Chapter 3
Tag Configuration
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National Instruments Corporation
3-21
selecting Append Tags to SCF? (default mode) or you can create a new
configuration file.
How Do You Connect a Tag to an OPC Server?
You connect to an OPC server just like you connect to the National
Instruments device servers from the Connection tab of the Tag
Configuration dialog box. Any OPC servers installed on your machine
are listed in the server name list. Select the OPC server you want to use.
Create an I/O Group for the server, specifying the group deadband and
update rate. Select or enter the Item name, which is the same as the OPC
Server Item ID. You also can select or enter an access path for OPC servers
if the server supports that.
How Do You Connect a Tag to a DDE Server?
Although no BridgeVIEW servers are based on Dynamic Data
Exchange (DDE), you can connect a tag to any existing DDE Server.
Select DDE Server as your server in the Connection tab of the Tag
Configuration Editor to communicate with DDE servers. DDE Servers
have an Application Name, Topic, and Item. In BridgeVIEW, the device
in the I/O Group Configuration dialog box is set to
appname|topic
(| = the “pipe” symbol) and the item in the Connection tab of the
Tag Configuration dialog box is set to
item
. For example, to connect
a tag to cell
R1C1
(item) of spreadsheet
sheet1
(topic) in Excel
(application), set the tag fields to the following:
Server:
DDE Server
Device:
Excel|sheet1
(in I/O Group Configuration dialog box)
Item:
R1C1
To specify a particular sheet (
sheet1
) within an open Excel file
(
book1.xls
), set the device field to the following:
Device:
Excel|[book1.xls]sheet1
(in I/O Group Configuration
dialog box)
How Do You Define a Group of Tags for Alarming?
While editing a tag, pull down the Tag Group Ring in the General tab of
the Tag Configuration dialog box. You can select an existing tag group or
define a new tag group by selecting Enter New…. To create, edit, or delete
tag group definitions, select Tag Groups… from the Configure menu
from the main Tag Configuration Editor panel.
