The Manual Logger WebServices
is an optional feature that
allows communication between the Manual
Logger Mobile Device and a
web server. In order to use this
feature, I must have a web server
configured for communication
with the Manual Logger Mobile Device.
If the web server has
wireless capabilities and
my PDA has
wireless capabilities, then I will be
able to send data back and forth through a
wireless access point. That
means that I will be able to send data from my
PDA to the server from the
field. The setup of the
optional web services is simple. I would like
to show you how this is done. You will need the assistance
of your network administrator.
I have a Windows Server here running
Windows Server 2003.
This Server is
configured as a WebServer.
It is also running Internet Information
Services 5. In order
to configure the web service,
we need to go to Administrative
Tools, Internet Information
Services. In here, I want to
create a New Folder that will contain
the information and the files
that my server will, will need to
communicate with Manual Logger Mobile
Device. Once I open IIS,
I will be able to see my server,
which, in this case, is OSIsoft-DC.
If I expand my
server, I will see a folder called
Web Sites. If I expand that,
I will see the Default Web Site.
Under the Default Web Site, I want to create
a new Virtual Directory.
If I right-click on the Default Web Site,
I can go to New,
Virtual Directory, and here
follow the steps of the Virtual Directory Creation
Wizard. The
Alias for my new Virtual Directory
is going to be
PimlWebServices.
Click Next. And now, I will
have to Browse to the location of that
folder which is under C:,
Program Files,
PIPC,
PimlWebServices.
This is a
folder that was created during the
installation of Manual Logger when I selected
the Optional Web Services Feature.
I click OK, Next,
and I can set the permissions for my
folder. Please be conscious of security
concern, concerns, when setting
the permissions. And always check with your network
administrator. In my case, I am going
to allow full control to my folder.
I click Next
and Finish. I can see that
the PimlWebServices Folder has
been created under the Default Web Site.
In order to complete the process,
I need to run
a Configuration Tool for WebServices.
If I open
Windows Explorer, this tool is going
to be located in the same
PimlWebServices Folder under C:,
Program Files, PIPC,
PimlWebServices. The name of the
Tool is PimlTools.exe.
If I open that
Tool, I want to
go to the Database Tab and
click on Setup Connection. In here,
I want to enter the name of the
appropriate server which, in my case, is
OSIsoft-DC,
and the correct name of the database,
PIMLWindows. I test the connection
which was successful, so I
can apply the settings.
In order to ensure that the web server
has been configured
appropriately, I can conduct one last test.
I can open Internet Explorer,
and go to the website
that I created, which is
OSIsoft-DC,
PimlWebServices,
and open the PimlWebServices.asmx
file.
If I can see this window, that means that
the Web Server has been configured appear...
Appropriately, and I can now
test the connection.
If I click on Test the Connection and
invoke that process, I should be able to
obtain a windows, a
window similar to this one, where I can obtain
the database information,
its version number, the name
of the SQL Server, and the name
of the PI Server. Now I know
that my Web Server has been appropriately
configured to communicate with the PDA.