# Access to 'Description' aspect of Rockwell plc tag **URL:** \ **Category:** Ignition\ **Created:** [January 31, 2025, 5:26pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/access-to-description-aspect-of-rockwell-plc-tag/101685 "2025-01-31T17:26:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![michael.black](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ee7513/32.png) [@michael.black](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/michael.black)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2025, 5:26pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/access-to-description-aspect-of-rockwell-plc-tag/101685/1 "2025-01-31T17:26:42Z")
I am trying to create a UDT to show input status of a digital input card. I want to show not only the state of the digital input but also the description of the tag. Here is a screenshot of one of the inputs. ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/original/3X/c/3/c34a1d8cb66b6ed05431ada47c517fcb2c5cee3a.png) I can easily access the .Data part of the tag. Is there a way to get the description as well? I know with HMI's you can create a parameter file and use .Data@Description to get the description. Anyway to do the same for Ignition? ---
**Author:** ![Kevin.Herron](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/kevin.herron/32/7259_2.png) [@Kevin.Herron](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Kevin.Herron)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2025, 5:28pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/access-to-description-aspect-of-rockwell-plc-tag/101685/2 "2025-01-31T17:28:30Z")
> [@michael.black](#): > > .Data@Description This is proprietary for FactoryTalk HMI or whatever you're referring do. Rockwell does not document how 3rd parties might access these attributes. They don't seem to be available via standard CIP attributes. ---
**Author:** ![pturmel](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/pturmel/32/3295_2.png) [@pturmel](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/pturmel)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2025, 5:41pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/access-to-description-aspect-of-rockwell-plc-tag/101685/3 "2025-01-31T17:41:16Z")
I haven't had a chance to RE those. ---
**Author:** ![michael.flagler](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/michael.flagler/32/26272_2.png) [@michael.flagler](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/michael.flagler)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2025, 1:30pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/access-to-description-aspect-of-rockwell-plc-tag/101685/4 "2025-02-01T13:30:23Z")
That would be a game changer if your driver supported them. While I'm assuming those are read only, it would provide a way to have consistent documentation between the PLC and HMI. ---
**Author:** ![pturmel](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/pturmel/32/3295_2.png) [@pturmel](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/pturmel)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2025, 1:47pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/access-to-description-aspect-of-rockwell-plc-tag/101685/5 "2025-02-01T13:47:19Z")
I haven't pushed hard because there's no easy way to expose them in the UA model. "Description" is an attribute already given over to browse text. It would have to be its own UA Node. ---
**Author:** ![MMaynard](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/mmaynard/32/3366_2.png) [@MMaynard](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/MMaynard)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2025, 3:31pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/access-to-description-aspect-of-rockwell-plc-tag/101685/6 "2025-02-01T15:31:18Z")
I will second it would be awesome to have live. We use that field for our ParseL5K tool for bulk imports to Ignition, but that is offline stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Kevin.Herron](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/kevin.herron/32/7259_2.png) [@Kevin.Herron](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Kevin.Herron)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2025, 3:52pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/access-to-description-aspect-of-rockwell-plc-tag/101685/7 "2025-02-01T15:52:46Z")
It would be nice in general to map the OPC UA "Description" attribute to Ignition's "Documentation" property on OPC tags... The problem is the only time I actually have this attribute value is when you are browsing and doing a drag n' drop operation to create an OPC tag. I don't have a reasonable answer for keeping them up to date or even reading the Description when a tag is created any other way. ---
**Author:** ![pturmel](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/pturmel/32/3295_2.png) [@pturmel](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/pturmel)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2025, 4:11pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/access-to-description-aspect-of-rockwell-plc-tag/101685/8 "2025-02-01T16:11:29Z")
> [@Kevin.Herron](#): > > keeping them up to date or even reading the Description when a tag is created any other way. Ergo my separate node thought. Suffix to an Item Path that triggers driver-specific interrogation of the PLC. Presuming the RE succeeds. 🤷‍♂️ ---
**Author:** ![Kevin.Herron](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/kevin.herron/32/7259_2.png) [@Kevin.Herron](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Kevin.Herron)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2025, 4:14pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/access-to-description-aspect-of-rockwell-plc-tag/101685/9 "2025-02-01T16:14:20Z")
Yes, that's definitely the right approach for now. I think in the future I should just get around to implementing generic `system.opcua.read` and `system.opcua.write` scripting functions that let you read/write any OPC UA attribute. With those in place, if you want to map attributes to tag props, it's possible and you can figure out how/when to sync however works best for your project. ---
