Additional Settings for Communication Plugins

MERLIC provides some additional settings for communication plugins. Some of these settings are required if you want to use custom communication plugins that you have implemented yourself.

All of these settings can be adjusted in the MERLIC configuration file, that is, in the INI file. You can change the settings in the default "MERLIC5.ini" file or in a separate INI file. If you want to set up different configurations for different use cases, you can create and maintain multiple INI files. You just have to make sure to start MERLIC RTE with the desired INI file if you want to use a different configuration than the one defined in "MERLIC5.ini". For more information on how to create a new INI file and how to start MERLIC RTE with a specific INI file, see Using Multiple MERLIC RTE Instances.

The following additional settings can be defined:

• Location of communication plugins
• Configuration directory of communication plugins

Location of Communication Plugins

If you implemented your own communication plugins, you might need to specify the location of the respective plugin files for MERLIC RTE. By default, MERLIC searches the directory where the MERLIC executable files are located, for example, in "%PROGRAMFILES%\MVTec\MERLIC-26.10\bin\x64-win64". This is the directory where the provided communication plugins of MERLIC are located. If you implemented your own communication plugin and placed the respective library in a different location, you have to specify the location of your custom plugin for MERLIC RTE. Otherwise, the communication plugin cannot be found and will not be available for use in the MERLIC RTE Setup.

You can configure the list of plugin directories in the INI configuration file. This way, you can use communication plugins from different directories in the same MERLIC RTE instance. All specified plugin directories will be searched for plugin libraries with the required "pmV" prefix for communication plugins. In the MERLIC RTE Setup, you will get a list of all communication plugins that have been found in the specified directories.

Defining the Plugin Directories in the INI File

The plugin directories can be configured in the [Communicator] section of the INI file.

1. Open the INI file you want to use.
2. Check whether the INI file contains a [Communicator] section. If not, add the section by adding the heading [Communicator].
3. Add the plugin directories to the [Communicator] section using the property "PluginDir" as shown in the example below. The list must be provided as a semicolon-separated list.
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   [Communicator]
   PluginDir=C:/communicator/plugins;C:/Program Files/MVTec/MERLIC-26.10/bin/x64-win64

This way, you can use communication plugins from different directories in the same MERLIC RTE instance. All specified plugin directories will be searched for plugin libraries with the required "pmV" prefix for communication plugins. In the "Communication" tab of the MERLIC RTE Setup, you will get a list of all communication plugins that have been found in the specified directories. If a plugin with the same name appears in two or more of the specified plugin directories, it is only listed once. When adding this plugin to the MERLIC RTE Setup, the version in the directory which appeared first in the list of plugin directories is used.

If you configured the plugin directories in the default INI file "MERLIC5.ini", MERLIC will automatically search the specified plugin directories when starting MERLIC RTE and all found plugins will be available in the MERLIC RTE Setup. If you configured the directories in a different INI file, you have to make sure that MERLIC RTE is using the configuration of the respective INI file. For this, you have to specify the desired INI file when starting MERLIC RTE using the command line option "‑‑ini". For more information, see Using Multiple MERLIC RTE Instances.

Configuration Directory of Communication Plugins

MERLIC allows changing the location for the JSON configuration files of communication plugins. By default, the plugin configuration files are located in "%AppData%\MVTec\Communicator\conf\" on Windows systems and "~/.config/MVTec/Communicator/conf" on Linux systems.

If you want to change the configuration directory, for example, because you have no write access to the default directory, you can specify the desired location in the INI configuration file.

Changing the Configuration Directory in the INI File

1. Open the INI file you want to use.
2. Check whether the INI file contains a [Communicator] section. If not, add the section by adding the heading [Communicator].
3. Define the configuration directory in the [Communicator] section using the property "ConfigDir" as shown in the example below.
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   [Communicator]
   ConfigDir=D:/merlic/plugin_configuration

If the specified configuration directory doesn't exist, it will be created automatically when starting MERLIC RTE.

If you configured the location in the default INI file "MERLIC5.ini", the changes will be applied automatically when starting MERLIC RTE. The respective configuration files of the communication plugins will be automatically placed in the defined directory. If you configured the location in a different INI file, you have to make sure that MERLIC RTE is using the configuration of the respective INI file. For this, you have to specify the desired INI file when starting MERLIC RTE using the command line option "‑‑ini". For more information, see Using Multiple MERLIC RTE Instances.