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Select [Tools] – [Database] or press the (blue star) icon to bring up the Database editor window as shown below.:

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Database Editor

Item

Description

New Tag

There are several methods to create a new tag:

  1. Select [Edit] – [New Tag] when the ‘Database’ editor window is activated.

  2. Click the (blue star) icon in the ‘Database’ editor window.

  3. Press the ‘Insert’ key.

  4. Double-click a blank portion of the tag list.

  5. Right-click the tag list and select [New Tag] on the submenu.

  6. Press [Next Tag] in the ‘Edit Tag’ window.

Edit Tag

There are several methods to edit a tag:

  1. Double-click a tag in the tag list to edit it.

  2. Select the tag to edit and click [Edit] – [Edit Tag].

  3. Select the tag to edit and click the (blue star) icon in the ‘Database’ editor window.

  4. Right-click the tag to edit and select [Edit Tag] on the submenu.

Delete Tag

There are several methods for deleting a tag:

  1. Select the tag to delete and press the ‘Delete’ key.

  2. Select the tag to delete and click [Edit] – [Delete].

  3. Right-click the tag to delete and select [Delete] on the submenu.

Copy Tag

Select the tag to copy/cut from the tag list.

Copy or cut the tag with any of the methods shown below:
   1. Select [Edit] – [Copy], or [Edit] – [Cut].
   2. Press the Ctrl + C or Ctrl + X keys.
   3. Right-click the tag and select [Copy] or [Cut] from the submenu.
After copying, move to the destination and select [Edit] – [Paste] or press the Ctrl + V keys to paste.

Drag & Drop

Tags can also be copied and pasted by dragging and dropping:

  1. When you drag and drop a tag within the tag list, the selected tag moves directly below where it was dropped.

  2. When you drag and drop a tag to a branch of the tag tree, the tag is copied into the corresponding branch.

  3. When you drag and drop a group tag to a branch of the tag tree, the group tag and its contents are copied into the corresponding branch.

(blue star)

When creating a tag, use a name that follows the criteria listed below. :

1. No special characters (e.g. Space, Tab, @, *, /, +, -, etc.)

2. The first character of a tag name cannot be a number.
(Ex: “DIG1” is valid, but “1DIG” is invalid)

3. Tags are not case-sensitive. All tags will be stored as uppercase.

4. You cannot use the same tag name more than once in the same tag group. However, tags may use the same name if they are in different groups.

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Digital tags are used to represent ON/OFF status, 0 or 1, True or False, or other values with only 2 possible states. Within XpanelDesigner, digital values are stored and represented as either 0 or 1. If a digital tag is tied to a device address with more than one bit, then any value greater other than 1 will be treated as a 1. Note that within XpanelDesigner, “Digital” refers only to binary values, not to other value types that are stored digitally.

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Item

Description

Name

Enter the tag name.

Des.

Enter a description of the tag.

Previous

Moves to the previous tag’s ‘Edit Tag’ window.

Next

Moves to the next tag’s ‘Edit Tag’ window.

Ok

Registers the tag in the database.

Cancel

Cancels the tag registration and goes back to the database window.

(1) General Options

Item

Description

Tag Type

Select the tag type (real or virtual)

Real Tag

Links to an external device connected to Xpanel. The tag value updates automatically when the device value updates.

Virtual Tag

Acts as a general-purpose variable for use within Xpanel. Does not connect to an external device.

I/O Device

Select the external device to associate the tag with. You can check the name of external devices using [Tools] – [I/O Device]. This field is enabled only when ‘Real tag’ is selected.

I/O Address

Enter the external device address to associate the tag with. You must enter the address using the device’s addressing method. For example, for a CIMON an ATIVA PLC, valid bit addresses include “X00”, “Y1E”, “D16”, etc. This field is enabled only when ‘Real tag’ is selected.

Save last status when closing

When you select this option, the last state of the tag is stored when the project is closed. When you execute the project again, the tag values will be reloaded. Note: this feature is only available for virtual tags. Real tags are controlled by Upon startup, real tag values will be read from the device they are linked to.

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Item

Description

Initial Value

Assign the initial tag value to be loaded to the tag at the project startup. This field is only available for virtual tags.

Analog Tag

Analog tags are used to represent 8-, 16-, or 32-bit numeric values. It is important to choose the correct data type for interpreting the data (INT16, UINT32, Float, etc.). Note that within XpanelDesigner, “Analog” refers to multi-bit numeric values, but not necessarily values with an analog input source.

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Item

Description

Tag Type

Select the tag type (real or virtual)

Real Tag

Links to an external device connected to Xpanel. The tag value updates automatically when the device value updates.

Virtual Tag

Acts as a general-purpose variable for use within Xpanel. Does not connect to an external device.

I/O Device

Select the external device to associate the tag with. You can check the names of external devices using [Tools] – [I/O Device]. This field is enabled only when ‘Real tag’ is selected.

