# Best way to go about linking 100's of tags from a DB to a PLC UDT **URL:** \ **Category:** Ignition\ **Tags:** vision\ **Created:** [April 30, 2025, 1:11pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/best-way-to-go-about-linking-100s-of-tags-from-a-db-to-a-plc-udt/105727 "2025-04-30T13:11:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jhess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a87d85/32.png) [@jhess](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/jhess)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2025, 1:11pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/best-way-to-go-about-linking-100s-of-tags-from-a-db-to-a-plc-udt/105727/1 "2025-04-30T13:11:51Z")
Hey all, I am pretty new to Ignition and was wondering about a few best practices when it comes to tables/DBs/sending a PLC the data from a DB. I have a table, settings\_parameters, that has a ~125 parameters in it which isn't much in itself but it is one of 15 tables I am working with (settings, recipes, data tracking, etc.) that will be communicated to and from a PLC, with many being editable from the Vision HMI. For sending data to and from the PLC I plan on using transaction groups (seems like a no brainer as the best tool for this application) but I am not seeing any obvious way to go about linking a UDT or parameterizing tags within the transaction groups I need to setup, which makes me think I will need to setup each tag individually and link them to a tables column 1 at a time. Doable yes, but seems like I am on the hook for a good chunk of time just linking A to B one at a time. Am I missing a tool or shortcut I could be doing to improve this process? ---
**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:** [April 30, 2025, 3:11pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/best-way-to-go-about-linking-100s-of-tags-from-a-db-to-a-plc-udt/105727/2 "2025-04-30T15:11:21Z")
I would create a standard Transaction Group based off of the UDT. Then Shift-Right-Click the group, legacy export, and export it to XML. Then you can use any text editing tool, scripting, excel, etc to make a template for generating the same XML structure based off of a few inputs for each group you need to create. Then it is just a matter of Importing the generated XML back to the system. ---
**Author:** ![jhess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a87d85/32.png) [@jhess](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/jhess)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2025, 3:30pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/best-way-to-go-about-linking-100s-of-tags-from-a-db-to-a-plc-udt/105727/3 "2025-04-30T15:30:23Z")
Perfect, this was what I was hoping for but wasn't sure about. Thanks for pointing me in the direction of the XML export! Does this apply to most other tools? I can think of a few ways me/my coworkers would be able to leverage this for lots of repeat work. ---
**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:** [April 30, 2025, 3:50pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/best-way-to-go-about-linking-100s-of-tags-from-a-db-to-a-plc-udt/105727/4 "2025-04-30T15:50:12Z")
Most of the new parts of Ignition use JSON for import/export instead of XML, but the same concepts apply.