Create and edit project symbols

Project symbols can be created and edited.

Create a new master linked symbol

To create a new master linked symbol and save it to the Symbols folder:

1. Design the symbol just as you would normally draw a project screen, using any combination of Static and Active Objects. For example, three check boxes and a text object in a rectangular pane:

   

2. Optionally, Group the objects that you want to save as a symbol. It is not necessary to make a Group out of two or more objects before saving them as a symbol. Saving the objects together as a linked symbol effectively groups them as a single object that can be moved, copied, and inserted into a screen.

3. Select the object(s) or Group that you want to save as a symbol. Right-click and select Create Linked Symbol on the context menu. A standard Save As dialog box is displayed, and you are prompted to give the new symbol a file name. The name for this example is checkboxpanel.

   

4. After you save the file, the symbol appears in the Project Explorer Graphics tab \Project Symbols folder of your project.The symbol also appears in the Project Symbols folder of the Symbol Library, and the symbol file (*.sym), checkboxpanel.sym in this example, is saved to the <project folder>\Symbol folder.

   

   The symbol is also available in the Symbols Library:

   

The symbol is now ready to be reused in your project, but the way it is currently saved, every copy will have identical properties. The next section shows how to define custom properties for the symbol — that is, the properties you want to be able to customize each time you reuse the symbol.

Edit the master symbol

You can edit a master symbol after you've initially saved it, to add or delete objects in the symbol or to define custom properties on it. Any changes you make to the master symbol will automatically propagate to every linked copy in every project.

Note: There is one exception. If you change the hint on a symbol, that change will appear only on new instances of the symbol. Existing instances will be unchanged.

To edit a symbol:

5. Right-click the symbol in the Symbols folder, and choose Edit on the context menu. You can also right-click on any instance of the symbol and choose Edit Linked Symbol from the context menu.

   The symbol file is opened for editing in its own screen window. This symbol editor works in the same way as a regular screen editor, except that every object in the window is part of the symbol. If you add, move or delete objects in the symbol editor, you may change the size or shape of the symbol and disrupt the layout of any Screens where it is used.

   

   Besides adding, moving or deleting objects in the symbol, you can also edit the Object Properties as you normally would. You may want some properties to be the same in every instance of the symbol, but other properties need to be customized according to where and how the symbol is used. In this example, you probably want to customize the captions for the three check boxes, the Project Tags folder with which the check boxes are associated, and the caption for the pane itself.

6. Select the first object in the symbol and open its Object Properties. For example, the first check box:

   

7. In any field where you would normally configure a tag, expression, or value, you can instead define a custom property using the syntax…

   #[Category.]Property:[Value]

   …where:

   • Category is an optional name for a collection of related properties, such as all captions or all Check Box values. If you do not specify Category for a property, it will be automatically listed under the "Main" category.

   • Property is a label to identify the specific property. Property is required for each property, and it must always be followed by a colon (:).

   • Value is an optional default value for the property.

     Note: All Tag/Expression syntax rules apply to Value, including tag names, pointers, arrays, strings, numerical and boolean values, and scripting functions.

   In this example, we want to be able to customize which tag will be set when the Check Box is selected or cleared. So, in the Tag field, type #Option1.Tag:.

   Depending on the context, some object properties require a specific type of value like a String, a Boolean, or a numerical value. For these properties, use string expressions, enclosing the custom property declaration in braces ({}).

   In this example, the Caption field requires a String, so type {#Option1.Caption:"Option 1"}.

   Both properties are shown below:

   

   The symbol will show the new caption:

   

   The properties on an instance of the symbol will show these new properties:

   

8. Repeat this process for each Check Box object, incrementing the number for each successive object: Option2, Option3, etc.

9. Text objects don't support string expressions; for that you will need to use a Text Data Link animation:

   1. In the Text Object Properties dialog, enter ############ in the Caption field.

   2. Select the Text data link button to toggle to the Text Data Link properties.

   3. Enter #Panel.Caption:"Caption" in the Tag/Expression field.

10. Save the symbol and close the symbol editor.

    The symbol will show the new captions:

    

    All new Properties and Values are shown when expanding the Symbol Properties dialog and selecting Display properties from all categories:

    

11. On the Home tab of the ribbon, in the Tools group, click Verify. This will update all existing instances of the symbol in your project.

Add tooltips to custom properties

You can configure a description for each custom property available in the symbol. After creating a symbol, open it with the symbol editor, right-click in the symbol editor (not on the symbol itself) and choose Edit Symbol Properties from the shortcut menu.

When assigning values to the custom properties of the symbol on the screens, the user can read the description as Tooltips just by moving the mouse cursor on the property name, as illustrated on the following picture:

Password protect a symbol

You can put a password on any of your user-made symbols to prevent them from being edited or analyzed by other users, just like any other file. For more information, see Password-protecting files.

Make a user-made symbol available to other projects

User-made symbols are normally available only in the project where they were initially created and saved. However, you can send a user-made symbol to the System Symbols folder of the Library, to make it available to all of your projects:

12. Run AVEVA Edge with administrative privileges, so that you can make changes to the Program Files (x86) folder. You can do this by right-clicking the program icon and choosing Run as administrator from the context menu.

13. In the Symbols folder of the Project Explorer, right-click the desired symbol file ( .sym ) and then choose Send to System Symbols from the shortcut menu. A standard Save As dialog box is displayed, automatically pointing to the \Symbol subdirectory of the program directory instead of the \Symbol subfolder of your project folder.

14. Choose a location in which to save the symbol file. You can choose one of the existing categories/folders, or you can create a new one.

15. Click Save. The symbol file is saved in the specified location and the symbol is displayed in the System Symbols folder of the Symbols library.

    

For more information, see Using the Library.