Sort of OT: how to access the filename of the current *.MER

[Ken Roach]

I have an unusual task with a PanelView Plus 7 (running v11 firmware) and a CompactLogix.

The customer wants to place a version number string in the *.MER runtime file name, and have that version be displayed onscreen.

I have been able to do this with my CompactLogix because the user program name is available with a GSV instruction from the Controller object. I search through for the string "_v" or "_V" and construct my Version Number from the digits following that. So that relies on the programmer changing the Program Name every time they revise the program.

Yes, I'm aware that doesn't check for edits made afterwards. At some point all version control is difficult.

But I haven't found a way to do this with the PanelView Plus.

The TCP/IP configuration will show you the Host Name, but that's not related to the active Runtime.

The CIP Identity object will show you the default text string description of the product, but that's just "PanelView Plus 7 Standard 1500".

I haven't found any internal tags, or even a place in the filesystem, to determine which *.MER runtime file has actually been extracted to /TEMP and is running.

Maybe the only solution is to implement a version control that requires the person editing the file to enter a new Version Number in a System tag every time they compile a runtime.

If only I had a Python script engine on the PV+....

Any ideas ?

 

[atc222]

That’s an interesting one. Is there a script instruction in FactoryTalk to read the current filename and write that to a variable?

 

[chelton]

I thought there was a config file that stored what application is set to run at startup? Maybe you can write a .bat script in Windows to extract the file name and copy into a message display list that you could then display on a screen?

 

[dmroeder]

Anyone know of a way to get to a terminal on Series B?

The file browser has a "open in terminal" in the context menu, though it doesn't open one. The file transfer utility they use is SFTP, which you can use remotely for some basics (transfer/manipulate files), but it doesn't seem to allow executing files remotely.