Components

Working with Components

OI uses components to represent objects on an application's screen.

Components provide a broad range of functionality:

  • Some components are static,

  • some dynamically show tag values,

  • some allow operators to change tag values,

  • some open external viewers, and

  • others provide non-visual functionality such as writing to a database.

See the Component Reference for more information.

OIB Tip: Copy and Paste Components

It can be useful to use copy and paste in OIB and a text editor. An example workflow would be:

  • create several components

  • copy components in OIB

  • open a blank document in Notepad

  • paste in Notepad

  • do a search/replace for tag-names in Notepad

  • copy the text in Notepad

  • paste back into OIB

This is useful when creating a large number of components that follow a pattern in their text, tags, or other properties.