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Creating a Project Template

You can create your own project templates, which can be selected in the Templates area of the New Project dialog when creating a new project (*.project or *.library). You can also define whether the project template should be contained in one of the Projects and Libraries folders displayed by default in the dialog or in a folder which you have created yourself. These folders are displayed in the New Project dialog in the Categories area.

  1. In CODESYS Development System, create a project to be used as a template for other projects.

  2. Save the project in the Templates folder of the installation directory of CODESYS.

  3. In a text editor, create a new template file <template name>.template.

  4. Edit this file according to the following sample file:

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<ProjectTemplate>	
    <Name>	
        <DefaultString>Test_Project_Template</DefaultString>	
        <LocalizedString Culture="de">Test_Projekttemplate</LocalizedString>	
    </Name>	

    <Folder>		
        <DefaultString>Projects</DefaultString>		
        <LocalizedString Culture="de">Projekte</LocalizedString>	
    </Folder>	

    <Description>
	<DefaultString>A project with a GVL</DefaultString>	
	<LocalizedString Culture="de">Ein Projekt mit einer GVL</LocalizedString>	
    </Description>	

    <DefaultFileName>		
        <DefaultString>Test Project</DefaultString>		
        <LocalizedString Culture="de">Testprojekt</LocalizedString>	
    </DefaultFileName>	

    <Extension>.project</Extension>	
    <TemplatePath>TemplateTest.project</TemplatePath>
</ProjectTemplate>

    Contents of the different tags:

    • Name: Name of the project template as it is displayed in the Templates area of the New Project dialog.

    • Folder: Name of the folder where the project template is stored. Is displayed in the Categories area of the New Project dialog.

      If you specify the name of a folder which does not exist, then a new folder with this name will be created.

    • Description: Description of the project template

      The description is displayed in the New Project dialog when a template is selected.

    • DefaultFileName: Default name for the new project. The name is displayed in the Name field of the New Project dialog and can be edited there.

    • Extension:

      • .project: This template is used to create a CODESYS project .project.

      • .library: This template is used to create a library project .library.

    • TemplatePath: File path of the template project in ../Templates of the installation directory of CODESYS

      Examples:

      TemplateTest.project: The TemplateTest.project template project is located in the ../Templates directory.

      Library_Template/CODESYS_Template.library: The CODESYS_Template.library template project is located in the ../Templates/Library_Template directory.

    • If the texts in CODESYS should be displayed in the language of the CODESYS interface, then add the translations to the tags with LocalizedString (see example above).

  5. Save the created template file (.template) and store it in the ../Templates folder of the installation directory.

Now when you open CODESYS and click File → New Project, the project template which you have just created will be available in the New Project dialog for your new project.

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