Please add CSV export back to Ignition 8.0? 🤔

What is the reason to remove CSV export in 8.0? The legacy CSV import is still there. Without the export, I don’t know the CSV file format. I have to install an old copy to find out???

I have 16,000 tags needed to copy over from WW DBdump which is in CSV/Excel format.

CSV export was removed because configured Ignition 8 tags cannot be exported to CSV; in 7.9 exporting to CSV was already “lossy” because it wouldn’t preserve configured alarms, and with the complete ground-up overhaul of tags in 8.0, they are too dynamic in structure to export to a flat format like CSV.

We went to great pains to make sure that a CSV file that worked in 7.9 would still import into 8.0, but at some point backwards compatibility has insurmountable limitations. CSV import/export was already considered “deprecated” from 7.6+, when we introduced the new alarming system to replace the legacy ‘alerting’.

I knew the mindset at IA was so, but always good to keep hearing it! Future-thinking, that is.

Ignition certainly isn’t the example here, but there are only so many retro-fixes you can make to an application to improve the functionality of an outdated, limiting, and decrepid codebase. One particular other SCADA platform springs to mind that is on its last legs because their product still uses the codebase from 20-25 years ago as its foundary… (Not to mention their absurb pricing) At some point in their lifespan, applications need overhauls, not just more bolt-on code! :smile:

@anthony_ho, I have older versions of Ignition already installed, let me know what types of tags and what information they use and I will be glad to provide you with an example CSV output. It might be better, however, to write a python (or other favorite language) script that converts the WW file into the JSON format used by IA.

Thanks @mcgheeiv. We have Memory Disc, Int, Real, Msg, and IO Disc, Int, Real, Msg in WW. There must be hundreds of people writing that script already. Have you seen one floating around so I don’t have to reinvent the wheels?

You should really spend some time to create a window that you can import a list of tags with name, opcitempath, datatype, alarming etc that will use the system.tag.configure to create a mass list of tags.

Export from 7.8.3 with memory bool, int, float, string as well as OPC bool, int, float, string.

tags.xml (1.6 KB)

Can you export to a CSV format?

tags.csv (2.4 KB)

Thanks @mcgheeiv

Just curious - has anyone built a window like this that they are willing to share with the community? I'm working on one right now, but if there's one out there already, would save me re-inventing the wheel.

@Travis.Cox I think this “power user tool” would be a good resource for Sales Engineering to create. I would advocate making one for Vison and Perspective.

I have one of these windows, but I think like many other integrators giving away a tool that took days to create and debug is not likely. Plus mine does not look polished at all because it is just used internally. :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

@greg.krueger . It is well worth the time to have your own import window because you may have specific functionality needs for your import. I would also suggest you make an export window as that is important as well if you need to make massive updates to your tags. Also pro tip. Use the JSON names that are given in the user manual for your dictionary values. Otherwise very strange things happen to your tags…

Sounds good! We can defnitely do that.

Brandon - thanks for the feedback - and I hear you on it being unlikely - I certainly don't blame anyone for not sharing, but figured it couldn't hurt to ask - maybe some college student studying controls had some free time and wrote up something spiffy they were willing to share!

@Travis.Cox - for sure would be great if Ignition provided a tool like this out of the box, I think a lot of users would find it very useful.