Configuring the Frontend and Frontend Server

There are various configuration options for the MERLIC Frontend and the respective server component of the MERLIC Frontend. They can be set via the INI file of MERLIC or via command line options.

Specifying Properties in the INI File

You can adjust the INI configuration for the MERLIC Frontend and the Frontend server in the default INI file or create a new one for your application. On Windows systems, the default "MERLIC5.ini" file is located in the directory "%APPDATA%\MVTec". On Linux systems, it is expected in the directory "~/.config/MVTec/".

Properties for the MERLIC Frontend must be added to the section with label [Frontend]. Properties for the Frontend server must be added to the section with label [Server]. If the INI file does not contain theses labels yet, you may add them to the file and add the respective settings.

Example

The following example configuration defines settings for the MERLIC Frontend and the Frontend server.

Copy

[Frontend]
ReconnetInterval=50

[Server]
MaxConnections=5
WriteLockTimeout=10000

INI Properties for the Frontend

The following INI properties refer to the MERLIC Frontend and its connection to the Frontend server component, which might be an instance of MERLIC Creator or MERLIC RTE. They must be defined in the [Frontend] section of the INI file.

Property	Default	Description
CycleTime	50 [ms]	The MERLIC Frontend continuously polls the MERLIC server for new data. The "CycleTime" property defines the minimum interval between two polling requests. It is defined in milliseconds. This can be used to throttle the MERLIC Frontend and reduce the work load of the MERLIC server.
GuiLanguage		This property can be used to set the language in which the MERLIC Frontend shall be started, for example, "en_US".
ReconnectInterval	25 [s]	This property is used when the connection to the Frontend server has been lost. Initially, the Frontend will attempt to reconnect once. If this fails, a reconnection is attempted in a specific time interval which is defined in "ReconnectInterval". It defines the time (in seconds) that will pass until a reconnection is attempted. If it is set to 0, the Frontend will attempt to reconnect as fast as possible.
Url		This property can be used to connect the MERLIC Frontend directly to a specific MERLIC instance on a specific system. When starting the MERLIC Frontend, it will automatically try to connect to the respective system and you do not have to select the MERLIC instance manually via the "Select instances" dialog. You can specify the URL for the desired system and MERLIC instance with the following supported formats: ws[s]://<HOST>[:<PORT>]/instances/<INSTANCE_NAME> unix:///<PATH_TO_INSTANCE>/me-<INSTANCE_NAME> tcp://<HOST>:<PORT> (legacy) The URL can also be specified when starting the MERLIC Frontend via command line by using the command line option "‑‑url". In this case, the URL setting in the INI file will be ignored and the MERLIC Frontend connects to the system and MERLIC instance defined in the command line. For more information, see Starting the MERLIC Frontend on Windows and Connecting the MERLIC Frontend to a Remote Server. The format with the "tcp" scheme is legacy and supported only for use with MERLIC version 26.03 or older. It might be removed in future MERLIC versions.

For more information on further INI properties for the MERLIC Frontend, see the section [Frontend] on page The MERLIC INI File.

INI Properties for the Frontend Server

The following INI properties refer to the Frontend server and its connection to MERLIC Frontends. They must be defined in the [Server] section of the INI file.

Property	Default	Description
AnonymizeFrontendLog	false	This property can be used to define if the logged data is stored together with the corresponding user who made the changes. If it is set to "false", the user name is also logged. If it is set to "true", the data is logged without any user information.
MaxConnections	10	This property sets the maximum number of allowed simultaneous connected MERLIC Frontends.
WriteLockTimeout	10000 [ms]	This property sets the duration for the write lock of a MERLIC Frontend that is activated when a user interaction in a concurrent MERLIC Frontend has been finished. If multiple MERLIC Frontends are used simultaneously and a user performs any interaction within a MERLIC Frontend, all other MERLIC Frontends will be locked. When the user stops interacting in the MERLIC Frontend, the counter of "WriteLockTimeout" starts. In case of another user interaction, the write-permission is automatically renewed. If no further user interaction takes place during this time, the permission for modifying parameters can again be requested by any other connected MERLIC Frontend.

These INI settings are only applied if the server component of the MERLIC Frontend is activated. It the Frontend server has been deactivated they will have no effect.

Deactivating the Frontend Server

By default, the Frontend server component is always started during the initialization of MERLIC. If you have no need for the MERLIC Frontend in your productive environment, you can deactivate the Frontend server.

The configuration can be adjusted with the INI property "StartServer". It must be defined in the [General] section of the INI file. By default, the INI file contains no entry for the "StartServer" property. Therefore, the default setting will be used, which means that the Frontend server will be started.

To deactivate the server component for the MERLIC Frontend, add the INI property "StartServer" to the [General] section and set it to "false":

Copy

[General]
StartServer=false

If the server component for the MERLIC Frontend is deactivated, all INI settings defined in the [Server] section will have no effect.