zenon is a software system from COPA-DATA for industrial automation and the energy industry. Machines and equipment are controlled, monitored and optimized. zenon's particular strength is open and reliable communication throughout heterogeneous production facilities. Over 300 native communication protocols support the horizontal and vertical exchange of data. This allows for the continuous implementation of Industrial IoT and the Smart Factory.

zenon’s engineering environment is flexible and can be used in many ways. Complex functions for comprehensive applications such as HMI/SCADA and reporting are supplied out of the box to create intuitive and robust applications. Users can thus contribute to the increased flexibility and efficiency of HMI applications using zenon.

zenon Add-Ins

COPA-DATA Developer Tools enable users to create and debug zenon Add-Ins quickly and easily using Microsoft Visual Studio. They provide project templates for zenon Engineering Studio and Service Engine. For both applications, Service and Wizard extension templates are available.

COPA-DATA Developer Tools support:

• C#
• VB.NET

Using COPA-DATA Developer Tools, Add-In packages are created when building the Add-In. The deployment and debugging of Add-In packages is integrated. That means: when debugging is started Add-Ins are deployed and the debugging tool is automatically attached to zenon Engineering Studio or Service Engine.

Requirements

To use COPA-DATA Developer Tools, the following have to be installed:

• Visual Studio 2015 (Community, Professional or Enterprise) or higher
• Click here for Visual Studio 2022
• zenon 7.60 or higher

Features

• Support for Microsoft Visual Studio 2019 (Community, Professional, Enterprise).
• Add-ins can be created for zenon versions from version 7.60.
• Support for Microsoft Visual Studio 2017 (Community, Professional, Enterprise).
• Provides project templates for WPF wizards for Service Engine and Engineering Studio.
• You can use the F1 key in the Microsoft Visual Studio to call up the zenon API documentation directly.
• zenon version 7.60 is the first release of zenon to provide COPA-DATA Developer Tools.
• Add-Ins follow the .NET Naming Guidelines. If you have already developed tools for zenon with VBA or VSTA a table with naming conversions is provided. You’ll find it in your zenon installation path in the folder \HELP\Add-Ins.

Getting started with COPA-DATA Developer Tools

You will find it easy to create, debug and deploy wizards and services using the COPA-DATA Developer Tools.

Create a project

To create a new project use the dialog “New Project”.

After project creation, an empty extension class is created:

Debugging

For debugging, select a debug target in project properties:

Deployment

For deployment, use the “Deploy” command in the build menu:

Hint: If debugging is started directly, the deployment is started automatically.

During deployment and debugging the category “SCADA” shows detailed information in the output window.

Documentation and Support

Documentation for COPA-DATA Developer Tools is provided as integrated help. Just press F1 within the application to get context-sensitive help. Further support is available on the COPA-DATA website:

• Have a look to our GitHub Add-In Samples repository: https://github.com/copa-data
• Use our forum to get the latest news: https://forum.copadata.com/forumdisplay.php?45-Programming-Interface-API
• For help contact our support: https://www.copadata.com/en/support-services/
• API online help: http://onlinehelp.copadata.com