Tags, Assets and Templates > Creating and Editing Tags
  
Creating and Editing Tags
Tags are the process variables for your application. Use tags and their properties to set up the data model for your process. You can extend the types of tags available and create new types to fit your application needs, such as machine data, equipment status, vessels, or the representation of any asset attributes in your plant.
To create and edit tags:
1. Go to Edit > Tags > Objects.
•You can also create a tag from anywhere in FactoryStudio by clicking New Tag in the toolbar.
*Tip: Like any other configuration table, you can also import CSV files or copy/paste contents directly from an Excel spreadsheet or other applications. Verify the chapter about the Workspace Overview and FactoryStudio for information about the DataGrid functionality.
2. Enter or select information, as needed, at the Insertion Row.
EditTagsObjects table
 
Column
Description
Name
Enter a name for the tag. The system lets you know if the name is not valid.
Note: If you edit the name of an existing tag, the system automatically updates the name throughout the project.
Type
Select one of Built-in Tag Types or for user defined type, see Creating Tag Templates.
Parameters
If available, configure the parameters. The parameters vary based on the tag type.
Array
When not defined (blank) the Tag is not an Array.
When defining an Array with value N an Array is created from position 0 to N.
For example, when creating a Tag array of size "5", the Array is created from Tag[0] to Tag[5], this means that 6 elements are created.
Two programming styles are accommodated by this method; count from 0 to less than five and the style that interacts on the Array counting from 1 to 5.
Description
Enter a description for this tag.
3. To add or remove a column, right-click the column heading area and check or uncheck the columns that will be visible.
 
Column
Description
EngUnits
Enter the engineering units of measure that you want to use as a label for this tag.
StartValue
Enter a starting value for this tag. This is the value the tag will be initialized with when FactoryStudio starts.
Format
Enter a default format for displaying the data. For example:
•N0—Number with no decimal places.
•N3—Number with three decimal places.
•X—Hexadecimal (supported only for integral types).
•C—Currency.
•When configuring output on the Displays, it is possible to define the format to each output field individually, but in most scenarios it is easier to attach the default formatting to the tag itself
For more information, see Tag Formats.
Retentive
Select an option to save the value of the tag and its internal properties to the database every time the value changes. This retains the value when the application shuts down and makes the value available when the application next starts.
•None—Does not retain the value or properties.
•ValueOnly—Retains only the value.
•Properties—Retains all properties, including the value.
•PropertiesOnly—Retains all properties, except the value.
Min
Enter the minimum value that is valid for the object.
Max
Enter the maximum value that is valid for the object.
Visibility
Select the value visibility on the OPC server for remote projects:
•Private—Tag is visible only to the local project and redundant pair.
•Protected—Read-only tag that is visible on the OPC server to remote projects and OPC clients.
•Public—Tag is visible on the OPC server to remote projects and OPC clients.
Domain
Tag value for the entire project or value specific to each client display.
•Server—Tag value is consistent across the entire project and all remote client displays. Most tags in a project should be Server tags.
•Client—Tag value is local to each remote computer running a client display (web or visualizer displays).
•Use Local tags to denote temporary data specific to individual client computers. The most common use of Local tags is when temporary data is needed to manage the user interface on the displays. Local tags allow different values on each client computer.
Comment
Enter any comments about this tag.
[Other columns]
For definitions of other columns that are available in many tables, see Common Column Definitions.
4. Continue adding as many tags as you need.
*Tip: With FactoryStudio you can replace names at any time, so an easy way to create a tag is to click with the mouse on the Name column of insertion row, then press space and enter repetitive times, the system will create a Tag from the same type of last one created. You can use the mouse on the insertion row to select the Type, can click with the mouse in the header or any other of that grid, that will also create a tag with a default name.