Skip to content
Ask A Question
  • There are no suggestions because the search field is empty.

Guidelines and Precautions for Upgrading to OPC Data Client V2022.2 (5.70)

Version 2022.2 contains changes that will require you to manage your upgrade more carefully than some releases. This FAQ outlines those considerations.

Prior to upgrading to V2022.2, you MUST review this entire upgrade guide below! These are important changes to packaging, installation, deployment and more that must be considered prior to your upgrade because they can be breaking changes.

 
Users of OPC Data Client are strongly advised to follow software development and change management best practices. This includes but is not limited to
  • Backups of their project source code separate from your working copy you plan to upgrade,
  • Reviewing release notes & current system requirements carefully, and
  • Testing recompiled applications before deploying them to the field. 
  • If you are skipping multiple versions in your upgrade, you must review all release notes between the version your code is based on and the version you plan to upgrade to.
  • It is the developer's responsibility to provide a fully tested updated version of your custom application with all required dependent files. 
 
Product support does not include fixing problems that can be shown to be a result of failure to follow good change management and development practices involving your custom code.
 
To view the full details of this release, please see What's New - OPC Data Client 2022.2 (5.70) 
 

General

  • Like with most OPC Data Client releases, it is important to recognize the changes in supported .NET runtimes, Operating Systems, and Development Tools (Visual Studio) in the Release Notes. 
  • When targeting .NET Framework, you can no longer reference individual OPC Data Client assemblies, and can now only reference in the form of NuGet packages. If you are upgrading from earlier OPC Data Client versions, remove the individual assembly references, and add NuGet package references instead. As an exception, individual assemblies can be referenced from PowerShell or C++/CLI.
  • The OpcLabs.UAPubSubJson package is no longer necessary and no longer exists. The JSON message mapping for OPC UA PubSub is now always included automatically.
  • ZIP packages (MQTT communication libraries, and Pcap) are now only used for COM development.

Effects on WPF Development 

  • A new NuGet package, OpcLabs.QuickOPC.Wpf, is now available, for development of WPF applications with OPC Data Client.
  • WPF design-time features are not available in this version. This affects the ability to use Visual Studio to configure Live Binding in WPF applications, and to configure properties of WPF controls. You can still use XAML editing to configure properties of WPF controls. OPC Data Client still fully supports WPF in run-time, i.e. the functionality of WPF controls in run-time is not affected, and also existing applications that use WPF Live Binding run correctly. We are evaluating the feasibility of supporting the WPF design-time features in a future version.

Application Deployment and Installation

  • The Production Installer is no longer intended to be used for .NET applications (.NET Framework, .NET Core, .NET 6+); it is meant to be used for COM applications or Excel Option deployment. This is because the assembly referencing model has been abandoned in favor of NuGet package references, and the set of assemblies required is no longer static, including their versions, and the binding redirects needed to support them. The only usable part from the Production installer for .NET applications is the LMConsole utility, and that can be invoked separately, which means that the use of Production Installer would be an overkill.
  • Installing OPC Data Client assemblies into the GAC is no longer supported and we recommend against it.
  • When deploying the COM component files (for COM applications or Excel Option), an additional assemblies.config file (provided together with the assembly dlls) has to be deployed alongside the assembly dlls.