# Get a flat list of all tags paths on the gateway?

**URL:** <https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/get-a-flat-list-of-all-tags-paths-on-the-gateway/49975>\
**Category:** Ignition\
**Created:** [August 16, 2021, 7:21pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/get-a-flat-list-of-all-tags-paths-on-the-gateway/49975 "2021-08-16T19:21:04Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![TheColonel26](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ac8455/32.png) [@TheColonel26](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/TheColonel26)\
**Post date:** [August 16, 2021, 7:21pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/get-a-flat-list-of-all-tags-paths-on-the-gateway/49975/1 "2021-08-16T19:21:04Z")

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Recursive browsing to get a list of all the tags is really slow because for each new folder/level the client has to send a new request to the server. I have had my recursive tag browse method tag actual minutes to complete.

Is there any way to get a flat list of tag paths from the gateway?

Here is my Browse method for reference

```auto
def browseTags(path, filt):
	try:
		results = system.tag.browse(path, filt)
		returnResult = []
		for result in results.getResults():
			# If the item has children, call the function to repeat the process but starting at the child.
			if result['hasChildren'] == True:
				try:
					returnResult.extend(browseTags(result['fullPath'], filt))
				except:
					print("Failed on Path: " + result['fullPath'])
			else:
				print("Tag Found: "+ str(result))
				returnResult.append(result)		
	except:
			print("Failed on Path: " + path)
			print("Result: " + str(results))	
	return returnResult

```

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**Author:** ![paul-griffith](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/paul-griffith/32/37249_2.png) [@paul-griffith](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/paul-griffith)\
**Post date:** [August 16, 2021, 8:29pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/get-a-flat-list-of-all-tags-paths-on-the-gateway/49975/2 "2021-08-16T20:29:54Z")

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As of 8.1.2 you can pass a `recursive: True` parameter in your `system.tag.browse` call to have the recursion happen on the gateway automatically.  
[https://docs.inductiveautomation.com/display/DOC81/system.tag.browse](https://docs.inductiveautomation.com/display/DOC81/system.tag.browse)

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**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:** [August 16, 2021, 10:57pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/get-a-flat-list-of-all-tags-paths-on-the-gateway/49975/3 "2021-08-16T22:57:18Z")

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Don’t do it! It’ll eventually grow to take longer than the client comms timeout. Use message handlers in both directions. Cache results in a project script on the gateway (and client, too, maybe).

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**Author:** ![Shawn\_Rieger](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/shawn_rieger/32/46336_2.png) [@Shawn\_Rieger](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Shawn_Rieger)\
**Post date:** [May 15, 2023, 7:13pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/get-a-flat-list-of-all-tags-paths-on-the-gateway/49975/4 "2023-05-15T19:13:03Z")

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Phill, could you elaborate a bit on this method?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**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 15, 2023, 7:28pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/get-a-flat-list-of-all-tags-paths-on-the-gateway/49975/5 "2023-05-15T19:28:35Z")

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First, any recursive operation on the tag hierarchy should be executed on the gateway, not from a Vision client. The answer is not likely to be returned within the gateway message timeout for anything but the simplest tag hierarchy.

When a gateway API can reasonably be expected to every take more than 60 seconds, and you can't refactor your use case to avoid it (after **really** trying to avoid it), you can use a pair of message handlers to get around the problem:

- Call a gateway message handler using system.util.sendRequest(), supplying the details needed for the long-duration API call, and the client's own ID. The message handler creates a unique ID code for the request, hands it all off to an asynchronous thread, and returns the ID code to the client.

- The calling client places that ID code and a callback function into a project script top-level dictionary.

- The gateway thread, upon completion, assembles the real response and ID code into a payload, and uses `system.util.sendMessage` to deliver to the original requesting client.

- The client message handler that receives the response "pops" the ID code out of the local script module's dictionary, and calls the callback function with the response.

- The callback function does the rest of the logic that would have been after the unmitigated API call.

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**Author:** ![justinedwards.jle](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/justinedwards.jle/32/37854_2.png) [@justinedwards.jle](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/justinedwards.jle)\
**Post date:** [May 15, 2023, 9:36pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/get-a-flat-list-of-all-tags-paths-on-the-gateway/49975/6 "2023-05-15T21:36:56Z")

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Phil is 100% correct. That recursive function works great in a test system with a few dozen tags, but it doesn't work at all in a production environment with thousands of nested tags. It takes way too long to run its course.