4.1.2 Settings

Select [View] - [Tag Browser] and make sure the Tag Browser is enabled to open the Tag Browser window.

For a more detailed view of the tags, the Tag Browser window can be undocked by dragging the header of the window. In this detailed view, the Tag Name, Type, Device, Address, Initial Value, Persistence, and Description are all displayed.

Tag Browser Editor

Item	Description
New Tag	There are two methods to create a new tag: Click the icon in the ‘Tag Browser’ window. Right-click the tag list and select [New Tag] on the submenu.
Edit Tag	There are two methods to edit a tag: Double-click a tag in the tag list to edit it. Right-click the tag to edit and select [Edit Tag] on the submenu.
Delete Tag	There are two methods for deleting a tag: Select the tag to delete and press the ‘Delete’ key. 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. Press the Ctrl + C or Ctrl + X keys. 2. Right-click the tag and select [Copy] or [Cut] from the submenu. After copying, move to the destination, right click and select [Paste] from the sub menu or press the Ctrl + V keys to paste.

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.

Group Tag

If you have many tags in a single window, it may be difficult to find and manage individual tags. Group tags allow you to organize tags based on category, with a tree structure for subordinate tags. The grouped tags are displayed and managed in the Tag Browser window.

To create a group tag, select the icon in the Tag Browser window. After pressing the icon, a text field will open in the Tag Browser Window where a name for the Group Tag can be assigned.

Tag Editor

When creating a new tag or editing an existing tag, the ‘Tag Editor’ will appear on screen. This window has two main tabs: the General tab which contains pertinent data for all tag types, and the Advanced tab which contains type-specific data for the tag.

(1) General Options

Item	Description
Tag Name	Input a desired tag name
Path	Outlines the group path of the tag
Type	Allows the user to select from 12 possible data types. The available fields in the advanced options tab will change based on the selected data type.
I/O Device	For remote tags, select the external device to associate the tag with. You can check the name of external devices using [Tools] – [I/O Device Editor]. For local tags, select “None” from the drop down menu. Note that selecting this option will not allow the user to assign an I/O Address.
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 PLC, valid bit addresses include “X00”, “Y1E”, etc. This field is enabled only when an I/O device is selected.
Persistent	When this option is true, 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.
Value Changed
Quality Changed

BOOL Type

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.

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 tag registration and goes back to the database window.

(1) General (Analog Tag)

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 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.

(2) Advanced (Analog Tag)

Item	Description
Initial Value	Assign the initial tag value to be loaded to the tag at 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, 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

Data Type	Description	Range
INT8	Signed 8-bit integer.	-128 ~ 127
INT16	Signed 16-bit integer.	-32768 ~ 32767
INT32	Signed 32-bit integer.	-2147483648 ~ 2147483647
UINT8	Unsigned (non-negative) 8-bit integer.	0 ~ 255
UINT16	Unsigned (non-negative) 16-bit integer.	0 ~ 65535
UINT32	Unsigned (non-negative) 32-bit integer.	0 ~ 4294967295
BCD8	Signed 8-bit Binary-coded decimal number.	-79 ~ 79
BCD16	Signed 16-bit Binary-coded decimal number.	-7999 ~ 7999
BCD32	Signed 32-bit binary-coded decimal number.	-79999999 ~ 79999999
UBCD8	Unsigned (non-negative) 8-bit binary-coded decimal number.	0 ~ 99
UBCD16	Unsigned (non-negative) 16-bit binary-coded decimal number.	0 ~ 9999
UBCD32	Unsigned (non-negative) 32-bit binary-coded decimal number.	0 ~ 99999999
Float	32-bit floating-point number	-3.40282346638529e+038 ~ 3.40282346638529e+038

It is important to verify that the data type of every tag matches the data type used within the paired device. If there is a mismatch, data may be incorrectly represented or manipulated.
For data types that span multiple addresses (namely 32-bit double words), only the first address is needed. The address of the remaining words or bytes is implied. Note that Modbus devices typically only send and receive one 16-bit word per address. Therefore, Modbus double words may not be directly accessible via a single real tag.

String Tag

This tag stores a string value composed of ASCII characters. For virtual tags, strings up to 22 characters long can be created. For real tags, strings will use a contiguous block of data on the target device.

Item	Description
Name	Enter the tag name.
Des.	Enter a description for 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 (String Tag)

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 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 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.

(2) Advanced (String Tag)

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 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.