Part 6: Copy and Paste

Introduction

In Fernhill SCADA you can organize tags in folders. For example, the tags representing a piece of equipment can be grouped together. This includes Data Point Tags, Graphic Tags, Trend Tags, and anything else relevant to the equipment.

The Tag Window allows you to copy both tags and folders three different ways:

Copy and paste.
Drag and drop.
Export and import using a file.

Section Aims

The aims of this part of the getting started guide are to use the Tag Window to:

Try out different copying methods.
Re-organize the Getting Started tag structure.

Copying and Pasting

In the Tag Window hold the CTRL key down and drag the Motor Current tag to the Getting Started folder:

Dragging a tag to a folder while holding the CTRL key down creates a copy of the tag. Compare the properties of Motor Current 001 with the original Motor Current. You should see they are the same except for the Name property.
Right-click the Motor Current 001 tag and select Delete.

The Tag Window will always ask you to confirm delete operations.
Click Yes to delete the tag.
Select the Getting Started folder and press F2 on the keyboard:

Pressing F2 is a shortcut to rename a tag or folder.
Change the name to Pump-1:
In the Tag Window, right-click the database root folder localhost. Then select Add New Folder and change the name of the folder to: Getting Started:
Drag the Pump-1 folder to the new Getting Started folder:

Dragging a tag to a folder without the CTRL key pressed down moves the tag to a new location. If you held the CTRL key down, the folder would have been copied.
Right-click the Pump folder, then select Copy. Right-click the Getting Started folder, then select Paste.

Note: Fernhill SCADA has automatically renamed the pasted folder to avoid a name clash.
Expand both the Pump-1 folder and the Pump-2 folder.

It is worth pausing to think about what has occurred in the previous copy and paste step. Pump-1 is a self contained folder of configuration containing the following:
- An IEC 61131-3 Program Tag working as a simulator
- Two Data Point Tags
- A Graphic Page Tag
- A Trend Tag
There are links between the different tags. For example:
- The Data Point Tags reference the IEC 61131-3 Program Tag.
- The Graphic Page Tag references the Data Point Tags and the Trend Tag.
- The Trend Tag references the Data Point Tags.
The copy and paste operation has not only copied the tags, it has also copied the references between tags. The copied tags refer to the copies and not the original tags.
Right-click the Pump-2 folder and select Export configuration....
Enter a suitable file name, for example Simple Pump, then click Save.

The configuration in the Pump-2 folder has been exported to the file Simple Pump.fhscfg.

Click OK to close the dialog.
Right-click the Getting Started folder then select Import followed by Import configuration.... Choose the file Simple Pump.fhscfg then click Open.
Click OK to close the Import Configuration dialog.

You can use the Export configuration tool to build a library of Fernhill SCADA configuration. When you start a new project you can use the Import configuration tool to quickly create a starting point from previous project exports.