E-Designer: How to Restore .dat File?

[Grendizer]

Hey,


Iam trying to open an E-Designer project. I don't have the .mpa file. I only have .dat


Question is, how can I restore the .dat file? Do I need a special tool to do this or can E-Designer do that? FYI, I don't have a panel on hand.


Thanks,

 

[parky]

From memory you can put it on a USB you then need to get the HMI into transfer mode (if my memory serves me correct dip switch 1), then it boots into the transfer, there you select transfer from USB, once it is in the HMI you should be able to read it back into E-Designer and then you can edit it.

 

[parky]

Just an update the dip switches on the panel are under a little plastic flap on the back of a panel, I have had where the dip switch has been put in the wrong way round so switch 1 was actually 8, I'm not sure if a edit password has been set it will boot into transfer mode to allow the DAT file to be downloaded or not.

 

[Grendizer]

Hey Parky,
Unfortunately I don't have a panel on hand. I only got .dat file to work with..

 

[parky]

It is a compiled file not a source file so you cannot convert it into an E-Designer file, the only way is if you have the correct HMI panel.

 

[parky]

I have done a search & I could not find any program or way to de-compile the DAT file there does not seem to be a way, do you know the exact panel type it is, maybe someone here has one, I believe it may be possible to download the DAT file & then use E-Designer to read it back converting it to a project, I have never done it as I have always used the source file or uploaded into a new project I cn only assume that when downloaded from E-Designer it compiles it to a DAT then when uploaded converts it back.

 

[Ronnie Sullivan]

And even then, it's not as simple as just putting it on a usb stick.
There has to be a file structure. You would have to read the help files.

But I do seem to remember that if you re-boot the HMI (without any dip switches set)
and the usb stick in place, it will detect it and ask if you want to load from the stick

 

[parky]

Ronnie, sort of correct, you need to put the USB stick in, wait it should detect it (no idea what it does maybe sets a file structure) it is common to have to wait a while & sometimes you have to repeat unplug & re-plug, If it is in runtime it will only ask if you want to load it from USB if it has been set in the original project that is in the HMI, if not then you have to force it into transfer mode with the dip switch.

 

[goghie]

Still best option is to find the same panel. Then you need to format the memory stick from operator panel. Then save the dat-file to the library BACKUP/PROJECTS on the external memory card. After that you can upload the normal/editable project from the panel.

 

[parky]

Actually you don't, I have just stuck a USB stick in my PC that was set as a boot (for restoring windows), I copied the dat file from one of my projects to the root, plugged it in & it did say do you want to format it, no idea what it did but when I looked the files were still all there as before & no directory for the backup/projects, re-booted again & it asked if I wanted to load it, which I did but the Dat file was in the root & there was no backup directory (I also believed you needed the correct directory but it appears you don't), I also uploaded the project to E-Designer & it has re-constructed it, however, I'm on Win10 & on all screens the text & variables were all the wrong size/font, turns out checking the font there was none selected, I know it was originally fixed bitmap as I then loaded the original, for some reason the upload then suddenly changed all fonts to the correct ones, I do know that E-Designer was not compatible with Win7 as creating a new project the alarm messages became garbage when downloaded, it was a bit of a glitch as I loaded an existing project & modified them it worked ? Tried it just now on Win10 & it works ok, must have been my version of Win7 everything else works fine so I think there is some minor in-compatibility after XP.
The load project from USB is a tick on the terminal options but it seems to be ticked as default, if it is removed then it is not possible to auto detect.

 

[Ronnie Sullivan]

Ah, interesting Parky. It's ok when you can 'play' with one on your desk. No worries about messing the job up.
E designer used to regularly frighten me to death in the field.
All the popup warnings where you had no clue to whether to say yes or no.
The different firmware warnings.
Communication failed halfway through downloading
Plus - go for your dinner if you are downloading a large project
And the one that got me in trouble - uploading a project from a big touchscreen HMI
And the message halfway through was 'are you sure you want to delete 'some file' I forget the name.
'No, I don't want to delete anything' is surely the right answer??
Wrong! all the images on the HMI were wiped on my copy and when I downloaded it back, they were gone.

 

[goghie]

Ronnie,
I quite agree with you.
Of all Mitsubishi products it is the only one I dislike, although it has huge fan base. I found three main reasons for that, slow HMI processor, problem when you have newer driver installed on PC than on HMI, and backlight that fails after 7-8 years.
I admit that it is more intuitive than GT Designer, but at the end GOTs are more powerful, capable and infinitely more robust.

 

[parky]

Actually I loved them, Wish they were still available. I think you need the directory if you have recipes & need them to be restored but cannot remember, although I had USB's with the Dat file on them (only for our maintenance to restore them), I always used E-Designer & the tools for transferring recipes, however, this wasn't required as the recipes could be downloaded from our SQL Database via the Scada, Via the master PLC to the relevant PLC (seems complicated but operators had no access to the Scada so recipes were created by our Development team then downloaded remotely to the relevant PLC/HMI).
Going back to the message do you want to delete This applied to a number of things (set in the transfer popup tick boxes for trend & recipe data) this is if you want to clear any old recipes or trends, very useful if it is actually a different program as you do not want wrong types of recipes say from another system, the other is the replacement of the coms driver & fonts, again useful if the fonts are different to the existing, TBH I always used fixed bitmap fonts or if possible a single type of font this reduced the download time as it only had to download one font.
The new IX & Mitsubishi GOT are pretty awful in comparison, although more powerful, recipe handling is too complex I have not seen an easy way to transfer a recipe from PLC to HMI, building bespoke graphics are awful, I know the E series are old money & not got some of the latest features but what they did have were so simple to configure, & I have not really found any function you could not do apart from complex animation, even that was possible but complicated & a bit slow (probably down to the older processors) & compared to ME factory c**P far more reliable.