OtfSettings

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Overview

The OTF Settings enable you to configure the default settings for the working environment of the OTF. You can configure the general settings such as establishing the default location for your OTX solutions, or enabling the function to restore the last opened solution and procedures, or changing the development platform ect.

You can access the OTF Settings by selecting the "File" tab of the Ribbon and then selecting the "Options" entry, the OTF Options dialog box will be displayed to configure the OTF settings. The OTF Options dialog box contains several pages that are accessed through tabs on the left-hand side. By clicking a tab on the left pane (e.g. "General", "OTX Runtime System" ect.) you can access the corresponding settings page on the right pane. You can adjust the settings in many pages and click "OK" button, and all the changes will be saved.

The introduction and guidelines for each settings page are described in the following sections.

General settings

This page contains the following sections which allows you to customize the general settings for the working environment of the OTF:

Interface language

In this section, you can select the display language in the OTF. The default is "English". At present, the OTF only allows you to switch between "English" and "Deustch" (German).

Icons Note.png The OTF must be restarted for the changes to take effect completely!

Start settings

This section allows you to configure the behavior when starting OTF and when switching between the designer and the OTL editor.

Below are the options in this section:

  • Automatically load the last Solution check box:
    The OTF remembers the last opened solution when the OTF is closed. This check box enables (checked) or disables (unchecked) automatically loading the last opened solution when the OTF is started (checked) or not (unchecked). If no solution is opened when the OTF is closed, it shall not load any solution when it is started again.
  • Restore the last opened procedures check box:
    The OTF remembers the last opened tabs of a solution such as procedure tabs, OTL editor tabs, player monitor tabs, Overview tab, Instruction tab etc. This check box enables (checked) or disables (unchecked) automatically loading the last opened tabs when the solution is loaded.
  • Display warning message before clearing the Undo/Redo buffer check box:
    This check box allows to show a warning dialog when you make changes in an OTL editor and switch to another tab e.g. procedure tab. The dialog warns that the changes in the OTL shall clears all the current Undo/Redo buffers of all the workflow designers. Unchecking this check box shall hide the warning dialog.

Save

In this section, you can set the default storage location for the OTX solutions. You can also enable or disable creating copy backups of the OTX documents, see the "General" settings page of the Project Settings. The check box "Export old PTX-1 format" allows you to export a project into the old version PTX library to use with the older version of OTF.

Icons Note.png Note that if you check the "Export old PTX-1 format" check box, the "Security - PTX" section below shall be disabled, also the "Security" section of the Export Manager.

Save - PTX

This section allows you to configure the settings for exporting PTX/PPX libraries.

Below are the controls in this section with their descriptions (according to their positions from top to bottom):

Control                                                                         Description
OTX files check boxExclamation.png Enables to include the OTX folder containing all OTX files in the PTX library (checked) or not (unchecked) when exporting a project.
Runtime settings check boxExclamation.png Enables to include all emotive specific project settings in the PTX library (checked) or not (unchecked) when exporting a project.
Runtime-optimized binaries for DotNet check box Enables to include the Output folder containing the compiled and executable binaries for DotNet runtime in the PTX library (checked) or not (unchecked) when exporting a project.
Runtime-optimized binaries for Java check box Enables to include the Output folder containing the compiled and executable binaries for Java runtime in the PTX library (checked) or not (unchecked) when exporting a project.
Referenced projects combo box Allows to select a behavior with the externally referred PTX files.
Store APPs inside project check box Enables to copy all the referred external applications (from the central application folder) into the PTX/PPX library (checked) or not (unchecked) when exporting a project.
Open dialog when exporting check box Enables to display the "PTX Export Manager" dialog (checked) or not (unchecked) when exporting a project into a PTX/PPX file.

Security - PTX

This section allows you to configure the settings for PTX/PPX library encryption.

Below are the controls in this section with their descriptions (according to their positions from left to right and top to bottom):

Control                                                         Description
Private key text box Allows to specify a password to encrypt and/or sign the exported PTX/PPX library.
Encryption check boxExclamation.png Enables to encrypt the entire PTX/PPX file (checked) or not (unchecked) when exporting a project. The encrypted PTX/PPX file can only be opened by the OTX-Runtime API (DotNet/Java).
Protect ... with a checksum check boxExclamation.png Enables to protect the PTX/PPX file against an encrypted checksum (checked) or not (unchecked). The protected PTX/PPX file can be opened with the OTF or the OTX-Runtime API (DotNet/Java).
Has Algorithm combo boxExclamation.png Allows to select the hash algorithm.

