Version management

As a systems integrator dealing with multiple customers on various versions of products, how in the he$$ do you manage development/implementation when it comes to different versions? Controllogix at least did it half right with being able to edit/create different versions. But I'm sick of the version chase with Wonderware and RSView. Take WW as an example. One customer will be on 9.5, another on 10, another on 9.0 (heck, I still have some on 7.1). If I'm developing two projects concurrently and one customer needs it on 9.0 as that is their 'plant' standard while the other customer needs it on 10 what do you do? Assume you've already started on a version 10 app, so impossible to go back to 9.0 without uninstalling/reinstalling. Do you run multiple development machines or bite the bullet and forever install/uninstall leaving a trail of registry **** everytime? Do you force your customer to always stay current in versions (yeah right)? I'm tired of this merry-go round and was wondering if there is a better way.

Another example is RSLogix 5/500. If I'm on version 7.0 and a customer sends me a 6.3 file to look at, I can't open it, make a change and send it back because now it is incompatible with their needs.

We use Virtual PC. Allows you to have multiple operating systems on one machine. I currently have 4 versions of WW installed. 9.5 on main XP system, 7.11 patch 4 on a 2000 Virt PC, 7.11 patch 5 on a 2000 Virt PC, and 7.1 on a third 2000 Virt PC.

gmferg said:

We use Virtual PC. Allows you to have multiple operating systems on one machine. I currently have 4 versions of WW installed. 9.5 on main XP system, 7.11 patch 4 on a 2000 Virt PC, 7.11 patch 5 on a 2000 Virt PC, and 7.1 on a third 2000 Virt PC.

Click to expand...

That sounds interesting....Does each virtual PC have access to a central repository of project files on the same PC or do you use a file server/NAS setup?

A Virtual PC session runs as a separate window on your desktop and you can drag and drop files across sessions of Windows Explorer. You can also access files through My Network places. The Virtual PC session acts like another PC on the network. It has it's own IP address and when you browse from another computer, you would see your computer name plus the name you assigned in the Virtual PC OS.

I normally store my WW projects only within the Virtual PC session that uses it. It's not convenient when you have to send a project to somebody since you have to launch that session and it goes through the standard OS bootup which takes a while. I only do this to conserve HD space. You will discover very fast that each Virtual PC session installed on your system eats a lot of HD: 4 gig for one session.

It's easy to switch between a Virt PC WW session and a RSLogix running on the main system. You just click in and out of the window. You can even have 2 or 3 different versions of WW running simultaneously. No, there is no way to copy any graphics or tags across platforms.