RSView ME APA File

Please forgive my ignorance, but when my customer requested the source files for a recent RSView project, I sent the *.mer file. I've received a new request that is asking for this project's *.apa file. I've run a search and cannot find a file under this or any other project with a *.apa extension.

Is this a generated file? I think that I understand that the *.mer is a compiled version of the HMI screens. I cannot determine what the project extension is before compiling.

HELP!

... rab

The .apa is an archive version of the .med (the RSViewStudion development file). You generate it from the Application Manager which you can either access from the ViewStudion menu bar or from Start-Programs-Rockwell Software-RSViewEnterprise

NOP said:

The .apa is an archive version of the .med (the RSViewStudion development file). You generate it from the Application Manager which you can either access from the ViewStudion menu bar or from Start-Programs-Rockwell Software-RSViewEnterprise

Click to expand...

Thanks ...

Only took a couple of key strokes to generate the archive file. Can't say that I understand why AB makes something like this so complicated, but ...

... rab

You could think of the APA file as just a 'zip-like' version of the entire development directory. It's actually more than that though. There is information in it that cannot be transferred to another just by transferring the MER file or even the whole directory.

When a project is 'restored' from the APA file many entries in the registry are created to keep track of all the aspects of the project. RSView Studio depends on these entries for all the unifying information about the project. If you were just to zip the directory and unzip it in another computer RSView Studio behaves as if there weren't anything there. Similarly, deleting the project directory is not enough to remove the traces of the project which are in the registry. (You can probably figure out how I discovered all this.)

So to repeat - the APA is not only a backup of the project, it is the only method for transferring it to another system. And the APPLICATION Manager is the only method for properly loading, renaming, copying and deleting a project.

Brilliant explanation Bernie! Wish I had read that 6 weeks ago in those precise words!

bernie_carlton said:

You could think of the APA file as just a 'zip-like' version of the entire development directory. It's actually more than that though. There is information in it that cannot be transferred to another just by transferring the MER file or even the whole directory.

When a project is 'restored' from the APA file many entries in the registry are created to keep track of all the aspects of the project. RSView Studio depends on these entries for all the unifying information about the project. If you were just to zip the directory and unzip it in another computer RSView Studio behaves as if there weren't anything there. Similarly, deleting the project directory is not enough to remove the traces of the project which are in the registry. (You can probably figure out how I discovered all this.)

So to repeat - the APA is not only a backup of the project, it is the only method for transferring it to another system. And the APPLICATION Manager is the only method for properly loading, renaming, copying and deleting a project.

Click to expand...

bernie_carlton said:

So to repeat - the APA is not only a backup of the project, it is the only method for transferring it to another system. And the APPLICATION Manager is the only method for properly loading, renaming, copying and deleting a project.

Click to expand...

This answers my question even though it wasn't the question of the original poster. THANKS!

I was wondering what to do with an APA file I was given.