Deploying a template via the Device Manager

Device Manager provides support for deploying templates whose base component is a Device component. If a driver supports discovery and matching operations, these mechanisms allow template deployment as well.
Prerequisites:
  • An existing template
  • A network with one or more devices for which the template is designed
Perform the following steps:
  1. Navigate to the Station > Drivers > Network container (for example, BacnetNetwork) and double-click on the network to open the Device Manager view.
    The Database table contains all devices that have already been configured.
  2. Click Discover.
    The Discovered pane appears listing devices discovered on the driver’s network, as candidates for inclusion in the station database.
  3. Click Image (Dev Template Mode button) on the tool bar, or on the menu bar click Manager > Dev Template Mode.
    This opens a Templates pane in the upper portion of the Device Manager view, displaying a list of templates that are valid for the network.
  4. Select one or more devices (of the same type) from the Discovered pane.
    The Templates pane changes to display only those templates that are valid for the selected discovered device(s).
  5. In the Templates pane, select the template you wish to add for the selected discovered device(s).

     NOTE: Be careful to always match a template to a device for which the template is designed. Do not associate just any template with any device, even if it is valid for a discovered device. 

  6. Click Add to start the deployment process. At this point the following occurs:
    • The template copies an instance of the template bog file for each selected discovered device into the station. The devices are disabled at this time.
    • The template copies a single instance of any Px and image files into the station.
    • For each deployed instance, the template queries for the input, output and relation source, target, and related choices.
       NOTE: Clicking Cancel on any of the following selection windows aborts the deployment process and removes the installed devices. It does not remove any installed Px or image files. 
      • For each input, the template prompts you to select the source. This window provides option to reuse the selection for this input for all the remaining deployed devices. It does not prompt for this same input for other devices.
      • For each output, the template prompts you to select one or more targets. This window does not provide the option to reuse the selection.
      • For each inbound relation, the template prompts you to select one or more related sources. This window provides the option to reuse the selection for the other deployed devices.
      • For each outbound relation, the template prompts you to select one or more related targets. This window provides the option to reuse the selection for the other deployed devices.
    • The selected template is deployed for each of the selected discovered devices. A Template IO Binding Results window appears for each of the selected devices. Click OK to close.
    • For each installed device template, the template attempts to match to the corresponding selected discovered device, and enable the device.
    The Edit window appears. A list of the added devices displays in a table at the top of the window with a tabbed pane below. The Template tab allows you to edit the template configuration properties. The Properties tab allows you to edit the typical properties for this device.
  7. In the Edit window, select each device in the table and make desired edits (on the tabs) as needed:
    • Update any properties that appear on the Template tab with the values that are unique for the current device.
    • And if not already applied, you can select the Properties tab, create a unique name for each device or change its MAC address.
  8. After editing each device listed in the upper table, click OK.

Template deployment is complete.

 NOTE: Unmatched templates can be added to the station by simply double-clicking on a template or dragging and dropping a template on the Database table. You are prompted for template input sources and template configuration changes, as described above. In this case, the device can be manually addressed or matched to a device at a later time. 

For drivers that do not support discoveryFor drivers that do not support discovery, you can still use the network Device Manager view to deploy a template.

  1. Click the Dev Template Mode button on the toolbar, and in the resulting Template pane select the desired template.
  2. Click New and add one or more instances of a device using the selected template.