8. Additional Tools

8.1. ESI-Manager

ESI-Manager can be found through the main menu File -> ESI-Manager.

This dialog helps the user to administrate his ESI and SCI files. Here, he can add/delete/export ESI and SCI files.

8.2. EMI-Manager

EMI-Manager can be found through the main menu File -> EMI-Manager.

This dialog helps the user to administrate his EtherCAT MainDevice Information (EMI) files.

EMI files, are files which are specify the MainDevice features. Means that options and dialogs can be restricted to those features which are supported by the control system, e.g. available cycle times, support of scan for MDP modules or DC synchronization.

8.2.1. Administration

This dialog helps the user to administrate his EtherCAT MainDevice Information (EMI) files.

By default EC-Engineer has two files included (read-only):: EtherCATMaster_ClassA.emi: EMI template which is prepared for configuring a “Class A” MainDevice EtherCATMaster_ClassB.emi: EMI template which is prepared for configuring a “Class B” MainDevice

If the user wants to customize EC-Engineer, he can create a new EMI file with defaults, copy an existing EMI template or import an EMI file.

If he wants to add new properties to a group, he can add this only to the group “Parameters”. This group is by default empty, but if user has added some properties, he will see the list of properties on tab “Advanced Options” of the MainDevice, where the values can be modified.

8.2.2. Supported Entries

The following EMI entries are supported:

MainDevice Group

Display Group:: Shows or hides group
Lock Group:: Locks or unlocks group
Name of MainDevice:: Default MainDevice name
Show name of MainDevice:: Enable if user should be able to view and change the name of the MainDevice
Lock name of MainDevice:: Enable if user should not be able to change the name of the MainDevice
Cycle Time:: Default Cycle Time
Show Cycle Time:: Enable if user should be able to view and change the Cycle Time
Lock Cycle Time:: Enable if user should not be able to change the Cycle Time
List values of Cycle Time:: Enter possible values of Cycle Time
Frequency:: Default Frequency
Show Frequency:: Enable if user should be able to view and change the Frequency
Lock Frequency:: Enable if user should not be able to change the Frequency
List values of Frequency:: Enter possible values of Frequency
Cycle Time Mode:: Enter Cycle Time Mode (0 = Cycle Time, 1 = Frequency)
Init Command Retries:: Init Command Retries
Maximal SubDevice Count:: Enter maximal count of SubDevices which are allowed to configure (0 = use default limit of MainDevice)
SubDevice Start Address:: Enter default start address for all SubDevices
Scan for MDP SubDevices:: Enable for activating MDP-Scan if it is supported from SubDevice
PDO Upload:: Enable for activating PDO upload during scan if it is supported from SubDevice
Byte-Align Process Data Image:: Enable if process data image should be byte aligned and not as small as possible
Edit Complete Variable Name:: Enable if user should be able to edit the complete variable name
Process Image Layout:: Enter process image layout features (0 = default, 0x1 = with protocol data, 0x2 = with VLAN tag, 0x4 = without frame alignment, 0x8 = alphabetic port order, 0x10 = Compatibility to ENI spec V1.0.0, 0x20 = Moves AL Status command to the end, 0x40 = Disable command splitting, 0x80 = Compatibility to ENI spec V1.0.1)
Output Port Vendor Id:: Enter output port vendor id of the MainDevice (0 = All Vendors, 1..n = Specific Vendor)
Word-Aligned EtherCAT Datagrams:: Enable if EtherCAT datagrams should be word aligned
Cyclic Frame Layout:: Enter cyclic frame layout mode (0 = default, 1 = single logical command per frame)
Ethernet Type UDP:
Remove DC NOP Command:: Does not include NOP Command in ENI
Cable Redundancy:: Sets disable LRW for all SubDevices to use cable redundancy and enables an opportunity to select a second adapter and link-layer
Junction Redundancy:: Allows to user to scan also with connected junction redundancy