**Author:** ![pturmel](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/pturmel/32/3295_2.png) [@pturmel](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/pturmel)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2025, 4:16pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/access-to-description-aspect-of-rockwell-plc-tag/101685/10 "2025-02-01T16:16:54Z")
> [@Kevin.Herron](#): > > generic `system.opcua.read` and `system.opcua.write` scripting functions Now that I've conquered the `Device` interface, this makes a great deal of sense. 👍 ---
**Author:** ![Chris\_Bingham](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Chris\_Bingham](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Chris_Bingham)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2025, 4:56pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/access-to-description-aspect-of-rockwell-plc-tag/101685/11 "2025-02-01T16:56:39Z")
Agreed. The closest I’ve come to reading ‘live’ values of extended properties is via use of Logix SDK. Latest library permits uploading an entire project via Python, then saving as L5X, and parsing accordingly (newer firmwares only). Ability to read extended props via opc.readValue would be handy! ---
**Author:** ![Ghost](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/ghost/32/78380_2.png) [@Ghost](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Ghost)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2025, 5:02pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/access-to-description-aspect-of-rockwell-plc-tag/101685/12 "2025-02-02T17:02:43Z")
FYI the latest FactoryTalk Linx Gateway v6.5 allows reading meta data using the @ symbol from within Ignition. Not something I love to use but it is available for Ignition users now. I'm guessing Wireshark wouldn't show anything useful to see how they do it. ---
**Author:** ![michael.black](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ee7513/32.png) [@michael.black](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/michael.black)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2025, 9:31pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/access-to-description-aspect-of-rockwell-plc-tag/101685/13 "2025-02-05T21:31:13Z")
Ive setup UDT"s to read in DI and DO I tried setting up a string tag with the following path and still no luck. ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/original/3X/d/a/da1820c5bf985ca12a2f5537b9749e34cdc7ef19.png) Was this what you meant? ---
**Author:** ![michael.black](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ee7513/32.png) [@michael.black](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/michael.black)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2025, 9:41pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/access-to-description-aspect-of-rockwell-plc-tag/101685/14 "2025-02-05T21:41:43Z")
Seems a little over my head...but if I understand correctly once you have the OPC UA server set up with the plc you can create a script and use system.opcua.read function to read in the description? ---
**Author:** ![Kevin.Herron](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/kevin.herron/32/7259_2.png) [@Kevin.Herron](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Kevin.Herron)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2025, 9:53pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/access-to-description-aspect-of-rockwell-plc-tag/101685/15 "2025-02-05T21:53:54Z")
This was all theoretical discussion. The `@Description` attribute and others like it are not available to us. ---
**Author:** ![Timothy\_Bullard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@Timothy\_Bullard](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Timothy_Bullard)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2026, 7:18pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/access-to-description-aspect-of-rockwell-plc-tag/101685/16 "2026-05-06T19:18:42Z")
how about now. ? I have PLCs that were set up using a tag naming convention PT\_82 for pressure transducer 82 . This matches the print for the facility. The actual name for the input is Steam header Pressure and is stored in the description field in Rockwell PLC. Sure would be handy if I could have this as one of the attributes when the tag is created. Thanks Tim ---
**Author:** ![pturmel](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/pturmel/32/3295_2.png) [@pturmel](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/pturmel)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2026, 7:32pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/access-to-description-aspect-of-rockwell-plc-tag/101685/17 "2026-05-06T19:32:44Z")
Rockwell hasn't published how to access them, and I haven't had a chance to reverse engineer it yet. 🤷‍♂️ ---
**Author:** ![Chris\_Bingham](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Chris\_Bingham](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Chris_Bingham)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2026, 8:01pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/access-to-description-aspect-of-rockwell-plc-tag/101685/18 "2026-05-06T20:01:42Z")
> [@Timothy\_Bullard](#): > > when the tag is created Probably best to export the tags from PLC and interrogate that file in order to build (or modify) your HMI tags. ---
**Author:** ![MMaynard](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/mmaynard/32/3366_2.png) [@MMaynard](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/MMaynard)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2026, 9:19pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/access-to-description-aspect-of-rockwell-plc-tag/101685/19 "2026-05-06T21:19:20Z")
Or save as an L5K or better yet an L5X and then parse the file for all of the tags and descriptions. We have windows built specifically for this. ---
**Author:** ![Timothy\_Bullard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@Timothy\_Bullard](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Timothy_Bullard)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2026, 2:11pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/access-to-description-aspect-of-rockwell-plc-tag/101685/20 "2026-05-07T14:11:34Z")
Kevin IF you have that value when you drag and drop cant you add is as an attribute at that time with the disclaimer that it is static? Thanks Tim [Next page](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/access-to-description-aspect-of-rockwell-plc-tag/101685.md?page=2)