Temporary Files

During the design time and run time, the OTF has to create some temporary files. This section allows you to clean up these temporary files from your computer free up lost space by using the "Clean up temporary files" button. You can also enable the function to automatically clean up these files after the OTF is closed by checking the corresponding check box below the clean up button.

OtfSetting General.png
The "General" page allows for customizing general settings of the OTF working environment

Runtime Environment settings

This page allows you to set up some settings related to the run time environment. Below are the sections in this page.

Target Platform section

This section allows to set the target platform for the run time of the OTF. You can select the Dotnet platform or Java platform with the "Target Platform" combo box.

Diagnostic Runtime System (MVCI-Server) section

Here you can find the name of the current Diagnostic Runtime System (MVCI-Server) used for the run time.

You can also open the MVCI-Server Configuration Program by clicking on the "Open..." button. In the MVCI-Server Configuration Program, you can switch the current MVCI-Server to another one or modify the current MVCI-Server.

The check box of diagnostic runtime system offline working allows to execute the procedure without vehicle connection. No exceptions shall be thrown.

OTX Home... section

The OTX search path (OTX-Home) determines the base directory to which all relative path specifications refer. In this section, you can enter the search path in the text box. The OTX search path can contain several directories separated by semicolons (";") and the placeholders "?" (One arbitrary character) and "*" (any characters). You can also use the placeholder "[ProjectDir]" (e.g. "[ProjectDir]/*"). Inside OTF "[ProjectDir]" corresponds to the project directory and in the OTX Runtime API to the directory in which the PTX or OTX or binary file (DLL, JAR) is located. When reading, the runtime environment takes each directory starting from the left as a base for relative paths. If the file is found, the search is canceled. The first directory is used for writing. It shall not contain wildcards. If no OTX search path is specified, the default value is "[ProjectDir];[ProjectDir]/..".

OtfSetting RuntimeEnvironment.png
The "Runtime Environment" page helps set up the target platform, the MVCI-Server and the OTX search path

Extensions settings

In this page, you can find all the supported OTX extensions with their licensing status. Only the full version license enables to show all of the extensions supported by the OTF.

The extensions are classified into 2 groups: the standard compliant extensions and the non-standard compliant extension (user defined extensions).

The extension settings help you hide the unused extensions in design time. To turn on or turn off an extension, please use the switch button at the left most of the corresponding extension. If an extension is turned off, the category related to that extension in the Toolbox window shall be hidden, and the related data types of the turned off extension shall not be displayed when creating or modifying a declaration, and all the entries related to that extension shall not be display in the OTL IntelliSense.

Icons Note.png The OTF still supports loading and running the OTX documents containing elements of turned off extensions. It only prevent to create new elements related to the turned off extensions.
OtfSetting Extensions.png
The "Extensions" page helps to manage the OTX and user-defined extensions

Addins settings

An addin file (*.ota) is a zipped and encrypted file containing all the necessary files to validate and build PTX/PPX libraries with the specific run time version and/or target environments. The addins can only be decrypted and unzipped by the OTF. After that, the addins must be started and used with the Builder Checker program which is described below.

The Addins setting page consists of a command bar and a gridview displaying all the imported addins. Please not that you can only select one addin at a time, the selected addin can be handled with the buttons in the command bar.

Below are the buttons in the command bar with their descriptions (according to their positions from left to right):

Button                               Description
Add... Opens a dialog to browse and add a new addin.
Select as default Sets the selected addin as the default addin. The default addin shall be displayed in the default addin combo box in the "Runtime Environment" tab of the Ribbon menu.
Delete Deletes the selected addin.
Open selected Addin... Opens the selected addin in the Builder Checker program.


Builder Checker program

The Builder Checker program is zipped inside an addin. After the addin is unzipped by the OTF, the Builder Checker program depends on the unzipped files of the addin to run that addin. In other words, a Builder Checker is associated with the addin, and can not be seperated with the addin.

With the Builder-Checker Addin, runtime-optimized PTX and PPX files can be generated and validated for a specific version and/or target environments. This is required for environments, e.g. Embedded Linux, which do not have their own code generation.

