Configuring the Settings for an OPC Discovery Rules Library

You can configure or make changes to an OPC discovery rules library and specify the rules that will be used when importing OPC servers and their OPC items.

  • System Manager is in Engineering mode.
  1. In System Browser, select Management View.
  1. Select Project > System Settings > Libraries > L4-Project or L3- Country or L2- Region > […] > [OPC discovery rules folder] > [OPC discovery rules library].
  1. Select the Discovery Rules tab.
  1. Open the Library Settings expander.
  1. In the Library Name field, modify the default text with a meaningful and unique name.
  1. In the Match String field, enter the desired matching character among the ones suggested by the tooltip.
    NOTE: You cannot set this string for a customized library (Match String field disabled).
  1. Open the Hierarchy Settings expander.
  1. In the Hardware Hierarchy section, specify the rules for the import of the hardware (physical) hierarchy into Management View as follows:
    a.     In the Generic OPC Group Description field, enter the name to use for the generic OPC group that will be created in Management View.
    b. In the OPC Group Name Levels field, enter the number of levels of the OPC items address from which the OPC groups name will be generated.
    c. In the Address Delimiter field, enter the characters to be used as levels separators in the OPC items address.
  1. In the Logical and User Hierarchies section, specify the rules for the import of the hierarchy into the logical and user-defined view in one of the following ways:
  • To use the hierarchy of the OPC server as obtained after the browse of the OPC items, select the Use the hierarchy of the OPC Server radio button.
  • To use the hierarchy of the OPC server as obtained after the browse of the OPC items and an aggregator with the name of the OPC server used as parent node of the hierarchy, select the Use the hierarchy of the OPC Server radio button and Use OPC Server Name as parent node check box.
  • To build up a hierarchy based on specific level rules, select the Use the following levels to define the hierarchy radio button, and do the following:
    a.     Click Add.
    b. Repeat the previous step to add all the required levels.
    NOTE: You can add a maximum of 10 levels.
    c. (Optional) To create an aggregator with the name of the OPC server as parent node of the hierarchy, select Level 1, and select the Use OPC Server Name check box.
    d. For each level, select it and specify the following settings: Level Description, Level Delimiter, Minimum Characters and Maximum Characters.
  1. Open the Object Mapping Rules expander.
  1. To add a new editable row do one of the following:
  • To add a rule when there are existing entries, select the rule you want the new rule to come after, and then click Insert.
  • To add a rule when there are no existing entries, click Insert.
  • A new editable row is added to the table.
  1. Complete the following fields: Object Type, Direction, Match Strings, Object Model, Property, and Function.
  1. To change the position of a row in the table, select a row, and then click Up or Down, keeping in mind that rules are evaluated in a top-down sequence.
    NOTE: Move rules up and down is allowed only for rules defined in the current library level.
  1. Click Save .