FT View Studio Old Version

[eight_bools]

Hey Guys,

Does anyone know where I could find a download for FT View Studio below version 5.0 (oldest version on the Rockwell download center)? I have an old Panelview that I need to add 2x buttons, but it has version 4 firmware.

I plan on installing it on a Windows XP virtual machine if I can get my hands on it. (Also anyone know where to get Windows XP download lol)


Thanks

 

[plvlce]

In general you can use newer of FT View Studio to create older version .mer (up to a point), for example I run version 11 but occasionally use it to update a Panelview with v5 firmware. As such, it is quite possible that the version 5 Rockwell offers or some even newer ones will be able to create the version 4 file you need.

At some point they stop supporting older versions (v12 drops support for v5 from what I hear), but I don't know at what version support for v4 would have ended other than that it's before v11.

Alternately, is there a reason you can't up the firmware on the Panelview?

 

[eight_bools]

I will try downloading version 5 to see if I can make a runtime for it. I am using version 11 or 12 at the moment

I am not 100% sure of the reason, I think they changed hardware at some point and version 5 was the cut off for upgrades. I actually have three of these panelviews that have old firmware but still work. I cant really ask to replace them if they still work so it would be nice to figure something out.

 

[Operaghost]

And just FYI...With version 5 they changed the name to FactoryTalk View. Prior to that it was called RSView Enterprise. You still see remnants of that name if you look through the file folders where projects are stored.

I have version 6.1 on my XP virtual machine, and it lets me create a runtime as far back as v3.1.

OG

 

[eight_bools]

I tried version 6.1 and am having trouble restoring from a runtime file. I finally gave up and will keep working on it tomorrow.

I kept getting an error for the tag database missing. I also wasted an hour accidentally installing version 6 instead of 6.1

 

[plvlce]

It was only around v6 that .mer files became capable of being fully restored at all. Any .mer with a lower version than that cannot be restored, this is an issue with the .mer itself not the Studio software.

You will either need a .apa backup or you will have to recreate the project yourself.

 

[Operaghost]

I think it was version 5.1 that introduced the capability to restore a runtime; but only for 32-bit operating systems. It was 6.0 that added this for 64-bit operating systems. Another good reason to keep an XP virtual machine handy!

There is a method for restoring older MER files, but it is pretty ugly. As plvlce mentions, the APA was really the way to go for older versions.

OG

 

[eight_bools]

So this ended up being a major PITA, but I finally got it working. I had an APA version but it was saved in version 12. I ended up installing and testing several versions of the software and had to create a runtime for version 8.2. Then convert from runtime to APA in version 8.2 and create a runtime for version 6.1. After that I was able to restore in version 6.2 as an APA and make my edits and create a runtime for the panelview version 4 firmware.

There may have been an easier way to do this, I am just glad that I finally got it figured out.

 

[dmroeder]

I have a very long winded rant about this subject, I'll spare everyone, and my fingers.

V5 introduced restoring runtimes.

Running FTVSME on a 64 bit OS will force the option "do not restore" when making runtimes for v6

In FTVSME v12, you can no longer make runtimes for v5 or lower

V13 will remove runtime support for v6.

We have stayed on v10 running on a Windows 7 32bit OS for these reasons (plus a few others)

 

[plvlce]

So this ended up being a major PITA, but I finally got it working. I had an APA version but it was saved in version 12. I ended up installing and testing several versions of the software and had to create a runtime for version 8.2. Then convert from runtime to APA in version 8.2 and create a runtime for version 6.1. After that I was able to restore in version 6.2 as an APA and make my edits and create a runtime for the panelview version 4 firmware.

There may have been an easier way to do this, I am just glad that I finally got it figured out.

I had forgotten the .APA was tied to what version the Studio install that created it was…


You might have been able to skip the intermediate version 8.2 step, but your overall process is probably about as easy as it was going to get.


Glad to hear you're all straightened out.