Freelance - combining two different CB9.2 and CB2013 projects into one
Is there any chance to combine two CB projects into one? I need to extend existing CB9.2 project with 4 AC800F PS's by implementing in this project 5th AC700F PS. AC700F at the moment is stand alone station and commissioning job is done and is in operation /CB213/ and those are good news :)
Now the Client whish is to combine this two project... and that is why I am asking for hints. Is it possible to put together this to projects by importing exporting or using some external tool?
I am not asking about network and TCP/IP configuration, this is clear that all Proces Stations have to be in one network :)
Answers
first ，you must understand that it should be finish while your plane has been outage during the combine-magration work
and second :the AC800F and AC700F can be work in the ver9.2 of CBF. It is possibile for your envisioning with CBF V9.2 as following prerequisite
1.on the migration working time,all cpus and operators must be a different id and IP
2.your leaderships allowed for you to outage,the migration working will be a long time
3. I suggest you re-brush firmware for 800F and 700 after the two networks has been one with freelance configure tools
finally，good lack. ^_^
First of all... I DID harware upgrade for main program 3 x AC800F and re-install freelance to version 9.2. This version is destination version for now. Actual status of the configuration is Freelance 9.2 and AC800F firmware & profibus updated. Second thing is that I have to combine another project prepared for stand-alone AC700F processor /and this one was implemented with freelance 2013/ with my 9.2 project. From this point od view we can say this will be downwgrade for AC700F station, but I don't care. This is not the point. The point is how to move AC700F | Freelance 2013 project into existing 3 x AC800F Freelance 9.2 project? Is it possible by export to .csv and import? Any ideas how to merge this two project using predefind tools? As I wrote I am not asking about ID/IP configuration... this is obvious. Brakedown of the process during the AC700F downgrade I can handle. Do not worry for this aspect of the task :)
Hello,
please understand that CBF only supports upward compatibility, which means import from older versions into newer versions. The other way round is not tested and might create problems, because newer versions can introduce changes in the CSv file structure that are not supported by older versions.
If for example new features have been introduced in Freelance 2013, then the export would contain the parameter value for those features. Importing those exports into a version 9.2, the target version would not know about those new features parameters and in the best case refuse the import or stop it with an error message (leaving you with a half imported resource). But there are worse things that could happen right down to corrupting your project and rendering it useless.
In your case that means you should combine the two projects in a Freelance 2013(SP1) project or a Freelance 2015 (available withing the next 2 weeks) project.
The way to do it would be to Block-Export the P-Tree resources for process Stations and Operator Stations and Gateways... etc from the V9.2 project and then import them into the Freelance 2013(SP1) project. Same for the Hardware Structure.
Make sure to export the complete resource node including the child notes.
If the resource node is expanded, seletc all the child notes (with Shift R-Click) before exporting. But the easiest way is to collapse the resouce node and select it, then the export (Edit/Export Block...) will automatically include all child nodes.
Displays in the Common Display Pool Node should be exported seperately (multiple displays can be selected in one export) without the father node, otherwise during import you migth override the already existing Common Display node in your target project (not sure about the overriding here, as imports end up in the Pool node). Same is true for the Macro Node and the UFB node.
Tag and Variable list need not be exported/imported. The programs in the process stations contain all informations about those and Tag- and Variable list will be updated and re-build during the process station import.
The result of an import ends up in the project pool node and you need to drag and drop (or cut and copy) it from there to the correct P-tree position.
Hope that helps
Hello LazyWhiteBoy,
There are many good points in the answer above (by Hankel), but there's even more you should think about. First thing first - You can't import Freelance 2013 project into 9.2 one, as wrote before (the CBF will stop You), but even if You could You need to remember about licenses. Do You have enough controller and IO licences in any of the two systems to add the required stations? If not, first think about this, because you can end up with one system, without valid licences and, in the end, without the system at all.
Secondly ask yourself why do You need to put those controllers into one project? Maybe You only need to exchange some data between controllers? Then You should think about using Ethernet Send/Receive Function Blocks instead of merging the projects.
In the end putting Your standalone AC 700F into Freelance 9.2 would require firmware downgrade AND manual rewriting of the whole F2013 project into 9.2 system. Overall it's not a recommended solution. If you really need to merge the projects go with Freelance 2013.
Hope this helps,
Mike
According to 3BDD012560 Introduction - Getting Started.pdf:
"All components of Freelance 2013 can be used with the fallowing versions of the Microsoft Windows operating system: Windows 7 Professional SP1 32 bit, Windows 7 Professional SP1 64 bit, Windows 7 Enterprise SP1 32 bit, Windows 7 Enterprise SP1 64 bit..."
I think If I install FL2013 for EngineeringStation and do the firmware upgrade, I will get problems with OPC gateways version. That is the reason I wrote "this is not a point". Answer for the question "why not FL2013" is: becouse WinXP has to stay until the next year. Answer for the question "why to combine two projects" is: becouse Clinet wants. Maybe you will think strange or stupid... I can only say I do not have influence for decision somebody made.
Finaly... I am extreamly sad that only one way is re-implementing every single bit.
Thanks for your help
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