Project Properties

There are a number of properties you can set for your projects within the Designer, Vision Clients, and Mobile devices. For example, there are properties for setting the touchscreen mode, customizing a client's auto-login, or configuring how the clients receive updates, and many more.

The property settings on the Project Property window apply to the whole project. This page identifies and describes all the available project properties.

Accessing Project Properties

In the Designer, either double-click on the Project > Properties node in Project Browser, or click on Project > Properties on the menu bar at the top of the Designer. Project properties span several functional areas each containing settings applicable to that area.

On this page ...

About Project Properties

Watch the Video

Project Properties

A project's General properties apply to the project as a whole, across all module functionality. For a new project, there are many default settings that you can use (see next). For example, there are default settings for the Tag provider, database, publish mode, initial comm mode, window editing, and Client launching.

Note: There are a few properties of a project, such as its name, description, and title that are not available from the Designer and you need to set them in the Gateway. To do so, go to the Gateway Webpage, under the Configuration > Projects section, click on the edit link next to the project. You cannot edit these settings while the project is open in the Designer.

Important Concept: Defaults

Under Project > General is where you set the project's Default Database and its Default Tag Provider. It is important to understand how to use defaults effectively for proper project design.

Wherever you use a database connection or a Tag in a project, you are always given the option to use the project's default, or an explicitly named connection or provider. If your project is like most typical projects, it primarily uses a single database and a single Tag provider. By consistently using the default option, you make your project more resilient to change.

For example, suppose you have a project, and it has a database connection named Production_DB. Now you want to adapt the project to a new, similar plant, while leaving the existing project intact. You copy the project and create a new database connection, named New_DB. If your project consistently used its default database connection, the switchover will be as simple as changing the copied project's default database. However, if you used the explicit Production_DB connection in your groups and screens, you will need to laboriously switch the bindings over to New_DB.

Project // General Properties
Tag Settings
Property	Description
Default Provider	The Tag provider chosen here will act as the project's default tag provider. To use the default provider, simply omit the source section of a Tag path, or leave it blank, for example: `Path/To/MyTag` or `[]Path/To/MyTag`. See also: Keeping Tags Organized.
Client Poll Rate	The Client poll rate (in milliseconds) is the rate at which a Vision Client or Ignition Designer polls the Gateway for updates to its subscribed Tags.
Database Settings
Default Database	This is the default database connection to use for this project. To use the default database connection, use the special `<default>` connection, or in scripting, the empty-string connection `""`.
Security Settings
User Source	Choose the User Source that governs this project's security: specifically, which group of users (User Sources) is allowed to log into the client. The User Sources are all defined in Gateway's Configure section under the Security > User, Roles page.
Required Client Roles	This property is for Client logins, and determines what role(s) a user must have before they can log into the Client. You can optionally specify a list of roles that are required for a user to log into this project. Use commas to separate the roles. Users must have at least one of the roles in order to log in. If no roles are specified, the user only needs to correctly authenticate with the User Source in order to log in. To define the roles, go to the Gateway's Configure section under the Security > User, Roles page, click the manage users link, and then go to the Roles tab. See also: Security.
Audit Settings
Enable Auditing	If auditing is enabled, audit events that relate to this project will be stored in the chosen audit profile.
Audit Profile	The audit profile stores the audit events when auditing is enabled.
Publishing Settings
Publish Mode	Here you specify how project publishing is handled. By default the project is set to Auto, which means both the staging and published version of the project will always be synchronized. Manual: In this mode, you can do a File > Save to update the Staging version, and then a File > Publish to update the Published version. Auto: In this mode, the only command available for saving your project is File > Save and Publish which saves and then publishes, so the two Staging and Published versions are always the same. See also: Published vs Staging.
Commit Messages	You can specify whether or not commit messages are required, and if so, under what conditions. You can specify the condition as: None, OnPublish, or OnSaveandPublish.

Project // Permissions Properties

Permissions

Required Designer Roles

When opening the project in the Designer, these properties determine which roles are required when making certain changes to the project.

Publish - Users must have at least one of these roles to publish the project.
View - Users must have at least one of these roles to view the project in the Designer.
Save - Users must have at least one of these roles to save the project.
Delete - Users must have at least one of these roles to delete the project.
Protected Resources - Users must have at least one of these roles to access protected resources.

More details can be found on the Project Security in Designer and Gateway page.

Designer Properties

The Designer property settings are saved on a per-project basis.

