CtAPI Functions

The CtAPI (Citect SCADA API) allows access to Citect SCADA I/O variable tags via a DLL interface. This allows 3rd party developers to create applications in C ( or other languages) to read and write to the I/O Devices, to use data query and to call Cicode functions.

Note: To use CtAPI to connect to a legacy Citect SCADA system, user needs to have Microsoft Visual C++ 2012 Redistributable (x86 or x64 as per your target platform) installed on the machine. Installer can be found at \Citect SCADA<version>\Citect\ISSetupPrerequisites\Microsoft Visual Studio 2012 C++ Redistributable\ on the installation media.

Note: To use CtAPI to connect to Citect SCADA 2015 System or higher, user needs to have Microsoft Visual C++ 2012 Redistributable (x86 or x64 as per your target platform) and .NET Framework 4.5.1 installed on the machine.

Building Applications

To build CtAPI client applications, you need runtime binaries, a DLL helper static library (ctapi.lib) and a header file (ctapi.h) that defines data structures and function prototypes and configure your project to use these files following these steps:

Note: Detailed procedure may differ as per your development environment. Contact your system administrator or system provider of your environment for detailed information.

1. Ensure that the files necessary to build your application that calls CtAPI functions are ready on your development environment as per your target platform (x86 or x64), by deploying these files into your project location:
• All the runtime binaries listed in "Using the CtAPI on a remote computer" section
• Development specific files in [bin] directory for x86 platform or in [bin]\Bin (x64)\ directory for x64 platform
  • ctapi.lib
  • ctapi.h
2. Add ctapi.lib on your imported static library (dependency) list, to load up ctapi.dll and its satellite binaries at application startup.
3. Include ctapi.h on your source files that use CtApi functions.

Using the CTAPI on a remote computer

To use the CTAPI on a remote computer without installing Citect SCADA, you will need to copy the following files from the [bin] directory for x86 binaries or from [bin]\Bin (x64)\ directory for x64 binaries to your remote computer:

• CTAPI.dll
• CT_IPC.dll
• CTENG32.dll
• CTRES32.dll
• CTUTIL32.dll
• CIDEBUGHELP.dll
• CTUTILMANAGEDHELPER.dll

These files need to be copied into the same folder as your application.

Note: CTUTILMANAGEDHELPER.dll is a new dll added in v2015. If using CTAPI to connect to a legacy Citect SCADA system (e.g. v7.40), this dll is not required.

.Net Framework Requirements

The following needs to be installed on remote CTAPI Clients:

.NET 4.5.1 (see supported OS here: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/8z6watww(v=vs.110).aspx)

Microsoft Visual C++ 2012 Redistributable (x86) - 11.0.61030

Microsoft Visual C++ 2012 Redistributable (x64) - 11.0.60610

See Also

Published June 2018