fdtREGEDIT is an FDT frame application which allows the introspection and editing of FDT related registry entries.
View / Edit / Disable FDT component categories
fdtREGEDIT displays the language independent names of all FDT component categories.
You can change the entries or disable component categories completely.
It is also possible to reset the values to the default value defined in the FDT specification.
View objects of all available component categories
fdtREGEDIT also lists all component categories on your PC. Component categories can be expanded to show all objects which registered for the component categories.
View installed DTMs (ProgID, ClassID, implemented categories, information XML)
A special page has been designed for getting information about installed DTMs.
For a specific DTM, all implemented categories, implemented interfaces, information XML, default parameter XML, device identification information and channel information can be seen.
Jumping to the DTM registration in Windows Registry is possible.
Temporarily remove FDT 1.2.x DTMs from Windows Registry
DTMs can be removed from the registry so that any frame application will not recognize it any longer. This is done by hiding the DTM instead of uninstalling it. The hiding operation can be undone at any time. This allows short DTM catalog updates with all your frame applications while actually having installed many more DTMs. Programmers and testers may find this very handy.
Temporarily remove FDT2 DTMs
FDT2 DTMs can be replaced by the fdtREGEDIT FDT2 DTM, thus making the original DTM unavailable. This will speed up catalog updates or remove buggy DTMs.
Find DTMs by interfaces
Choose interfaces from a list of interfaces and find DTMs which implement those interfaces. Great i.e. for testing certain frame applications where you need a DTM with special functionality.
ProgID to ClassID converter
Another feature for programmers is the ProgID to ClassID (and back) converter.
It is possible to directly jump to the Windows Registry Editor (regedit) to the position where the class is defined.
Wildcard characters allow finding objects which cannot be remembered in detail.
The list is updated by a separate background thread so that fast result are guaranteed while typing.
List of known FDT Protocols
The list of known protocols may be interesting when defining an own protocol and you’d like to know whether a similar protocol already exists. In general, it might be interesting how the availability of FDT component grows.
The list is filterable by name and by protocol GUID.
FDT 1.2.1 catalog modification flag editor
The DTM catalog modification flag indicates to a FDT frame application whether the number of DTMs installed on the system has been changed. Even modern FDT 1.2 frames may support this feature, because it does not depend on a specific FDT version. If you want to check, whether your DTM correctly updates the flag, fdtREGEDIT is suitable.
TCI (Tool Calling Interface) Viewer
View registered TCI tools and their configuration files.
See which Profibus devices and ProfiNet devices are associated to which tool.
Jumping to the registry key is supported as well as opening the configuration files with an editor installed on your PC.
Out of process checks
Check if all DLLs for IPersistPropertyBag and IPersistStreamInit are available and registered correctly.
XML Validation
Validate XMLs using MSXML and .NET XML parser for complete validaity check.
Beautify XML.
If valid FDT schema was detected, go to the Internet and browse its definition in the FDT 1.2.1 online specification.
XML bulk validation
Validate complete directories of XMLs using MSXML and .NET parser. This can e.g. be interesting when you want to check example XMLs provided by FDT protocol annexes for validity.
Also supports recursive file search.
Filtering for file extensions is possible.
A progress bar shows the status of validation.
XDR Schema Path validation
Check the XDR files in the XML schema path for correctness.
Also supports recursive file search.
A progress bar shows the status of validation.
XML Transformation
Transform XMLs using stylesheets.
Beautify and validate the output.
XPath testing
Open an XML, define namespace prefixes and start selecting nodes.
Check if your XPath queries are correct without starting a frame and debugging into the code.
DTM documentation transformation
Extract stylesheet from DTM documentation.
Transform the XML using the extracted stylesheet and display it as HTML.
fdtCONTAINER catalog viewer
View the contents of fdtCONTAINER 2.x or fdtCONTAINER 3.x compatible catalog files without the need of starting the container. This is a good remote support option.
FDT DLL reference counter
Find out how often FDT specific DLLs are referenced by someone else. This also gives a good overview on where FDT DLLs are located on your system.
FDT regular expression evaluator
Enter regular expression and check example values against it. Find issues with your regular expression without the need of scanning devices.
FDT2 Manifest files
Open FDT2 folders which contain manifes files.
Create those folders if they do not exist yet.
Scan for manifest files on your PC. Finds .NET CLR manifest files, DTM common component manifest files, DTM and UI manifest files as well as protocol and transformer manifest files.
Register manifest files to open with Notepad or Internet Explorer (typically you must choose a program).
Show the contents of manifest files in human readable format.
FDT2 Code signing
Check FDT2 DLL digital signatures for validity. Shows if you really have the original FDT2 assemblies.
Check in .NET 2 global assembly cache, .NET 4 global assembly cache or a custom directory
FDT2 Debugging
Enable or disable debuggers for FDT2 surrogate processes. This is a great ease for developers debugging DTMs in external processes.
Update Check
Checking for updates is now easy. Features and bug fixes are displayed in comparison to your installed version of fdtREGEDIT.
Support for .NET 2 DTMs
DTMs supporting the new FDT DTM .NET CLR2.0 component category can be disabled as well.