Managing I/O links

The Template I/O tab allows you to expose specific control inputs required and control outputs provided by the template. Also, (if licensed for tags and tagdictionaries) you can apply additional tags to the exposed I/Os. During deployment the template attempts to resolve these linkable I/O properties, and may prompt the user to choose among multiple sources.

This procedure describes adding a control input to expose it as a linkable point in the template.

Perform the following steps:

In the Template View, click the Template I/O tab.
To add an input, in the left pane click to expand the control point and double-click on the input slot or select the input slot and click the Add button.
The system adds the input slot to the template’s slot sheet shown in the upper center pane.
By default, the system automatically adds several tags (n:input, n:userTip, n:targetSlotHint, n:bindHints, and n:slotPathScope) to the I/O Tags pane (lower right) along with any other tags previously applied to this input slot. These added tags are used during template deployment to assist the person deploying the template in linking the template inputs from other writable points in the station.
- n:bindHints is a string value that is used as a NEQL search predicate.
- n:targetSlotHint is a string value that is used to suggest the target slot of any writable points that match the n:bindHints query. The value is an output. For example, if the targetSlotHInt tag value is: "out", the deploy tool would first suggest linking from source slot out if it was linkable., If it is not linkable, then it does not suggest any particular output, it lets the user choose. In any case, the person deploying the template can override the suggested target slot.
- n:userTip is an additional string value that appears in a popup window when the template is deployed. This provides guidance to the person deploying the template in making a selection.
- n:slotPathScope is an optional slot path definition value that is used as the root for bind hint searches to resolve template Input/Output bindings. It allows you to define a Slot Path Scope to apply to a search and limits the search to components that have that slot path scope as an ancestor.
In the upper center pane, select the added input slot to edit any of the added tags.
To edit the n:bindHints tag, in the I/O Tags pane (lower right), select the n:bindHints row and double-click on the Value cell.
The Set Value window opens.
Enter a NEQL search predicate for the input slot and click OK.

TIP: Use the tag dictionaries in the lower left pane to identify tags to include.
To create a template output, in the left pane click to expand the control point and double-click on the output slot to add it (or select it and click Add).
NOTE: This is basically the same procedure as creating a template input, except that you typically select the “out” property of a control point.

The system adds the output slot to the template’s slot sheet, and displays it in the upper right pane.

By default, the system automatically adds the n:output, n:bindHints, n:targetSlotHint, n:userTip, and n:slotPathScope tags and displays them in the I/O Tags pane (lower right). The deployment job uses these tags to assist the person deploying the template in linking the template outputs to other writable points in the station.
- n:bindHints is a string value that the system uses as a NEQL search predicate.
- n:targetSlotHint is a string value that is used to suggest the target slot of any writable points that match the n:bindHints query. The value is an output indicated by a comma separated list of inputs. The order of the list is the order that the deploy tool uses to suggest the target slot. For example, if the n:targetSlotHint tag value is: in10, in13, the deployment job first suggests linking to the target slot in10 if it is linkable. If it is not linkable, the deployment job suggests in13. If neither is linkable, the deployment job does not suggest an input slot. Instead. it lets the person deploying the template choose. In any case, the user can override the suggested target slot(s).
- n:userTip is an additional string value that appears in a popup window when the template is deployed. This provides guidance to the person deploying the template in making a selection.
- n:slotPathScope is an optional slot path definition value that is used as the root for bind hint searches to resolve template Input/Output bindings. It allows you to define a Slot Path Scope to apply to a search and limits the search to components that have that slot path scope as an ancestor.
To edit the n:bindHints, n:targetSlotHint, n:userTip, and n:slotPathScope tags in the I/O Tags pane (lower right), select the tag row and double-click on the Value cell, edit the value in the Set Value window, and click OK.
The system updates the table (upper center pane) with the entered values. The value is validated upon entry and any errors are indicated in the I/O table.
At this point you can expose additional inputs and outputs, as needed.

On completion, the template’s linkable inputs and outputs are configured.

Managing I/O links

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