[TOOL] What version is this MER/APA anyway?

Operaghost said:

Ok I changed access settings

Ver 6.1
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dZVwXXG2CupFGbDpyfeR9KPJV9UdWJUe/view?usp=sharing

Ver 12
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1EWa-C8zvKlG0NoZCM4fVLMCF2VSfT9nF/view?usp=sharing

I'll get the backups. I suspect you will need FT View SE to restore them. Whereas these files you can open with Notepad++ or whatever your preferred tools are

OG

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jkerekes said:

Are they both 32 bit or is the later one 64 bit?

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dmroeder said:

Jeez, I don't know how many of you guys have experience the new guy at the office, who shows up like a wrecking ball and does violence to all the norms in an effort to prove themselves.

Well, I think something like that has been going on with Rockwell regarding all of these files. While they all use the same file format, it's like a different person got a crack and choosing how they are organized. The apb is obscene.

All critical files (MER, APA, APB, SED, MED) are ole file structure. All of them can be unzipped with a zip tool like 7zip except the SED. All of them can be read using python's olefile module, except the APB. When you unzip the APB, the contents look nothing like APA/MER, there are additional ole files that end in .bk and .bak. The project structure is compressed in a horribly named .bk file, while the project information is compressed in a .bk file named after the application. Compare that to MER/APA, where when you decompress the MER/APA, all the details are right there in front of you. EDIT: Turns out the APB is a 7z file, the bk/bak file details still hold true.

I rewrote the tool in python, which I was able to move away from unzipping. This was nice because it's fast and less messy. Now, I'm finding myself adding all of these stupid cases of "If this file" or "If that file", where I'll have to unzip in some cases. What a stupid mess for no reason.

A service guy at work, years ago, made fun of me for using 7zip over WinRAR. So, when he asked me to send him a file, I zipped it, then tarballed it (tar.gz), 7zipped it, renamed the extension to txt and made a self extracting zip file with a README, telling him to change the extension back to 7z. Then finally made a multi-part RAR, each of the 6 parts were on a different thumb drive, then I mailed them to him. The file wasn't actually what he wanted, it was a README that just said "7zip FTW lol". When he called me, ****ed, I emailed him the file he needed. I feel like he went to work at RA, convinced them that they need a new APB file type, and payed me back. You win Darryl.

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PreLC said:

Is there a tool to read .acd as well?

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PreLC said:

Is there a tool to read .acd as well?

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rupej said:

Do you just want to know what version it was saved in? Easiest way is to open it in a text editor and it will tell you the version, along with each save made since the file was generated.

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dmroeder said:

Jeez, I don't know how many of you guys have experience the new guy at the office, who shows up like a wrecking ball and does violence to all the norms in an effort to prove themselves.

Well, I think something like that has been going on with Rockwell regarding all of these files. While they all use the same file format, it's like a different person got a crack and choosing how they are organized. The apb is obscene.

All critical files (MER, APA, APB, SED, MED) are ole file structure. All of them can be unzipped with a zip tool like 7zip except the SED. All of them can be read using python's olefile module, except the APB. When you unzip the APB, the contents look nothing like APA/MER, there are additional ole files that end in .bk and .bak. The project structure is compressed in a horribly named .bk file, while the project information is compressed in a .bk file named after the application. Compare that to MER/APA, where when you decompress the MER/APA, all the details are right there in front of you. EDIT: Turns out the APB is a 7z file, the bk/bak file details still hold true.

I rewrote the tool in python, which I was able to move away from unzipping. This was nice because it's fast and less messy. Now, I'm finding myself adding all of these stupid cases of "If this file" or "If that file", where I'll have to unzip in some cases. What a stupid mess for no reason.

A service guy at work, years ago, made fun of me for using 7zip over WinRAR. So, when he asked me to send him a file, I zipped it, then tarballed it (tar.gz), 7zipped it, renamed the extension to txt and made a self extracting zip file with a README, telling him to change the extension back to 7z. Then finally made a multi-part RAR, each of the 6 parts were on a different thumb drive, then I mailed them to him. The file wasn't actually what he wanted, it was a README that just said "7zip FTW lol". When he called me, ****ed, I emailed him the file he needed. I feel like he went to work at RA, convinced them that they need a new APB file type, and payed me back. You win Darryl.

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dmroeder said:

With ME, you get a notification that an older project will be converted to your current version at the point you open the project for the first time, after it was restored. To me, that means somewhere in the project directory, there is record of this. The file VERSION_INFORMATION is this file in ME land. Turns out, that is not the only place the information exists. The MED file also contains it, in a different file within the MED. Does SE behave this way? When you restore an older project, the first time you open it, it alerts you that the version is older?

What would be helpful is a SED, or a full project directory of the exact same application but in two different versions. I was able to do this easily in ME because I could just make MER's in any version I want. I suppose this is more difficult in SE because they are not compiled. I guess one way to get this would be to restore a project that is v8, for example. Zip that up. Then open the project and let it be converted to the new version, zip that up. Then I can poke around at the differences. If someone had the time to get me those details, that would be super helpful.

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