Rockwell upload automatically updating saved programs

Every so often, I end up having to perform an upload to go online with a processor here. Usually, it is because someone else made a minor change somewhere in the program..... But sometimes it is a more significant change. When I perform the upload from the processor, the saved copy of the program on my hard drive is automatically updated WITHOUT ME TELLING IT TO. I select NO, I do not want to save changes when exiting the program, but the program is still updated on my hard drive, and the next time I go online it goes straight online without prompting for an upload.
Has this been fixed on any of the versions? Or is there an option somewhere that I can check to make it stop happening? I don't remember which version of rs5 or rs500 I first saw this happening, but it has been going on for a while... Still waiting for my cd's to come before updating from versions 5.5... Maybe it's already fixed?

Tom,

When you are going online to a AB PLC the Logix software you can either :

1. Upload to a blank project file, in which case you will not have any comments.

OR

2. Upload to an existing offline image of the project. At the point of upload Logix assumes that you want to keep the new changes you have uploaded and saves them to the disk.

What you want to do can be achieved by opening the existing offline project and then "Save As" to a new name. Then use that new file to perform the online upload. If you don't want to keep the changes, just delete the file later.

Make certain it is really saving to the hard drive. Turn on the "prompt for Revision Note option (if it is off) so that you will know when a save is occuring. Also, check the created/modified time and date stamp on the file (not the "accessed" stamp). This can be done from Windows Explorer.

It sounds like the file you are uploading into is different than the file that is getting saved. Make certain when you get the upload prompt that you are looking in the directory you think it is. Click on the "browse" option to verify the directory containing your file.

OG

Phillip,

Thanks.... That about covers what I was wondering. It's inherent to the software, and I'll just have to put up with it... But I don't have to LIKE it. I have issues with software automatically writing over my saved files without asking me first. Call me opinionated or something..... I'll have to start doing a save as when I need to go online with something like that from now on.



OG,

The revision notes are always on in my programs..... I use them to help me track where I am on different projects. I have looked at the date/time stamp through windows explorer, and that how I figured out that rslogix was writing to my hard drive without asking. All of our plant programs are in the same directory(it helps the less computer literate mechanics find the programs when they need to check something out). The sequence of events happens like this:

1. Someone else uses a different computer to make a change of some kind. They don't tell me about it, so that I can synch all of the copies together.

2. I try to go online at some later date... Upload required.

3. I tell it to do the upload with the version of the program that is on my laptop. Same basic program, just someone did something in between now and the last time I was online with it.

4. I exit the program, and when it asks me if I want to save changes, I say no.

5. I go back online with the same program, and it goes right online(no upload, no nothing).

6. The date/time stamp through windows explorer has been modified to whatever time I performed the upload.

I don't think the windows date/time stamp is an indication of a save, just that the file was closed at that time. Try going on line, making a small meaning less change, then exit without saving. Open the file on your hard drive and see if your change is present. You will then know for sure whether it is saving or not.

If it is doing what you say, then one way around it would be to upload to a new file, then import the comments that you exported from your original version . . .

Marc

Ken,

To the best of my knowledge, at least in win2000, the date/time stamp in windows explorer is supposed to be the last time the file was changed, not just accessed. You can open and close a file from 3 years ago all day long in excel, or any other package, and the date/time stamp will never change unless you actually write information to the saved copy of the program.
Playing around right now, you can OPEN a copy of any plc5 program, do whatever you want with it, and the date/time stamp never changed.
This works the way I expect it to...
If I GO ONLINE with the processor, even though no upload was required, and no changes were made, and I went offline without saving the program, the date/time stamp was changed. So what the heck is it writing to my hard drive?
This is where I have issues.
Right now, I went online, added a blank rung with an ote statement at the end of it, and went offline without saving changes. When I went back online, an upload was required, and I did the upload. I then went back offline, without saving changes. The changes I made weren't there in my offline copy.
So far so good....
When I go back online(with the same processor), it goes straight online without requiring an upload.... Even though before I went online, I was looking at the spot where my added rung should have been. Once online, the added rung was present.

So.......
The program appears to be automatically updating the checksum value that the logix package and the plc use to see if the offline/online programs are the same????

Out of curiousity, in the sequence you mentioned, right after "so far so good" what happens if you close RSLogix and then reopen it? What about if you reboot? Maybe there is a cache file somewhere that isn't getting flushed properly.

OG

Evidently it's looking at something before it goes online.... I just don't know what it is....

Here are the controller properties when offline


and here are the controller properties when online


The date/time stamps are different.... The checksum is different... So what IS the program looking for? I am going online/offline without any uploads, or prompts to save changes, or anything.

OG,

After taking these screenshots, I shutdown and restarted my laptop..... Still going online without an upload request, and the online/offline checksum and date/time edit stamp are the same as the pictures above...

But, the offline file is still different right? I tested your scenario briefly on my PC and the offline was different than the online file, but like you it went right online (didn't get to the reboot part) without requiring an upload.

So it isn't REALLY saving the file, as in overwriting the original. It is just determining that an upload is not necessary. I'm using version 6.30. Let's see what the next rev (version 7.0 I think) does. In the meantime I am going to play around with this a bit more tomorrow and see wha tI can dig up. There has to be something to this!

OG

Don't Logix 5 and 500 maintain two copies of the logic/data in the RSP/RSS file?

It seems I remember from a while ago, that when you go online, it does upload the actual online image to speed up browsing, but doesn't commit those changes to the offline image unless you actually save the file.

Edit: Here is the RS Technote on the files:

Don't Logix 5 and 500 maintain two copies of the logic/data in the RSP/RSS file?

Click to expand...

I seem to recall that there are actually three versions of the logic maintained in the RSP/RSS files - the "online" logic, the "offline" logic, and the "autosave/recovery" logic.

I did just find this link. If you look most of the way down, it says that these versions: "can get unsynchronized, this occurs if you don't save your changes when going from on-line to off-line. To synchronize the images you must download, upload or save the project while on-line."

My suspicion is the "online version" is getting rewritten to your file (hence the date/time stamp change) and the ability to go online despite the fact that your "offline version" doesn't show the changes that you added online . . .

Marc

You may want to think about some kind of program control procedure. If others are working on a program on a different machine, the changed program should be saved on a network drive. Before going online, or if this situation occurs, you should be able to get the most recent from the network drive.

This will also enable you to check the revision notes to see what has changed. (A sometimes critical bit of information)

We have a guy automatically check our (maintenance) laptop first thing every morning to see if any program files have been changed/accessed. if so - he verifies the change and uploads all changes to our network. This way we find that we can keep all our programs current. we are also trying to introduce a paperwork version of this procedure (but as we all know, not all maintenance guys carry a pen).