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ASI Diff Program

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Overview

The ASI Diff program is used to compare two different .asi configuration files. This is commonly done to see what changes might have occured between two configuration files from the same controller at different points in time.

Application

Here is one example for the ASI Diff program. We have an ASI controller that was put online 6 months ago, and we have a copy of the .asi file that represents the configuration as it was after commissioning. It is now 6 months later, and something is not quite right with the controller. Three different technicians have been in the controller performing some tuning and tweaking, and it is necessary to see what has been changed. If you upload and save the configuration as it exist today, the ASI Diff program can compare the two files outside of the controller and display what parts of the two configuration files have differences.

The ASI Diff program will work with either ASIC/1 files or ASIC/2 files. The output will be in the form of a text file, which will show only the difference between the two files.

Installation

Download the ASI Diff program from the link listed above. Extract the two file, asidiff.bat and asidiff.exe, into a folder, preferably located at C:\ASI\ASI Diff

Once this is completed, you can start using the ASI Diff program right away. It does not need an official installation process.

Instructions for Use

  • Put the two .asi files you are working with into the same directory. These files need to be from the same model of controller.
  • Each of the .asi files needs to have a unique filename. If they are same, rename one before you add them to the directory.
  • Right-click on the asidiff.bat file, and select Edit.
  • Look for the following line:
    asidiff.exe "config_file_one.ASI" "config_file_two.ASI" >> asidiff.txt
  • Edit this line to include the actual filenames of the two .asi configuration files.
  • When you are done, the last line might look like this:
    asidiff.exe "A2-7540-32101.ASI" "A2-7540-32101_new.ASI" >> asidiff.txt
  • Save the edited asidiff.bat file.
  • Now either double-click on asidiff.bat, or right-click on it and select Open
  • Wait a little bit, and you should a file named asidiff.txt appear.
  • If asidiff.txt is already in the folder, it will be overwritten with the new version.

Once this procedure it completed, you can analyze the asidiff.txt file. It is important to note that all of the attribute values will be displayed numerically in decimal format, as well as in hex format. This includes strings, or text values as well. Keep in mind that ASI Diff was intended to show you where the differences exits, not their actual content.

ASIC/2 Comparison

If your controllers were ASIC/2's, you will see all the Allocated Objects listed, along with all the associated Object attributes that have differing values. A snippet of a such a file is shown below.

"asidiff.bat file " 
SYS (A2-7540-7540.ASI) vs SYS (A2-7540-7540_new.ASI)

ALO-00
SYS-01
    INDEX 00, ATTR 13:  7540  vs 7541 	(HEX 1d74 vs 1d75)
    INDEX 00, ATTR 15:  19200 vs 9600 	(HEX 4b00 vs 2580)
    INDEX 00, ATTR 26:  0     vs 49320	(HEX 0000 vs c0a8)
    INDEX 00, ATTR 27:  0     vs 323  	(HEX 0000 vs 0143)
    INDEX 00, ATTR 32:  0     vs 80   	(HEX 0000 vs 0050)
    INDEX 00, ATTR 36:  0     vs 256  	(HEX 0000 vs 0100)

In the example above, you can see that Attr 13 is different. The is the Local Bus Address property. Attr 15 is the System Bus Baud Rate, which is set to 19200 in the first controller, and 9600 in the second. Attr 26 and Attr 27 are a Double-Word value for the IP Address. While you can not read the value, you can clearly see that in the first controller it does not have an IP Address, and in the second controller, it does.

ASIC/1 Comparison

If your controllers were ASIC/1's, you will see a list of the differences between the Tables and Entries. A snippet of a such a file is shown below.

"asidiff.bat file " 
Unknown (A1-6000-16000.ASI) vs Unknown (A1-6000-2810.ASI)

    Table 1,1:  62 vs 10	(HEX 3e vs 0a)
    Table 1,2:  128 vs 250	(HEX 80 vs fa)
    Table 1,3:  96 vs 192	(HEX 60 vs c0)
    Table 1,9:  1  vs 28	(HEX 01 vs 1c)
    Table 1,15:  13 vs 1 	(HEX 0d vs 01)
    Table 2,1:  72 vs 73	(HEX 48 vs 49)
    Table 2,2:  68 vs 71	(HEX 44 vs 47)

In the example above, you can see that Table 1, Entry 1-2 are different. This defines the Device Address of the controller. Note that the Device address is stored in two Bytes, so you would have to reassemble it to be able to actually read the values. The first controller is Address 16000 and the second is Address 2810. Table 1, Entry 3 defines the Baud Rate of the controller. Address 16000 is set to 9600 bps, and Address 2810 is set to 19200 bps. Table 1, Entry 15 defines the Personality. Table 2, Entry 1-2 defines the Occupied Cooling and Heating setpoints.