietary. For example, if you want to do
serial communications using proprietary software -- often you are out of luck.
Sometimes you can purchase a proprietary driver development kit or database interface kit
from the software manufacturer. With VB.NET and C# you
can use the built in ActiveX or .NET controls or select from dozens of suppliers of
ActiveX / .NET controls that offer additional functionality. OR using
the included MSCOMM control, you can write your own. The same is true
for database access (recipes), charting / graphing, operator interfaces,
logging data to files, writing to Excel, etc.
The capabilities of a VB and C# program are easily expanded. In
addition to the thousands of objects already developed, you can
chose from thousands of third party ActiveX controls, .NET controls and DLLs.
VB.NET and C# are scalable. With other solutions you might have to use
one software package for a small text display, another software package for
graphic displays, and then yet other software packages for SCADA, SPC,
communications, etc. VB and C# can do all of this from:
Low end -- You can now use Visual Studio (VB.NET and
C#) to
develop operator interfaces on Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) running
PocketPC and computers running Windows CE.NET.
You use the same Visual Studio (VS) software package to develop VB.NET and C# applications running on personal computers as SCADA, process controllers,
sophisticated operator interfaces.
You use the same VS to develop VB.NET and C# applications running across the enterprise using Windows 2003 and
SQL Server with multiple processors and clusters.
The .NET framework allows you to use remoting, sockets, web services,
and other means to communicate with other computers around the world.
The real question -- when does it not make sense?
Note that there are times when Visual Basic or C# does not make sense. The
best example is if a customer does not feel comfortable with Visual Basic or C#.
In this case it makes sense to use proprietary software.
NOTE
You may have to access other areas of our website for information on
other topics. For example, we list several ActiveX and .NET controls for bar codes
on our "Bar Codes / Auto ID" page. There are many soft PLC
control engines and SCADA packages that interface to Visual Basic / C# and they are
listed on those pages. Image Analysis function libraries would be listed
on the image analysis / machine vision page ...
"Studying the factory in
operation, and particularly, comparing various types of factories, one is
struck by certain basic similarities and problems common to all
manufacturing of whatever type, and he begins to perceive certain lines of
classification by which certain factories externally very different are
found to be susceptible to the same general treatment."
"Factory Management" by Henry Dutton, 1924, page 4
TAL Technologies -- RS232 data
acquisition software, serial and TCP/IP communications software, barcode
software, bar code ActiveX, bar-code generating DLLs and RS-232 Boards
Parijat Controlware
-- PLC communication drivers, OPC servers, communications analyzers
We try to offer a fair and balanced opinion on every
page of our website. We would appreciate more
information from other users to express their opinions which we will
then incorporate. If you have questions or comments please post them
on our message board (see button in left hand column) so that others can
read and benefit.
