Collections, sections & versions

A collection is the project container for one ECU job. It holds the ECU’s memory sections, the versions of the calibration you are working on, the job metadata, and any comments — all in a single sealed .mtxCol file. The collection panel on the left is where you browse and manage it.

The collection panel: versions, map tree and metadata

Figure 1

Memory sections

A section is one memory region of the ECU — typically the flash, sometimes a separate EEPROM — carrying a function tag and the bytes for that region. A collection can hold several. In the Memory Sections list you can Add, Edit or Remove a section; the one marked (active section) is the region the editors and the toolbar section picker act on. The panel also shows the maps inside the active section — double-click one to open the map editor.

Versions and the reference

A version is one variant of the calibration across all sections — the stock read, a stage 1 tune, a customer revision, and so on. Two versions are special:

the original (reference) version is the untouched baseline; set it with Mark as original (reference) version, and other versions can be compared against it;
the active version is the one you are currently working on (the toolbar version picker and newly-opened editors follow it).

In the Reference & Versions list you can Add a version (by importing a binary), Edit or Remove one. To see how a tune differs from the reference, compare the two (see comparing & navigating files).

Tip — keep the stock read as the original version and add each tune as a new version. You always have an untouched baseline to compare against and fall back to.

Creating, opening and saving

Use the Collections menu (or the toolbar) for New (Ctrl+N), Open (Ctrl+O), Save (Ctrl+S), Save As (Ctrl+Shift+S) and Close (Ctrl+W), with a Recent list for quick reopening. Saving writes a single sealed .mtxCol — self-healing and optionally password-protected (see file security). To get bytes into a collection, import a binary; to get them out, export.

Collection properties

Open the properties editor (Properties, Alt+Enter) to record the job’s metadata, grouped into Client, Vehicle, ECU, Engine, Output (PS/HP and kW) and Project (type and a free-text comment). Fill empty fields from ECU analysis populates what it can from the detected ECU.

Figure 2

Note — this metadata is not just for reference: it feeds the export filename placeholders and helps the online search features identify a file. The more you fill in, the more the rest of the app can do for you.

Comments

You can attach comments to a specific region of a version — each with a title, body text and author — shown as a coloured overlay on that part of the binary. They are a handy way to record what a change does or why.