Topics

Topics are collections of data points and are configured for each connector that is involved in defining data flows within Tasks. Please see the respective connector documentation for topic configuration options.

Copy & Paste Topics

Connectors may support copying topics to the clipboard or pasting topics from the clipboard. Currently the OPC UA, ODBC and MQTT connectors support Copy and Paste. Use Copy and Paste to create identical topics either within the same containing folder (for example, the ODBC database, OPC UA Server, or the MQTT “Publish” or “Subscribe” folder) or within a different containing folder (a different OPC UA Server, ODBC database or MQTT “Publish” or “Subscribe” folder).

Copy Topics

To copy topics, either select single topic in the navigation panel or select one or more topics in the content panel, then right-click to copy the selected topics to the clipboard.

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Paste Topics

To paste topics, right-click on a topic folder (for example, the ODBC database, OPC UA Server, or the MQTT “Publish” or “Subscribe” folder) then select “Paste” from the menu. This will create new topics within the folder, corresponding to the clipboard content. If a pasted topic name already exists, then a unique name is derived by appending “Copy” to the topic name.

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Import/Export Topics

Connectors may support importing or exporting topics to text files in JSON format. Currently the OPC UA, ODBC and MQTT connectors support the import and export of topics. Use this feature to create copies of topics for different databases, OPC Servers or MQTT clients by exporting from one topic folder and importing to another, either within the same project or in different projects or installations. Since the exported files are text files, you can edit the text files with any text editor, to, for example, modify tag names before importing.

Export Topics

To export multiple topics, locate the topic folder in the navigation panel (for example, the ODBC database, OPC UA Server, or the MQTT “Publish” or “Subscribe” folder), then right-click on the topic folder and select “Export” from the context menu.

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You can also select one or more topics in the content planel and right-click on a topic to export all selected topics.

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Import Topics

Import as new topics

To import topics as new topics, locate the topic folder in the navigation panel (for example, the ODBC database, OPC UA Server, or the MQTT “Publish” or “Subscribe” folder), then right-click on the topic folder and select “Import” from the context menu. This will create new topics. If an imported topic name already exists, then a unique name is derived by appending “Copy” to the topic name.

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Import and overwrite topics

To import topics and overwrite existing topics, locate the relevant topics in the content panel, then right-click on a topic and select “Import” from the context menu. This will attempt to find topics with matching names in the JSON file and replace topic settings and tags for the existing topic with settings and tags found in the file.

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Warning

Importing and overwriting a topic may affect tasks that are configured to use that topic.