The Builder Checker program has the following controls with their descriptions (according to their positions from left to right and from top to bottom):

Control                                           Description
(PTX/PPX files or folders) combo box Users can manually input paths of the PTX/PPX libraries (or the folder containing the libraries) here to validate and build in the Builder Checker. This combo box can include many paths to libraries or to containing folders seperated with each other by the colon ";". You can also click on the dropdown button and select a recently loaded path collection.
Add Files... button Opens a browse window to add one or many PTX/PPX libraries, the new path(s) shall be appended to the current path collection of the "selected files" combo box. After adding new path(s), the list of libraries in the "PTX/PPX files" tree view shall be updated.
Add Folder... button Opens a browse window to add a folder containing libraries, the new path of the folder shall be appended to the current path collection of the "selected files" combo box. After adding new path(s), the list of libraries in the "PTX/PPX files" tree view shall be updated.
Delete button Clears the current path collection in the "selected files" combo box.
Reload button Reloads the list of libraries in the "PTX/PPX files" tree view. This button should be used when you manually add path(s) in the "selected files or folders" combo box.
Output Folder text box Users can manually input here the output folder for the output (built) PTX/PPX libraries.
(browse ...) button Opens a dialog to browse and select a folder as the Output Folder.
Open Folder button Opens the Output Folder in a new window explorer.
Build button Builds the selected PTX/PPX files into new files with the version of the addin, validates before building if the Validate (before build) is checked.
Check button Validates the selected PTX/PPX files.
Stop button Stops validating or building.
Create Protocol... buttonExclamation.png Creates protocol file for the current results of validation/building.
(open protocol) button Opens a dialog to browse and open a protocol file in the internet browser.
(PTX/PPX files) tree view Displays the loaded PTX/PPX files accordings to the paths in the selected PTX/PPX files or folder combo box, the errors or warnings of each PTX/PPX file and their building result states. Here you can select the files to be validated/built by ticking on the check boxes on the left of the files; you can also expand a file to view the error and warning detail or collapse it.
(status) label Displays the current states such as ready state, compiling state etc.
Error button Shows (button activated) or hides (button deactivated) errors.
Warning button Shows (button activated) or hides (button deactivated) warnings.
Custom Filter button Opens the "Custom Filter" dialog. Here in the dialog, you can switch filter ON or OFF, and you can select which errors or warnings to be displayed by checking at combo boxes of the check rule entries.
DotNet button Creates DotNet executable files in the newly built files (button activated) or not (button deactivated).
Java button Creates Java executable files in the newly built files (button activated) or not (button deactivated).
(include OTX files) buttonExclamation.png Includes the OTX files in the built files (button activated) or not (button deactivated).
(include settings) button Includes the project settings files in the built files (button activated) or not (button deactivated).
Password text box Sets the password to decrypt and load the encrypted PTX/PPX files, the files can be loaded only if the input password is the same with the password of the files. Otherwise, the files are marked with error and can not be validated/built.
ODX... button Opens the "ODX Diagnostic Data Settings" dialog to configure the new ODX database settings for all the built files (refers the DiagCom settings in the OTF, note that it does not have the PDX Converter section). If it is not configured, the built files use their own ODX database settings.
Validate (before build) button Enables to automatically validate the PTX/PPX files (button activated) or not (button deactivated) before building new files.
(add revision number) button Enables to attach revision number of the addin to the name of the built files (button activated) or not (button deactivated).
(overwrite existing files) button Enables to overwrite (without a query) the existing files having the same name with the built files (button activated) or not (button deactivated). If this button is deactivated when it build a new file into the output folder and there exists a file with the same name, it shall adds an automatically calculated number at the end "_number" to create a unique name.
OtfSetting Addins.png
The "Addins" page allows to manage the addins


BuilderChecker.png
The Builder Checker program allows to build and validate a PTX/PPX library with a particular addin

Themes settings

The Themes settings allows for configuring the typical display settings of the player monitor in design time of the OTF and in run time of the OTP, and saving the settings as theme files (*.playTheme) which can be selected and used later, or transferred to another computer.

Using so-called themes, the typical look of the Open Test Player (OTP) can be adapted to the corporate identity of the company. Company-specific colors, fonts, icons and a logo can be set. Optionally, different icons can be defined for the switchable day and night design in the player.

This settings page consists of the header section, the theme content view section and the preview section.

Header section

This section contains controls to manage the themes and some elements of the themes.

Below are the controls in this section with their descriptions (according to their positions from left to right and from top to bottom):

Control                                             Description
Current Design combo box Allows to select the current theme for the player in design time of the OTF.
Import... button Imports a new theme file to use.
Save as... button Saves the current theme (along with the current modifications, if any) as a new theme.
Add icon button Adds a new icon line into the Icon panel of the theme content view.
Delete button Deletes the selected icon lines in the Icon panel of the theme content view.
Reset to default values... button Resets all the current settings in the theme content view back to the default settings (defaultSilver theme).

Theme Content View section

This section displays all the settings of the current theme. There are 4 panels inside the content view: Colors panel, Fonts panel, Logo panel and Icons panel.

Colors panel

You can find color pickers for each elements of a monitor (this also used for the start page and the background of the OTP application). Each element has 2 color pickers corresponding to the Day view mode and Night view mode.

