EPLAN Placeholder Elements: Basics

Placeholder elements are used in form editing for the selection of properties which are to be inserted into the form as placeholder texts. The available placeholder elements depend on the form type. They provide the possible properties, grouped by object, which can be evaluated in the form.

A placeholder text is composed of the placeholder element and the property. Here, the selection of the placeholder element determines the object used to determine the property. This division is also visible in the dialog Placeholder texts - <Form type>: There the placeholder elements are displayed on the left and the properties that are available for the marked placeholder element on the right.

The following information is displayed in the overview of the EPLAN placeholder elements:

Entry	Meaning
ID	File name extension of the form type.
Form type	The name of the property, which is displayed in the program's user interface.
Elements	The name of the placeholder element which is displayed in the program's user interface.
Description	Explanatory text that describes which type of properties are available for the respective placeholder element.
Indexed	Specifies whether an index is possible for the placeholder element. In the selection dialog, then, a plus sign is shown next to the placeholder element. If you click on that symbol, the list of possible indexed placeholder elements is expanded in the tree view, and you can select the desired element. The index can be used to select a certain target from several different ones. On the other hand, if you select the higher-level placeholder element (without index value), that means that the properties of all targets will be output (if possible). Example: In the device list, the placeholder element "Parts data" is indexed. Using the entry "Parts data [3]", you can get to the properties of the third part entered in the device; for instance, select the property "Part number". In the form, the part number of the third part entered in the device will be output. If you select the higher-level placeholder element "Parts data" without an index and then the property "Part number", then the part numbers of all parts entered in the device will be output.
Header data	Specifies whether the placeholder element is provided for use in the header data of a form. For the terminal diagram, for instance, the data pertaining to the terminal strip is the header data.