Explaining Ignition Templates

It is common in Ignition to want to copy visual displays, configuration and functionality. For example, if 20 motors are needed on a window create one motor and copy it 19 times.

But later those 20 motor displays will need to be changed. You know it will happen. Someone will request a change to them or you realize how to make them better etc. etc.

In the past you would need to change each motor display individually. In a large project where there are lots of copies of things the amount of work to make changes really adds up.

Ignition templates solve this problem. This is how:

• Something is designed. This is a template.
• The template is used in many places. Each use of a template is called a template instance.
• When it needs to change it is changed in one place one time. All template instances are automatically updated.

Here's a quote from the Ignition User Manual:

Templates are components that can be re-used across many windows. They are designed separately, outside of any window. After being designed, they can be added to any of the windows within a project. The true power of a template is that if you change its design, all uses of that template across all windows will reflect those changes. This gives templates a major advantage over a copy-and-paste style of design.

Different Template Instance, Different Data

The graphics and functionality of each template instance (from the same template) is the same but the data used by each template instance is different.

Example: Motors template is used to create the Motor A template instance. The data from the actual physical Motor A on the plant floor is fed into the Motor A template instance so that it can display that data. The Motor B template instance is fed Motor B data etc.