[AccessD] Web based Data Acquisition Application.

MartyConnelly martyconnelly at shaw.ca
Fri Feb 25 20:25:58 CST 2005


Did you look at the whole LabView package from NI ( It's kind of an 
Industry standard ) that hooks to oracle msSql and access
They do things like Pareto analysis of the acquired data.
The other biggie competitor is MatLab
http://www.mathworks.com/products/
http://www.mathworks.com/products/daq/index.html

DWUTKA at marlow.com wrote:

>I took a look at the 'data acquisition' device, and that is not what I
>built.  That is something designed to 'trap' data.  I developed something
>that is designed to 'store' data.  The database is close to a true
>relational database as I could make it (which immediately puts it out of the
>hands of engineers to just query it on their own! <grin>, one of the reasons
>I have to build a custom reporting system).  It also doesn't plug into
>anything.  It's a .dll, that a test equipment engineer can use, instead of
>fuddling through ADO, and designing a good database, there is a web
>interface to create a 'program' (which would equate more to a table, to us,
>I guess, but it isn't really creating tables.....), which can then be used
>by their software, to store data for that program. 
>
>For example, the CMM machine I mentioned may record height (yep, it does
>height), width, length, etc.  So that would be a 'program' in my system.
>Here's some sample VB (which is actually something the admin web interface
>will create for you)
>
>Dim DataAcq
>Set DataAcq=CreateObject("FECMM.Program")
>DataAcq.ID=1
>'Start of Loop
>DataAcq.SetFieldValue("Dim 1")=0.147
>DataAcq.SetFieldValue("Dim 2")=0.147
>DataAcq.SetFieldValue("Dim 3")=0.035
>DataAcq.SetFieldValue("Dim 4")=0.103
>DataAcq.SetFieldValue("Dim 5")=0.057
>DataAcq.SetFieldValue("Dim 6")=0.057
>DataAcq.SetFieldValue("Dim 7")=0.006
>DataAcq.SetFieldValue("Dim 8")=0.006
>DataAcq.SetFieldValue("Dim 9")=0.006
>DataAcq.SetFieldValue("Location")=
>DataAcq.RecordFields
>'End of loop
>DataAcq.DisplayReport
>Set DataAcq=Nothing 
>
>It has 10 fields.  Dim 1 through Dim 10, and location.  When the
>FECMM.Program object is initialized, and data is put into it, it
>automatically creates a batchID, which is attached to each Item (items are
>recorded with the RecordFields function, and the batch ID's are used to
>group a 'run' with the test equipment).  The DisplayReport function displays
>a web page on the test machine with the data from that run.  Setting the ID
>value of the object determines it's parameters (such as how many fields, and
>what the fields are.....which is customizable from the admin web gui.)
>
>Does this clear things up a bit.  Not a test equipment system, but a data
>storage system, for the relational db challenged developers out there.
><grin>
>
>Drew
>
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: MartyConnelly [mailto:martyconnelly at shaw.ca]
>Sent: Friday, February 25, 2005 7:05 PM
>To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving
>Subject: Re: [AccessD] Web based Data Acquisition Application.
>
>
>You have been beaten to it by about 50 years. I have used some of their 
>products (National Instruments) 20 years ago.
>But they may not cover visual inspection images for data acquisition, I 
>have seen some specialized systems to inspect welds with Xrays.
>These are probably the biggest guys in US.
>http://www.ni.com/
>I haven't looked through their site recently, guess the switched to dotNet
>
>DWUTKA at marlow.com wrote:
>
>  
>
>>Okay, this isn't a technical question, it's more like a marketing one.  My
>>company is a manufacturing company, which has several 'test machines' which
>>are basically computers hooked up (through engineering cards) to test
>>equipment.  Most of these systems have custom built 'test software'.  I've
>>been here for five years, and I have yet to find the software engineer who
>>actually knows his left from his right in a database.  The databases they
>>are dumping data into are horribly designed.  For example, we have a few
>>    
>>
>'EZ
>  
>
>>Testers', which dump their data into one database, in fact, ONE TABLE in
>>that database.  This table has over a hundred fields.  Each product that is
>>tested, and each test, use only certain fields, so there is a lot of wasted
>>space, and even worse, the searching of this database is a virtual
>>nightmare.  A few years ago, we bought a CMM machine, it's a visual
>>inspection machine (pretty slick, measures things with a digital camera).
>>It came with it's own program, which has a GUI that 'writes' QVScript
>>    
>>
>(which
>  
>
>>is essentially VB Script, just with it's own object model, and a few other
>>quirks.  It has no default data capture system (other then to the screen),
>>so I was asked to capture the data.  I wrote a very specialized .dll, that
>>QVBasic could use to dump it's data into an Access database.  Worked fine.
>>They only needed two types of 'data dumps', so I wrote two versions of the
>>.dll.  Quick, fast, took me no more then an hour or two to whip up the
>>.dll's.
>>
>>Now a few months ago, we bought a second CMM.  This one was going to test a
>>lot more then 2 different things, so it needed to be flexible.  I also
>>figured that since this was going to be my second 'test machine' database,
>>    
>>
>I
>  
>
>>figured I might as well prepare for the future, and create a completely
>>generic data acquisition system.  Which I did, sort of.  I have the data
>>acquisition part done, but haven't completed the reporting capability.  In
>>    
>>
>a
>  
>
>>month or so, I will finally be able to start actually developing again
>>(right now, I'm too busy being a Network Admin, and PC tech! LOL).  My
>>    
>>
>first
>  
>
>>project is going to be to finish the data acquisition program.  So here's
>>    
>>
>my
>  
>
>>question.  Does anyone know if this kind of thing would have a market for
>>it, and if so, are their competing products, and what do they cost?
>>
>>Drew
>> 
>>
>>    
>>
>
>  
>

-- 
Marty Connelly
Victoria, B.C.
Canada






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