UDT Tags Import Well from OPC to SQL Tags:
If I have a UDT containing 10 integers in the PLC and browse to this UDT in Ignition Designers’s OPC browser, the UDT can be expanded and shows the members as expected. I can also drag that UDT over to SQL Tags, and the whole UDT tree will be created as SQL tags. This is all great.
Array Tags Do NOT Import Well from OPC to SQL Tags:
Now try the same thing with a PLC array of 10 integers–which from a user perspective is really no different than the UDT previously noted. I can browse the array members just like the UDT members. But when it comes to adding this array to SQL tags, it’s a no go. Drag-n-dop creates a single non-expandable string tag, rather than the desired array tag folder with 10 integer member tags inside it. Here’s a slightly more complex example (array of simple UDTs, rather than an array of integers):
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This gets ugly when you have a PLC array of even more complex UDTs. It seems you either have to create this one piece at a time in SQL tags, or create one instance of the member UDT (or UDTs if more than one kind of member UDT) as an Ignition UDT(s) and then create another UDT with a bunch of instances of that UDT as shown below. Doing this isn’t real easy because you can’t use copy and paste (or, better yet, multi-instance wizard) to add members to an Ignition UDT.
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Am I missing a better way to do this, or is Ignition due for an array tag handling improvement?