Bronkhorst®
Instruction Manual mini CORI-FLOW ML120
9.17.097G
23
3.3.1
FlowDDE
RS232 communication can be used for operating the instrument using the Bronkhorst® FlowDDE server application.
Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) provides a basic level of inter process communication between Windows applications.
FlowDDE is a DDE server application. Together with a client application, either self-made or with a third party SCADA
program, it is possible to create an easy way of data exchange between the flow meter/controller and a Windows
application. For example, a cell in Microsoft Excel could be linked to the measured value of an instrument; when the
measured value changes, it will be updated automatically in the Excel spreadsheet.
The FlowDDE server offers the user a different and user-friendly interface to the instrument. FlowDDE uses specific
parameter numbers for communicating with the instrument. A DDE-parameter number is a unique number in a special
FlowDDE instruments/parameter database and not the same as the parameter number from the process on an instrument.
FlowDDE translates the node-address and process number to a channel number.
DDE-client applications communicate with the FlowDDE server by using DDE messages. Before messages can be exchanged,
a DDE link has to be made. A DDE link consists of three parts: the server, the topic and an item. For separation the characters
'|' and '!' may be used, so a DDE link in e.g. Microsoft Excel becomes: Server|Topic!Item.
For standard instrument parameters and the FlowDDE server, these are:
·
Server: FlowDDE or FlowDDE2
·
Topic: ‘C(X)’ for channel number X
·
Item: ‘P(Y)’ for parameter number Y
An example of a DDE link in a Microsoft Excel cell is =FlowDDE|’C(1)’!’P(8)’ to read parameter 8 of channel 1.
For information about setting up a DDE link with FlowDDE,
see the FlowDDE help file in the application or the FlowDDE
instruction manual (document no. 9.17.067).
When not using FlowDDE for communication with the
instrument, parameters are addressed by:
·
Node address of the instrument
·
Process number on the instrument
·
Parameter number on the instrument
See section <%TARGETTITLE%> for more information about
instrument parameters.
For more information regarding FlowDDE, consult
Instruction manual FlowDDE
(document no. 9.17.067), which can
be downloaded from
http://www.bronkhorst.com/en/downloads