Changing a Group to Group Instance

[Hardin4019]

I did a quick search, and quickly came up empty. 

Situation:

I had a Group Instance of a meter template > that instance was converted to a standard Group / no longer an instance of any template. The point names, mimics, etc in this group still remain exactly the same as the original instance. > I want to convert the Group back a Group Instance of original template, or even a different template with the same point names and mimics.

Question:

Is there an easy way to do this without creating new points / ID's and or loosing history? Even if using a backup of the Group Instance was a possibility, I no longer have a backup that goes that far back.

[BevanWeiss · Accepted solution]

Yeah, the 'waiter trick'... pulling out the table cloth and leaving the dishes.

You need to create a new Template.  This Template will be empty.

Then you create an instance of the Template.  Now you drag and drop all of your Group contents into the empty Template Instance in exactly the same structure as the Template that you eventually want to change it into.

Once it's all done, confirm the tag names and locations... because if you get this even slightly wrong, it will be lost data.

Once you've confirmed, then you go to the Template Instance, and Convert To... Instance of a Template (and pick the Template that you wanted it to become..)

If you did everything right, then the existing items will get pulled into the Template Instance which will now be an instance of the Template you wanted.

You could now delete the empty Template

There are a few traps to it.

a) in the past it has resulted in database inconsistencies (not sure if latest versions have this sorted... but you want to make sure Property Override values etc align).  Generally these issues won't cause normal execution errors.. but can become traps later if additional consistency checks are imposed by AVEVA, or if someone runs a Consistency Check on the production database (not recommended).

b) if you have the structure wrong etc, there's no warnings or internal checks.  You just end up losing points / history / etc from those items that didn't match (in naming / valid types).  This has caught me out on a hidden space at the end of an object name before... I think such spaces are no longer allowed... but you really want to double check the important stuff (maybe even phone a friend and get them to check too)

[Hardin4019]

Thanks Bevan. This sounds like it should work just fine.