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Tags: FAQ Networking Data

Many PLCs have actual, physical memory locations that can be referenced. Not so with Allen-Bradley CompactLogix and ControlLogix PLCs. They use symbolic Tags, which means the tag file needs to be imported into EBPro in order to reference any PLC address / variable.

Define the PLC by going to the System Parameters Device tab. Click the New Device button to bring up the PLC selection entries and find the Allen-Bradley section. There are several Allen-Bradley Compact/Control Logix drivers available. Select the TOP ENTRY, the one that says “Ethernet/IP – CIP Preferred.” Now that you have selected the driver, there are two ways to import the tags.

1. Export the CSV tag file from Studio5000 (AB software) and import it into EZware using the "Import Tags" button in the System Parameters Device tab. User-Defined and other custom data types need to be defined in the Structure Editor (Data Type button).


2. Connect to the PLC from EBPro and read the tags directly using the "Get Tag Info" button in the System Parameters Device tab. No need to define UDTs! Some tag types are not able to be imported: ALIASed tags, Add-On Instruction tags, and tags using the LINT data type are not recognized and not supported. Bits of individual word-level tags can be accessed, but to do so, the tag style (in Studio5000) must be set to Binary.

See the Controller Information Sheet for the "CompactLogix, ControlLogix, DriveLogix (EtherNet/IP) - Free Tags" located in our Support Center for more information.