Factory Talk View Studio ME older .mer that doesnt allow conversion

jtashaffer

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Aug 2009
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I have two Panel View Plus HMI's on two different machines. The programs where wrote in a older version that doesn't allow conversion. All I have is the runtime file .MER. What is the best way going about converting them over to a newer version even If I have to rewrite the whole thing. What is the easiest way to go about this or is there a way to work around this?
 
I got the 32 bit laptop and followed the steps. At the point where I try to load the file it says this version only allows 5 screens. I was trying to do it without activating it I am sure that is the problem. Are am I missing something.
 
Ok. I finally got the files converted. I followed the steps of the tech note and I believe I did everything right. So my question now is what do I need to replace in each project? Alarms and the communication paths?
 
yes,most likely the macro if it's ever used. you can try opening the alarms txt file in notepad to try recovering the previous alarms.
 
Do you know where that is located? Is it in the files the tech note had you to delete? I did save them in a different folder.
 
If you still have a copy of the MachineAlarms.mal file that the Technote advised you to delete, then you can open it in Notepad and crudely retrieve the text for the individual alarms at the end. But it is by no means structured in an easy to read format.

Did you try opening the original *.MER file itself using 7-zip?

You'll be surprised what you can access using that method.

Regards
George
 
Hold fire! - 7-zip and MER runtime files...

I think I've made a mistake in proposing the 7-zip option with the MER file? Or more, arlenjacobs original suggestion in the thread I linked above temporarily misled me.

When I read their suggestion before posting the link, I put it forward to you as another option, but in hindsight I was mistaken. I knew you could use 7-zip to open an Application Archive file (APA), but I was not aware, or have not tried to do so with a Machine Edition Runtime (MER) file directly. When I read that suggestion originally, and again the other day, I had forgotten that it is an APA you can use with 7-zip, and to my knowledge, not an MER.

An APA file is simply a compressed format of the original Machine Edition Development (MED) file and sub-folders for an application. It does not compile the data into the necessary format for the PanelView terminal's firmware to be able to read it. This is why 7-zip can open an APA file and a user can simply decompress the necessary data for use in another application.

7-zip and MER runtime files. Some testing...

I would imagine, as these files are within a compiled MER runtime application file, that their format is not the same as their uncompiled equivalents in the applications's folder under the "HMI projects" folder. For instance, in 7-zip, if you attempt to open a BMP image file from the "Images" folder in an MER file, it will not open. Even if you extract it and attempt to open it, Windows thinks it is damaged or corrupted. If you compare the extracted file with its uncompiled equivalent, it is of a different size in kbytes. If you view the contents using Notepad, although unreadable, they are notably different.

I also tried comparing a gfx file from the "Gfx" folder, which was originally stated as being useable after extracting it from an MER file through 7-zip. It too is noticeably different, as are any of the files I compared. I tried to import the gfx display file into a test application using "Add Component Into Application..." under "Displays" and it threw an error...

"DMM(9:1) Migration of <displayname> for Displays failed."

The uncompiled gfx display file, of the same name in the "HMI projects" folder, imported successfully.

So it would appear that you cannot use a gfx file from an MER file, extracted using 7-zip, or any other file I would imagine.

7-zip, while it does appear to access the file and folder structure within an MER runtime file, cannot decompile the runtime files back to the format used in the development environment. i.e. it only gives you access to the compiled runtime files, which are of no real use to a user, as far as I can see?

It is the Application Manager that normally decompiles an MER file back to the development format. Of course, also loading the MER file, using ME Station, temporarily decompiles some of the application data to a temp folder, of which you have availed of.

So, and unless I'm mistaken, you can use 7-zip to open and use the data within an Application Archive (APA) file, but not to open and use the data in a Machine Edition Runtime (MER) file, as the files are in a compiled format. 7-zip only compresses/decompresses files, it does not compile/decompile them.

This is just my assessment based on what I've tried myself, but it does make sense, at least to me?

So I think we are back to Plan A?

Open the MachineAlarms.mal file and copy/paste the alarm message text. A lot of the text for adjacent alarms messages may be not be separated and can appear as long strings of continuous text. Just look closely for the end of one alarm message and beginning of the next. You can also find out which tags were used to trigger the alarm messages if unsure.

Example MachineAlarms.mal file with six alarm messages. I've marked the text for the PLC tags and the English alarm messages, but you will notice that they are also available in German, French and Spanish, as those are available languages for the application...

