Creating and Using Task Templates

You can save a reusable set of instructions as a template within a library, and later retrieve that template for use under any resource within a task. The entire task tree and its attributes are copied to the template.

This task shows you how to:

Before you begin: You have a device task defined that is populated with instructions that you wish to save for later use with other resources.

Saving a Template

You can save all or part of a device task as a template for later use with other resources.

  1. In the Behavior side tab of the browser, right-click on an existing task and select Save To Library from the context menu.

    The Save Template to Library panel appears.

  2. You can enter a Name and Type for the new template.
    1. Click Advanced if you want to save only specific attributes of the selected task as a template.
      The Advanced panel appears, listing all of the instructions of the task as well as their attributes in a tabular format.

    2. Click the specific cells in the table that you want to save in the template. Each cell turns orange when selected. You can deselect a cell by clicking it a second time.

      Note: Cell selection is not supported for motions inside a Resource MultiMotion Sequence (RMMS).

    3. Click OK.
      The Save Template to Library dialog box reappears.
  3. In the Library section of the Save Template to Library panel, select the library where the template will be saved.
    • Select New and enter a name for the new library.
    • If a template has already been saved during the current session, it can be selected in the Existing list.

    • You can also click Search to specify a string and search the existing libraries.

      Select a library from the resulting list and click OK.
  4. Click OK in the Save Template to Library panel.
    The template is saved for later use.

Using a Template

You can recall a saved template from a library and insert it into the current task.

Before you begin:
  • You have saved one or more templates in the library as described in Saving a Template.
  • You have a task open in the Teach environment.
  1. Select an instruction in the Teach table. The template will be imported after the selected instruction.

  2. From the Logic tools panel in Teach, click Insert Template .
    The Object Search appears.
  3. Enter a string to search for the desired library.

    Select a library and click OK.
    The Templates panel appears and lists the templates available in the selected library.

  4. Select a template in the list and click OK.
    The Template Sequence dialog box appears.

  5. The selected template is instantiated in the Teach panel, appearing after the instruction that was selected in Step 1.

    After insertion, the marked attributes that were stored in the template are shown as marked. The default values of these attributes are visible in the Teach panel.

Locating the Corresponding Template in the Library

You can locate the corresponding template for a selected template sequence in the Teach table.

Before you begin: You have previously imported the selected template sequence from an existing library.
  1. Select and right-click the template sequence in the Teach table.

    The Templates in Library dialog box appears, and the original template is highlighted.

  2. If necessary, click Update to reconnect the template sequence to a template task.

    Note: If the creation and usage of the template is different (for example, if the template is exported and instantiated from one database to another, in some cases the link to the original template may be broken). It will list all of the libraries, and you can select which one to connect to. Subsequently, the template sequence points to the updated template.