--- title: "Device Diagnostic Tags to Show PLC Status" --- # Device Diagnostic Tags to Show PLC Status > Let's use the **Is Connected** tag to show the status of each PLC. ## To use a diagnostic tag to show the PLC status 1. Create a folder in **Tag Browser** to contain the status bits by right-clicking on the **Tags** folder and selecting **New Folder**. 2. Name the folder **Device Status** and click **OK**. 3. Drag in the **Is Connected** tag from the **CLX** device into the **Device Status** folder. ![" "]() 4. Right-click on the **Is Connected** tag and rename it to **CLX**. ![" "]() 5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 for all device connections you have in Ignition. If you have 5 devices, you will have 5 tags. ![" "]() Now that we have a tag for each of the 5 PLCs, let's display the status of each PLC. For example in our **Header** window, we can make a PLC graphic and color it based on the state: **0 = red**, **1 = green**. 6. In the **Project Browser**, double-click the **Header** window to open it. ![" "]() We will add a PLC graphic from Symbol Factory to the Header. 7. From the **Tools** menu, select **Symbol Factory**. ![" "]() 8. From the Symbol Factory window, select **Controllers** in the list. 9. Drag any device on the window to create the component (the PLC graphic). ![" "]() Symbol Factory components are made of several subcomponets or paths that make up a vector-based graphic. If you expand the component in the Project Browser, you can see all the paths. You can also double-click on the component in the design space to select the individual subcomponets. Fill color can be applied to each of these sub-components (or paths) dynamically through property binding. But there are two problems with applying color to the entire component. One is that you would have to change the fill color of each subcomponent dynamically through property binding which can take some time. Two, you will notice that you cannot bind the fill paint to a gradient color. To resolve these two problems we use a special method as described here to apply a tint to the entire component. 10. To apply tint to the entire component, duplicate the component by selecting it and then select **Edit** > **Duplicate** from menu or press Ctrl-D. 11. Select the duplicated component, which is above the original component. 12. Select **Shape** > **Union** from menu or click the **Union** button in the toolbar. This flattens the duplicated shape into a single shape. ![" "]() 13. Remove the outline of the shape by clicking on the pencil icon of the **Stroke Paint** property and selecting **No Paint**. ![" "]() 14. Bind the **Fill Paint** property to the **CLX** status tag. Notice when binding a color property to a tag, you get to choose a color for each state of the tag in **Number-to-Color Translation**. You can also make the colors to blink between two different colors. 15. In **Number-to-Color Translation**, set value **0 = red**, value **1 = green**, and alpha channel of each color to **30** (make sure each color is semitransparent so you can see the actual symbol behind it). ![" "]() 16. Group the two components together into one by selecting both components from the Project Browser and clicking the **Component** > **Group** or Combine icon in the toolbar. Now they are one component. ![" "]() 17. To name the device, drag in the **label** component from the **Display** tab into the window under the graphic. ![" "]() 18. Set the label properties as follows: * Text: **ControlLogix** * Font: **Dialog**, **Bold**, **12** * Foreground Color: **255**,**255**,**255** * Horizontal Alignment: **Center** ![" "]() 19. Repeat for each PLC. ![" "]() You can now see the status of each PLC based on the colors they display (0=red, 1=green).