Preview a ViewApp

The following procedures explain how to launch and close a ViewApp preview. For a complete list of content and ViewApp functions supported in a preview session, see About ViewApp previews at different stages.

Before you request a preview, you should decide if it is acceptable that alarm and historical data are not updated after you make changes to your ViewApp.

A message appears when you initially request a preview that explains preview mode is intended for testing purposes only and not intended for production usage.

A second message appears if a WinPlatform instance is not deployed for the local computer where the preview request is made. The message provides options to accept a preview that may not show accurate historical and alarm data, or cancel the preview request. If you want to ensure that accurate data appears in a preview, deploy a WinPlatform instance for the local computer before submitting a preview request.

Both messages include a check box to hide the message when the check box is selected. If you want to restore a message that you hid, select the appropriate preview prompt option from the Configure User Information dialog. For more information, see Configure user preferences.

To preview a ViewApp

1. Decide how you want to run your preview session.

   • If you want to ensure that all live data in a preview will be updated, deploy the WinPlatform instance for the local computer in which the ViewApp preview will run.

   • If you do not want to deploy the WinPlatform instance on the local computer and are willing to run a preview that does not update live data, select OK when you see the warning message.

2. Open a ViewApp in the ViewApp editor.

3. Select Preview shown in the upper right corner of the ViewApp editor.

   

   The first message appears with a caution that preview mode is not intended for production usage.

4. Click OK.

   If you did not deploy the ViewApp's Galaxy WinPlatform object, you see a second warning message about the integrity of historical and alarm data shown in the preview.

5. Click OK to start the preview session.

   The preview session launches from the computer hosting the System Platform IDE. The preview window opens and shows the current focus of the ViewApp as it is edited in the ViewApp editor.

   Note: When previewing a ViewApp for the first time after launching the System Platform IDE, it takes several seconds for the Preview button to become enabled while the ViewApp editor is preparing the preview data.

   If a Preview is active and you have made changes to the ViewApp without saving them, the caption on the Preview button changes to Update:

   

6. Make changes to one or more component parts of the ViewApp.

   You can select the Preview button any time during an editing session. After you select Preview again:

   • If the ViewApp contains unsaved changes, the ViewApp will be saved and the new configuration is passed to Preview.

   • If Auto Update is off and some contents (layout, graphics) have been changed, the changes will be passed to Preview.

   • If the navigation node in ViewApp Editor has been changed, the new navigation node will be passed to Preview.

   • If the current selected screen has been changed, the current selected screen will be activated in Preview.

7. Select Save.

   The word Preview appears on the button and the preview updates to show the changes you made to the ViewApp.

   Note: If you have multiple instances of the same content in a ViewApp, only the edited instance is updated in the preview. Instances of the same content in other panes appear unchanged in the preview.

8. Open the preview window and verify the ViewApp is running.

To close a ViewApp preview

You can also close a ViewApp preview session by doing any of the following:

• Close the System Platform IDE by selecting the Close button.

• Close the System Platform IDE by selecting Exit from the System Platform IDE Galaxy menu bar item.

• Close the ViewApp editor by selecting the Close button.

• Close the edited ViewApp by selecting Save and Close from the ViewApp editor.

• Close the edited ViewApp by selecting Close from the ViewApp editor.

• Select the Close button of the preview window.

Other atypical editing actions will also close a preview session:

• Disconnect from the Galaxy Repository

• Restart the computer running the System Platform IDE.

• Change Galaxies from the System Platform IDE.

• Change Galaxy security from the System Platform IDE