Installation and Commissioning

DDE Server 2.37.3 DDE Server 2.3The DDE Server is a software building block that provides reliable, quick and accurateflow of information between robots and a PC. This is what the user needs if he wantsto build his own customised user interface, using visualisation packages like forexample “InTouch” from Wonderware.The S4 DDE Server takes care of the communication with the robot, and presents thedata in the industry standard DDE communication protocol. DDE stands for DynamicData Exchange. It is a communication protocol designed by Microsoft to allowWindows applications to send and receive data to/from each other. It is implemented asa client/server mechanism. The server application (like the ABB S4 DDE Server)provides the data and accepts requests from any other application that is interested inits data. An application that can “talk” the DDE “language” can communicate with theABB robots via the S4 DDE Server. Examples of applications that do DDEcommunication are Microsoft “Excel” and “InTouch” from Wonderware.The S4 DDE Server communicates with robots using the ABB RAP protocol. The S4DDE Server maintains a database of the relevant variables in the robot and makes surethat these DDE variables are kept updated at all times. The application using the DDEServer can concentrate on the user interface and rely on the updated DDE variables. Ifnew RAPID variables are introduced in the robot program, the DDE Server is able tocreate corresponding DDE variables “on-the-fly”.FunctionalityThe S4 DDE Server provides reading and writing of I/O, RAPID variables and robotsystem variables. It supports spontaneous messages from the robot (SCWrite), errormessages, as well as file operations. A file batch functionality is also included.Digital I/OThe user can read or write to the digital I/O signals in the robot. The S4 DDE Serversupports both group-I/O and block-I/O transfer. This improves the speed significantly.RAPID variablesThe user can read or write to RAPID variables that are defined and declared aspersistent (PERS). The S4 DDE Server supports strings and numbers as well as morecomplex data types like wobjdata, pos, speeddata and tooldata. The names of thevariables are defined by the user.74 Product Specification RobotWare for BaseWare OS 3.1