I've done something stupid!

Hi Guys,

The company I work for bought Factorytalk View Studio around July of this year. It is version 7 and is installed on my programming laptop. I was given a 30 day licence from Rockwell to install on the clients computer as well as a 30 day 25 screen runtime licence to help me determine how many screens I require. This licence will expire shortly but I have already purchased the actual runtime licence so that is not really an issue.

What is an issue is that the 30 day licence software supplied was version 8. Once I got it on the clients computer this didn't seem like an issue. Unfortunately I've been making spot changes to the displays on the clients computer without thinking. These changes all add up to a substantial amount of work and now I cannot open the backup copy of version 8 on my development laptop which is version 7. Does anyone know of a way that will allow me to export the version 8 file for viewing on my version 7 software?

On the Version 8 computer create a runtime file and Save as Type ver. 7 You will see the Save As Type just below the file name. Then on your PC open Application Manager and select Restore Runtime File. You can also use Application Manager to Delete your existing project or when you restore the Ver.8 runtime you will have to rename the project. The application manager will not overwrite the existing application.

Unfortunately it is an SE application and not a ME application. I've probably wrongly used the phrase runtime licence. The save as feature is not available for the application as far as I can see. There is a Copy, backup, restore, rename and delete options which all have to be performed with the application manager utility.

Thanks for the reply anyway.

cheers

Jonny

"Spend more money" seems to be the default solution to all software and firmware revision issues these days.
</OldSchoolGrumbling>

There is no "save as old version" feature in FactoryTalk View SE.

I've never seen any industrial HMI software that has such a feature, in fact. I'm willing to hear about one, but every product I've used (Crimson, Indsoft, Ignition, etc) cannot open projects created with newer versions with an older editor.

Most FactoryTalk View users make use of Virtual Machines to handle this issue. I have FTView installations at v4, v5.10, and v7 in our customer base, and I have a totally separate VM to work on each one.

There should be no problems* with the activation licenses; they are not tied to the product revision. Put the license on your host computer and run VMs until your fingers get tired.

There should also be no fees or costs to do this installation other than VM software and time. If you have v8 to put on your customer's system, use the same media to install v8 on your own workstation in a Virtual Machine.

* Yes, there are issues with v4/v5 and EVRSI/FTA, but that's not the problem with this installation.

There is definitely an option to save in another version...I have done it many times. After selecting "Create a runtime application" a screen will appear for you to save the application in your destination file / folder. On this screen you will have the option to save the application in another version. I work with Panelview HMI that require version 5.0, but I create the applications in version 7.0...so all I do is save in version 5.0 and have never had any problems.

You're describing the process for creating a Runtime file in FactoryTalk View ME. It's one of the features that works very well for supporting older PanelView Plus terminals with newer FactoryTalk View Studio ME editors.

The OP has FactoryTalk View SE, which does not use Runtime files but rather administers the Displays, and Trends, and Data Logs and other aspects of the HMI software system live on a server.

FactoryTalk View SE projects can be Archived and Restored and even migrated forward to new versions, but they cannot be "exported" or "converted" to an older version of the software.

Gotcha!! I understand now...I appreciate the explanation. Hopefully JonAW can solve their issue.

Depending on what the changes are that you've made, you can possibly just export all your displays, macros, alarms, parameter files, etc etc and import them into 8. I haven't deliberately tried this across versions, but I've never had that fail on me, and I'm sure that I must have by chance pulled a different version in at one time or another!

It'll probably take you maybe an hour to go through and export/import everything but it could get you out of trouble

Thanks Ken and ASF. Your advice should get me out of a hole. I've contacted my Rockwell suppliers and as usual the hand is out asking for more cash even though we only purchased it a few months back.

I have to say though I think purchasing a tech connect contract would be the way to go as it would allow me to take full advantage of upgrades and fixes in the software. Something to look into for the future.

JonAW said:

I have to say though I think purchasing a tech connect contract would be the way to go as it would allow me to take full advantage of upgrades and fixes in the software. Something to look into for the future.

Click to expand...

In my opinion, you should only try to support FTView Studio SE with a techconnect contract. I recall trying to solve problems and finding that without tech connect we did not have a prayer.

The newer versions that I worked with were significantly better than the older ones, but still, that support contract might make the difference between success and failure. I think I could get by without it using this forum if I only had to support ME apps, but for a PC based system, there are too many variables to take that risk.

Yes, I'm coming around to that idea OkiePC as it is a hugely customisable bit of software. I do find that when I need to do something new it takes a lot of patience of trying and retrying until it works. It is not an easy bit of software to get used to overnight that's for sure.