Local System

Display Group:: Shows or hides group
Lock Group:: Locks or unlocks group
Network Adapter:: Enter index of Network Adapter in the Network Adapter List
Show Network Adapter:: Enable if user should be able to view and change the Network Adapter
Lock Network Adapter:: Enable if user should not be able to change the Network Adapter
DCM on:: EC-Engineer deactivated DCM on default. Enable if it should be turned off

Remote System

Display Group:: Shows or hides group
Lock Group:: Locks or unlocks group
Protocol:: Select protocol for Remote System
Show Protocol:: Enable if user should be able to view and change the protocol
Lock Protocol:: Enable if user should be not able to change the protocol
IP Address:: Enter IP Address for Remote System
Show IP Address:: Enable if user should be able to view and change the IP Address
Lock IP Address:: Enable if user should be not able to change the IP Address
Port:: Enter Port for Remote System
Show Port:: Enable if user should be able to view and change the Port”
Lock Port:: Enable if user should be not able to change the Port
MainDevice-Instance:: Enter MainDevice-Instance number
Show MainDevice-Instance:: Enable if user should be able to view and change the MainDevice-Instance
Lock MainDevice-Instance:: Enable if user should be not able to change the MainDevice-Instance

Offline Diagnosis

Display Group:: Shows or hides group
Lock Group:: Locks or unlocks group

Simulator Functions

Display Group:: Shows or hides group
Lock Group:: Locks or unlocks group

Distributed Clocks

Display Group:: Shows or hides group
Clock Adjustment:: Enter clock adjustment value (0 = default, 1 = MainDevice Shift, 2 = Bus Shift
Lock Clock Adjustment:: Enable if user should not be able to change clock adjustment
Show Clock Adjustment:: Enable if clock adjustment should be visible
Continuous Propagation Compensation:: Enter default value of Continuous Propagation Compensation
Show Continuous Propagation Compensation:: Enable if user should be able to change value of Continuous Propagation Compensation
Sync Window Monitoring:: Enter default value of Sync Window Monitoring
Show External Mode:: Enable if user should be able to use an external sync device as reference clock
System Time 64 Bit:: Enter default value of System Time 64 Bit

Features

AoE:: Enable if MainDevice supports AoE
EoE:: Enable if MainDevice supports EoE
FoE:: Enable if MainDevice supports FoE
SoE:: Enable if MainDevice supports SoE
VoE:: Enable if MainDevice supports VoE
Export Variables:: Enable if user should be able to export variables
Show Enable Column:: Shows column for enable variables on XML export
Generate SubDevice Name with Type:: Enable if type of SubDevice should be added to SubDevice names on generating ENI file
Lock Variables:: Locks or unlocks variables for editing in diagnosis mode
Show Variable Chart:: Enable if user should be able to view the chart of a variable
Show Variable Comments:: Enable if user should be able to view and edit the comments of a variable
Allow E-Bus as HC Head:: Enable if Ebus shall be allowed as HC Head
ENI Deployment:: yes: something is done with ENI after export, no: nothing done ask: you will be ask to deploy
Deployment Mode:: 0: copy to path, 1: execute batch at path
Deployment Path:: Path to copy ENI or to batch for execution
Hot Connect:: Enable if MainDevice supports hot connect

Scripts

Display Group:

Shows or hides the Scripts Tab

P1:

Scan Start Script 1:: First script executed before scanning
Scan Start Script 2:: Second script executed before scanning
Scan Stop Script 3:: First script executed after scanning
Scan Stop Script 4:: Second script executed after scanning

P2:

Diag Start Script 1:: First script executed before switch to diag
Diag Start Script 2:: Second script executed before switch to diag
Diag Stop Script 3:: First script executed before switching to config
Diag Stop Script 4:: Second script executed before switching to config

Parameters

User defined properties, which will be written into ENI file and can be interpreted by the application inside EC-Master.

