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OPC Bookshelf

A categorized list of suggested reading material is provided. Recent updates are highlighted.

Most of the books listed may be purchased directly from this page, in association with Amazon.com. Prices quoted are publishers' recommended prices for the US.

OPC and Industrial Control
.NET
Web Services
COM and DCOM
Development Tools

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OPC and Industrial Control

	OPC Unified Architecture Wolfgang Mahnke, Stefan-Helmut Leitner and Matthias Damm / Springer 300 pages ISBN: 3540688986 79.95 USD Buy at Amazon.com price Gives an easy to understand introduction to UA and explains the concepts of the standard and other relevant topics not directly addressed by the standard.
	Software for Automation: Architecture, Integration, and Security Jonas Berge / ISA 325 pages ISBN: 1556178980 99.00 USD Buy at Amazon.com price Includes coverage of OPC DA, HDA and AE, as well as sections on OPC troubleshooting, DCOM setup, the Windows XP firewall, etc.
	OPC - Fundamentals, Implementation, and Application Frank Iwanitz and Jürgen Lange / Hüthig 251 pages, 1 CD ISBN: 3778529048 58.00 EUR (or 90.00 USD inc. p&p) Buy from Amazon.de Buy from Softing Third, expanded edition of the definitive OPC handbook. New topics include extended XML-DA coverage, OPC UA, and compliance testing/certification. Highly recommended.
	OPC - Grundlagen, Implementierung und Anwendung Frank Iwanitz and Jürgen Lange / Hüthig 270 pages, 1 CD ISBN: 377852903X 46.00 EUR Buy from Amazon.de Buy from Softing German version of the above.
	Introduction to Industrial Controls and Manufacturing Edward W. Kamen / Academic Press 230 pages ISBN: 0123948509 78.95 USD Buy at Amazon.com price Contains a chapter on equipment interfacing, including an introduction to OPC, the GEM standard, fieldbuses, and Ethernet.
also...	OPC, Le Livre - Votre guide dans l'univers d'OPC Michel Condemine / 4CE Industry Includes CD 75.50 EUR Buy from 4CE Industry French OPC book. Includes coverage of the main specifications, compliance testing, using OPC with embedded platforms, case studies.

.NET

.NET Framework and CLR

	Understanding .NET: A Tutorial and Analysis David Chappell / Addison Wesley 368 Pages ISBN: 0201741628 34.99 USD (recommended) Buy at Amazon.com price
	Introducing Microsoft .NET, Third Edition David S. Platt / Microsoft Press 352 Pages ISBN: 0735619182 29.99 USD (recommended) Buy at Amazon.com price
	.NET Framework Essentials, 3rd Edition Thuan Thai and Hoang Q. Lam / O'Reilly 363 Pages ISBN: 0596005059 29.95 USD (recommended) Buy at Amazon.com price
	Applied Microsoft .NET Framework Programming Jeffrey Richter / Microsoft Press 500 Pages ISBN: 0735614229 49.99 USD (recommended) Buy at Amazon.com price
	Essential .NET, Volume I: The Common Language Runtime Don Box with Chris Sells / Addison Wesley 432 Pages ISBN: 0201734117 54.99 USD (recommended) Buy at Amazon.com price

C#

	Inside C#, Second Edition Tom Archer and Andrew Whitechapel / Microsoft Press 912 Pages, 1 CD ISBN: 0735616485 49.99 USD (recommended) Buy at Amazon.com price
	Programming in the Key of C# Charles Petzold / Microsoft Press 300 Pages ISBN: 0735618003 29.99 USD (recommended) Buy at Amazon.com price
	Programming Windows with C# Charles Petzold / Microsoft Press 1200 Pages, 1 CD ISBN: 0735613702 59.99 USD (recommended) Buy at Amazon.com price
	Windows Forms Programming in C# Chris Sells / Addison Wesley 681 Pages ISBN: 0321116208 54.99 USD (recommended) Buy at Amazon.com price

.NET and COM Interoperability

.NET and COM: The Complete Interoperability Guide
Adam Nathan / Sams
1608 Pages
ISBN: 067232170X
59.99 USD (recommended)
Buy at Amazon.com price
It is difficult to overstate just how good this book is. A huge amount of information is presented in a very readable style, and much of this information would be difficult to find from any other source.
OPC is, for the time being, a COM-based technology, yet the ability to access OPC interfaces and data from .NET applications is becoming increasingly important. Bridging between OPC and .NET is a typical example of the kind of problem which this book sets out to solve, and there is surely no better resource for anyone working in this area.

