Two instances of the Assembly Object (#20 and #70) are required to implement the AC Drive device profile. I want to add some other I/O data assignments to control the device. Am I permitted to add additional instances of the Assembly Object (for example, #100)? Will this product be compliant with the AC Device Profile? Answered by Ray Romito, DeviceNet Trainer, e-mail: A98) As long as the additional assembly instances are given a number in the vendor specific range of 100-199 (decimal), the device profile is compliant with the DeviceNet Specifications. Refer to Volume 2, Chapter 2-6 for additional considerations when extending a device profile. How can we get the information necessary to create an EDS file for a device that is not furnished with one? Answered by Dave Van Gompel, System SIG Member, e-mail: A167) Unless it is a product which supports the ability to upload it from the device, you go to the manufacturer and DEMAND it. At a minimum, if the manufacturer does not supply an EDS he should include in his documentation the description of the configurable attributes and their CIA (class, instance, attribute). A user should NEVER, EVER have to generate the EDS himself. It^s not that we manufacturer^s are trying to keep things secret. It just that by providing an EDS for his product he makes life much more enjoyable for his customer. It^s like releasing a new printer to the market and then not including the printer driver for the user to load into Windows so the buyer can actually use it. We have a simple device that we could configure using the Basic Configuration mode of Allen-Bradley^s DeviceNetManager software. We are migrating to RSNetworks, which does not appear to have a Basic Configuration mode. I have created an EDS Stub file, but I need to know the proper format to include the parameters that I used to configure with Basic Configuration. Specifically, I need to be able to read/write Attribute 1, Instance 1, Class 100 (decimal) and Attribute 2, Instance 1, Class 100 (decimal). Answered by Dave Van Gompel, System SIG Member, e-mail: A168) The Basic Mode Editor from the "old" DeviceNet Manager Software was included with the first release of RSNetworx/DNet (version 2.0). We apparently fooled people by putting it in a different location AND renaming it. You get to it by doing a right mouse click on the device (after doing a network browse). From the resulting context menu you select the SCIA editor. The acronym SCIA stands for: Service, Class, Instance, Attribute. The other function you mentioned, the ability to upload the EDS from the devices that support that function (like most all of the Allen-Bradley products do) was not in the 2.0 release. However the current release of RSNetworx for DeviceNet (version2.1) does have the feature/function included.