Edit Properties with the Advanced Mode

Many more properties can be found by clicking the Advanced Mode button at the lower-right of the Edit Properties dialog. This changes the view to a list of all properties in effect for this application, including those configured in OEM layers. These give you extensive control over how your application looks and works.

These notes do not attempt to describe each of the nearly 1000 properties available. You are encouraged to refer to the property reference section of the VTScada documentation to explore the options.

... Changes the display to...

Do not reassign any VTScada property for another use. All the default properties are needed for their intended purpose.

Gray font / Black font?

Properties displayed in a black font are defined in the current application and can be edited there. Properties displayed in a faint gray font are defined in a lower layer. These OEM properties affect your application but cannot be modified within it.

To override a gray (OEM) property, select it, then use the Copy button to copy it to your application. After copying, you can change the local instance to the value you want. Changes made to that property in the underlying application will no longer affect your application.

The following tools are available to help you work with the property list in the advanced mode:

• Hide OEM Properties removes all but the local properties from view.
• Filter the list, by entering a portion of a property name and the * wildcard, then press enter or press the filter button. For example, enter Disp* to find most Display Manager properties.
• Sort the list by clicking on any column header. Reverse the sort order by clicking a second time.

Property Attributes

Every property has seven attributes, which can be seen in the seven table headings. These are:

Property Name	Simply, the name of the property. Most can be found in the Reference chapters of the VTScada documentation.
Section	Every property must belong to a section. These cannot be assigned randomly. VTScada will ignore any property definition that is located in the wrong section (with a few exceptions). Common sections are [System] and [Application].
Value	All properties are stored as text, including those written out as numbers. Some properties are set to blank. In most cases, blank means "use the default", which might mean, "don't use this feature".
Workstation	You can define properties whose value applies only to the named workstation. These will be saved in files named for the workstation. Auto-Deploy is an example of a workstation-specific property.
Restart	If a property has a check mark in this column, then any change to that property will require the application to be restarted before the change will take effect. Properties that require a restart are stored in the file Settings.Startup. All other properties are stored in the file Settings.Dynamic. Note that, as soon as you click the Apply Changes button to save a property that requires a restart, no further development work can be done in the application until that restart occurs. Therefore, choose your timing of such changes carefully.
OEM	Any property with a check mark in the OEM column is defined in that layer. There may or may not be a copy of the property in the current application layer. If so, that copy will override the value in the OEM layer.
Comment	An optional description of the property. When working directly with the configuration files, this must be stored on the line below the property definition or it will be taken as part of the value.

Change (or add) a property value (Advanced mode):

The general steps are as follows:

1. Open the Application Configuration dialog.
2. Open the Edit Properties page.
   
   
3. Find the property...
   1. The properties used most often, can be found in one of the four tabs of the basic mode: Display, Alarms, Historical Data Viewer or Other.
   2. For other properties, click the Advanced Mode button to view a list of all. The list can be sorted by name, type, and value.
   3. Advanced Mode: If the property has not yet been set in the current application, copy it from the underlying OEM layer. OEM properties are shown in gray and have a check mark in the OEM column.
   4. If the property is not listed, click the Insert button to add it.
4. Change the property's value.
5. Apply the changes.
   You may need to deploy the change if Automatically deploy local changes is not selected in the "Other" tab of the basic mode.

Widgets to change a property value

If you need to change the value any property on a regular basis, it may be inconvenient to open the Application Properties menu. Instead, you can use an Edit Property Checkbox or an Edit Property Field to modify that property on any of your pages. This may be especially helpful when you need to allow an operator to change a property but do not want to grant Application Configuration rights to the operator's role or account.