Page History

Creating a Project

The first step in working with a project is creating one. Once you launch the Designer, the Open/Create Project window is displayed. Here you have the option to create a new project or open an existing project. Let's create a new project!

1. After opening the Designer, click on Create a New Project button. The following window will be displayed.
   

   

   
   

2. Enter the Project Name (required) and any other configuration settings you need for your project. Most settings are optional. Refer to the New Project Creation Settings Table below for a description of each property.

3. Click on Create New Project.

New Perspective Project

If you have the Perspective Module installed, your project will open on the Perspective Configuration Page after the project is created. From here, you can begin designing your Perspective project.

New Vision Project

To design your project in Vision, expand the Vision module in the Project Browser. The Vision Getting Started window will open, allowing you to create windows, add components, and create Client Tags. 

Project Creation Settings

The table below contains descriptions for available settings when creating a new project in the Designer. 

Open or Create a Project from within the Designer

To create a new project or open a different project from within the Designer, use the File > Open menu in the top menubar. 

The Open/Create Project screen will be displayed. You can choose from existing projects or create a new project.

Updating Project Settings

Project settings such as the title, description, connections, and inheritance are set through the Gateway Webpage Config Tab, under System > Projects. For more information, see Projects.

Designer's Workspace

The Designer workspace is centrally located and organized by panels. Some of the panels include a Project Browser, Tag Browser, Component Palette, and Property Editor. These panels can change depending on the type of resource you are currently editing. For example, if you are editing a Perspective view or Vision window, the Designer workspace has Component Palette and Property Editor panels. If you're editing an Alarm Notification Pipeline, your Designer workspace will be the Pipeline Block Editor. If you're editing a Report, your Designer workspace will be the Report Designer. Each type of workspace has panels that are only valid when that workspace is active.

Here are two images showing the Perspective Designer workspace and Vision Designer workspace, and an example displaying the same components. At a glance, they look very similar, but there are some differences, including each having their own Component Palettes. To learn more, refer to the Perspective Designer Interface and the Vision Designer Interface pages.  

Perspective Designer's Workspace

Vision Designer's Workspace

Designer Tools

The Designer has a host of tools to help you accelerate building, testing, and deploying your project. Let's talk about a few here.

Tools Menu

In addition to all the panels available in the Designer workspace, there is also a Tools menu to help you create your projects.

• Console - The Output Console is the script-writer's best friend, and most frequently used to test and debug Python scripts in Ignition.
• Image Management - The Image Management tool manages and stores images used for your projects.
• Script Console - The Script Console is used to test and debug Python scripts.
• Database Query Browser - The Database Query Browser is a very convenient tool that lets you make simple selects and edits in a database table, and interact with all of the databases that Ignition is connected to (i.e., running queries, browsing tables and schemas). It is very common during the course of project design to inspect the database directly, or to experiment with a SQL query to get it just right.
• Translation Manager - Opens up the  Translation Manager  panel, and allows you to configure language translations. See also: Localization and Languages
• Symbol Factory - The Symbol Factory contains a variety of high quality vector graphics symbols that can bring your projects to life.
   
  

Status Bar

The Status Bar at the bottom of the Designer workspace allows you to view and adjust certain Designer settings.

• Panel Chooser - Clicking the Panel Chooser icon opens a menu that allows you to open and close Designer panels, as well as to reset all panels to their default positions.
• Current Window - Displays the name of the currently open Window. (Vision only)
• Mouse Coordinates - Displays the coordinates of your mouse relative to the open Window. (Vision only)
• Zoom Level - Changes the zoom level. You can adjust the zoom level between a minimum of 25% and a maximum of 500%.
• Memory Usage - Displays your used/maximum available memory. You can change the maximum in the server configuration.
• Gateway Connection - This icon shows the current status of your Gateway connection. Clicking on the icon opens the connected Gateway in a browser.

Previewing the Project

The Designer provides the capability to preview, test, and interact with the screens and functionality before you deploy your project. The Designer workspace operates in two distinct modes: Design mode and Preview mode. Designers can easily switch between these modes to make sure their project is working as expected during the course of development by simply clicking Preview Mode    icon from the top menubar, or clicking Project also from the top menubar, and selecting Preview Mode. 

Find and Replace

The Find and Replace is a handy tool in the Designer workspace. You can search your entire project for specific components, properties, and scripts.  You can even use the replace command to make mass changes expeditiously to a project with very little effort. 

Keyboard Shortcuts

There are a lot of ways to speed up your development once you are familiar with how Ignition works. There are many keyboard shortcuts in Designer that are listed throughout the Designer interface alongside menu options.  

Concurrent Editing and Conflict Resolution

The Ignition Designer uses a lock-free strategy for handling concurrent editing. Multiple people can work together and make changes to a project at the same time. An unlimited number of Designers can be open concurrently, and modifying any resource in the Designer doesn't lock it. The Designer keeps track of the resources that are being edited, and  any conflicting edits will be resolved at the time the project is saved. The developer who creates a saving conflict will be prompted to resolve the conflict by choosing whether to use their own changes, accept the other designer's changes, or cancel their save and figure out what to do in another way.

Concurrent Users UI

The Concurrent User Interface allows users to see which project resources are open in other Designer instances, the names of the users that have them open, and when a project update is available. The UI is located in the lower right corner of the Designer. 

If you open a resource that is already open in another Designer, you will be greeted with a new popup confirming that you want to proceed.

The UI makes use of the color red to denote when there are conflicts with the changes in another Designer instance, or if their users are saving on overlapping resources (multiple users are making changes and saving while the same resource is open). 

If the user in the other Designer instance saves their project, the UI will display that a project update is available. Click on Project Update Available to either update or cancel the project update.

Conflict Resolution

When you're ready to save your project, go to the Menubar and select File → Save . When the Save Project dialog pops up, select the items you want to save and click the Save button. 

If there are any conflicts, the Designer will ask you to update your project and the conflict resolution screen will open automatically. You will see a thumbnail image of both screens and the .json code showing the conflict. To resolve the conflict, you will be given a choice; accept your changes, accept the other developer's changes, or cancel the save and contact the other developer. Buttons are provided at the top and bottom of the screen for you to enter how you want to resolve the conflict.

The Resource Tree displays the conflicts and the resolutions. The selected conflict will be highlighted in blue. The image below shows changes were made to the Thermometer. The line number and the code are highlighted at the bottom so you can quickly identify the conflict. Once the conflict is resolved, a checkmark will appear in the Resolution column next to the conflict and how it was resolved. You'll notice that there is second conflict. To resolve the conflict, select it in the Resource Tree or click the arrow to navigate to the next conflict.