Factory talk View Studio Legacy conversion question

[Adam.W.Ackerman 0]

I hope I am posting this in the right location, I did not see any sub forums specific to Rockwell or Factorytalk. We are finally converting from XP to Windows 7! WOO-Hoo! It has gone fairly well but I see one issue that has me concerned and I would like to resolve it now; my application converted fine except my translations did not come across. We have two base applications we build off of that correspond to the type of machine they are used for; both support multiple languages which are selectable with an on screen VBA based button that does a bit and language change in the background. One application supports English and Russian while the other is English and Spanish. I have tried doing the import on Windows 7 in both languages related to the application I am working with and the alternate language (in this case it is Russian) never comes across. I have tried both the direct copy and .apa methods with the conversion and the results are the same. Is there a step I am missing during the conversion process or will I have to export my languages from 6.0 and import them to 8.0 separately after conversion? I am not thrilled about this process as it never seems to keep the proper layout of the text when imported. I assume the issue is the conversion process as I can load the .apa on a fresh XP build and the languages are both present.

[kaiser_will 65]

So testing FTView Studio Ver 6 to Ver 8 on a WinXP OS works perfect, but doing the same on a Win 7 machine does not work? I have personally found similar problems when upgrading the OS and upgrading FTView Studio. Windows 7 & FTView 8 have a number of features that do not up-convert over. I do know a way around this...VMWare Workstation. (1) Make a PC image of the Windows XP working system; (2) Download and install VMWare Workstation (free 30 day trial) on the Windows 7 PC; (3) convert the PC image to a working VirtualMachine; (4) Load the working VirtualMachine on the Windows 7 PC; (5) Configure the VirtualMachine network connectivity to route through the Host Windows 7 PC. Voila! The PC image to VirtualMachine is cumbersome. I have a 50+ page Work Instruction I have developed on how to do this. I use Acronis TrueImage Home 2012 (which supports converting an Acronis Image to a Windows Backup. I then use a freeware utility (StarWind V2V Image Converter). It is a lengthy process, but darn it works.

[BobLfoot 301]

I know that Factory Talk Conversion from WindowsXp32Bit to Window7-64Bit can be daunting. We have several PVP Terminals at my facility and the RA Documentation on conversion is anything but intuitive to this old dog. I even went so far as to pay RA for a day of Techs time to do a few alongside me. Following that I developed the cheat sheet I proffer below. I hope it helps in your dilema Adam and Will. I. Required hardware a. Windows XP PC i. Factory Talk View Studio must be installed and fully patched ii. Legacy Tag Database Conversion Tool must be installed iii. A working network connection is advisable also b. Windows 7 PC i. Factory Talk View Studio must be installed and fully patched ii. Legacy Tag Database Conversion Tool must be installed iii. A working network connection is advisable also II. Stage 1 – Steps to perform on the XP Machine a. Move a known good apa file to a working backup folder {network resource preferred} b. In FTView perform TOOLS – APPLICATION MANAGER – RESTORE APPLICATION from the temp backup folder c. Using Legacy Tag DB Convert Tool i. Select the Export Option ii. Source from default path iii. Select the search sub folders option iv. Be sure the proper application is selected to export v. Finish d. Copy the Application Folder i. From – C:\Documents and Settings\AllUsers\Documents\RsviewMe\HmiProjects ii. To – Working / Backup Folder III. Stage 2 – Steps to perform on the Win 7 Machine a. Move the Application Folder from the working backup folder {network resource preferred} to a local temp folder b. Using Legacy Tag DB Convert Tool i. Create Option ii. Change Source to the Local Temp Folder iii. Do Conversion c. In FTView perform i. New or Open and select New ii. Set the Name to match the 32 bit name for this application iii. Select Import iv. Select Style *.med v. Browse to the Local Temp Folder and choose the *.med file vi. Select finish vii. When done the application will open IV. Stage 3 – Validating the Rslinx Communications Setup a. On the WinXP machine in FTView open the application and open the communication setup b. On the Win7 machine in FTView open the application and open the communication setup c. Make the Win 7 setup match the Win XP Setup V. Stage 4 – Building and Testing the New Application a. Build a new *.MER File on the Win 7 Machine b. Install the *.MER and verify that it works VI. Stage 5 – Export a new 64 bit materials to the Network Permanent holding location a. This means a copy the new *.mer b. This means backup a new *.apa

[SMControls 0]

Hello.

I have successfully converted a few applications over from FTView < 6 to FTView > 6 in the past...

Bob, you are correct when you stated that this task is daunting.

I have an application that FTView 'says' converted OK and Imported (as new) OK.

However all of the text is replaced with '?'. This includes all of the Alarm Messages. All PLC Address references are present.

Testing the runtime application does validate that all buttons, indicators, and numeric displays do connect to the PLC.

The only difference from the method that Bob described above is - I'm restoring a runtime application file (*.MER) first through the Application Manager on the XP machine.

The *.MER was complied to a v5.10 runtime file originally. I have FTView 6.0 on the XP machine (no current license). FTView Studio v8.1 on the Win 7 machine.

I tried copying the HMI Project folder for this specific application from the Win XP to Win 7 PC (after Legacy Tag Conversion) via copying across network share to local folder on Win 7, and copying the project folder using removable drive. Same result in both methods.

Any insight is greatly appreciated.

[SMControls 0]

UPDATE: I was able to find a work-a-round if you will... I borrowed the FT View Studio License to the Win XP machine running v6.0. The application opens and has all text descriptions including messages!