Designer // General
Startup Options
Property	Description
Initial Gateway Comm Mode	The Designer starts up in the default Comm Read-Only mode. The property allows you to change the mode the Designer starts in when viewing the project. The options are: Comm Off, Comm Ready-Only, Comm Read/Write. Comm Off - In this mode, all database query traffic and Tag subscriptions and writes are blocked. Comm Read-Only - Tag subscriptions and SELECT queries work, but Tag writes and UPDATE/INSERT/DELETE queries are blocked. Comm Read/Write - The Designer may freely request tag and database values from the Gateway, as well as write or change these values. For more information, see the Communication Modes page. Click here to Comm Mode Settings

Window Editing Properties

These options affect the operation of the Designer as it applies to the Vision module's window design.

Designer // Window Editing Properties
Window & Template Committing
Property	Description
Commit on Close	Prompt - By default, every time you close a window, you are prompted whether or not you wish to commit the window: i.e., maintain any changes that have been made in the Designer session. Always - This option allows you to skip the commit prompt, opting to always commit the window on close.
Template Auto-Commit	On - Automatically commits template definitions when switching to another window or template. Off - In this option you commit the templates manually, it reverts all changes to the last time the window was committed.
Component Manipulation - Affects how the user interface acts in manipulating components
Constrain to Parent Container Bounds	Disabling the constraint on parent bounds allows you to position components outside of their parents bounds, which can be helpful in advanced layouts.
Nudge Distance	The number in this box is the distance (in pixels) that a nudge moves (when using the arrow keys) or resizes a component.
Alt-Nudge Distance	The number in this box is the distance (in pixels) that an alt-nudge moves (when using the arrow keys plus the Alt key) or resizes a component.
Default Component Layout - Used for all newly added components
Layout Mode	Relative - All newly created components will be configured with a Relative layout, further configured by the Relative Layout Options property. Anchored - All newly created components will be configured with an Anchored layout, further configured by the Anchored Layout Options property.
Relative Layout Options	When the Layout Mode property is set to Relative, these options determine the layout options of new components. For more information, refer to Component Layout.
Anchored Layout Options	When the Layout Mode property is set to Anchored, these options determine the layout options of new components. For more information, refer to Component Layout.
Default Color Mapping	The initial color mapping when configuring a new number-to-color binding.

Client Properties

These properties apply to the Vision Client in general.

Client // General
Property	Description
Timezone Behavior	The Vision Client can emulate any timezone. By default, it will appear to be in the same timezone as the Gateway Timezone. This has the effect of all Clients behaving the same, regardless of the timezone setting on the Client's host operating system. Depending on your project's requirements, this may not be optimal. You can have the Client use the host's timezone by choosing the Client Timezone option, or you may specify any explicit timezone for all Clients to emulate.
Update Mode - Affects how Clients receive updates when the project is saved/published
Notify	This is the default option, which means that a notification bar will appear at the top of the Client when an update is available. The update gets applied when the user clicks on the notification bar.
Push	This option automatically pushes all project changes and updates to all running Clients with no user interaction. This is often desirable when a Client is running in a situation where mouse access is inconvenient, such as a large overhead display.
Touch Screen
Touch Screen Mode Enabled	All Clients can operate in touch-screen mode. When enabled, clicking on editable numeric and text entry fields (i.e., Text Fields, Numeric Text Fields, etc) will pop up on-screen keyboards that can be used for data entry. You can optionally set the width of any scrollbars (number of pixels wide/tall).
Touch Screen Mode Active on Startup	Configures the Clients to start up with the touch-screen mode active. More details can be found on the Using Touch Screen Mode page.
Data
Disable Tag History Data Cache	The Clients normally maintain a cache of data retrieved from Tags History, improving repeat operations on graphs and tables. When this option is disabled, no data is cached, and the full queries execute against the Gateway each time data is required.

Launching

These properties apply to the Vision Client launch process.

