In Citect SCADA animation numbers are not static, meaning the number allocated to the object may change to the next available animation number on the graphics page. For example; a symbol comprised of two objects may use AN's 4 and 5; however when the symbol is pasted onto the graphics page, these AN's may already be in use. In this case the AN's would change to the next two available AN's. This may make it difficult to reference the object at runtime, as the AN does not uniquely identify the object. To make it easier to reference an object at runtime you can now name individual graphics objects within a Page, Template, Super Genie, Genie and Symbol. Graphic objects include: AN, Line, Rectangle, Pipe, Symbol, Symbol Set, Group, and Trend. (See General Access to Objects for more information).
The name of the object is unique to the name space to which the object belongs to. For example;
This means if you have a text object named Text4 within a symbol, the full name is actually <SymbolName>.Text4. As a result, you could potentially have multiple text objects named Text4 on the page, with the name given to the symbol making it unique. The animation name is static, thus you can search for the object at runtime using the name.
Note: You can locate any object on a page by referencing its AN (Animation Number or Name). To locate an object using its AN or Name, use the Goto Object tool (accessible via the Tools menu). See Locate an Object.
See Also
Published June 2018