Bug? - UDT Instance import via csv not importing parameter values anymore

Ignition
1

Ignition 8.0.4
I have several UDTs with multiple parameters as well as child tags. When I import new instances (the UDT is already defined) with a csv file, the parameter values do not import. Only the default values from the UDT are left.
In console, warnings are (eg:)

Node[AI] was asked for child 4 while status=LOADING.

and errors are (eg:)

Bad_Unsupported("The target path 'AI/ZI_F50_423' does not have item 'ItemName' for overrides, and cannot accept children tags.")

(see log file for all)AI-ImportErrorLog.txt (9.6 KB)

This was working fine in 7.9 (which is the csv format I'm using).
I've also included the UDT definition (JSON):UDT AIn export.json (17.3 KB)
as well as the csv I'm importing:190918_1807_IMPORT_AI - Copy.csv (5.9 KB)

Also, I'm noticing that while I used to be able to import tags to a specific folder by highlighting the desired folder and then selecting import, in this version it is just throwing the new folder of tags in the root folder.

I'm still using the csv method for bulk imports because I find it much easier to bulk edit tagnames and properties etc in excel and then be able to import them. As of yet I have not been able to find (or build) a tool to allow me to save the newly created tags as a json file.

The UDT Multi Instance Wizard is handy for up to 5 or so tags, but not feasible when you're wanting to create (or overwrite existing) a bunch of tags.

2

I too use Excel to generate my tags but I am generating an xml file. I updated to 8.0.4 earlier this week and can import my tags into the selected folder, everything comes in w/o any problem including the values I want for my parameters.

3

Thanks @Paullys50.

I ended up writing a script to handle the process and posted an example.

The reason I like csv files so much is because of their simplicity. Each tag consists of a single line with any parameter values listed in subsequent columns according to a header. I’ll admit, I’m not an xml guru, but am familiar with it, and still I find it (for this purpose anyway) a bit ‘bulky’.

4

Glad you came up a with a solution that works for you, if I may I’ll offer some direction on the xml route. I too am happy with csv files, but for Ignition 8 I thought I would try my hands at xml. XML is really just a string of text like a csv. The separators are really the only difference and you can export a tag from Ignition as an example to get the schema.

Since the UDT does all the heavy lifting, if you just need to create an instance of the tag then the XML is pretty simple, 2 tag example:

<Tags MinVersion="8.0.0">
  <Tag name="V10001" type="UdtInstance"> 
    <Property name="typeId">PLC/Device Control/Valve</Property>
  </Tag>
  <Tag name="V10005" type="UdtInstance"> 
    <Property name="typeId">PLC/Device Control/Valve</Property>
  </Tag>
</Tags>

I assume you iterate through rows in Excel to create your csv rows, same concept. I added carriage returns to the xml in the example above to make it easier to read. If I remove those carriage returns then it starts to look more like your csv file output where each line is a new tag:

<Tags MinVersion="8.0.0">
  <Tag name="V10001" type="UdtInstance"><Property name="typeId">PLC/Device Control/Valve</Property></Tag>
  <Tag name="V10005" type="UdtInstance"><Property name="typeId">PLC/Device Control/Valve</Property></Tag>
</Tags>

At this point, you should be able to see how a comma in the csv row could be replaced with the associated xml tag.

If you’re like me, and you use parameters to indirectly point to an OPC tag, or provide additional context for the tag we’ll need to add some additional xml to define the parameter and it’s corresponding value.

Example of a tag with parameter content:

<Tags MinVersion="8.0.0">
  <Tag name="V10001" type="UdtInstance"> 
    <Property name="typeId">PLC/Device Control/Valve</Property>
    <Parameters>
      <Property name="IO Address Main" type="String">C01R01:12:O.0</Property>
      <Property name="IO Address Main ZSC" type="String"></Property>
      <Property name="IO Address Main ZSO" type="String"></Property>
      <Property name="IO Address Upper Lift" type="String"></Property>
      <Property name="IO Address Lower Lift" type="String"></Property>
      <Property name="Description" type="String">Steam Supply Valve   </Property>
      <Property name="Device Number" type="String">1</Property>
      <Property name="OPC Server" type="String">Ignition OPC UA Server</Property>
      <Property name="OPC Topic" type="String">Logix PLC</Property>
      <Property name="ASI Address" type="String"></Property>
    </Parameters>
  </Tag>
</Tags>

Again, carriage returns have been added to make easier to read. Instead of adding an additional column, you just add the additional xml tag as a new row.

What it looks like in VBA, note “Q” is used to insert a quotation into the output file rather than getting mixed in with the string concatenation needed for the VBA:

xmlString = "<Tags MinVersion=" & Q & "8.0.0" & Q & ">" & vbCrLf

For i = 0 to ###
	xmlString = xmlString & "  <Tag name=" & Q & Tag & Q & " type=" & Q & "UdtInstance" & Q & "> " & vbCrLf
	xmlString = xmlString & "    <Property name=" & Q & "typeId" & Q & ">PLC/Device Control/" & ValveObjName & "</Property>" & vbCrLf
	xmlString = xmlString & "    <Parameters>" & vbCrLf
	xmlString = xmlString & "      <Property name=" & Q & "IO Address Main" & Q & " type=" & Q & "String" & Q & ">" & ioMain & "</Property>" & vbCrLf
	xmlString = xmlString & "      <Property name=" & Q & "IO Address Main ZSC" & Q & " type=" & Q & "String" & Q & ">" & ioZSC & "</Property>" & vbCrLf
	xmlString = xmlString & "      <Property name=" & Q & "IO Address Main ZSO" & Q & " type=" & Q & "String" & Q & ">" & ioZSO & "</Property>" & vbCrLf
	xmlString = xmlString & "      <Property name=" & Q & "IO Address Upper Lift" & Q & " type=" & Q & "String" & Q & ">" & ioUL & "</Property>" & vbCrLf
	xmlString = xmlString & "      <Property name=" & Q & "IO Address Lower Lift" & Q & " type=" & Q & "String" & Q & ">" & ioLL & "</Property>" & vbCrLf
	xmlString = xmlString & "      <Property name=" & Q & "Description" & Q & " type=" & Q & "String" & Q & ">" & Desc & "</Property>" & vbCrLf
	xmlString = xmlString & "      <Property name=" & Q & "Device Number" & Q & " type=" & Q & "String" & Q & ">" & DeviceNum & "</Property>" & vbCrLf
	xmlString = xmlString & "      <Property name=" & Q & "OPC Server" & Q & " type=" & Q & "String" & Q & ">" & rlOPCServer & "</Property>" & vbCrLf
	xmlString = xmlString & "      <Property name=" & Q & "OPC Topic" & Q & " type=" & Q & "String" & Q & ">" & ignOPCTopic & "</Property>" & vbCrLf
	xmlString = xmlString & "      <Property name=" & Q & "ASI Address" & Q & " type=" & Q & "String" & Q & ">" & ASIAddy & "</Property>" & vbCrLf
	xmlString = xmlString & "    </Parameters>" & vbCrLf
	xmlString = xmlString & "  </Tag>" & vbCrLf
Next

xmlString = xmlString & "</Tags>"

Save to a file...

My VBA is just creating a long character string. Once the file has been created then I can use the native import right into the destination folder I choose.

5

Fair enough. Nice solution. If I had seen something like that before, I may have used it instead.
But now that I’ve completed it, I don’t think I’ll go back.

The other thing I like about a script is that it lives in the Project. No hunting around for the vba macro (if someone else were to step in).

6

How can I import group structure and tags from Excel. some example please