To define a digital object template

The digital template is special because the template adds functionality to the digital object beyond that which is present when creating a digital object directly from the Definition module.

To create a digital object template:

In the Definition module, click Template > Create to open the Create Template form.
In the Create Template form, select the Area and the Digitalobject type.
In the Name field, enter a unique object template name.
Click OK button to open the Template Properties form.
In the Template Properties form, set up the object template properties as required:
- On the Bit Map I/O tab, define the bits used for states and commands. How?
- Click the Alarm In/Ack Bit tab to define the bits used for alarm indication and alarm acknowledgement.
- Click the States and Commands tab to define the names of states and commands.
- Click the Command/State Config tab to define the default command and valid commands for each state.
- Click the Data Management tab to define how you want to collect and log data.
- Click the Atom Mapping tab to define the PLC addressing and alarm text. Do not set up the Bit Offset field. This will be set up for the individual objects you create based on the object template.
- Click the Symbol Definition tab to choose the color and symbol to represent objects based on this object template. You should define a color and symbol for each digital state.¹
Click the OK button to save the object template.

¹When you define digital objects based on this object template, you can either use the color and symbol selections from the object template or define object-specific symbols and colors for the object states.

Enter the name of the object template in ALL CAPS in order to distinguish an object template from other objects.