COM and .NET Interoperability
Andrew Troelson / APress
816 Pages
ISBN: 1590590112
59.95 USD (recommended)
Buy at Amazon.com price

Web Services

	.NET Web Services: Architecture and Implementation Keith Ballinger / Addison Wesley 352 Pages ISBN: 0321113594 54.99 USD (recommended) Buy at Amazon.com price
	Understanding Web Services: XML, WSDL, SOAP, and UDDI Eric Newcomer / Addison Wesley 368 Pages ISBN: 0201750813 44.99 USD (recommended) Buy at Amazon.com price A very good introduction to Web Services technologies.
	Web Services: A Manager's Guide Anne Thomas Manes / Addison Wesley 352 Pages ISBN: 0321185773 39.99 USD (recommended) Buy at Amazon.com price
	Essential XML Quick Reference: A Programmer's Reference to XML, XPath, XSLT, XML Schema, SOAP, and More Aaron Skonnard and Martin Gudgin / Addison Wesley 402 Pages ISBN: 0201740958 39.99 USD (recommended) Buy at Amazon.com price An excellent tutorial and reference. You will learn more, and faster, from this book than from any number of books up to three times bigger (and three times as costly). This book is also available as a free electronic download.
	Essential XML: Beyond Markup Don Box et al / Addison Wesley 368 Pages ISBN: 0201709147 34.95 USD (recommended) Buy at Amazon.com price As co-author of the SOAP specification, Don Box is well qualified to present the key aspects of XML, including SOAP itself.
	HTTP: The Definitive Guide David Gourley and Brian Totty / O'Reilly 656 Pages ISBN: 1565925092 44.95 USD (recommended) Buy at Amazon.com price An excellent guide to the Hypertext Transfer Protocol, fundamental to SOAP.
also...	Effective XML Elliotte Rusty Harold / Addison Wesley 336 Pages ISBN: 0321150406 44.99 USD (recommended) Buy at Amazon.com price

COM and DCOM

	Essential COM Don Box / Addison Wesley 440 Pages ISBN: 0201634465 49.99 USD (recommended) Buy at Amazon.com price
	Effective COM - 50 Ways to Improve Your COM and MTS-based Applications Don Box et al / Addison Wesley 208 Pages ISBN: 0201379686 44.95 USD (recommended) Buy at Amazon.com price This concise book is a real gem. Even the most experienced COM programmer will find many nuggets of wisdom within these pages.

Development Tools

Visual C++

	Microsoft Visual C++ .NET Deluxe Learning Edition Microsoft Press 608 Pages, 1 CD ISBN: 0735619085 119.99 USD (recommended) Buy at Amazon.com price
	Microsoft Visual C++ .NET 2003 Kick Start Kate Gregory / Sams 336 Pages ISBN: 0672326000 34.99 USD (recommended) Buy at Amazon.com price
	Introduction to MFC Programming with Visual C++ Richard M. Jones / Prentice Hall PTR 300 Pages ISBN: 0130166294 34.99 USD (recommended) Buy at Amazon.com price

Active Template Library

	Developer's Workshop to COM and ATL 3.0 Andrew Troelsen / Wordware 697 Pages, 1 CD ISBN: 1556227043 49.95 USD (recommended) Buy at Amazon.com price Most OPC toolkits are built around Microsoft's Active Template Library. This book and the next are probably the most helpful on the subject.
	ATL Internals Brent E. Rector et al / Addison Wesley 656 Pages ISBN: 0201695898 59.99 USD (recommended) Buy at Amazon.com price

Delphi

	Mastering Delphi 7 Marco Cantu / Sybex 992 Pages, 1 CD ISBN: 078214201X 59.99 USD (recommended) Buy at Amazon.com price We know it's a controversial recommendation, but our first choice for OPC client programming using the custom OPC interfaces is Borland Delphi.
	Delphi 6 Developer's Guide Xavier Pacheco et al / Sams 1200 Pages, 1 CD ISBN: 0672321157 64.99 USD (recommended) Buy at Amazon.com price