VSTA Project not working properly

[jesus_michel]

Hi people,

I am new with Zenon and I am trying to create a runtime script with C# on VSTA. I have copied the code written in the help's examples (the one named "Writing project information in the zenon output window")  and I am getting errors with the "this" members like this.Application or this.ActiveDocument. I have already added the Microsoft.VisualStudio.Tools.Applications.Runt ime.v9.0 reference in the project but that didn't fix it. 

Here I will put some additional information that I think might have something to do with my problem:

• There is the following error in zenon's output window:

       Debug output:Addin Error!

       Debug output:C:\ProgramData\COPA-DATA\zenon760\VSTAWorkspace\CSharp\WorkspaceAddin\ bin\WorkspaceAddin.dll

       Debug output:Loading Addin

       Debug output:Could not find file 'C:\ProgramData\COPA-DATA\zenon760\VSTAWorkspace\CSharp\WorkspaceAddin\ bin\WorkspaceAddin.dll'.

• Before my VSTA project opens an alert with the following message is displayed "For current projects please use the Add-In interface with visual studio in order to make full use of the newest .NET functionality".
• If I try to open VSTA directly and create a new project there is no project template to choose from so I cannot create any project (I tried to use the VSTA/setup command but didn't work).

I am really stuck here I will appreciate any help I can get.

Thanks

[georgk]

Hello,

and welcome to the Forum.

A few notes:
1. VBA, VSTA and Addin-Framework are three different things.
2. API access in zenon is split in
 - Editor (WorkspaceAddin, ActiveDocument, etc.)
 - Runtime (ProjectAddin, ThisProject, etc.)

I have copied the code written in the help's examples (the one named


"Writing project information in the zenon output window")  and I am


getting errors with the "this" members like this.Application or


this.ActiveDocument.

Most examples in the Help are for use with the Editor.
-> ActiveDocument and the output window are only accessible in the Editor.

Please tell us what you would like to do.
-> There may be a way to do this without C# Code.

• Before my VSTA project opens an alert with the following message
  
  
  is displayed "For current projects please use the Add-In interface with
  
  
  visual studio in order to make full use of the newest .NET
  
  
  functionality".
  
• If I try to open VSTA directly and create a new
  
  
  project there is no project template to choose from so I cannot create
  
  
  any project (I tried to use the VSTA/setup command but didn't work).
  

We recommend to use the Addin-Framework.
- Open the Addin-Editor with: Main menu: Tools -> Open Add-In Editor...
- You have access to the pre-installed Templates: Editor Wizard and Service, Runtime Wizard and Service.
- The help does explain new API (with Addin Framework).
 -> But it is well documented in the Reference
 -> Please see general information in the help: Manual -> Programming Interfaces -> Add-Ins
 -> There are also some examples on our Git: https://github.com/COPA-DATA

Hope this helps.

BR,
Georg

[jesus_michel]

Thanks Georg,

I have created the Add-In as you said and looked the Add-In section in the manual. I've created a project service extension and added the following code to make it run automatically:

[AddInExtension("testADA", "test ADA", "test category", DefaultStartMode=DefaultStartupModes.Auto)]

Now I want to change a zenon variable's value through my extension's start function (just as an experiment). I saw that the context object has a "Variable Collection" property so I made a for loop to iterate collection looking for a variable by name like this:

var variables = context.VariableCollection;
for(int i=0;i if(variables[i].Name=="VarName")
variables[i].SetValue(true);
}


With this I want to look for a variale with name "VarName" and change it´s value to true (VarName is a bool in zenon). But this method asks for four parameters: Object value, int lowerState, int time and short timeMilliSeconds. I don't find much sense in these parameters and it doesn't accept just the true I want to set. I would like to know if this approach I did is correct and how I use the SerValue method since I don't find any example of this method in the manual. Also I find a little confusing the difference between editor and runtime Add-In and when to use each one.

Thank you

[georgk]

Hello,

I guess I should explain the differences between Editor and Runtime API.
And the difference between Service and Wizard.

A Wizard is something you can execute, it runs through the code and closes itself again.
-> Triggered by function in Runtime and by Wizard-dialog in Editor.

A Service is something thats starts automatically, or manually via dialog (no function).
- It has a start() function and a stop() function that trigger when the service is started and stopped.
Its main use is to subscribe an Event and work with that.
-> Runtime example: Variable Changed Event, Alarm comes Event, Screen opened event.
-> Editor example: Element created Event, RemoteTransport events, etc.

In your case you probably want a Runtime Wizard.
-> That way you can trigger it via a function (button).

For getting your variable:
You can directly access your variable from the collection by name:

IVariable myVar = context.VariableCollection["bool"];

For setting values, there are multiple ways.
The SetValue function has 5 ways to set a value.
For just setting a value, i recommend the 5th way:

void SetValue(int index, object value);

The Index does not really matter. I always use an index of 1.

Hope this helps.

BR,
Georg

[jesus_michel]

Hi, 

Thank you very much Georgk. You are helping me a lot to understand this. Now I was able to write my script, but I don't know how to run it.

I have imported the Add-In I created after saving and building the project which is a runtime service. Then I placed a breakpoint to debug my program, but when I run zenon in runtime it doesn't show signals that the debugger is working and the code is not executing. I've checked the output window and it showed the following message:

Debug output:Addin Error!

Debug output:C:\ProgramData\COPA-DATA\zenon760\VSTAWorkspace\CSharp\WorkspaceAddin\ bin\WorkspaceAddin.dll

Debug output:Loading Addin

Debug output:Could not find file 'C:\ProgramData\COPA-DATA\zenon760\VSTAWorkspace\CSharp\WorkspaceAddin\ bin\WorkspaceAddin.dll'.

hope you can give me guidance with this and with the debugging process.

Thank you

[georgk]

Hi,

Make sure the Project has the Debug Target configured.
(in SharpDevelop) Project -> Properties -> Add-In
Select Debug Target: Runtime with name of Project.
-> Runtime ahs to be running for beeing selectable.

Also:
If you have a Runtime Wizard, you have to create the function to run it.
-> new function -> Add-In -> Execute Project Wizard Extenstion.
For Services, you can open show the function: dialog with the Display dialog Manage Runtime Services.

Hope this helps.

BR,
Georg

[jesus_michel]

Hi Gerogk,

It is working fine now thanks.