Red Lion Crimson 3 - Search and Replace

I am making a table of data with a number of formatting changes on each readout. I have one column working and need to copy it a bunch of times. In other HMI software this is easy, you copy it, select the objects you want to change, hit the hot-key for "Replace" and enter the tag characters you want found and replaced, done. Easy-peezy.

I had read/saw a procedure somewhere as a work-around for this feature, which I think was kind of like making a widget but not quite, making use of folders and multiple copies of the cd3 file. I can't find it on this site or anywhere else I could think to look. Does this sound familiar to anyone?

TIA,
-Brad

Here's how:
Select the objects to be changed.
right click > copy from > your selection of what to copy

click your selection.
then click on the cell you're copying from.

the trick that copies between databases:

let's assume you have one complete row or column of data in a display.
and you want to add additional rows or columns with different indexes or tags.

open a second instance of the database. or copy to a new file and open it.

in Data Tags:
for all the objects that on the display page that you will duplicate: change tag names as required.

in Display Pages:
check that the new tag names are in place.
select and copy the objects.
<alt><tab> to your 'real' database.
<paste> the objects.

I don't think that's any less work?

So I have to manually edit and change all the tagnames in the Data Tags tab, and their associated PLC addresses? I think that might be more work than manually editing the tagnames within the links on the Display after copying a full column of my "table". So much for efficiency.

Red Lion really needs to get a Search and Replace feature working in the Display Pages editor. One that does sub-string replace too, like replacing "Tank1" with "Tank2" in tagnames like Tank1_Level, Bldg3_Tank1_HiHi_Alm, etc.

Yeah. I agree. This is a work around.
Its not so bad if tags are organized to assist.

Mebbe I failed to communicate.

You change tag names in the data tags area.this updates tag names in the display page. Copy retains the new tag names when you paste into your live database. You can create or copy the new tags. But they're in the display objects.

No, I understand. But you have to change the tag names one at a time (no search and replace in the Data Tags editor either), plus you have to edit each tag to point it at the corresponding PLC tag. I suppose you could do that in Excel with data tag import/export, assuming the target tags have been individually added to the cd3 file already, but that's another step.

Depending on the alignment of your source data, you can take advantage of arrays in Crimson 3 to create tables more quickly. The drawback to arrays is that they share tag properties. If you design with this in mind it is not a real problem but if you are creating an application for an existing PLC program that you'd rather not modify, then it might be trouble.

Widgets with folder binding is another method you could employ. The ability to copy and "paste special" is a very powerful feature of Crimson that I use a lot to alter tag and object properties.

You are right that the search and replace could be improved.