Echelon NodeBuilder FX - Manual (Page 216)

202 Building and Downloading Device Applications
the application code and data that resides in off-chip EEPROM,
flash, or NVRAM (if any). For these devices, this file is used with
a device programmer to program the external memory chips. If the
application image was built for a Neuron 3120 Chip, this file
contains some or all of the on-chip EEPROM image in a special
format for use only with a Neuron 3120 programmer.
• Off-chip serial EEPROM. For the 5000 Series chips, the .NME
application image file is supplied and supports programming the
serial EEPROM memory part.
• Neuron flash image. For a Neuron 3120E4 Chip or an FT 3120
Smart Transceiver, the .NFI file contains an EEPROM application
image that is used for programming the on-chip EEPROM. It
contains the same information as the EEPROM application image
file for the Neuron 3120 Chip, but uses a different format because
of the different programming requirements of the 3120E4 and FT
3120 chips.
• Off-chip serial flash. For the 5000 Series chips, the .NMF
application image file is supplied and supports programming the
optional serial flash memory part.
Device Interface
Files
(.XIF, .XFB, and .xfo)
These files contain a definition of the device interface that is used by
the LonMaker tool and other LNS network tools to learn the interface to
a device, without requiring the device to be physically attached to the
network.
There are three types of device interface files: the text device interface
file (.XIF extension), the binary device interface file (.XFB extension),
and the optimized device interface file (.xfo extension).
• XIF. The text device interface file is a text description of the
device interface. The format of this file is detailed in the L ON M ARK
External Interface File Reference Guide, which is available on
L
ON M ARK Web site at
www.lonmark.org/technical_resources/guidelines/developer.shtml
• XFB and XFO. The binary device interface file and optimized
device interface file are used by the LonMaker tool and other LNS
tools to create LNS device templates, which define the device
interface to LNS tools.
Device manufacturers should distribute the binary application image file (.APB) and text device
interface file (.XIF) files to customers to support their devices. The .NDL file may also be
distributed to support loading the devices in the field with the NodeLoad utility. This is useful for
systems where an LNS network tool is not available to download device applications.
Note: If you provide .NDL files for upgrading device applications, do not change the device’s
communication parameters or change the clock multiplier on a 5000 Series chip. Changing the
communication parameters may cause communication with the device to be lost permanently.
Changing the clock multiplier on a 5000 Series chip may affect the device’s power consumption
and EMC performance, and it may affect the peripheral circuitry attached to the Neuron 5000
Processor or FT 5000 Smart Transceiver.