MachineAlarms.mal said:
...Ro o t E n t r y ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ ìÏÉ
A l a r m s ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ Z l s 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 9 ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ l s 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 7 ÿÿÿÿ ~

þÿÿÿ þÿÿÿ þÿÿÿ ! " # $ þÿÿÿ& ' ( þÿÿÿ* + þÿÿÿ- . / 0 1 2 3 þÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ
ÿþÿ{ [ P L C 1 ] A l a r m F i l l e r C o n v J a m } ÿþÿ ÿþÿ ÿþÿ ÿþÿ ÿþÿ ÿþÿ ÿþÿ ÿþÿ{ [ P L C 1 ] A l a r m L a b e l J a m } ÿþÿ ÿþÿ ÿþÿ ÿþÿ ÿþÿ ÿþÿ ÿþÿ
ÿþÿ{ [ P L C 1 ] A l a r m M o t o r O v e r H e a t } ÿþÿ ÿþÿ ÿþÿ ÿþÿ ÿþÿ ÿþÿ ÿþÿ ÿþÿ{ [ P L C 1 ] A l a r m P a p e r O u t } ÿþÿ ÿþÿ ÿþÿ ÿþÿ ÿþÿ ÿþÿ ÿþÿ ÿþÿ{ [ P L C 1 ] A l a r m T a n k 1 D i s c J a m } ÿþÿ ÿþÿ ÿþÿ ÿþÿ ÿþÿ ÿþÿ ÿþÿ
ÿþÿ{ [ P L C 1 ] A l a r m T a n k 2 F i l l J a m } ÿþÿ ÿþÿ ÿþÿ ÿþÿ ÿþÿ ÿþÿ ÿþÿ ÿþÿ1 € ÿÿÿ ÿþÿ1 € ÿÿÿ ÿþÿ1 € ÿÿÿ ÿþÿ1 € ÿÿÿ ÿþÿ1 € ÿÿÿ ÿþÿ1 € ÿÿÿ þÿÿÿÿþÿ € ÿÿÿ € ú ú è ÿþÿ ÿþÿ ÿþÿ ÿþÿ ÿþÿ ÿþÿ ÿþÿ ÿþÿ[ A L A R M ]
# 9 G l Œ Œ
’ ˜ ž
¤ ª L a b e l e r j a m m e d L a b e l e r O u t o f P a p e r F i l l e r C o n v e y e r j a m m e d M o t o r O v e r h e a t B l e n d i n g T a n k 1 D i s c h a r g e V a l v e j a m m e d B l e n d i n g T a n k 2 F i l l V a l v e j a m m e d L a b e l 2 L a b e l 2 L a b e l 3 L a b e l 4 L a b e l 5 L a b e l 6 . B Q s E t i k e t t i e r e r b l o c k i e r t E t i k e t t i e r e r o h n e P a p i e r A b f ü l l b a n d b l o c k i e r t M o t o r ü b e r h i t z t A b l a s s v e n t i l M i s c h t a n k 1 b l o c k i e r t E i n l a s s v e n t i l M i s c h t a n k 2 b l o c k i e r t 4 S d ” E t i q u e t e u s e b l o q u é e P l u s d e p a p i e r d a n s l ' é t i q u e t e u s e C o n l s 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 c ÿÿÿÿ æ l s 0 0 0 0 0 4 1 1 ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ % Ò l s 0 0 0 0 0 8 0 4 ÿÿÿÿ ) ¦ l s 0 0 0 0 0 c 0 a ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ , Ò v o y e u r d e r e m p l i s s a g e b l o q u é S u r c h a u f f e m o t e u r V a n n e d e p u r g e d u r é s e r v o i r d e m é l a n g e 1 b l o q u é e V a n n e d e r e m p l i s s a g e d u r é s e r v o i r d e m é l a n g e 2 b l o q u é e 0 é0Ù0é0ü0n0pŠ~0Š0é0Ù0é0ü0n0(u}RŒ0EQkX³0ó0Ù0¢0n0pŠ~0Š0â0ü0¿0N±q÷mT¿0ó0¯01 n0>eúQÐ0ë0Ö0n0pŠ~0Š0÷mT¿0ó0¯02 n0EQkXÐ0ë0Ö0n0pŠ~0Š0e n o a t a s c a d o S o b r e c a l e n t
4h:g5X^X4h:g:¸~Lpň:g“&^5X^X5u:gǏíp N_†ŒM‘P’c>e –5X^XŒN_†ŒM‘PLpň –5X^Xl T r a n s p o r t a d o + L g ” E t i q u e t a d o r a a t a s c a d a E t i q u e t a d o r a s i n p a p e l T r a n s p o r t a d o r d e r e l l e n o a t a s c a d o S o b r e c a l e n t a m i e n t o d e m o t o r M e z c a n d o t a n q u e 1 V á l v u l a d e d e s c a r g a a t a s c a d a M e z c a n d o t a n q u e 2 V á l v u l a d e l l e n a d a a t a s c a d a ŒN_†ŒM‘PLpň –5X^X

Your mal file might look a lot different to that example, but you get the gist.

Sorry for the confusion on 7-zip!

...and if I am incorrect in some way with what I've posted above, then please do correct me.

Regards,
George
 
Last edited:
I tried 7-zip today and the files were unreadable. Because as you stated that they would using the .mer file. Would it work with the temp file before conversion?? I am going to figure this out one day.

Take a serious note guys and make sure your company gets the files you need before the OEM splits. Mine happen way before me! I am just the guy who gets to figure it out.;);)
 
jtashaffer said:
...Would it work with the temp file before conversion??...

If you mean the MachineAlarms.mal file, then yes, the text for the alarm messages should be available in the copy of this file that the Technote tells you to delete after performing the temp load method on the MER file.

You said you've kept a copy, yes? That is what I'm advising you to try at the end of my last post.

G.
 

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