Are my projects upwards and downwards compatible?

  • Yes to the upwards compatibility but with restrictions: You may import your projects which you have created in a previous version of Neuron Power Engineer in any subsequent version. But use a new workspace for each version (see the following warning, if you want to use several instances of Neuron Power Engineer at the same time on the same system).
    Recommended, if you are using projects that have been created in a previous version of Neuron Power Engineer:

    • Clean the imported projects.

    • When you start a version after 3.23.0, Neuron strongly recommends you to use a new workspace when starting the IDE. If you use a workspace from the previous version, observe that the paths for the library provider and the library cache are the paths that have been specified in the previous version.

    Special restriction for safety parameter editor

    • If the project has been created in a predecessor version of version 3.25.0 and it contains parameterization of safety-relevant hardware devices, do not import this project in version 3.25.0 or later. The reason is the changed specification of the parameter files used by the safety parameter editor. If you import the project anyway, the safety parameter editor is not able to load the parameter data.

  • Yes to the downwards compatibility but with restrictions: You may import your projects which you have created in a subsequent version of Neuron Power Engineer in any previous version – if the previous version does support all features that you are using in the project (e.g. the used keywords for the ST-syntax or new possibilities in the FBD-editor). Again, use a new workspace for each version (see the following warning, if you want to use several instances of Neuron Power Engineer at the same time on the same system).
    The article "Release notes for version" lists extensive information which version provides which features. If a used feature is not supported in the previous version, the Problems view lists appropriate messages after you have imported the project. 

    Special restrictions

    • FBD-objects that have been saved in version 2.5.0 or a following version cannot be opened in versions < 2.5.0 anymore.

    • For projects created or imported in version 3.0.0 (or a later version), some steps are required after the projects have been imported within versions < 3.0.0. These steps are:

      1. Delete the object library.libref that is displayed in the project.

      2. Install any custom libraries within the properties of the project. Details: See "Installing a library".

      3. Close the project and reopen it.

    • For projects that are containing function blocks with in-out variables (= VAR_IN_OUT) and that have been created or imported and cleaned in version 3.1.0 (or a later version), some steps are required after the projects have been imported within versions < 3.1.0. Details: See "Functions blocks with VAR_IN_OUT from version < 3.1.0 prevent the building of the application".

Warning: Using several instances at the same time

By default, it is not possible to use different instances of Neuron Power Engineer at the same time on the same system. It does not matter whether these instances are started for the same version or for different versions. An appropriate message informs you if an instance of Neuron Power Engineer is already running and you try to start another instance. If it should be possible to start multiple instances of Neuron Power Engineer, contact your administrator and ask to change the default configuration and to make sure that the appropriate conditions regarding the start of multiple instances are met.

Additional notes/restrictions in the context of a start of multiple instances and workspaces:

  • It is possible to start multiple instances of Neuron Power Engineer < version 3.27.0 at the same time on the same system. It does not matter whether the multiple instances are started for the same Neuron Power Engineer version or for different Neuron Power Engineer versions (as long as the different version is not the version 3.27.0 or a following version).

  • A workspace used in Neuron Power Engineer < version 1.27.0 is incompatible to Neuron Power Engineer ≥ version 1.27.0.

If you use such an incompatible workspace in a following version anyway and you load an application onto a PLC, the application is not loaded for the imported project and this message is displayed: The application for the PLC (resource "name", platform toolkit "name") cannot be created/loaded. Check the views "Error Log" and "Problems" for more information.
This is how you are able to continue using the workspace and loading the application onto the PLC:

  1. Click  in toolbar of the project explorer and select Filters and Customization... In the dialog, uncheck src-gen folder and target folder (under Filter) and click OK.

  2. Delete the shown folders src-gen and target for the imported projects.

  3. Click  again in toolbar of the project explorer and select Filters and Customization... In the dialog, check src-gen folder and target folder (under Filter) and click OK. Those folders are automatically created later on but you do not need those folders anymore. 

  4. In menu Project, select Clean... In the dialog, select Clean all projects and click OK.