I'm currently working through developing some new windows for a client. I'm new to VT Scada and have spent the bulk of my career in Ignition. I was given a changeset file to reference what they currently have or at least within the last 6 months. I started a new application to develop just the new pages and tags that I will import into the client's system.

Traditionally I have always developed my windows (Pages) and tags and then exported them via a project export where I could just import them into the client's system. Seems straight forward and all I had to do was add the driver and bam everything connected. I'm trying to wrap my head around changesets and if a changeset is what I need to create to accomplish what I described above or do I need to export the pages and the tags separately and them reimport them into the client's system. The issue with this is that I've found when you export a page and import, it breaks all of the tag binding, and you must rebind all of the tags.

I hope I'm making sense, and someone can maybe help me understand changesets a little better.

Changesets include everything in an application except the tag history, so they are a straightforward way to package your application. You can even synchronize documentation or other files in the application directory if needed.

VTScada includes automatic version control, and this is also part of the changeset file. If you want to start with a synchronized version of an application without the history (say for the initial production deployment) then make a snapshot rather than a changeset.

You don't actually need to use changesets or snapshots to share applications. You can copy the application directory (Typically C:\VTScada\MyApplicationNameNoSpaces) and then add it as an existing application or you can perform a 'Get From Workstation' to copy an application from one workstation to another. The latter is the typical way to copy an application to the backup servers.

If you have more questions about this, please reach out on here or ask your local Technical Salesperson for a demo, they will be happy to show you how share application updates, move applications between PC's, and take advantage of the built in version control.

You can also watch the following Youtube video to learn more about Changesets:

https://youtu.be/BsfaJMsOW8E?si=QZAw0hNgjd-xk9P5

I come from an ignition background as well and have found the same thing to be challenging. Seems very cumbersome to copy tags and pages/graphics into other projects. Definitely not as easy as ignition makes it.

The way I have done it before is to export the entire tag database to excel and delete any tags I don't want to copy over to the other application. I haven't found a way to export then import pages without the tags getting wiped out.

You should be able to do each of these reasonably easily in VTScada. Also, to export the tags, you can create a tag export in an application with the start tags, as well as in a new VTScada application with no tags. From there, copy the tag data across excluding the tags unique ID's (the first column). You may find it easier to copy the entire sheets and delete the contents of the ID columns as the sheets must have the tag-type names.

To copy pages, open the page you are you wish to copy and then click File->Export. In your new application simply import the page. You will have to relink the tags if you follow this method.

If you wish to move everything at once, you can make a snapshot of your existing application and then, when creating a new application, click advanced and 'Clone From Changeset'. Point to your snapshot and give the app a new name. You should get a fresh application which is a duplicate of the existing app (Pages, Tag, and Security config) but with a new GUID (Application ID) and no tag/alarm/event history or application change history.

The other way to start with a template is to create an application to have as an OEM Layer. Get an app setup in your start template state and close it. When creating a new application, you can select this app as the OEM layer. It works great but the OEM layer can be managed/updated and those changes will be reflected in your new app as well. This also means that you will need to ensure any app distributed also has your custom OEM layer distributed with it.... If that makes sense.