Studio 5000 v31.00.00 - Anomaly with View Designer v2/v3

Geospark

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This is an anomaly I had all day yesterday and have since resolved this morning. As busy as I am of late, I thought I'd share it with the Forum to hopefully save others the same lost time...

Prerequisite information:

Studio 5000 v27.00.00 installs View Designer v2.01 FW:2.001
Studio 5000 v28.03.00 installs View Designer v2.02 FW:2.002
Studio 5000 v29.00.01 installs View Designer v2.03 FW:2.004
Studio 5000 v30.00.00 installs View Designer v3.01 FW:3.001
Studio 5000 v30.01.01 installs View Designer v4.01 FW:4.001
Studio 5000 v31.00.00 installs View Designer v4.02 FW:4.001

I don't think this anomaly is OS dependent, but either way I'm using Windows 7 Professional x64 Service Pack 1.

Last year I had installed a PanelView 5500 at firmware 3.001 on a production line in the plant, referencing a Logix controller at firmware 30.11. I had used Logix Designer v30.00.00 and View Designer v3.01 to create both project files and all was fine. In April of this year I installed Studio 5000 v31.00.00 and this in turn installed View Designer v4.02, as per the above list. I created similar projects for the same type hardware using v31 and v4.02 for another updated production line and all was well.

Yesterday I had wired in a new air ioniser system (ESD) to the previous production line and created interlocks (4 off) and alarms in the Logix controller. The alarms to the HMI worked fine immediately because I'm using the ALARM_DIGITAL data type and ALMD instruction which allows you to embed the alarm message in the instruction's properties i.e. no HMI application edit required. When the alarm condition is true the HMI Alarm Summary object automatically displays the message in the controller instruction. Nice. However, we also wanted to graphically represent the new ioniser system on the line and add a steady "Ready" and flashing "Fault" object for when one of the 4 interlock conditions are not healthy. This of course does require a HMI edit...

When I opened the v3.01 View Designer application file I got some strange warnings I had not seen before, but the application did open. I added the required graphical objects and proceeded to Verify the project. When I tried to Download it to the referenced controller it also threw an error, stopping me proceeding. After doing some Repairs under Control Panel to various Rockwell Software products and certain other prerequisites, I would still receive errors while opening and while attempting a Download. I then reinstalled View Designer v3.01 - Nope. I uninstalled Logix Designer v31 - nope. I then converted the v3.01 project to v4.02 (open file via v4.02) and the project would open with no errors, except my tailored Predefined Banner would not convert (Predefined Screens or edits of them do not convert). Aside from having to recreate the Banner manually, I would also have to flash the terminal firmware to 4.001, which I did not want to do at this point in time.

I left it for the day after a lot of tinkering around - last status before leaving was that View Designer v3.01 would hang on opening each time, requiring a Task Manager End Task. So I left it hung for the night (laptop closed over) to see would something eventually happen when I came in this morning? Nope, it was still hung with the spinning circle cursor. I End Task'd it again and went to the AB Knowledgebase, not expecting to find anything, to be honest. But, as it turns out, I did...

1072344 - Product Notice 2018-03-001 - Studio 5000 Logix Designer V31.00.00 Compatibility with Studio 5000 View Designer V2 and V3 (201803001)
Access Level: Everyone

(See the technote for the typical errors you may receive)

One of the things I had strongly suspected yesterday was the installation of Studio 5000 v31.00.00 since last using View Designer v3.01. I did uninstall it during my efforts (one of the options in the technote) but it didn't solve the problem. It's possible that certain other components of the installation, which may be the cause here, do not get uninstalled. Another option they provide is to use v4.01 instead, which as I said, I do not want to do right now.

Long story short - this morning I downloaded Studio 5000 v31.00.01, which the technote states corrects this anomaly. I installed it and the problem has now gone away. I have opened the v3.01 project with no errors and have successfully Downloaded the mod to the terminal. I can also open older v2.03 projects, and of course the converted v4.01 project (only one I have).

So, if using Logix Designer v31, and view Designer v2/v3, make sure to use v31.00.01 specifically.

Note: v31.00.00, which causes the anomaly, is still available for download, so make sure you choose v31.00.01.

Another thing I've noticed, which doesn't help when checking which version you already have installed, is that whether you have v31.00.00 or v31.00.01 installed, they both display as "31.00.00" under Help>About Logix Designer. If you have the installation package (downloaded files), I would check the file name as this does have the correct version - 31.00.01-Studio5000-Web.

