All of my projects have these IO descriptions stored as strings in the plc and the hmi screen is dynamic with plc logic to pull the correct in/out data bits as well as address and description. Sending all of this information to the plc is done with some homemade software based on AdvancedHMI and an excel spreadsheet that all of my project details and io mapping are completed with. As long as I am ontop of wiring changes and keep the excel spreadsheet up to date its a 45s download at the end of the project for all of the 500+ IO points to be updated on the screen ��. One hmi screen is common with 16 points and all words are String tags relating to an array of udt stored in the plc. Hmi pointer is applied via combo selector based on what card/io device is looking to be updated.
Udt elements I use in the array of io data are:
.Data - DINT (in/out bits)
.Desc - String[16] (each point description for data bit)
.Address - String (I:01. or similar as a prefix for the data bit)
.Location - String (description where to find this io device)
.IP - String (address for pinging this io device)
.Catalog - String (model number and manufacturer to see what it is you're looking for on the machine)
.CommsOK - BOOL (plc logic for good comms for io device)
Well worth the investment of a couple days to get this into your project library as it can be used for all digital in/out mapping with just downloading new descriptions from the spreadsheet. The only hurdle I ran across was the time I needed language switching on the HMI... in this case I made a parameter file in Factorytalk and put all of my IO descriptions in the file, then used pointer reference relative to the desired card number and used the 20 following strings ([x+0], [x+1],[x+2]...) I could then use the language switching tool and type in the descriptions in another language.
Also, side note, individual text boxes drive me nuts on the screens, I'd rather use a single text box with multiple lines - then match up the indicators with the lines in the text box. Less elements on the screen means less things to align and centre..
TLDR: use excel for all io descriptions and never type in factorytalk again!
