Firmware/Library Upgrades

In general, configuration files are usable with different firmware and library revisions (i.e. older configuration files will generally work with newer versions of the firmware and library). The meiConfigGui utility will transform older configuration files into the current format. See Appendix B for details.

IMPORTANT: Configuration files are not portable across major MPI release versions. For example, MPI 03.00 configuration files are not compatible with MPI 04.00.

When downloading an older configuration file, use the “Display modifications on download” user preference. This will provide a record of all configuration elements that have been affected by the download.

To upgrade to a new version of the MPI library and/or XMP firmware while retaining custom configuration, perform the following steps:

While the older version of the MPI is still installed, save the configuration to a file.
Install new library and firmware. Be sure to exit all MEI applications before installing the new library.
Start meiConfigGui.
Click on the Preferences toolbar button:
Click on the "Display modifications on download" checkbox if it is not already checked.
Open the file saved in step 1. It may take some time to open the file because the file must be transformed to match the configuration of the current version of the MPI.
Download the file to the controller by clicking on the Download toolbar button.
Examine the output. Look for errors, warnings, and unexpected modifications. See Expected Results.
Save the output to a file. It may be useful when trying to debug an application to know what has been changed on the controller. Click on the "Save output to file" button.

Expected Results

The "Display modifications on download” preference will cause all configuration elements that have been modified from their current state on the controller to be dislplayed. Here is a sample output:

     MODIFIED: Control 0.MPIControlConfig.enabled.axisCount
     Old value: "8"
     New value: "4"

There may be hundreds of these modification messages.

Other than modification messages, meiConfig may also display warnings concerning missing elements in the config file. Below are examples of two such warnings:

Missing object: Control 0.Axis 2.MPIAxisConfig.estopModify
Missing property: Control 0.Axis 2.MEIAxisConfig.userLabel

These are warnings that certain elements are missing in the config file. The configuration for missing elements will remain unmodified, so usually these warnings can be ignored. If the file was generated using a previous version of meiConfig, it is likely that these elements did not exist in the older version of the MPI.

Previous | Next