Faster way to input tags?

I think that if you have a or can create a csv file from all your tags organized using folders for each group you intend to transform into UDT; if so, you can then load all the tags using from this csv file, then this you can select each older and right click and select "Create UDT from Selected". You will have to do the binding.
Gateway Configurations Video at Inductive University

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Just to chime in, we use Rockwell PLCs and save copies of the PLC programs as L5K and L5X, then we have vision windows that use either text parsing for the L5K or XML parsing with ETree for the L5X.
With some creative scripting, you can build table datasets of tags, udts, IO, etc and then script creation of OPC tags or UDT instances rather easily.

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To convert an old tag database from other SCADA products, I use Excel and Word Mail Merge to create the json file for importing tags.
No scripting needed.

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Following up:

My "Spreadsheet Import Tool" exchange resource was uploaded this afternoon, and is now in IA's reviewers hands. :grimacing:

We'll see if I missed anything in the style guide.

If anyone is desperate to try it, let me know privately.

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What is the charge on this going to be? We are about to standup a whole new factory in the next year or so and I'll be doing all of the Ignition work, so....

Exchange resources are free, with an MIT-style copyright. (:

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Awesome. Excited to see it.

We've used an earlier version of this tool to deploy 8 production facilities over the past 8 months, and I have two new sites to stand up in the next few weeks where I can test this latest and greatest.

I got word at 7 a.m. this morning that another entity was doing end-to-end testing at a new plant we're commissioning, so it was suddenly urgent to roll out the site sooner than expected. I already had our site deployment template nearly complete to run through this import tool, and I took a blank gateway from our standard GWBK and had 20+ devices created, nearly 30,000 tags working and historizing, and everything displaying in Perspective by the time that testing started at 9 a.m.

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I realized this week that adding support for OPC connections wouldn't be hard. So, a v1.1 next week if I get a chance.

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The newly published version has some really nice new features. I let you pitch them when you realize what I've added. :grin:

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So if there's no support for OPC connections in the current version, how are comms done with the tags it currently builds?

It uses system.device.* for IA's own drivers. @msteele uses DNP3 and Modbus TCP, fwiw.

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Oh, are you talking about if you're using a 3rd party OPC server like KepServer or a PLC with built-in OPC-UA?

Yes. It currently doesn't support adding such connections. (It can certainly make UDT and tag instances for those.)

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V1.1 with OPC connection automation, and substantially updated documentation, is done and uploaded. Still under review.

Posted in the Exchange category here:

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