Re-configure the Default Mimic in the 'Site' Group Template

Now that you have a Group Template with Group Instances that reference it, you can make adjustments to the configuration in the Group Template and these changes will automatically be applied to the Group Instances. To illustrate this, you are going to make a change to the configuration of the 'Default' Mimic in the Group Template:

1. Display the Database Bar (see Display an Explorer Bar in the ClearSCADA Guide to ViewX and WebX Clients).
2. In the Database Bar, double-click on the 'Default' Mimic in the 'Site' Group Template to display it in Design Mode.
3. Select the 'ScPack' outstation in the 'Site' Group Template and drag it onto the Mimic. When you release the left-hand mouse button, a context sensitive menu is displayed.
4. Select the State option to add an animated text box to the Mimic. The text box is animated by the StateDesc property of the outstation (as well as the Foreground, Background, and Blink properties). The StateDesc is a text description of the outstation’s current state. When you add the text box to your Mimic, it should show the description: All Channels Failed

   

5. Save the Mimic.
6. Display the 'Default' Mimic in the 'SiteABC' Group Instance. You will see that it has the outstation state text box. If the outstation and channel are correctly configured and a SCADAPack Modbus controller is connected to your system, the text box should show the description: Healthy, Multidrop
7. Display the 'Default' Mimic in the 'SiteDEF' Group Instance. You will see that it has the outstation state text box. The text box should show the description: Failed

   This is because you have not configured to the items in the 'SiteDEF' Group Instance to represent a second SCADAPack Modbus controller.

As you can see, a single change made in the Group Template is automatically applied to its Group Instances. Used carefully, this feature can make configuring, updating and maintaining your system a considerably quicker and easier process.

So far, you have learned how to create Group Templates and Group Instances, and make changes in the Group Template that affect the Group Instances. But what if you need a Group Instance to take some, but not all of its configuration from a Group Template? Can you choose which properties the Group Instance inherits? The answer is yes, and in the next section, you are going to learn how to override properties: proceed to Configure the Group Template to Allow Additional Property Overrides.