Monitoring Data with Tags

Create and configure a tag to track the most recent value of a piece of scalar data.

Use tags when you need to see a single data point changing in real time.

In LabVIEW, you can create and configure a tag programmatically with the Tags API in the Skyline folder on the Data Communication palette. In NI SystemLink Web Application, you can create and configure a tag in Tag Viewer. This procedure describes how to create and configure a tag in NI SystemLink Web Application.

1. In Tag Viewer, click Create.
2. Specify a path, or name, for the tag. Use dot separators instead of slashes. The tag path is how you will programmatically reference the tag in LabVIEW.
3. Specify the data type of the values the tag will hold.
4. Specify whether the tag will aggregate values. Aggregate values to calculate Min, Max, Mean, and Count values every time a tag is published. You can view these values in Tag Viewer.
5. Click the gear next to the tag to view details and to set keywords or properties for the tag. You can use keywords and properties to search for tags in LabVIEW using the Query Tags VI.
6. Click All Tags to return to your list of tags.

After you have created and configured a tag, use the Tags API in LabVIEW to write values to tags, read tags, query tags, and perform other operations.