Offloading Current Running Code Image

[Phalanx]

Well it appears that current source code executing on our robot is MIA.
I do have an older version, that I can retro fit, however, I'd like to be able to keep the current executable binary as a backup should it be necessary.

Back in the day, the old IFI systems had an a method to save the binary which could be reloaded if necessary.

Is there a similar method for the CRIO?

Even if it is as simple as FTP'ing an executable file(s) of the user code created via build/deploy.

[Mark McLeod]

FTP works.
If you take the whole tree structure then it can always be restored as is.

You can also just take the language-specific executable under /ni-rt, but issues can arise in the future if the FPGA image/libraries get updated.

[Phalanx]

All I need is the language specific module. This is only a short term thing and I'm not concerned about the FGPA libraries being updated or not.

Once I retro fit the older version of the code I do have, this doesn't matter anymore.

If it's only the language specific module(Labview in our case), then all I think I should need would be startup.rtexe as that is the file I find in my build directory on our PC when we build a project?

[Mark McLeod]

Yes, that's the whole thing.

[Phalanx]

Thanks Mark,

I appreciate your help as always.

[rwood359]

FTP works.
If you take the whole tree structure then it can always be restored as is.

If I re-image to the current cRIO image , do I need to have an old image to format with before restoring the old files?
Will the 2010 and 2011 image tools still work?

[Mark McLeod]

If you still have the old LabVIEW project, then it's simplest to just re-build it under LabVIEW 2011, accounting for any library palette vi changes.

The old cRIO Imaging Tool works with the old FRC cRIO, but not the new one of course. You need to have preserved the old image(s) as well.

If you captured the whole directory tree, then that should include the parts of the matching image that affect and are important to us.
If you just have the project executable, then you'll need to image the cRIO to match. You do want the image to match the libraries and FPGA image that was used when the project was built.

[rwood359]

If you still have the old LabVIEW project, then it's simplest to just re-build it under LabVIEW 2011, accounting for any library palette vi changes.
I have been able to re-build our 2011 project except for a small problem with Dashboard. Re-building our 2010 creates an error for just about every FRC vi. I tried the suggestion from the NI forum to do a mass compile. That didn't work. I have a dependency problem that I don't quite know how to find yet.

The old cRIO Imaging Tool works with the old FRC cRIO, but not the new one of course. You need to have preserved the old image(s) as well.

If you captured the whole directory tree, then that should include the parts of the matching image that affect and are important to us.
If you just have the project executable, then you'll need to image the cRIO to match. You do want the image to match the libraries and FPGA image that was used when the project was built.

Just to make sure I understand everything. We want to use new code on an old robot and still get back to the original program for demonstrations.

To load new code from 2011 and get back to 8.6 version.
1. FTP everything from the lowest directory to my PC.
2. Re-image with current image.
3. Download/Deploy new code.
4. Test with new program and different Driver's Station.
5. FTP everything back to cRIO without any re-imaging.
6. Run old version with old Driver's Station.

[Mark McLeod]

Sorry, I lost the thread for awhile there.

Your procedure looks good.

[rwood359]

Mark,
Thanks for the help.
Randy