DeviceNet Configurator

[Jaegen]

Hello,

This page: http://www.ni.com/white-paper/14074/en indicates that the new NI-IndCom for DeviceNet drivers don't support the DeviceNet Configurator in MAX.

And here: http://forums.ni.com/t5/Industrial-Communications/NI-IndCom-for-Devicenet-2-1-API-Beta-is-now-availa... DirkW indicates that testing and EDS importing can now be done in the LabVIEW project.

This is a big concern for us, since we use the Configurator all the time on deployed PCs (i.e. no LabVIEW installed) to debug and diagnose DeviceNet connection issues.

Is there a replacement for the Configurator that can be used on deployed projects???

Jaegen

[Jesse_D]

Hi Jaegen, 

The first link you posted is correct, we don't support the DeviceNet configurator any longer. For Devicenet, we don't have EDS import functionality in the project. 

Unfortunately we don't have a replacement for the configurator either. However with the project you can compare what is deployed with what your project configuration.

I will follow up with the development team for their options and make sure they consider Configurator like functionity for a future design.  

[TennesseePaul]

Am I understanding these statements correctly? There is no longer a method for loading EDS files in LabView?

[Jaegen]

Is there any update on this? The lack of DeviceNet Configurator in MAX is still a big issue for us, so we're having to keep using old hardware and software.  I'm having trouble understanding why NI would just completely remove functionality like this.

Jaegen

[TennesseePaul]

Below are the steps I utilized to get my project going. In so doing I found that to configure a DeviceNet device in LV2012SP1, I do not need to manually type in the EDS file data. There is a tool for loading EDS files. This addressed questions I had in previous Forum posts: here concering loading EDS files in LabView and here concerning configuration of a DeviceNet network.

Environement: Windows 7, 64bit processor. IndComm 2.2 Driver. Labview 2012 SP1

Beginning with LabView Example Project: "Devicenet PXIPCI Basic.lvproj"

Add a DeviceNet Master to a LabView Project

1. Within the Project: Right click on My Computer
1. Select New
2. Select Target(s) and Device(s)
2. Select "Discover Existing Devices" option
3. Select the discovered device.
4. Click "OK" (Note: In this case my Master is a NI-8532 PCI card)

Add a DeviceNet Slave Device to a LabView Project

1. Right click on the newly added Master Device in the Project Tree
1. Select New
2. Select Target(s) and Device(s)
2. Select "Discover Existing Devices"
3. Select the discovered device.
4. Click OK. (Note: In this case my Slave is a Festo CPX-FB11 block.)

Load an EDS file for the slave device

1. Right Click on the Slave Device
2. Select "datasheet..."
3. Click Add Files...
4. Navigate to the location of the EDS file.
5. Select the file.
6. Click OK.
7. In the left pane, expand the newly added Datasheet until you reach the node displaying the version.
8. Select the version.
9. Click OK.

Verify the EDS file and Device

1. Right Click on the Slave Device
1. Select Utilities
2. Select Online Test Panel
2. Select the "Device State" option in Category field on the left.
3. On the right Select the Slave Device you wish to verify.
4. Click "Verify the Device"
5. Read the errors/warnings or lack thereof.

In my case I had errors in my EDS file. Basically the slave device was not set to the correct number of Input/Output Bytes in the EDS file, i.e. improper configuration. To correct these I had to edit the EDS file.

Edit EDS File

To Edit the EDS file I utilized EZ-EDS which is a freeware, devicenet specific EDS editor from ODVA.

I made my corrections and saved my EDS file. (After backing up my original, of course).

Remove Installed EDS file from Labview

1. Navigated to the following Location: C:\ProgramData\National Instruments\NI-IndComm for DeviceNet\Datasheet
2. Delete the Datasheet (Note: There are more than just the one manually added datasheet. The additional EDS files come with the IndComm driver. Find the EDS File for the specific device you wish to replace and delete it).

I restarted LabView.

I went through the above steps again and loaded my new EDS file.

I saved the project and exited LabView.

I rebooted the computer and the slave device.

I restarted the project and launched a VI.

I was able to communicate with the device. Which is something I had not been able to previously accomplish. And, in so doing I discovered how the device is talking and why each module did not display. (I have a standard EDS file for my block of devices as it appears LabView is not capable of a Modular system which requires an EDS file for each module. I could be incorrect on that last part though as it might be a setting on my actual device. But it is unecssary in my project. So I did not look into it further.) Because I was using a standard EDS file, only the one single slave device showed, and thus the data for each module is in the stream of bytes returned over the DeviceNet network. Addressing each module is a matter of parsing the bits and bytes appropriately.

Thank you,

Tennessee Paul

[Jaegen]

Thanks - this is helpful, but it doesn't really address my main issue.

We use MAX and the DeviceNet Configurator to troubleshoot DeviceNet connections on lab PCs that don't have LabVIEW installed.

Jaegen

[Jaegen]

This issue continues to be a problem for us, and we are still forced to use legacy hardware.  Is there any update on DeviceNet configuration for non-LabVIEW PCs???

[chembo]

We still use mainly NI PCI DNET master cards for our test fixtures, but we have already also some of the NI PCI-8532. BTW, you cannot mix the cards in the same PC.

We never use EDS files. I am not sure if this is possible in your case, but you always scan the network using explicit messaging and figure out:

• available MAC IDs
• slave input/output byte sizes
• also some other things like device type, vendor, serial #, etc..., but this is not relevant to the I/O connection.

MAC ID and input/output byte size is sufficient to establish I/O connection via EasyIO Config.vi and read process data. Since DeviceNet follows the ODVA specification, I think that all DeviceNet slaves support Class 0x5, Instance 2, Attribute 7 and Attribute 8 which provide this information via explicit message connection and the Get Attribute VI.

I am not sure if the same approach works on RT target with the NI 9882, but it works for sure on a PC with NI DeviceNet master card.