Global Container Components and Automation Global Components

Once you declare a component to be global, by adding it to a Global Container project item or the Global tab of an automation’s Component tray, you can use it in any automation in the Studio project.

Global components are created when the project starts and exist for the entire time the project is running. These differ from local components that belong to an automation and are created when the automation starts, and exist only when the automation is running.

There is no functional difference between components added to the Global Container project item and those added to the Global tab of an automation. Keep in mind...

Deleting an automation deletes all components in both the Global and Local tabs of the automation's Component tray.
Setting an automation not to run results in none of the components in both the Global and Local tabs of the automation's Component tray to be created during runtime execution.
You cannot move components from an automation's component tray to the Global Container nor can you move a component from the Global Container to an automation. Therefore, if you are not sure whether the component always be Global, adding it to an automation provides you with the option of toggling accessibility between Global and Local.

Note: While you can set or change the value of a Global component in multiple automations within a project, you can only control execution point at which the value is set/changed if you call the automations sequentially using Entry points. Otherwise, the value changes depending on project execution. This can cause unexpected behavior at runtime. For example, suppose you are using a ForLoop component and Automation1 sets a Global IntegerVariable value which specifies the maximum number of tiles the ForLoop should iterate. If another automation resets or changes the value of this IntegerValue component, then the ForLoop may not complete iteration or the exit condition for the loop may never be met.

Related information

Project Item - Global Container

Adding Global Components to an Automation

Adding Local Components to an Automation

Adding Components to a Global Container Project Item