8.3. Network Mismatch Analyzer

If you have a network mismatch in your EtherCAT network it is not so easy to find the problem. For this you have the Network Mismatch Analyzer. You find it in the network main menu. If you see here some “red” entries, means that this is the start point of your network mismatch:

8.4. Line Crossed Analyzer

If you have connected a line to a wrong port, you can see in the Line Crossed Analyzer which SubDevice is incorrectly connected. The wron entries will be red:

8.5. Inspection Report

If you want to print or show a report about the actual session, it is possible with the inspection report. I shows a lot of different data about the network communication. It is also possible to print a PDF.

8.6. EoE Endpoint Configuration

If you want to use EoE SubDevices with your local MainDevice, you can activate the EoE Endpoint.

Note

This feature is only available if the package “Tap-Windows” from OpenVPN is installed: http://openvpn.net/index.php/download/community-downloads.html

If this package is installed, you will see the following dialog:

Settings

Use EoE Endpoint:: Activate EoE Endpoint support for the selected device
Network Adapter:: List of installed network adapters (TAP)
IP Address:: IP Address of the selected network adapter

8.7. Edit Topology

Disconnect:: Disconnets the selected port
Connect:: Connects the selected SubDevice in the not connect SubDevices list, with the selected port in the configuration
Up:: Moves the SubDevice up in the configuration
Down:: Moves the SubDevice down in the configuration
Scan:: Scans the network. The network is shown by the scanned configuration. It is possible to add SubDevice to the configuration with “Add SubDevice”.
Apply:: The configuration will be applied to the EC-Engineer (only possible if all SubDevices are connected)

8.8. Self Test Scan

To perform a Self Test Scan, a MainDevice and a target system must be selected.

../_images/self-test-scan-selected-target-system.png

The settings for the Self Test Scan can be found on the expert tab in the settings dialog, see Expert.

After the Self Test Scan is successful, we get the following logs from the message panel.

A capture file is produce after the scan and it is saved to diagnose the results. The file is saved in the path given in the capture file settings.

8.9. Settings

Can be found inside the settings menu bar.

8.9.1. General

Appearance

Language:: Changes the current language
Theme:: Changes the current theme

8.9.2. Message Level

In this tab the log level of the message panel can be changed.

Log Level Settings

Message Level:: Changes what messages are displayed on the message panel

Explanation

We can see what messages are displayed depending on the selected message level (true it is displayed, false it is not displayed)

8.9.3. Capture File

A capture file could be helpful, if a very large system is given or the system is not always available. In that case the user can connect to their system, save one or more snapshots into a capture file and analyse the created capture file later.

Another use case is, that their system from time to time some problems. In that case the user can activate the automatic mode and create the snapshots at specific intervals or based on specific MainDevice notifications.

At the moment there are the following options:

Filename

Folder:: Path, where the capture files should be saved
Base file name:: Base file name of the generated capture file name
Date:: Activate, to add the date to the generated capture file name
Time:: Activate, to add the time to the generated capture file name
IP Address:: Activate, to add the IP address to the generated capture file name
Preview:: Shows a preview of the generated capture file name

Content

Process data:

Activate to add process data to the capture file (read-only)

EEPROM size:

Enter size of the EEPROM (0x86 = default, 0 = no EEPROM)

ESC Register size:

Enter size of the ESC Registers (0x400 = default, 0 = no ESC register)

CoE OD of SubDevices:

Select the SubDevices of which the CoE OD information will be captured

None:: CoE OD will be not captured
All:: CoE OD will be captured of all SubDevices
User defined:: CoE OD will be captured of the defined SubDevices by physical address (e.g. 1001-1003; 1005)

CoE OD objects:

Enter index of specific objects or all objects will be collected (e.g. 0x1018; 0x7000-0x7FFF)

SDO Info Service:

Activate to use the SDO Info Service for loading the CoE Object Dictionary instead of readying the information from the ESI file.

