I’m trying to develop UDTs for a number of PlantPAx process objects, take P_ValveSO for example, and am looking for a way to modify the tag paths in bulk to include 2 parameter bindings - PLC Name and Instance Name. The method I have employed so far is:
- Add OPC tags to the UDT from one instance of the P_ValveSO object in the PLC, say for example from “XV_1000_01_Control”
- Export JSON of the UDT
- Use find and replace function in a text editor to modify the tag paths to include {PLC Name} and {Instance Name} in place of Process_PLC and XV_1000_01_Control, respectively.
- Re-import the UDT into Ignition, and create an instance of the UDT for XV_1000_01 to test
The problem is that every tag shows “Error_Configuration”. My guess is that root cause of this is due to the UDT NOT recognizing that there are parameter bindings active in the tag path, and it just recognizes it as text. I was able to resolve this by going into the Edit Binding window for a given tag within the UDT tree and re-populating the parameters, then Applying Changes. Tag paths with parameter bindings active turn to italicized text and the binding icon turns blue. That tag within the instance will no longer spit out the “Error_Configuration” message and is reading from the PLC perfectly. With 100+ tags in many of the PlantPAx UDTs, going into each tag and manually “re-mapping” the parameter bindings is a huge time commitment, and something I would like to avoid.
Is there an easier way to accomplish the bulk creation of UDTs? Is this approach sound, but has overlooked how to properly recognize parameter bindings in the text editor?
