---
title: "Using Alarm Status Tags"
---
# Using Alarm Status Tags
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Ignition displays four [Gateway System Tags](tags\understanding-tags\types-of-tags.md#system-tags) that give you the number of alarms that are active and acknowledged, active and unacknowledged, cleared and acknowledged, and cleared and unacknowledged. A quick way to see if any alarms are active and to get a active alarm count is to add a Label component on a [navigation window](visualization-and-dashboards\windows\navigation-windows\navigation-windows.md).
## Add a Label with Alarm Status
Let's setup an Active Alarm on the Navigation window using a [Label](appendix\components\display\label\label.md) component for the **Active and UnAcked** tag showing how many alarms are currently active and unacknowledged.
1. In Designer, open your **Navigation window**, [drag in a Label component](visualization-and-dashboards\understanding-components\creating-components\creating-components.md) and place it under the tab strip.
2. Link the Label component to the Active and Unacked alarm system tag. Right click on the **Label** component, and select on **Customizers** > **Custom Properties**.
3. Create a new property and name it '**activeAlarms**' with an '**Integer**' data type.
4. Click **OK**.
5. In the **Property Editor** under **Custom Properties**, click the binding icon for the '**activeAlarms**' property. The property binding window will open.
6. Next, bind the new custom property '**activeAlarms**' to the '**Active and Unacked tag**'. In the **Tag Browser**, under **Binding Types**, select the **Tag** radio button, and choose the **System** > **Gateway** > **Alarming** > **Active and Unacked** Tag.
7. Click **OK**.
8. Now we need to display the number of alarms on the Label that are active. Select the **Label**, and in the **Property Editor**, click the binding icon  for **Text** property.
Under **Binding Types**, select the **Expression** radio button and click **Link** icon  in the upper right corner of the window.
Bind the **Text** property of the label and combine the expression with the literal string value '**Active Alarms**' as shown below. Click **OK** twice.
```js title="Combine Expression with Literal String Value"
{Root Container.Label.activeAlarms} + " Active Alarms"
```
9. The last thing to do is setup a style to make the Active Alarms label stand out on the Navigation window. Let's change the color to something bright and make it blink. Right click on the **Label** and select **Customizers** > **Style Customizer**.
10. For the **Driving Property**, select '**activeAlarm**', and for the **Styled Properties**, select **Background Color**, **Foreground Color**, **Border**, and **Visible**, and click on the green arrow pointing to the right  and add them to the **Used Properties** list.
11. Under the **Styles** section, click on the green plus icon  at the bottom 2 times to add 2 **Values**. Click the **Expand buttons**  to open and customize the style for the Active Alarm Label. Set the following values for **Styles**:
**Value 0**
Background Color: **Red**
Border: **Etched (Raised)**
Foreground Color: **White**
Visible: **check the box**
**Value 1**
Click the **Animate** box. Use the green plus icon to add 2 **animation steps**. Change the values to:
**Step 1** Duration: 1000
Background Color: **Red**
Border: **Etched (Raised)**
Foreground Color: **White**
Visible: **check the box**
**Step 2** Duration: **1000**
Background Color: **Red**
Border: **Etched (Raised)**
Foreground Color: **White**
Visible: **check the box**
Click **OK**.
Now, you have a label on the Navigation window that blinks when there is an active alarm and provides an active alarm count.