Automatic Mode

Interval (min):

Time to wait until next snapshot will be taken

Maximum Snapshots:

Enter count of maximum snapshots

Notifications:

Select the notifications, which will trigger a snapshot. The following notifications are availabe (for more information about notifications please refer the manual of EC-Master):

STATECHANGED
ETH_LINK_CONNECTED
ETH_LINK_NOT_CONNECTED
SLAVE_STATECHANGED
SLAVE_PRESENCE
SLAVE_INITCMD_RESPONSE_ERROR
STATUS_SLAVE_ERROR
SLAVE_UNEXPECTED_STATE
DC_SLV_SYNC
DCM_SYNC

After the snapshot(s) is / are made in diagnosis mode they can be selected in the overview in config mode:

After the selection switching to diagnosis mode is possible. In the toolbar will be an additional combobox to select the snapshot and switch between them:

8.9.4. Expert

Debug Message Levels

GUI Level: Changes the GUI debug message level
MainDevice Debug Message Level: Changes the MainDevice debug message level

Self Test Scan Settings

Detect Bad Connection: (De-)Activates bad connection detection
Frame Size Min: Changes the min frame size
Frame Size Max: Changes the max frame size
Frame Size Step: Changes the frame step size
Frame Count: Changes the frame count
Clear Error Counters: Resets the error counters on the MainDevice
Automatic Snapshots: Enables the creation of a snapshot after running a successful Self Test Scan

8.9.5. Settings File

Inside this file the user can modify all settings, including some that are not present in the settings dialog.

Warning

Only modify this file if you know what you are doing.

The file can be located either at “C:/ProgramData/EC-Engineer/User.<username>.xml” or insdie the install directory.

8.10. Project Templates

If you have a lot of SubDevices with the same configuration (e.g. PDOs, InitCmds) you can use a project template. In that case new SubDevices will be first copied from this template (if available) and then taken from the ESI cache. This behaviour is also used for the bus scan.

At the moment there are the following options:

Path: Path to the selected project template

Settings

Activate:: True, for activating this project template (necessary if you want to turn it temporary off)
Ignore Revision:: The revision will be not used as search criteriom

If the project template mode is active, it will be displayed in the status bar:

Normally the first match will be taken from project template. If this is wrong, you can open the context menu Select from Project Template and select another one:

8.11. Real-time Support

Normally on Windows you do not have real-time support, but to get DCM in sync you can install the “ECAT driver” in the following modes:

Network driver: The network driver can be used from the optimized link layers

The real-time support is normally hidden in EC-Engineer. It can be activate by copying the specific link layer libraries into the installation directory of EC-Engineer.

For the local system, EC-Engineer will turn on DCM and use the real-time clock for generating the job task cylces. For more information about how to install the “ECAT driver” please refer the manual of EC-Master Class A DCM on Windows

8.11.1. Optimized Link Layers

After activating the real-time support the optimized link layer can be selected in the option “Link Layer”:

Depending on the link layer type the user can chose the network adapter or the instance.

The following optimized link layers are currenty supported:

emllI8254x.dll (Intel PRO/1000 Network Adapters)

emllI8255x.dll (Intel PRO/100 Network Adapters)

emllIRTL8139.dll (Realtek 8139 Fast Ethernet Adapters)

emllIRTL8169.dll (Realtek Gigabit Ethernet Adapters)

emllICCAT.dll (BECKHOFF CCAT)

For more information about optimized link layers and how to install the ECAT driver please refer the manual of EC-Master Class B EcatDrv for Optimized Link Layers

8.12. Export ENI Variants

With this function it is possible to export different ENI file variants of an config. Therefore a xml file has to be created. Then it is possible to select this xml file and create more ENI files at once. The xml file should look like this:

RenumberBus: If this is true, all SubDevices will be enumerated in a row. Otherwise each SubDevice stays with his address.

Export Path: The path were the ENI / ECC files should be saved.

ExportEcc: If true, also the ECC file be exported and not only the ENI.

Each Config needs a name. This name is used for the ENI file and the optional ECC file.

CycleTime (optional): If this is set the cycle time will be changed to this value.

Exclude: To find a SubDevice in the config the name is required. With that it is possible to remove some SubDevices from a big config for example.

Include: To find a SubDevice in the config the name is required. With the include it is possible to easy delete all SubDevices in the config despite except the include ones.

Warning

Please use Exclude OR Include. Both in the same config does not work