The HMI hardware that has Interact Applications on them all have similar ways to upload the running application software to transfer to a new unit or just to back up your files.
The OS on the hardware is MSDOS so, unlike Windows programs, you can just copy the files from the CF Card or hard drive of the unit into a folder and have everything you need to be able to recreate a project. As long as you have ALL the files off the unit including the hidden and system files. To copy those, you need to have your Windows Explorer set to "Show Hidden Files" and uncheck the option that hides system files. If everything is right, you should see an autoexec.bat and config.sys in the root directory of the CF card. If you don't see those files, check your Windows Explorer settings.
If you have a hard drive unit, you can exit to DOS and use DOS commands to copy files to a floppy drive if the old unit has one, otherwise the unit MUST be in working condition to upload the files.
Whether or not your HMI has removable Compact Flash removable media or non-removable hard drive or flash storage, uploading the applications from the unit have the same requirements.
To use the Interact MachineShop Toolbar transfer Wizard, Interact needs to be installed in Windows XP or a Windows XP Virtual Machine. (XP Mode from Microsoft does not work) If you are using a virtual machine, it needs to be able to connect to a USB card reader or to a serial port on the Host OS. Contact your IS/IT resources to get this setup.
Since this is a DOS system it can not run multiple programs simultaneously easily since it is not a multitasking OS. This means your application can not be running when you want to upload from the hardware. You must be able to get back to the MachineShop Shell.
The MachinShop Shell is the program on the HMI that is used to setup the hardware IP address, calibrate the touchscreen and is where you need to be to be able to upload or download to the unit.
1)
Uploading is pulling the programs From the HMI to the PC and Downloading is from the PC to the HMI.
The MachineShop Shell has several screens but the main screen (the one it stops at when you exit the application) is where you MUST be in order for the transfer. When this main menu is visible, there is a FTP server running in the background looking at all the com ports to see if anything is trying to talk to it. When you go into any of the submenus, the FTP server turns off.
To get to this Shell, your Machine Builder/HMI Programmer would have to have put a button in the application that is a Go To AM button (Application Manger). It may only be visible when the logged in user had Admin rights. Level 0 is Admin and level 5 is lowest access rights. You can use the change user button to change to the Admin user if you have one.
2)
The second way to get out is if the Machine Builder/HMI Programmer does NOT disable the default Exit Interact keystroke from a Keyboard. If you power off the unit and connect a keyboard, you can hit the F10 key while it is going into run or is in run all ready and it will popup a dialog box asking if you want to exit. If no popup comes up, the key has been disabled.
3)
The third way to get to the shell if the first two option do not work is different for a hard drive unit and a compact flash card unit.
The Compact Flash card is a FAT16 DOS disk which has all of the files for running the HMI. There are two possible files that control the boot program depending on the age of the unit. The very oldest units have a file named PWR.CFG in the Root directory and the newer versions have a file named PSU.CFG in the \CTC folder off the root.
You can rename the file in Windows Explorer if it is on a CF card. just rename the file by changing the extension from .CFG to .BAK then put the card back in the unit and boot. Since that file is "missing" when the unit boots, it makes a new one and stops at the main menu of the MachineShop Shell. You can then do your upload.
After the upload, take the card back to the PC and delete the newly created .cfg file and rename the old one back from .BAK to .CFG.
4)
On a hard drive unit since you can not just put the drive in a PC, you have to get out and so some work in DOS to replicate what is done to the CF card. Reboot the unit and after the initial BIOS messages start scrolling on the screen, hit the "ctl" "break" or "ctl" "c" key combination to break out of the DOS batch files that run at boot up. Once you are at the C:\ prompt you can check for the PWR.CFG file by typing DIR and hitting Enter. If you are not at the c:\ prompt type CD \ and it will take you to the root.
Once at the root, type DIR and hit enter and look for a file named PWR.CFG. If it exists, type RENAME PWR.CFG PWR.BAK and hit enter. Type DIR to verify name change and reboot. It will stop at the main screen where you can do your upload. Then from this menu you can use the Exit to DOS button to get back in DOS where you can reverse the process of renaming the PWR file back. If you are not at the root C:\ type CD \ and you should be at the root. Then type RENAME PWR.BAK PWR.CFG and the do a DIR to verify the name changed and then reboot. It will go automatically into run.
If there is no PWR.CFG file then type CD C:\CTC\ and in the CTC folder do a DIR and look for a file named PSU.CFG. Use the same process as the PWR process. RENAME PSU.CFG PSU.BAK do a DIR to verify name changed and reboot. It will stop at the shell and you can do the upload. Use the Exit to DOS button to get out and in the C:\CTC\ folder, do the RENAME PSU.BAK PSU.CFG and do the DIR to verify name change then reboot to restart the application.
The upload process via serial connection needs to be done with a NULL Modem serial cable (pins 2 and 3 cross) connected to COM1 on the HMI just to be sure it is RS232 since the other port could be set to RS422 or RS485 as well as RS232 so to make it easier, just use com one.
From the MachineShop Toolbar transfer Wizard it is possible to add a new connection and configure it as Direct Serial or IPM serial and then select the com port ID of the serial port on your PC. The difference is that the IPM compatible one is for the oldest units running a MachineShop version on the HMI that has the selection menu running Horizontally across the bottom of the screen. To use the connection type called Direct Serial, when you look at the menu on the HMI, the selections are Vertical up the left half of the screen.
To upload, make sure you close any open project in the MachineShop Toolbar then run the Wizard, set your connection type and do an upload of only the application files. It may grey out everything and force the selection of only Application files which is OK.
IMPORTANT:
If you use Interact version 7 to do any changes to your files and want to download them, follow the same process as the upload above but when you start the Toolbar, make sure that the project you want to download is selected before you start your download and if it is the first download after making changes in the newer version of Interact, make sure to select "Complete" project so the Interact Runtime compatible with your changed files are also downloaded or your application will not be able to run the changed files.
edited dom 02/13/2019
edited dom 01/10/2020
