Technical Support Notes

Article ID:	T36
Date:	6/8/99
Product:	SPEL for Windows 2.x (all versions up to and including 2.2.0)
OS:	Windows '95, Windows '98 and Windows NT 4.0
Problem:	Variable library string variables cleared after project rebuild

Symptoms
After project rebuild is executed, variable library string variables are cleared even though the variable library has not been changed.

Causes
Starting with SPEL for Windows 2.0 (controller EPROMs v6.3 and greater), variable library string variables are initialized and cleared during project rebuild. In previous versions, string variables were not initialized and retained their values after a rebuild.

Remedies
If possible, avoid project rebuild. Normally, only build is required after making changes to a project. However, whenever you open a different project, a rebuild is automatically executed on the first build. Even if the new project uses the same variable library definitions as the previous project, the variable library is created again and the string variables are initialized and cleared.
As a work around, you can back up the variable library values before rebuild and then restore them by using the MKVER and DWNLIB commands, or by executing MKVER and SETVER form the Tools | Maintenance dialog.

Warning:
These methods should only be used if you are not changing the variable library.

Method 1: 1. Before rebuild, execute MKVER from Tools | Maintenance dialog.; 2. Rebuild the project.; 3. Execute SETVER from the Tools | Maintenance dialog.

Method 2: 1. Before rebuild, execute MKVER from the monitor window. This will create the file lib#0.bin.
>mkver
CPU Data Backup
Backup Variable Backup >; 2. Rebuild the project.; 3. Execute DWNLIB from the monitor window to restore the variable library values:
>dwnlib "lib#0.bin"
>

You can also create macros for the MKVER and DWNLIB commands used above.

Status
This problem is being researched and will be fixed in a future release.

Technical Support Notes

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