I/O Address

Enter the external device address to associate the tag with. You must enter the address using the device’s addressing method. For example, for a CIMON an ATIVA PLC, valid word addresses include “X00”, “M30” “D16”, etc. This field is enabled only when ‘Real tag’ is selected.

Save last status when closing

When you select this option, the last state of the tag is stored when the project is closed. When you execute the project again, the tag values will be maintained. Note: this feature is only available for virtual tags.

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Item

Description

Initial Value

Assign the initial tag value to be loaded to the tag at the project startup.

Data Type

Select the data type (bit encoding) of the tag value to use within XpanelDesigner. Refer to the table below for a description of each data type.

Clipping

With this option, when the analog value exceeds the specified Min/Max range, an alarm a warning message will appear and the value will not be recognized.

Scale

Converts the original input data into a new value using one of two methods. Note that the behavior of the ‘Eng. Data’ Min/Max values change depending on whether the “Scale” box is checked or not.

Scale/Offset

(Only visible when Scale is selected)

To use the Scale/Offset method, check the “Scale” box, then enter the Scale and Offset values in the ‘Scale/Offset’ field. With this option, the tag value will be calculated using the formula below:

Tag Value = (Input Value * Scale) + Offset

Example: Select an analog tag with data type UINT16. When Scale is 0.1 and Offset is 10:

Minimum value: (0 * 0.1) + 10 = 10,
Maximum value: (65535 * 0.1) + 10 = 6563.5

For a given tag value, the corresponding input value can be calculated using the formula below:

Input Value = (Tag Value – Offset) / Scale

Min./Max.

(Visible when Scale is not selected)

To use the Min/Max method, uncheck the “Scale” box, then enter the Minimum and Maximum values in the ‘Raw Data’ field. With this option, the tag value will be linearly scaled so that that the Raw Data minimum is converted to the Eng. Data minimum and the Raw Data maximum is converted to the Eng. Data maximum. Intermediate values are scaled linearly. For a given input (raw) value, the exact output (tag) value can be calculated using the formula below:

Tag Value = (Input Value – Raw Data Min) / (Raw Data Max – Raw Data Min) * (Eng. Data Max – Eng. Data Min) + Eng. Data Min

Example: Select an analog tag with data type Float. Set the Raw Data minimum to 0 and the maximum to 1. Set the Eng. Data minimum to 0 and the maximum to 100. Now, PLC values (on the left) will be converted to the following tag values (on the right):

-17.0 becomes 0
0.0 becomes 0
0.25 becomes 25
0.75 becomes 75
1.0 becomes 100
24.0 becomes 100

Any input value below the Raw Data minimum will be converted to the Eng. Data minimum. Any input above the Raw Data maximum will be converted to the Eng. Data maximum.

For a given tag value, the corresponding input value can be calculated using the formula below:

Input Value = (Tag Value – Eng. Data Min) / (Eng. Data Max – Eng. Data Min) * (Raw Data Max – Raw Data Min) + Raw Data Min

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Item

Description

Tag Type

Select the tag type (real or virtual)

Real Tag

Links to an external device connected to Xpanel. The tag value updates automatically when the device value updates.

Virtual Tag

Acts as a general-purpose variable for use within Xpanel. Does not connect to an external device.

I/O Device

Select the external device to associate the tag with. You can check the name of external devices using [Tools] – [I/O Device]. This field is enabled only when ‘Real tag’ is selected.

I/O Address

Enter the external device address to associate the tag with. You must enter the address using the device’s addressing method. For example, for a CIMON an ATIVA PLC, valid starting word addresses include “X00”, “M30” “D16”, etc. Note that real string tags will take up multiple words on the target device, depending on the length of the string. Only the starting address for the string needs to be specified; the other words in the string are implied by the starting address and the length of the string. Each ASCII character in the string uses 8 bits of data. For CIMON ATIVA PLC’s, the standard unit of device memory is 16 bits or one “word”. Thus, every 2 characters in the string will require 1 word of device memory on the PLC. This field is enabled only when ‘Real tag’ is selected.

Save last status when closing

When you select this option, the last state of the tag is stored when the project is closed. When you execute the project again, the tag values will be maintained. Note: this feature is only available for virtual tags.

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Item

Description

Length of String

Assign the maximum string length that can be written to the tag.
For virtual tags, you can choose a value between 1 and 22. For real tags, the maximum length is only limited by the device memory. Note: Be careful to avoid overlapping device addresses. For example, if one string tag “STR1” begins at address D0 on a CIMON an ATIVA PLC, and another string tag begins at address D7, then STR1 should be no longer than 14 characters (7 words * (16 bits/word) / (8 bits/character) = 14 characters). Otherwise, editing one string may affect the other.

Initial Value

Assign the initial value to be used at the project startup.

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