Client // Launching
Gateway Launch Page
Property	Description
Default Launch Mode	Determines the mode on Clients launched from the Launch button that appears next to the project in the Gateway Home page. Available modes are Windowed or Full Screen.
Windowed Button/Full Screen Button	Each launch mode can also be enabled individually, which allows that mode to appear in the Dropdown list next to the Launch button on the Gateway Home page.
Launch Icon
Launch Icon	The image specified here is used to represent the project on the launch page and desktop shortcut. This needs to be a path to an image that has been uploaded to the Gateway. Use the browse button to choose or upload a new image.
Windowed Properties
Vendor	This property is displayed as the project is launching through Java Web Start, as well as in the JWS application manager.
Homepage	A URL that is displayed in the JWS application manager.
Width	The width of the Client window when launched in Windowed mode.
Height	The height of the Client window when launched in Windowed mode.
Screen Index	The number here is the index of the screen to use for Full Screen mode, it starts at 0. This property is not supported on all operating systems.
Start Maximized	If the box is selected, when the Client is launched in Windowed mode, it starts maximized. Note that this is not the same thing as Full Screen mode, which is only available when the Client is launched in Full Screen mode. In Full Screen mode, the width, height, and start maximized properties have no effect. When launched in Full Screen mode, the user is given an Exit button on the login screen by default. For terminals where the application should not be exited, this button can be removed by checking the Hide Exit Button box.
Start Centered	If the box is selected, when the Client is launched in Windowed mode, it starts centered.This property is ignored if Start Maximized is enabled.
Hide Exit Button	If the box is selected, when the Client is launched in Full Screen mode, the exit button is hidden to prevent the application from closing.
Client Memory - Governs how the Client use RAM resources on its host machine.
Initial	The initial memory setting is how much memory the Client will require on startup. While this is typically left alone, boosting it a bit can improve performance somewhat.
Maximum	The maximum memory setting sets a cap on how much memory the Java VM is allowed to use. When you launch a Client on a machine with plenty of RAM, you'll also need to boost this setting to allow the Client to use more RAM.

These properties affect how the Vision Client's login process behaves and appears.

Client // Login
Login Screen
Welcome Message	The message that appears in the upper-left corner of the Login screen. If left blank, no message is displayed.
Welcome Image	The image that appears in the upper-left corner of the Login screen. If left blank, uses a default image.
Username Text	The text that appears next to the username field.
Password Text	The text that appears next to the password field.
Login Button Text	The text that appears on the Login button.
Show Locale Selector	Determines if the Locale Selector should appear on the Login screen. This property interacts with Ignition's Localization system. Automatic: Show the selector if more than a single Languages exists in the project. Show: Always show the selector, regardless of how many Languages exist. Hide: Never show the selector.
Auto Login
Enable Auto-Login	By enabling auto-login, you can have the launched Client skip the login process. The Client will log in behind the scenes using the credentials supplied here. If they fail, the login screen will be presented. See also: Setting up Auto Login.
SSO Login
Enable SSO Login	Enable Single Sign-On for the project. The Project's default Authentication Profile must use Active Directory, and SSO must be enabled in the Profile. See Active Directory Authentication for more details.

Customizing Client Login Screen

Watch the Video

Timing

Timing
Polling Base Rate	The base rate, in milliseconds, for all polling bindings.
Connect Timeout	The maximum amount of time to wait for connections to the Gateway to be established. Specified in milliseconds.
Read Timeout	The maximum amount of time for socket connection to the Gateway to remain open. Specified in milliseconds.
Connection Concurrency	By default, Clients are not limited by the number of concurrent connections to the Gateway. These connections are used to send Tag writes, return database results, as well as any other action that requires information to be passed between the Gateway and the Client. Depending on what is running in the Client, your network's bandwidth could be hindered. Enabling this property will limit the amount of concurrent connections the Client can maintain. Note that this may negatively impact Client performance, but is usually preferable on busy networks.

Setting Project Polling Base Rate

Watch the Video

User Interface

These properties affect how the Vision Client appears and behaves while it is running.

Client // User Interface
Minimum Size
Width and Height	Typically, a Vision Client is designed to run on multiple different resolution and sizes of monitors. The various component layout features help design elastic screens, but sometimes you need to set a lower bound as to how small you'll allow the Client's usable area to shrink. This is what the Minimum Size settings are for. You can see these settings visually represented in the Designer as lines on the Vision workspace when the Root Container is smaller than the configured Minimum Size.. Whenever the usable space shrinks smaller than these bounds, scrollbars will appear, capping the width and height to these minimums. This defaults to 800x600. In the image below, the project was set to a minimum size of 400 x 300. Since the window is smaller, the outline is visible. Example
Client Background Color	This option allows you to specify the color of the Vision workspace which will be visible when not obscured by windows.

