Test your clients before the devices are available with simulation

Simulation options enable client testing before devices are online

When designing and configuring a control system, it's common for client application configuration to be occurring in parallel with network and controller or device setup. As such, it's feasible that the team working on the client side setup might need to connect to TOP Server and the network and/or devices might not be online yet.

TOP Server supports several simulation options that enable any client application to connect and "communicate" without generating bad quality, no values and a bunch of error messages. This allows verification that the client-side connection is as close to good as possible without delaying to wait on the network and/or devices.

Simulator and Advanced Simulator drivers offer simulated data for testing

The TOP Server installs with a project called simdemo.opf that opens the first time you install and launch the TOP Server. This project gives you an example of what can be done with the different types of simulation tags in the Simulator driver, which provides the ability to generate simulated changing data.

You can even create tag names in the Simulator driver that match the ones you will be using in the Client Application. Using the Alias Map, you can then set up the connection to be identical to what you will be using for the actual TOP Server device driver.

The TOP Server Simulator Suite includes not only the Simulator driver but also the Advanced Simulator driver which makes it possible to generate "live" data from any ODBC data source.  This is useful for scenarios where you have historized data from an actual production location and want to more closely simulate a real-world environment.

For more information on advanced TOP Server simulation possibilities or for using the Simulator in production and long-term testing situations, refer to the Simulator Suite page.