1. Tips for Designing Mimics

We recommend that you do the following BEFORE using the Classic user interface to design mimics:
•  Design your mimics on a single computer
•  DISABLE the zooming functionality provided by the mimic
•  Use the SAME Windows style (theme) for designing and viewing mimics.
•  Use the SAME screen aspect ratio for designing and viewing mimics.
•  Use the SAME screen resolution for designing and viewing mimics.

2. Tips for selecting what data to log

To assist in making the often-difficult decision, of exactly what data should be logged, one or more of the following tips can be used:
•  You cannot usefully log anything at a rate that is faster than the data it actually being acquired.
•  The usefulness or “relevance” of the logged data degrades over time. In other words, the required accuracy of the logged data depends upon when it will be analysed after it has been recorded, as follows:

 

 
Tip: After importing your scanning, manually set the output enabled and/or input inhibit status for each scan point as required from the scanning dialog. Since Adroit is unable to import these statuses.
Tip: Restarting the Agent Server causes it to startup faster than when it is shut down and then restarted
Tip: You should never externally manipulate the localtime slot of the Date agent from a mimic using an operator action.  The localtime slot must be used for viewing the time and the ucttime slot MUST be used for manipulating the datetime value.  This is by design of the Date agent only.  All other time slots in Adroit can be viewed and edited directly.

3. When to use Explicit Connections to connect to remote Agent Servers

If your Agent Server needs to proxy information from (or has a cluster partner to) a remote agent server whose broadcasts cannot be seen then you must use an explicit connections to connect to this remote agent server. Remote agent server broadcasts will not be seen if agent servers are on different domains or different sides of a router/switch which blocks broadcasts.

4. Something to consider when running a proxy Agent Server as a service

If your proxy Agent Server is running as a service then ensures that it is NOT using the Local System account as this MAY not have any connection rights to the remote Agent Servers and so will NOT create proxies to them. If this IS the case, change the Agent Server service to Log on as the local or domain Administrator or a suitable user instead.

5. Something to consider when using DBAccess agents and running your Agent Server as a service

If you are running your Agent Server as a service, then ensure that it is NOT using the Local System account as this MAY not have the necessary rights to browse the network and connect to the remote database. If this IS the case, your DBAccess agents will be unable to transact with the remote database. So again, change the Agent Server service to Log on as the local or domain Administrator or a suitable user instead.
If you are connecting to a SQL database, you can prevent this situation from occurring by changing the DBAccess agent’s connection string to use SQL authentication and not Windows authentication.

6. How to connect Agent Servers if your Network does not have WINS or DNS Configured

If your computer network does not have a method of resolving computer names (such as WINS or DNS), then you can use IP addresses in place of the PC name, when creating explicit connections to connect to other Agent Servers.

7. A Possible Solution if you are having Difficulty Browsing the Network

If you try to browse the network and are told that you do not have the rights or privileges to access the network. Then:
First ensure that your DNS is working, by opening the Start/Run dialog, typing in a computer name ( e.g. \\COMPUTER1) and ensure that this computer’s shares are displayed OK.
If this is working then you may need to enable your NETBIOS, especially when you have a WINS role configured on your Domain Controller.
Note:  The following procedure applies to Windows XP.
Click the Start menu.
Select the Settings menu and click on Network Connections.
Right-click the Local Area Connection and click on Properties.
In the General tab, scroll down the This connection uses the following items list and select the Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) item.
Click the Properties button.
Click the Advanced button.
Select the WINS tab of the Advanced TCP/IP Settings dialog.
Click the Enable NetBIOS over TCP/IP setting.
Click OK to all the open dialogs.
Restart your computer and you should now be able to browse the network, if not then some other networking issue is preventing you from doing so.

8. Quick access to OPUS Queries

For quick access to your OPUS queries, simply right-click on the required datasource in the Report View pane in the OPUS Configurator and select Edit Queries.

9. Using Preview Watches values

To enter a constraint value in the constraint input box of the OleDB datasource client that is listed in the Preview Watches, simply click and drag this value into the constraint input box.

10. Re-adding a datasource with the same name

Deleting a datasource that is currently being used in a report will cause that report not to display the necessary data. Re-adding a datasource with the same name will NOT get your reports working again because datasource items in reports are linked to their relevant datasource by ID and not by name.

11. Generate a report with default parameters

Click on the report icon to the left of the report name in the OPUS web page client to generate a report with default parameters. This will not prompt the user to input parameter values.

12. Group data in Flex Sheet by column

The Group By mode in the Flex Sheet report is used to group data by a column by dragging the required column header into the drag-drop area at the top of the report element. The first column header used for grouping data should always be sorted before dragging into the drag-drop area by clicking once on the required column header. This ensures that no duplicates values are displayed in that group.