Why Use Kepware Static Tags Rather Than FTView SE HMI Tags ?

Hi, 

When you create static tags directly in Kepware, you’re essentially letting Kepware handle the tag resolution and polling cycle internally. That can give a few practical benefits compared to relying only on dynamic tags from FactoryTalk View SE (FTView):

• Lower overhead on the HMI side – FTView doesn’t need to build and maintain its own separate tag list or constantly resolve OPC paths at runtime. It just subscribes to known Kepware tags.

• Centralized tag definitions – All your PLC addresses live in one place (Kepware). If a PLC address changes, you update it once in Kepware, and all-consuming clients (FTView, historians, scripts, etc.) will automatically see the change.

• More efficient communications – Kepware optimizes reads/writes when it knows the complete set of tags in advance. With dynamic HMI tags, it can’t batch as effectively because the subscriptions are more ad-hoc.

• Cleaner diagnostics – It’s easier to troubleshoot data quality and comms in Kepware’s diagnostics when you know precisely what tags it is serving.

That said, this doesn’t mean static tags are strictly faster; it depends on the number of tags you have and how frequently they are updated. If you only have a small set of HMI tags and don’t expect them to change, creating them directly in FTView is fine. However, for larger systems or when multiple clients will consume the same data, static Kepware tags provide better consistency and reduced administrative effort in the long run.

In short:

• Few tags, simple system: FTView HMI tags are fine.

• Lots of tags or shared data: Use static tags in Kepware.

Thanks,