!@#$ Intellution Ifix

I am new to the world of ifix and cannot figure out how to save and have multiple projects to select from. I have a customer running Ifix runtime on several PC's. All I want to do is transfer the Project to my laptop. Thats it. How in the world do I do this. They are using the ifix as a stand alone operator interface to a simple packaging machine (a little overkill huh ) I want to transfer the project that is running Ifix to my laptop then edit it using my ifix software then transfer it back to their pc. I have looked extensivly in C:dynamics/ and cannot find anything. I am very familiar with RSview 32 and it is nothing like this. any help would be greatly appreciated
Thanks
Dallas

Also I thought about copying the entire C:dynamics file but that cannot be right??? can it,

iFix

Ifix has an exellent backup and restore facility under the stat menu give that a try
regards
bythatmuch

Run BackupRestore.exe from iFix location (C:\Dynamics) and make fbk file with it.

The hard part will be if you want to keep your projects separate.

By default, iFix puts all the project files in the /Dynamics folder, and the Backup & Restore Wizard will copy ALL of the files in the /PIC, /LOCAL, /PDB, etc folders.

Do as everyone said, and use the Backup & Restore Wizard to make a full backup of the customers system. Also copy the SCU file (.SCU extension) as a separate file.

What I would recommend you do is, first, open the old SCU file, record all the settings (name of node, database, PLC drivers, etc),

Create a new folder for the project on your PC.

Then create a new vanilla SCU file (using the System Configuration Utility), and change the project path (NOT the Base path). iFix will create default subdirectories and certain systems files.

Manually enter the data from the old SCU into your good SCU. (It may complain that the database doesn't exist - that's OK for now)

Save this SCU file in the /LOCAL folder of your new project folder.

Make this the default startup project (you'll be prompted).

Then, do a partial restore of the existing system. You'll want to check the box "Use Existing System" or words to that effect. Don't restore the old SCU.

When the driver file is restored, you may need to go into the driver, and set up the driver's configuration file (ex: iFIX.ABR) and path to be the default.

I just finished doing these steps, so the inforamtion is pretty fresh. I ran into some trouble, since security is turned ON for the customer's project, and I wanted it OFF. There were a few times when I got a contradictory set of error messages (Running SCU: "You don't have security rights to run this application"; Running Login: "Security is disabled on this node"). I wound up deleting the entire project folder AND the /Dynamics folder and re-installing (twice).

But it's working the way I want it. There are lots of gotcha's out there for you still, but I think that this might be the cleanest way to set things up for you.

Post again if you need more.

Another Solution.

The backup/restore utility is alright. But if you are just making a few changes to the screen you can copy the C:\Dynamics to your laptop, Open the project there. Modify the screen, copy the screen to the HMI (in the /PIC folder) and you wont have to do full backup / restores.

If you add tags to the new system you will have to export the tags then import them.

I guess the solution depends on exactly what you plan on doing. For a lot of changes go with the backup / restore. For a couple minor changes, just copy the picture over.

Good luck!

thanks all

I munked around with it all day today, I did as most of you suggested about using the restore & backup utility. I then did as Allen suggested and created a "vanilla" SCU configuration and set it to startup when I start ifix. Restarted Ifix, made some of my changes then did the restore and backup again transfered to the PC running
ifix runtime. It seems to be working great for now. I was probably lucky,since the security feature wasn't on,unlike Allen's case. I will probably finish everything up here at home then repeat the above monday.
Thanks all have a great weekend
Dallas Smith