ebm-papst Kickstart - Manual (Page 13)

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5 Using Kickstart
5.4 Projects and Templates
Everything you see in the modules and content area of Kickstart is defined in a Kickstart template or project file. The following file formats
are used:
.kickpro Uncompressed Project Files
A Kickstart .kickpro file defines everything you can see in the Modules and Content area of Kickstart: CAN Interfaces, CANopen Drive
units, Scope modules, a.s.o.
The .kickpro file is a standard XML file that can be edited by experienced users to build specific applications (e.g. work with three drive
units instead of one, modify the user levels required for each module, create additional HTML documentation).
NOTICe
When manually editing .kickpro files, make sure you keep a copy of the original files. Check carefully that your modified
file is a valid .xml file. A good XML editor can help validate the XML format and prevent invalid changes that could break
the structure.
The .kickpro file is often accompanied by additional files that are necessary to run the project’s predefined tasks. These files can include:
• .css files for documentation formatting.
• .py files for Python script code that is executed by Kickstart or is compiled and loaded into a drive unit.
• .bin firmware files for updating drive unit application firmware.
.kickzip Compressed Project Files
.kickzip files are compressed file archives that contain:
• One
.kickpro file of the same name as the .kickzip archive
• Additional helper files ( .css, .py, .bin, ...) as described above.
When opening a .kickzip project, Kickstart creates a temporary folder and extracts all files to this location.
When saving a .kickzip project, Kickstart first creates an updated .kickpro file in the temporary folder, and then creates the compressed
.kickzip file containing all files from the temporary folder, including sub-directories.
NOTICe
You can extract the .kickpro file and all helper files by using menu File > Save As... and choosing Kickstart
Uncompressed Project (.kickpro) instead of the default .kickzip file format.
NOTICe
To create a .kickzip compressed file archive, first create a standard .zip file archive that contains the .kickpro file and
all required helper files. Then change the file extension from .zip to .kickzip.