The Control Property View is where Control Properties (Control Strategy parameters) are defined for use in Control Conversion type tasks.
A Control Strategy uses what is typically referred to as parameters to define its configuration. In Control Architect a control strategy parameter is referred to as a Control Property. Defining a set of control properties allows you to define a control binding that maps the transfer of data between a set of control properties. For example to define a control binding between a value that exists in an Excel Worksheet that has a column name of PVEUHI and a C300 Process Regulatory Control Strategy that contains a Regulatory PID function block type named PIDA, two control properties would be defined as follows:
Excel DataSource Control Property = PVEUHI
C300 Control Strategy Control Property = PIDA.PVEUHI
When defining a Control Binding, the source property would be PVEUHI and the bound to target property would be PIDA.PVEUHI.
Control Property Template
Control Architect installs a default Control Property template that can be added to a Solution View project.
You can define multiple templates within the same Control Property template. For example you might define a Template that contains properties for all Regulatory Control template types available in the C300. Another Control Property template might define all the property types for Digital template types such as DevCtl, Flag, Digital Input, etc.
Using the Control Property View
Tips and Tricks
To rename the block identifier for all similar control properties, a menu will become visible after the block identifier portion of a control property has been changed. Click this menu item Rename all Properties with same [Name].
You can copy and paste a range of values from an Excel document into the Control Property view to quickly build a set of properties. Select the range of property names from the Excel Worksheet, press Ctrl+C, focus in the Control Property view by clicking anywhere in the Property DataGrid or select the Template in the Template DataGrid, then press Ctrl+V to paste the contents of the clipboard. Any leading or trailing white space found in the Excel column name will be stripped when pasting into the Control Property Template to form a valid Control Property name.
You can copy a range of existing Control Property items in the Property DataGrid using Ctrl+C and paste them back into the Property DataGrid using Ctrl+V to create copies of the Control Property items.
Shortcuts
To quickly enable/disable a group of control property items, select multiple items and press the [Space] key to toggle their current state.
To quickly define a group of control property items as a Control Module type property, select multiple items and press the [Shift] + [Space] key to toggle their current state.
Notes:
Do not use square brackets when forming your Excel column names. Instead of CISRC[1], use CISRC(1) or CISRC1. The Control Conversion Template DataView will not display Excel data whose column name contains square brackets.
Target Control Property names cannot contain any parenthesis characters (). The Import Wizard automatically replaces any array type parameters that include the characters "()" with the bracket style "[]". Square brackets are supported for target property names, but not source property names. The Excel Data Source is read using SQL query syntax where brackets are special characters that cannot be used. However the target Control Strategy data or files are not processed using any SQL technology, but uses XML query technology that does not have a limitation on the use of "[]" brackets for array type parameter or property names. Based on the state of the IsSourceType option, validation of the Property name will show an error image in the NAME cell if invalid usage of array type characters are detected.
Control Binding relationships are forward only from the source to the target.
When PKS Cxxx/ACE configuration is chosen as the output target during a Control Conversion task, you need to assure that the Control Property item being referenced as the target has its IsCMType attribute properly chosen. If the Property (Parameter) resides on the Control Module block itself, this attribute must be checked or the Control Conversion task will fail to locate and process the Control Binding.
If you change an existing Control Property definition that has already been used in a Control Binding, you may need to regenerate the Control Binding snippet code to pick up any changes that were made such as changing the status of IsCMType. The properties that make up a Control Property definition are generated to the code snippet as attributes that may require updating by either regenerating the code snippet or manually editing the code snippet source code.
If you change an existing Control Property definition that has already been used in a Control Binding, you may need to regenerate the Control Binding snippet code to pick up any changes that were made such as changing the status of