Setting Client Minimum Size

Watch the Video

Client Menu - Options to alter the appearance, or remove completely, the menu bar that appears in a running Vision Client.
Font Button	Change the font of the Menu Bar.
Hide Menu Bar	Hide the entire Menu Bar in the Client. Usually enabled in situations where users should not be able to close the client.
Hide Windows Menu	Hide just the Windows menu option. Enabled when users should not be able to close windows in the Client. See also: Menubar.
Touch Screen Keyboard Width	Determines how wide the Touch Screen Keyboard should appear in the Client.
Docking
Axis Precedence	When windows are docked on adjacent sides, this property determines which sides should take precedence. When set to "East/West", windows docked to the East or West sides will expand vertically from the top to the bottom of the Client, and will push any North or South docked windows out of the way.
Prevent Popup/Docking Overlap	By default, popup windows are not allowed to overlap any docked window. Disabling this property will allow Popup windows to be placed on top of docked windows in the client.
Infinite Desktop	By default, the desktop area will be expanded if floating windows are dragged out of frames. If false, popups are prevented from being dragged beyond the bounds of a window so they don't get distorted.

Hiding Client Menu Bar

Watch the Video

Client Permissions

This feature is new in Ignition version 7.9.4
Click here to check out the other new features

These properties allow you to limit the Client's ability to perform certain tasks. The tasks are grouped by category. Access can be configured statically for all users, or require specific roles.

Client // Permissions

Property

Description

Enable?

Determines if the Client has access to this category. If unselected, the category will be disabled in the Client for all users. If selected, the Required Client Roles text field will also be used to determine if the Client has access.

Required Client Roles

A comma separated list of Managing Users and Roles and/or Security Zones that have access to the category while the Enabled checkbox is selected. While these fields have focus, the down arrow key on the keyboard may be pressed to make a list of available roles appear. There are several ways to use roles and zones in this field, and they can be used together in the comma separated list.

Blank Field - anyone can use this, regardless of their roles.
Role name - users with this role can use this regardless of their zone.
roleName@zoneName - users must have this role AND be logged in from this zone.

When creating a new project, all of these settings will be disabled by default.

Category Descriptions

The following is a list of the initial categories. Note that the categories you see in your Designer are dependent on which modules are installed on the Gateway. Additionally, third-party modules can add to this list.

Category	Description
Alarm Management	Allows the Client to cancel, shelve, and acknowledge alarms. Applies to both local and remote Alarms.
Datasource Management	Allows the Client to modify datasources.
Device Management	Allows the Client to modify devices.
DNP3 Management	Allows the Client to freeze DNP3 operations via scripting.
EAM Task Execution	Allows the Client to execute system.eam functions. This feature is new in Ignition version 7.9.12 Click here to check out the other new features
Legacy Database Access	Allows Client database access outside of named queries and Transaction Groups.
OPC Server Management	Allows the Client to modify OPC server connections.
SECS/GEM Management	Allows the Client to disable equipment or delete programs via the SECS/GEM scripting.
SFC Management	Allows the Client to start or stop Sequential Function Charts.
Tag Editing	Allows the Client to add, edit, or delete Tags through scripting.
Translation Management	Allows the Client to modify translations in the localization system.
User Management	Allows the Client to modify schedules, holidays, and users through scripting or components.

Click here to see Client Permissions Example

The image below contains the following configuration: Alarm Management is only available if the logged in user has the "Administrator" role (regardless of their current zone), Datasource Management has been disabled for all users, and Device Management is available if the logged in user has the "Administrator" role and the Client is in the Security Zone named "Default".

Client Permissions

Watch the Video

Mobile Properties

These properties apply to Mobile clients.

Moblie // General
Property	Description
Enable Mobile Launch	Enables the project to be launched as a mobile project.
Hide from Launch Page	Hide this project from the mobile launch page.
Enable Geolocation	Enables geolocation which will ask the device for latitude and longitude.
Image Encoding	The image encoding preference for mobile clients. PNGs offer the best quality, while JPEGs offer a trade-off between quality and bandwidth.
Viewport - Defines how the mobile project should fit to the device
Fit to Device	Fits the project to the available size of the mobile browser.
Custom	Sizes the project to explicit dimensions, allows the device to pan and zoom.
Utility Bar - Determines if the Utility Bar should be present on mobile clients.
Auto	Automatically places the utility bar along the bottom or side depending on device orientation.
Hidden	Hides the utility bar entirely.
Auto Login
Enable Auto Login	Automatically logs into all mobile versions of the project. To complete the setup, enter the following: Username Password Password (repeat) See Setting up Auto Login for more details.

Contents

Strategic Partner Links

Resources

All Manual Versions

Accessing Project Properties

Project Properties

Designer Properties

Window Editing Properties

Client Properties

Launching

Timing

User Interface

Client Permissions

Mobile Properties