Side Note: View Designer v2.01 & v2.02 do not support side by side installations with other versions of View Designer. You can only have v2.01 or v2.02 installed at any one time on a system. v2.03 and later introduced side by side support - you can have v2.03/v3.01/v4.01 or v4.02 installed side by side and work with any version of View Designer/Logix Designer combination you wish (or so I've read) -

Example: View Designer v2.03 PanelView FW:2.004 / Logix Designer v31 Controller FW:31 should work with each other

...but...

I have also read in the Release Notes for v31 that View Designer v3.01 or earlier will not work with v31 Tag-Based alarming. You must use View Designer v4.01 minimum. So that's another (little?) caveat there.

Right, back to work!

Regards,
George
 
Thanks,

One of my guys just emailed me saying that he couldn't work with a vendor supplied system with Studio 30, that it is asking for View Designer 4. Now I see why.

Why would you do a major version update in View and not in Logix is beyond me.

ETA: I'm just starting to work with PV 5500. So how's the firmware version work? I already see that I can't open a project made in 4 with Version 3. But can version 4 open and upload prior versions? Does the hardware firmware have to match as well?
 
Last edited:
Bump, can someone give me the cliff note on version manager with View Designer?

I know PV+ fairly well and in that, newer version can create run-time in older version but that's obviously not how 5000 series works.

ETA: I'm RTFM... and it still doesn't quite answer the question. I have version 3,4, and 5 installed and trying to covert 3 to a 5 but since I have 3 installed it doesn't do the conversion to 5.

From the manual
Open the last saved project or any previously saved projects. Open a View
Designer project using the same or later version of View Designer used to
save the project. Opening a .vpd file of an earlier version than the installed
version of View Designer converts the .vpd file to the installed version of View
Designer

Well, found my answer. The trick to create an "placeholder" project with the version you are going to. Close the project but don't close the program then open the project you want to convert from. It will then ask you to convert.
 
Last edited:
Hello World...

Hi harryting,

Yes, that still seems to be one of the simplest ways to convert to newer if you normally open View Designer via the Studio 5000 Common Launcher.

See here for your method (Option 1, or Option 2 is similar)...

ID: QA41305 | Access Levels: Everyone
Converting View Designer Projects into Newer Versions

However, I use Option 3. Not for the conversion reason, but because I like to create a folder on the desktop "View Designer - Versions" which contains shortcuts directly to the "View Designer.exe" files for each version. This way I can choose which version I want to work with. I name each shortcut specifically like "ViewDesigner v2.03".

Example conversion using this method -

I open my desktop folder and run "ViewDesigner v4.02". Software is now running with no project open. I then choose "File/Open Project" and navigate to a v3.01 project file. I immediately get the popup warning informing me that the project file is v3.01 and will need to be converted before opening. You then have the option to "Convert" or "Cancel". The conversion, as I'm sure you are aware, also creates a backup of the original older version project file before proceeding. The older version number is appended to the backup file's name.

This method makes it relatively quick and painless, I find.

I also do the same for Logix Designer - desktop folder "Logix Designer - Versions". For each shortcut, navigate to the relevant "ENU" folder for the software in question to find the version specific folders with their executable file - as per the technote above.

I've not tried convert up by more than one version before, like your v3 to v5 jump? If that wasn't working I'd imagine you may need to go to v4 first, then v5? But I think you are saying it did work once you figured out the "placeholder" project workaround?

Version management -

This is pretty much the same as Logix Designer (Lock Step). Whichever version you have running, if you create a new project it will give you a version selection based on which versions are installed. If you select the same version as the version you are running, it will create the project within that running version. If you select any other version, it will open that version and create the new project.

Also, you cannot, and likely will never be able to, save a project file to an older version than the software version you created it in. It just allows you to save as a project VPD file or runtime VPDR file. There is no version selection option at save like in View Studio. Neither is there a version selection available under the Project Properties.

HMI terminal firmware -

If you do choose to convert your View Designer project to newer, you must also ensure the HMI terminal's firmware is flashed to a compatible revision. For instance, a v4 project will not run on a HMI terminal using FW: 3.xxx. You must flash to FW: 4.xxx, in keeping with the lock step feature.

Regards,
George
 
Hi _Dock_,

Thanks for your thoughts.

Just a few of life's hurdles need clearing. I'm still very much "unavailable" in general but I did make a promise to try participate here again in the New Year.

Speaking of, I would like to extend a sincere Happy New Year to all!

Regards,
George
 

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