Fonts panel

This panel allows to configure the font settings used in the monitor design time and the OTP application.

Logo panel

Here you can customize the OTP application with your own company logo. It allows to set logos for the Day view mode and Night view mode. If you only input a logo for a view mode, the logo shall be used for the both view mode.

Icons Note.png Note that only the shape of the logo can be taken and used. You should save an PNG file with shape only and with transparent background; other wise, the displayed logo shall be unexpected shape e.g only a rectangle shape if you input here a rectangle image with details inside.
Icons Note.png The logo shall not be displayed with the original color but it shall be displayed with the "Base" color in the Colors panel

Icons panel

This panel displays all the including default icons in the current theme file which can be applied for the "Symbol" controls used in the players. Here you can delete the existing ones and add your new icon sets. It allows to set icons for the Enabled/Disabled Day view mode and Enabled/Disabled Night view mode. If you only input an icon for a view mode, the icon shall be used for the all other view modes.

Preview section

Here you can see the general preview of the current theme settings. This helps you to observe how the modification looks in the player designer and in the OTP application immediately. However, to check the detail changes of font size, icons etc., you still have to go back to the player designer or you have to save the current theme and load it in the OTP application.

OtfSetting Themes.png
The "Themes" page allows to modify or create a theme used in OTF and OTP

Error Reporting settings

The Error Reporting settings help the emotive to improve the OTF product quality. Some OTF bugs may be difficult to reproduce but the OTF has its own traces for the activities in OTF. After the OTF has been closed unexpectedly (crashes), when you start the OTF again, it shall automatically gather all the old OTF traces files and the related Windows XML Event Log (*.evtx) in a zipped file, an error report file, which is ready to be sent to emotive. With the error report from the customers, the emotive can simplified the troubleshooting.

Icons Note.png Note that when the OTF is restarted after the crash and the Error Reporting is enabled, the current trace files shall be cut and pasted in the in the error report zipped file. The new empty trace file shall be created for the new working sessions of the OTF.

Below are the controls in the page with their descriptions (according to their positions from left to right and from top to bottom):

Control                                                     Description
Trace Level combo box Allows to set the level for tracing the activities in the OTF.
Open Trace file folder... button Opens the storage folder of the trace files in a new window.
Active Error Reporting switch button Enables to create the zipped error report file with the OTF trace files and related Windows XML Event Log (*.evtx), when the OTF is closed unexpectedly (please refer the note above).
Send e-mail... button Opens new email message window with the default mail client, already input the necessary texts such as receiver (support@emotive.de), mail title and draft content. You then need to attached all the report files and trace files, and write a brief description of the error, and send the e-mail. We recommend deleting the error report files after sending.
Open Folder... button Opens the storage folder of the error report files in a new window. You can take these files to attach to the report e-mail.
Reload button Updates the list of the error report files from the storage folder in the gridview (see gridview description below).
Delete button Deletes the selected error report files in the gridview (see gridview description below).
Include trace files check box Enables to include the trace files in the zipped error report file (checked) or not (unchecked).
Error Report gridview Displays all the error report files in the storage folder with file name, created date and size. Here you can select one or more error report files (using CTRL key, or SHIFT, or mouse drag or CTRL+A) to use with the Delete button above or with the DEL key. You can also sort the error report by date by clicking on the header of the "Date" column.
OtfSetting ErrorReporting.png
The "Error Reporting" page helps to manage the error report files of the OTF

Experts settings

This page contains the following sections which allows you to customize the specialized settings for the working environment of the OTF:

Save section

Here you can determine to store the ADMIN MetaData of an OTX document as a seperated file in the same package folder or store within the OTX document by checking or unchecking the related check box. Its default state is unchecked.

Sequence Designer section

The name of the activities (OTX nodes) in the Workflow Designer are optional. This section allows you to enable or disable the function of automatically creating unique names for the new activities in the workflow designer by using the corresponding check box.

Validation section

Normally, the OTF validates the current project (and all the referred projects) before executing a workflow. If there are critical errors, the execution shall not run.

In this section, you can find the check box "No Validation before execution", this check box allows to turn off the validation (ignore the critical errors) in run time. However, critical errors signal that the OTX sequences are incomplete or ill-designed so turning off the validation may result in unexpected behavior in run time.

Here in this section, you can also add the additional schema for the OTX-Extensions which are not supported by the OTF to validate documents/projects while they are being imported into the OTF. You can manually input the path for the schema file in the related text box or use the "Browse" button to browse to the schema location.

