The local server list
ecFlowUI maintains its local server list. This is populated when you first start ecFlowUI by importing an existing server list from ecFlowview; from then on, the two lists are not synchronised.
Loading servers from the menu
The Servers menu contains all your favourite servers and the ones already loaded in the current tab. It also makes all the servers available in a submenu.
Selecting a server from the menu will add it to the tree view. For large servers, a Loading indicator may appear, but the user interface is still responsive.
The Manage servers dialogue
Servers can be fully managed (added, removed, renamed etc) by using the Manage servers dialogue. You can start it up from the toolbar icon
or from the Servers menu or using the Ctrl+N short-cut.
This dialogue is also where servers can be set as favourites for easy access.
Server names
A server is identified by its name, host and port. A server name is just an alias that your are free to customise. The only requirement is that each server must have a unique name.
System server list
ecFlowUI can make use of a centrally maintained server list. This list, if exists, is stored in the ecflow installation directory in file:
share/ecflow/servers
Servers appearing in this list are marked as "system" in ecFlowUI and represented by a different colour and icon decoration (in column "S") in the Manage servers dialogue (see server "demo2" in the snapshot below).
Please note that servers marked as "system" cannot be modified or removed. Instead they are managed by an automatic update process (see below).
Getting updates from the system server list
On each startup ecFlowUI checks the system server list and updates its local server list with it. This update process uses the algorithm as follows:
- If a server in the system list does not appear in the local list it is added to the local list and marked as system.
- If a server in the system list does appear in the local list but the host/port does not match the local version will be updated.
- If a server is marked as "system" in the local list but does not appear in the system list it will be removed!
If any changes happen during the update process an indicator icon will appear in the left hand side of the statusbar:
Clicking on this icon will start up the Manage servers dialogue showing the change log of the update process:
Closing this dialogue will make the statusbar notification disappear but the change log can still be viewed in the Manage servers dialogue by pressing this button:
