Starting the Frontend with a Remote Connection

MERLIC enables you to start a Frontend without starting a locally installed MERLIC core The processing unit of a running MERLIC Vision App.. This is especially useful if you want to access the MERLIC server from a remote computer. The MERLIC server is part of the core that was started on a host machine. To enable a remote connection, you need to specify the MERLIC server to which the Frontend should connect to, i.e., the provided channels and the host machine of the MERLIC server.

You can specify the MERLIC server by setting the connection settings either in the INI file ("MERLIC5.ini" by default) or as command line option.

Connection Settings in the INI File
Connection Settings as Command Line Option

See the chapters Frontend Configuration and Server Configuration for more information about the configuration settings.

Prerequisites

MERLIC must be installed on the server as well as the client.
To establish a connection, the server must already be running.

Compatibility of remote Frontend connections between MERLIC 5.7.1 and older version:

When connecting the Frontend of a MERLIC 5.7.1 installation remotely to an instance of the MERLIC Creator or MERLIC RTE of a MERLIC 5.1 installation (or older), the connection succeeds but the Frontend window remains blank. Vice versa, the Frontend of a MERLIC 5.1 (or older) installation fails to display the Frontend served up by an instance of MERLIC Creator or MERLIC RTE of a MERLIC 5.7.1 installation.

Connection Settings in the INI File

The Frontend connection settings in the INI configuration file are defined by the settings for "Host" and "Port". Both have a predefined default value which is used if no value is specified in the INI file or as command line argument:

Property	Default value
Host	127.0.0.1
Port	9090

You may adjust the settings in the default MERLIC5.ini file or define your own INI configuration file. An example configuration of the connection settings within the INI file might be the following:

Copy

[Frontend]
Host=localhost
Port=9090

See the chapter Frontend Configuration for more information about the configuration settings.

Starting a Remote Frontend Using Connection Settings Defined in the INI File

If you have adjusted the connection settings in your INI file, you may start a Frontend with a remote connection.

On the computer where the Frontend should be started, connect to the remote computer on which MERLIC is installed.
Open a command prompt and change to the "bin\x64-win64" directory within the MERLIC installation path, for example, "%PROGRAMFILES%\MVTec\MERLIC-5.7\bin\x64-win64".
Start a remote Frontend:

Use settings of the default MERLIC5.ini file:
Copy
```
merlic_frontend.exe
```

Use the command line option --ini to open the Frontend with the settings of a specified INI file:
Copy
```
merlic_frontend.exe --ini <FILENAME>.ini
```

If no connection settings have been defined in the respective INI file, the default values will be used.

Connection Settings as Command Line Options

You may also define the connection settings for the Frontend as command line argument when starting the remote Frontend. For this, you can use the command line option "--tcp <HOST:PORT>" as described in the section below. If any connection setting is specified in form of a command line option, the connection settings in the INI file will be ignored even if an INI file is specified in the call.

Starting a Remote Frontend Using Connection Settings Defined in Command Line Options

Connect to the remote computer on which MERLIC is installed.
Open a command prompt and change to the "bin\x64-win64" directory within the MERLIC installation path, for example, "%PROGRAMFILES%\MVTec\MERLIC-5.7\bin\x64-win64".
Start a remote Frontend using the call "merlic_frontend.exe" and use the command line option "--tcp" to connect the Frontend to the MERLIC server at <HOST:PORT>. HOST defines the name or IP of the host machine and PORT defines the port to which the server listens.
Copy
```
merlic_frontend.exe --tcp <HOST:PORT>
```

For a complete list of command line options for "merlic_frontend.exe", see the section Command Line Options. Furthermore, the options "-h" and "--help" display help for the available command line options.

Command Line Options

MERLIC provides several command line options for "merlic_frontend.exe".

Command line option	Description
-h, --help	Get help for the available command line options and arguments.
-V, --version	Display the MERLIC version.
--ini	Set the full path and file name of the INI file that is used for the configuration of the MERLIC settings, e.g., settings for the Frontend, process integration mode, or logging. If the Frontend is started from the MERLIC Creator, the -ini option, that was used for starting the MERLIC Creator, is forwarded to the Frontend.
--tcp <hostname or ip address>:<port>	Set a hostname or an IP address, and the TCP/IP port to configure to which computer the Frontend shall be connected.
--hide_window_title_bar=true	Starts the MERLIC Frontend without showing the title bar of the application window. This will also affect the keyboard shortcuts that can be used e.g., to close the window.
--icon_file	Specify a custom icon for the Frontend. It will be shown in the window title bar and the task bar instead of the default MERLIC icon. You have to define the absolute path and file name of the icon.
--fullscreen	Starts the MERLIC Frontend in full screen mode.