Important Things to Know

Important Things to Know for MPI 04.04

Release Type	MPI Version	Release Date
Production Release	04.04.00	15 April 2016

Introduction

	The MPI 04.04 release introduces support for 64-bit application development. The MPI now comes in two versions: a 32-bit version and a 64-bit version. Below you will find a summary of all the changes that were implemented for the 04.04 release.
	New 64-bit dll 32-bit Utilities 64-bit and 32-bit Server Opperation Updates to Arguments in Some MPI Methods New 64-bit Application Wizard Visual Studio 2005 Discontinued Firmware Pointer Changed to INT

New 64-bit dll

With the 04.04 release of the MPI a 64-bit dll is now included. This enables the development of 64-bit applications using the MPI.

A 32-bit dll is also included in the installation for users still building 32-bit applications. This 32-bit dll also uses the 64-bit device driver allowing your 32-bit applications to run on 64-bit environments.

The installation includes separate directories for 32-bit and 64-bit files. For this reason, the MPI 04.04 installer adds both ..\win32 and ..\win64 to your path variable. See below:

32-bit Utilities

Some utilities included with the MPI still only opperate in 32-bit mode. Although these utilities are 32-bit, they will run on 64-bit environments. 32-bit utilities can be found in the ..\win32 directory.

The following utilites only come in 32-bit versions:

motionConsole
motionScope
bodeTool
meiConfig
meiConfigGUI
dumpdiff
dmFileValidate

64-bit and 32-bit Server Opperation

64-bit applications must be run with a 64-bit server. If you attempt to run a 64-bit application with a 32-bit server you will recieve an error. Likewise, if you attempt to run a 32-bit application with 64-bit server, you will receive an error. The following table shows the compatibility between different combinations of clients and servers.

Client	Server	Compatible
32-bit	32-bit	YES
32-bit	64-bit	NO
64-bit	64-bit	YES
64-bit	32-bit	NO

If a host computer needs to commuicate with 32-bit and 64-bit applications multiple servers can be run on different ports to communicate with their respective applications. Visit the Server Utility page for more information.

Updates to Arguments in Some MPI Methods

The arguments of some MPI methods have been changed. Use the links below to see the method changes from the previous release.

mpiPlatformFirmwareAddress16To32: 04.03 -> 04.04
mpiPlatformFirmwareAddress32To16: 04.03 -> 04.04
mpiPlatformFirmwareAddress32To64: 04.03 -> 04.04
mpiPlatformFirmwareAddress64To32: 04.03 -> 04.04
mpiPlatformMemoryToFirmware: 04.03 -> 04.04
mpiPlatformMemoryToHost: 04.03 -> 04.04

Documentation for the following methods was added in MPI 04.04:

Visual Studio 2005 Discontinued

Unlike previous versions of the MPI, this release does not include mpivc80.dll. The 04.04 release of the MPI marks the end of support for Visual Studio 2005. Please upgrade to Visual Studio 2010 or use an earlier release of the MPI (ie. 04.02 or 04.03).

Firmware Pointer Changed to INT

The new firmware pointer ‘_MFWPTR_ (type)’ clearly distinguishes between 32-bit firmware pointer and 32-bit or 64-bit host pointer.

It is defined in MFPTR.H. MFWPTR.H is an additional header file to access 32-bit firmware from a 64-bit host. And the 64-bit host handles the 32-bit firmware pointer as 'uint32_t'. No changes have been made to the 32-bit host.

Related definitions:

MPI64: Identifies whether running a 64-bit OS or 32-bit OS. If it has been defined, it handles pointer of the firmware as ‘uint32_t’.

MPI_PLATFORM_WIN64: The identifier for Microsoft Windows7 64 bit.