XSL Stylesheet Support section

This section related to the OTX-Viewer project of emotive which supports to view PTX libraries or OTX documents in the internet browser by adapting XSL Stylesheet for the OTX documents (click here for more information). This section allows to adapt or clean the XSL Stylesheet in all the available documents in the current solution with the "Adapt all documents" button and the "Clean all documents" button.

DoIP Support section

This section allows to configure some settings related to the DoIP support in runtime.

  • OptionString compliant to MVCI standard text box
  • Set ActivationLine (required by some VCIs) check box
  • Waiting time after activating the ActivationLine [ms] text box
  • Show vehicle selection dialog, even if only one interface is found check box

ODX-Database section

This section allows to configure the global settings for the ODX Database. Below are the check boxes in this section with their descriptions:

  • ODX-Database Synchronization check box:
    • Preconditions: This check box is checked and the solution contains projects using different ODX Databases. Note that this check box has no effect on the projects not using the Diagnostic Runtime System. If all the preconditions are not satisfied, then the behaviors below shall not work.
      • When you load the solution, or add a new or an existing project, or add a PTX/PPX as project, there shall be a dialog asking whether you want to adapt the used ODX Database of the Startup project for all the other projects using database in the solution. If you click Yes button all the projects using ODX Databases shall be adapted with the ODX Database of the Startup project; otherwise, if you click No button, it shall not adapt.
      • When you open the project settings of a project using the Diagnostic Runtime System (you may change the ODX Database) and click OK, the selected ODX Database (even the "None") shall be automatically adapted to all the other projects using ODX Databases; otherwise, if you click Cancel button, it shall not adapt.
  • Default value for the property 'PerformVariantSelection' of GetComChannel activity check box:
    Normally, the default 'PerformVariantSelection' of GetComChannel activity is false. If this check box is checked, if you add a new GetComChannel activity or add a DiagCom activities already containing the GetComChannel term, the 'PerformVariantSelection' is always set to true.
  • Display Id of TextTable Elements text box:
    If this check box is checked, the ID (ByteField) shall be displayed before each TextTable element of the TextTable Request parameter in the "Diagnostic Database" category of the Toolbox and in the Request-/Respond- parameters dialog of the ExecuteDiagService activity e.g. 0F - MainNetwork.

OTX-Mapping section

This section allows for configure the global settings for the OTX Mapping. Belows are the setting controls in this section:

  • APPs are stored outside the project in a central place check box:
    If this check box is checked, the OTX Mapping design time and run time in the OTF shall search and use the external applications in a global central folder; otherwise, the OTX Mapping in each project shall search and use the external applications in the application folder within the project folder. Note that if this check box is unchecked, all other settings in this section shall be disabled.
  • Central path for applications text box:
    This text box display the path of the current global central folder for the external applications. Here you can manually input or modify the path.
  • Browse button:
    When you click at this button, a dialog occurs for you to browse and select a folder as the global central folder, the selected folder shall be updated in the text box above.
  • Edit... button:
    This button allows to open the Application Folder manager dialog.

Application Folder manager dialog

The dialog consists of a command bar and an application gridview (see the image above). The gridview displays all the available external applications in the central folder with the detailed information such as name, version, changed data and size. Here in the gridview, you can select one or many applications (using CTRL key or SHIFT key) which can be handled with the buttons in the command bar.

Below are the buttons in this the command bar with their descriptions (according to their positions from left to right):

Button                                             Description
Add application... Opens a dialog to browse and add a new application (*.dll or *.exe) into the central folder.
Open Opens the global central folder in a new window explorer.
Delete Deletes the selected applications.
Create application container...Exclamation.png Creates an zipped and encrypted container file (*.apc) which contains all the selected applications. The container can not be unzipped normally, it can only be decrypted and unzipped by the OTF.
Load application container...Exclamation.png Opens a dialog to browse for a container file (*.apc), and then extracts all its applications into the global central folder.

Others section

This section allows to specify the prefix for copying and for the OTX-ID through the following text boxes:

  • Prefix for copying text box:
    Here you can input the prefix for the name of the copy of any OTX elements in an OTX document e.g. prefix 'emotive' shall be added to the copy of the 'Variable1' as 'emotiveVariable1'. Note that does not affect the existing elements.
  • OTX-ID button:
    Here you can input the prefix for the ID of all the newly created OTX elements in an OTX document e.g. prefix 'emotive' shall be added to the ID of the newly created 'Variable1' as 'emotive_VariableDeclaration_94b516346858438cba90fae3bfe2fee2'. Note that does not affect the existing elements.
OtfSetting Experts.png
The "Experts" page allows to customize the specialized settings for the working environment of the OTF


ApplicationFolderManager.png
The Application Folder manager allows to manage the external applications in the central application folder