Import tags from a CSV database

This tool allows you to import tags from a CSV database — that is, a flat database file that contains comma-separated values — or any similarly formatted text file.

Note: If you are running Studio on a Windows computer that has User Account Control (UAC) enabled, you might have issues while performing this task. If you do, try running Studio as an administrator (that is, right-click the Studio program icon, and then click Run as administrator on the shortcut menu).

To import from a CSV database file into your current project:

1. On the Home tab of the ribbon, in the Tools group, click Import Wizard.

   The first page of the import wizard is displayed.

   

2. In the Source Type list, select CSV Database, and then click Next.

   The next page of the import wizard is displayed.

   

3. In the Options area, select whether to import tags that appear to be duplicates of existing tags in your current project.

   Option	Description
   Do not import duplicate tags	If a tag has the same name as an existing tag, do not import it.
   Replace duplicates with imported tags	Import all tags. If an imported tag has the same name as an existing tag, replace the existing tag.

4. Select the database file to be imported:

   1. To the right of the File box, click Browse.

      A standard Open dialog box is displayed.

   2. Use the Open dialog box to locate and select the file you want to import into your current project.

      Please note that the Open dialog box can only recognize files with the .csv extension, even though the import wizard can import files that do not strictly contain comma-separated values. As such, you might need to rename the file you want to import in order to have the dialog box recognize it. You will be able to specify a different separator in a subsequent step.

   3. Click Open.

      The Open dialog box is closed, and the file path and name for the file you selected are displayed in the File box.

5. In the Data Column area, for each tag property, select the number of the column/field in the database file that contains the corresponding data.

   Tag (that is, the tag name) is mandatory, but the other properties are optional — if a property is not included in the database file, select Not used.

   For example, if the tag name, array size and data type are listed in the second, third, and first columns of the database file, respectively, do the following: under Tag, select 2; under Array Size, select 3; under Type, select 1; and under both Description and Web Data, select Not used.

   For tag properties that are not used, the import wizard will insert default values according to the following table:

   Tag Property	Default Value
   Array Size	0
   Type	Integer
   Description	<blank>
   Web Data (also known as Scope)	Local

6. In the Delimiters area, select the delimiters or separators for the database file to be imported. You can select more than one.

   Comma is the default for .csv files.

7. If you want to add a prefix to the names of the imported tags, in order to differentiate them from other tags in your current project, select the Use prefix option and then type the prefix (up to 4 characters) in the box.

8. Click Next.

   The last page of the import wizard is displayed.

9. Use the last page of the import wizard to select the tags that you actually want to import into your current project.

   The list shows all of the tags that the import wizard found in the imported database, and the check box to the left of each tag shows whether that tag is selected for import.

   • You can select or clear the check box for each tag in the list.

   • To select all of the check boxes, click Check. To clear all of the check boxes, click Uncheck.

   • To sort the list of tags, click the header of the column by which you want to sort.

   • To filter the list of tags, click Filter and then configure filter strings for one or more columns. You can use wildcard characters (* and ?) in the filter strings.

   Please note that filtering the list of tags does not select any tags for import. It only makes the list shorter and/or easier to navigate.

   This is an important step because imported tags count against your project's tag limit. (For more information, see About target platforms, product types, and target systems.) The current number of tags in your project and the number of tags selected for import are shown in the Database size area of the page.

10. Click Finish to finish importing the database.

    Note: This import wizard cannot import Class tags. If you need to import Class tags, open the database file in a spreadsheet application like Microsoft Excel and then copy-and-paste from the spreadsheet to the Project Tags datasheet. For more information, see Project Tags folder.