# Reading 'DInt' Tag with Minus Sign.

**URL:** <https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/reading-dint-tag-with-minus-sign/22541>\
**Category:** Ignition\
**Created:** [February 13, 2019, 2:19pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/reading-dint-tag-with-minus-sign/22541 "2019-02-13T14:19:22Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Ralpho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/dc4da7/32.png) [@Ralpho](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Ralpho)\
**Post date:** [February 13, 2019, 2:19pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/reading-dint-tag-with-minus-sign/22541/1 "2019-02-13T14:19:22Z")

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Im trying to read a DInt tag from TIA Portal and the value is -4.  
En Ignition Designer/Tag Editor/General Properties i have selected Data Type as a Long but the tag value dont have any relation with the real value, looks like i cant read the minus sign.  
Probably is a very basic question but i’ll appreciate to have some help. Thanks in advance.

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**Author:** ![Kevin.Herron](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/kevin.herron/32/7259_2.png) [@Kevin.Herron](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Kevin.Herron)\
**Post date:** [February 13, 2019, 2:20pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/reading-dint-tag-with-minus-sign/22541/2 "2019-02-13T14:20:26Z")

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Is this using our Siemens driver? What address have you specified in the tag?

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**Author:** ![zxcslo](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/zxcslo/32/61610_2.png) [@zxcslo](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/zxcslo)\
**Post date:** [February 13, 2019, 4:50pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/reading-dint-tag-with-minus-sign/22541/3 "2019-02-13T16:50:23Z")

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INT in Siemens is Short in Ignition (16 bit), DINT in Siemens is INT (32 bit) in Ignition.  
If you want signed values in Ignition, you must specify the tag as I; if you want unsigned values, you must specify tag as W…  
For example:  
DB100, DI10 - signed value, DINT in Siemens (Integer in Ignition)  
DB100, DW10 - unsigned value, DWord in Siemens ( Word or Int in Ignition)

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**Author:** ![Ralpho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/dc4da7/32.png) [@Ralpho](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Ralpho)\
**Post date:** [February 14, 2019, 1:55am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/reading-dint-tag-with-minus-sign/22541/4 "2019-02-14T01:55:44Z")

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Thanks very much, problem solved.

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**Author:** ![Salien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Salien](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Salien)\
**Post date:** [September 19, 2024, 4:25am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/reading-dint-tag-with-minus-sign/22541/5 "2024-09-19T04:25:47Z")

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Necropost retracted - I was wrong =)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Kevin.Herron](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/kevin.herron/32/7259_2.png) [@Kevin.Herron](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Kevin.Herron)\
**Post date:** [September 19, 2024, 12:08pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/reading-dint-tag-with-minus-sign/22541/6 "2024-09-19T12:08:18Z")

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An “int” in the driver is 16 bits. An “int4” ignition tag is 32 bits.

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**Author:** ![Salien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Salien](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Salien)\
**Post date:** [September 20, 2024, 4:04am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/reading-dint-tag-with-minus-sign/22541/7 "2024-09-20T04:04:30Z")

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Thanks. Apparently what I missed was basic math.

To further advertise my naivety, I couldn't seem to break the Siemens driver when reading an Int or DInt, and couldn't work out why Ignition was able to correctly flag an overflow. Turns out what matters is using the correct type in the OPC Item Path field, not the tag's Data Type field, duh.