Import windows

Importing windows from an existing InTouch application into your current application allows you to reduce development time because you can reuse your previously created windows, objects, and window scripts.

You must convert an application to the current version of the InTouch HMI software before you can import windows.

By default, placeholders are created for the tags associated with an imported window. After importing, you can convert the placeholders to local tags or remote tag references. For more information, see Tag placeholders for imported windows and scripts. If the associated tags already exist in the target application, during the import you can select to use these instead.

When you import windows containing SmartSymbols and select to use existing tags, the InTouch HMI still keeps placeholders for the recovered symbols, even though the tags are available in the target application.

When you import a window from an application that contains SuperTags, only the SuperTag instances actually used in the window are imported into the new application. The entire SuperTag template structure is not imported. For example, if the application has hundreds of SuperTag member tags defined in it, and only 50 of those are used in the imported window, only those 50 are imported.

Important: If you move InTouch window files using any method other than importing or exporting them, the contents of the application Tagname Dictionary can become corrupt.

Import a window

1. Close all windows in your current application.

2. On the File menu, select Import, select Visualization, and then select Windows and Scripts.

   The Open Folder dialog box appears.

3. Select the folder for the application containing the windows to import.

4. Select OK.

   The Application Data Import Options dialog box appears.

   

5. In the Windows tab to select the individual windows to import.

6. Select the Use Existing Tags check box if the tags associated with the imported windows already exist in your application and you want to use them instead of placeholders.

7. Select Import.

8. Convert the placeholder tags to either local tags or remote tag references. For more information, see Convert placeholder tags for an imported window.

9. If an imported window contains one or more wizards, double-click on each wizard to open its properties panel. If an imported window contains one or more SmartSymbols, edit each SmartSymbol and create new instances.