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teal854t

apa extension for panelview plus. How to....help.

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Hi We have a machine with panelview plus 700 and need to reload the file. Machine builder gave us the file with apa extension. We don't have rsview me software. The file is in CF card. I plug it to 700, start the 700 and go to configuration screen. I can not see the apa file that is in CF card. I can only see files with mer extension. How can I load apa to pv plus? Does rsview supervisoory edition work with it? May be I should call machine build to convert it to mer file. Thanks

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The *.apa file is Rockwell's extension for the compressed (or packaged) version of a FactoryTalk View ME project for the PanelView Plus. First you will need the correct version of FactoryTalk View ME. You can check this through the system menu on the PanelView Plus. Next you will need to start the Application Manager from the FactoryTalk View program folder and perform a Restore Project. Here is where you will select your *.apa file. Once it is restored, you can then open it from FactoryTalk View ME and create your *.mer (Runtime File).

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Software revisions are the biggest pain with Rockwell's equipment. If you do not have the correct version of FactoryTalk View and the OEM can do this for you then it may be your best option.

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I agree. The machine builder needs to generate a Runtime (*.MER) file that matches the firmware in your PanelView Plus terminal; use the onboard menus to determine exactly which version you have. The good news is that FactoryTalk View Studio can generate Runtime files for all previous revisions of PanelView firmware. My version 6.0 Studio can generate Runtimes that will execute on v3.0, 3.1, 3.2, 4.0, 5.0, 5.1, and 6.0 terminals. New PanelView Plus terminals can also run older runtimes; I could put a *.MER runtime file written for v4.0 into my v5.1 terminal and it would run correctly. The only thing you can't do is run a newer Runtime on older firmware; a version 5.0 PanelView Plus terminal won't run a Runtime created for a v6 terminal. This is worth remembering because when you create a Runtime file, the software defaults to the newest version (v6) and you have to select an older version from a drop-down menu. Edited by Ken Roach

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Thank you for the information Ken! I only wish I had read this a week ago. I had a PanelView Ver. 5.1 and did not wish to up the version for various reasons. I had Studio Ver. 5.1 on a Virtual Machine but it would not communicate (for whatever reason). I developed on the VM then copied the *.MER file to my laptop and downloaded with Ver. 6.0. With a lot of trial and error developing on site, this was very cumbersome. If I had only known, it would have saved me a lot of time. Now I know! Edited by IO_Rack

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