Add tags to the point database using Excel

PI Builder is a Microsoft Excel add-in that you can use to configure PI points in a spreadsheet. PI Builder is installed with Data Archive.

This section outlines a technique to develop a point configuration spreadsheet.

The spreadsheet must contain a row for each point and a column for each attribute, such as tag (or Name), Pointsource, and pointtype.

Save the spreadsheet as an ASCII file with comma-separated values. Precede any non-data lines in the file with a * comment character. That way, piconfig ignores them.

Here’s an example data file, taglist.dat, generated from a spreadsheet in comma-separated values (CSV) format:

RealTag1,Lab,float16
RealTag2,Lab,float16

Modify the following example structure file so that the attributes listed in the structure line match the contents of the ASCII data file. Note that the point name, as specified by the tag attribute, is the only attribute that is required. Attributes that are not specified are given default values.

Use create mode to create new points; use edit mode to modify existing points. Use create, t or edit, t mode to create the point if it does not exist and to modify it if it does exist.

*Example piconfig input structure file
*File name: example3.str
*
*Create or modify tags from input file taglist.dat*
@table pipoint
@mode create, t
@istructure tag, pointsource, pointtype
@input taglist.dat
@endsection
*
*List tags to verify creation or modification
*
@mode list
@ostructure tag, pointsource, pointtype
@select tag=*, pointsource=Lab, pointtype=float16
@endsection
@exit

Run piconfig using the structure file as input.

piconfig < example3.str