Import EtherCAT Network Information (ENI) file failure

[H.Jay]

Hello Community,

I am trying to import an EtherCAT Network Information (ENI) file to a NI embedded controller cRIO-9030, unfortunately I am getting an error which I can't understand.

"Error: The slave profile does not reference the module profile."

I have done the following:

a) Created an ENI file with TwinCAT3 EtherCAT configurator with following devices:

     -   EtherCAT Bus coupler EK1100

     -   EtherCAT slave terminal EL3102

     -   EtherCAT end terminal EL9011

Can someone explain why I am getting the this error.
Regards

[DirkW]

Unfortunately you cannot import ENI files into the LabVIEW project Master, only single ESI files for single devices or folders are allowed.

You could download the ESI file library from Beckhoff unzip it so you have a folder and import the whole folder at once. Make sure you disable import to RT target first because RT cannot handle that much data via XML.

-DirkW-

[H.Jay]

Hello DirkW,

Thanks for your reply. I have already implemented this variant. But this way we can not configure the device, as in the case of configurator, assigning different PDOs or assigning a suitable Distriburted Clocks (DC) mode for example. 

Is there any other way to assign the required PDOs or DC?

Regards

[DirkW]

Two Options: 1. You modify the mapping in Beckhoffs TwinCat, save it or export it and import that modified xml file. Make sure that before you import the same device xml file(ESI) again you delete the old one manually. Lv is always grabbing the first file it finds for a device.

You find the files here: C:\Program Files (x86)\National Instruments\Shared\IndComECAT\DD 

2. Follow the Kb instructions to modify the XML file yourself. It is not to difficult. You find the KB here:https://knowledge.ni.com/KnowledgeArticleDetails?id=kA00Z0000019LesSAE&l=en-US

By the way you are not the first one that has those questions. Use google to search for LabVIEW EtherCAT and whatever problem you have and you will most likely find a solution.

-DirkW-

[H.Jay]

Hello DirkW,

This is the static way to configure the EtherCAT slave by moving SM Tags to assign custom PDOs mapping. I have already tried this way, it works but this is not what I am looking for. 

Now the question arrise whether the "Import Device Profile" imports only device profiles or can also work as parser to initialize the EtherCAT master as described in EtherCAT standards.

Regards

[DirkW]

The Import Tool, only works as a XML Parser. However the Master reads all necessary information from the files to initialize them correctly on startup. Additionally the Master reads information from the devices object dictionary at discovery. Initialization happens when you switch your network to active mode.

What exactly are you looking to do? If you do not want to use project to do all the import and discovery to work with variables, there is an API for scan engine and variables, so you can do everything from your RT VI. However you have to import the device XML files to your RT target. One of the examples shows how to do it.

-DirkW-