From the Help Section in the App:
Step by Step Guide
Step by Step Guide
- Connect the EtherCAT module directly (not over switch or hub) to the computer with an Ethernet cable.
- Make sure the module is on.
- Start the EtherCAT ESI Generator.
- Enter an expedient vendor name. All devices from the same vendor should have identical vendor name entries. Example: “Drive Manufacturer”.
- Enter the group type. This value is used as a handle within the ESI file for connecting a device entry with a group name (see below). It is mainly intended for ESI files that contain several devices, so it is of less importance in this application. A relevant value should nonetheless be chosen. Example: “Drive”.
Note: Since this name is used as a handle it shall not contain any spaces. - Enter group name. This information can be displayed in configuration tools when presenting devices in a structured tree view based on device types. Example: “Drives”.
- Select the network card to which the module is connected.
- Enter the slave address. Position addressing is used, so with the module connected directly to the computer the address should be 0. (This value has no bearing on the contents of the ESI file.)
- Make sure that attributes 3, 4, 11 and 12 of instance 0 of the Application Data object are supported correctly by the host application.
- Click on the “Create ESI file…” button, in the save file dialog select output catalog and name the file.
- Click “Save”.
- Wait for the file to get generated.
Note: for large configurations generating the file may take up to 30 minutes. - Done
Optional Information
The "Load ESI file button…(Optional)"
The information from an old ESI file can be loaded with the “Load ESI file… (Optional)” button. Only information shown by the GUI will be added to the generated file.
The “Use loaded file as base” check button
If checked, the generated file will be a modified version of the loaded file. This can be useful when there are elements in the loaded file that the ESI generator does not support. All information that can be collected from the module will be updated. The Object dictionary, DataTypes and RxPDO/TxPDO mapping will be recreated from scratch.
Image Data
The Image Data can be used by a master to give the device some icons. The files need to be in .BMP format, 16x14 pixels with 16bit color. A file can be added in 2 ways. By browsing the computer with the “Browse…” button or entered directly in the text field. If the file is entered directly in the text field its the hex content of the file not the file path that should be entered. This can be useful if you have a old ESI file to copy from. If the fields are left blank no image data information will be added to the file.