Automatic HMI tag creation through OPC UA servers

Posted: April 30, 2025

Improving engineering efficiencies in tag creation

In the past, creating tags in AVEVA™ InTouch HMI was a time-consuming process. Users had to manually create access names and individual tags, which, depending on the size, was time-consuming and risked introducing errors. However, with the 2023 R2 release of InTouch, AVEVA has introduced a game-changing feature that allows users to browse and create tags directly from an OPC UA server. This new capability significantly reduces the time and effort needed to set up tags, making the HMI development process more efficient and user-friendly.

Users can now create InTouch tags directly via a seamless drag-and-drop interface from OPC UA servers. Especially useful for large systems, this functionality enables the rapid deployment of complex tag structures—without the need for manual entry.

Save time, drive efficiency

Just think—How long does it take to create tags for your HMI? Chances are the answer is too long. The ability to create tags from an OPC UA server is a major enhancement that streamlines the workflow, allowing you to focus on more critical tasks like building your visualizations. By displaying all OPC UA server connections configured in the Gateway Communication Driver on the same or remote machine(s), InTouch now enables you to drag and drop items from the OPC UA server to the Model-Tagname dictionary, bypassing the need for manual tag creation. Internal testing demonstrates that this may increase development speeds by roughly 70%, as compared to previous methods. In the next few sections, we’ll go through the approach to showcase this ability.

Step-by-step guide to creating tags from an OPC UA server
 

1.    Download InTouch Free Trial
You can download a free AVEVA InTouch Trial by going to the following link:  https://www.aveva.com/en/products/intouch-hmi/

2.    Download Reactor Simulation
In this document, we are using a Reactor Simulation Code. If you would like to use this code, you can download the Reactor.zip file from our github site:  https://github.com/edeh-1/WonderLAB

After you download the file, drill into the reactor folder, and then double click to run the reactor application.A command window will open. Enter the port number for the OPC UA Server. Then you can enter the number of reactors.

3.    Open the Operations Control Management Console (OCMC)

Begin by opening the Operations Control Management Console (OCMC). Navigate through the menu on the left, expanding Operations Integration Server Manager > Default Group > Standards-Gateway > OPCUA.

4.    Configure the OPC UA Server Connection

Enter the Server Node IP and the OPCUA Server Endpoint URL in the configuration settings. Click Test Connection to ensure the connection is successful, then save your changes.

5.    Access InTouch WindowMaker

Open InTouch WindowMaker. On the Home tab, click the arrow beneath Tag dictionary and select External providers.

6.    Drag and drop items from the OPC UA server

You will now see all the OPC UA server connections configured in the Gateway Communication Driver. Expand the OPC UA tree to view the item references. Drag and drop the item(s) from the External providers window to the Model-Tagname pane. You can select multiple items by holding the Ctrl key while selecting.

Note: If you drag and drop items randomly into the pane, the tags are created under the $System node. You can also drag and drop items to a specific alarm group, adding them to that alarm group node. For more information on alarm groups, refer to the InTouch documentation.

7.    View your items in the Model-Tagname pane

Once you drag and drop your item(s), you will see them listed in the Model-Tagname pane.

8.    Tags in the tag dictionary

All tags for your item(s) will be carried over to InTouch in both the Model-Tagname pane and the Tag dictionary.

9.    Handling duplicate tags

If you drag another item from the External providers window and there are duplicate tags, the duplicate tags will be appended with an index number.

10.    Using tags to build graphics

After adding your item(s) from the OPC UA Server to your InTouch application, you can use the tags to build out graphics. Create a new graphic and open the graphic toolbox. In the right pane, click the Model-Tagname tab to see the tags from your OPC UA server. Drag and drop the tags onto the graphic editor and choose the graphics and animations for that tag.

Conclusion

The ability to create tags from an OPC UA server in InTouch is a powerful feature that enhances efficiency and simplifies the tag creation process. By following the steps outlined, you can leverage this capability to streamline your workflow and focus on building robust, dynamic applications.