ConfigManager

The ConfigManager provides a user interface to read, manipulate and write configuration data to and from the iRJ45.

Open

The ConfigManager consists of two toolbar items, the Editor area and the Outline. 

Tool Bar

The tool bar items of the ConfigManager provide the following functionalities:

Tool	Function	Decription
Open	Read configuration	Reads a configuration from a selected device. Only active if the ConfigManager is active and device is selected in the Network Navigator.
	Write configuration	Writes a configuration back to the device. Only active if the ConfigManager is active, a device is selected, and a variable was changed in the Editor.

Reading a configuration

To read a configuration of a device, select the ConfigManager, select the according device in the Network Navigator and click on the Tool bar item “Read configuration”. The “Read configuration” dialog will now appear showing the progress of the read operation.

Upon completion, the dialog can be closed by selecting Ok which will then show the configuration in the Editor. By clicking on Cancel, the read configuration is discarded. 

Variable access rights 

The AC application can set explicit read and write access rights for each variable of the ConfigManager. Both rights may occur in any combination:

• Read only: The variable can only be read. E.g. used for statistical data or version numbers. Read only values cannot be edited in the ConfigManager.

• Write only: Used for variables that shall not be transmitted. E.g. used for passwords where transmission might be inherent unsafe. An attempt to read a write only variable will result in an empty value.

• Read/Write: The variable can be read and written. 

The access rights information is also contained in a snapshot (see section 12).

Viewing and editing values

After reading a configuration from a device, the different values are shown in the Editor area.

The configuration of an iRJ45 is divided into different modules, which can contain several variables. Modules and variables are identifiable via names. Variables have a specific data type describing their possible value ranges.

All variables can be read, for writing variables restrictions on special variables such as the MAC address may apply.

The Editor reflects this structure by splitting the view into six columns:

• Module: The module name of the variable. In case the module is not known to the Editor, the unique module id of the module is shown.

• Variable: The name of the variable. In case the variable is not known to the Editor, the variable id is shown.

• Action: Variables may provide special actions. E.g. the COMMIT variable of the module GOAL_ID_NET is used to trigger the application of a new IP setting. Although not directly writable, it provides the action “Apply IP settings” which can be triggered via the button in the Action column of the variable.

• Type: The type of the variable. Beside the basic Integer data types (signed and unsigned), String, IPv4 and generic octet stream data types are available.

• Temp: Some variables are not directly used to store values but are used to trigger actions e.g. the described COMMIT variable of GOAL_ID_NET. Such variables are marked with an “X” in the column “Temp”

• Read: Describes whether the variable can be read (see section 5.3 for further remarks).

• Write: Describes whether the variable can be written (see section 5.3 for further remarks).

• Value: The value of the variable depending on the data type. When hovering over the value column, additional information may be provided, depending on the data type.

To edit a value, click on the value and an edit field depending on the data type will open. After editing the value, the data can be applied by hitting the “Enter” key or discarded by hitting “Esc” or clicking on a different row.

The Editor marks hexadecimal values by adding a 0x in front of the value. This prefix cannot be deleted in the editor e.g. an empty generic octet string is shown as 0x in the editor.

After applying the value to a variable, the value field of the row is marked with a yellow background to indicate the value was changed but no written back to the device.

The yellow background remains until the value is changed back to its original value, the configuration was successfully written back to the device or the was read again from the device. 

Writing a configuration 

A configuration can be written to the device by clicking on “Write configuration” in the tool bar. The Editor opens a dialog asking whether all values shall be written or only changed values.

Depending on the choice, the changed variables or all variables are written back to the device. The progress is shown in a dialog.

Writing a configuration only stores the data in the volatile memory of the device. To store the data in the flash memory, the Editor asks whether this shall be executed after send the configuration.

After selecting “Yes”, the Editor triggers the write action which may take up to 3s. The progress is shown in a dialog.

After the successful completion of the operation, the Editor confirms the action.

Writing to the flash can also triggered by clicking on “Save config to flash” located at the bottom of the editor.

Import/Export of configurations

The Editor can export a configuration read from a device to an XML file. 

To export a configuration, click on “Export Config” which will open a file selection dialog. The default name of the file is cfg_<devicename>_<data>.cfg

To import a configuration, read the configuration from a device, then click on “Import Config” and select the appropriate file to import. The Editor will the read the values from the file and apply changed values to the existing variables in the Editor. Changed values are marked by a yellow background in the Value column as described in section Viewing and editing values.

Importing configurations also works with partial configurations.

After importing a configuration, the values can be sent to the device as described in section Writing a configuration