The SIXNET I/O Tool Kit allows you to attach a station alias (prefix) to the front of each I/O tag name. This allows you to use the same I/O tag name in multiple stations.
The station prefix and the I/O tag name are separated by a period (.) character.
Example: s1.stop_switch
To view and set station prefixes, select View \f14Station Prefix.
Notes:
Some Windows applications, such as Citect and Intellution, will not allow a period character in a tag name. To bypass this restriction, the export feature of the SIXNET I/O Tool Kit automatically substitutes an underscore (_) character instead of the period character for Citect and Intellution exports. This character substitution is selectable for .csv file exports.
Upon a tag name request by your application, the Sixtags dictionary will treat the first occurrence of an underscore character as a possible prefix separator (period) and will perform a search of the dictionary accordingly. Please note that searches in the IOmap for prefixed tags with an "_" separator will not be as fast as searches for Sixtags with a "." separator.
Application Suggestion:
Prefixes should be kept short, perhaps only two or three characters, to keep your tag names from becoming cumbersome. Some applications restrict the length of tag names, and the prefix further limits the length of the tag names you can assign.