How to setup the launch of Delft-FEWS
This page describes the various elements involved in launching a Delft-FEWS application and provides a step-by-step guide on how to set this up yourself.
New structure of the Delft-FEWS binaries
With the 2018.02 release, the structure of the Delft-FEWS binaries has changed compared to previous versions. This is due to the fact that:
- java runtime environment (jre) is now included within the basebuild
- the creation of (start up) shortcuts has changed (createShortcuts application)
- a new concept is introduced with a boot build and a local base build repository (localBaseBuildRepository). This concept is explained on the wiki page of the new Forecasting Shell Servers.
All relevant files for each operating system are found in their respective folders.
The createShortcuts application
As mentioned above, the creation of the Delft-FEWS (start up) shortcuts has changed and this is now handled with the createShortcuts application. This application can be found in the directory of the relevant operating system (Windows or Linux) in the basebuild, in the form of the createShortcuts.exe file (see directory structure above). With this, shortcuts can be created for Stand Alone (SA), Operator Client (OC) or Configuration Manager (CM) applications of Delft-FEWS. A step-by-step guide on how to do this is listed below. The application opens a menu that looks like this:
As can be seen from this, the options for creating shortcuts are:
- Database connection URL to Config Manager
- Database connection URL to Operator Client
- Path to Stand Alone or Operator Client *clientConfig.xml
The database connection options require a URL to the database server on which the application is located. Optionally, this URL can be extended with the required username and password, each enclosed by semicolons to distinguish it from the other elements (e.g. <databaseURL;user=username;password=password;>). When the username and password are not provided with the URL, the user will receive a pop-up, allowing him/her to enter these credentials once, which are then saved for that specific shortcut. A pop-up will appear with the relevant (with client type Operator Client) and valid *clientConfig.xml in the database, so that the user can select the right one. When the database connection option is selected, shortcuts can only be created at the Desktop and/or Start Menu.
The path to an existing clientConfig.xml file can be directly entered, obtained by clicking on the Browse button or, alternatively, a completely new clientConfig.xml can be created by clicking the New button. This last option will by default create a clientConfig.xml file for a Stand Alone application (which could be edited to make it suitable for an Operator Client application). More information on what should be included in the clientConfig.xml file can be found at: Root Configuration Files for Operator Client and Forecasting Shell Servers. When this option is selected, shortcuts can be created at three possible locations (Desktop, Start Menu and/or Region Home directory, which is the same as the location of the clientConfig.xml file).
When information is entered correctly and the Create Shortcuts button is pressed, the shortcuts are created and the user is informed of this with a pop-up window:
When an invalid URL or path is entered, a similar pop-up window is shown, informing the user of the specific error without attempting to create the shortcuts.
The Debug option allows for more advanced options, as can be seen from the pop-up window that will appear:
Step-by-step: how to create a SA (2018.02 and upward)
For this step-by-step guide, we assume that a Windows operating system is used. To create an OC or CM application, most of the steps are similar, with the exception of steps 4 (a SA application is not required), step 6 (a clientConfig.xml file is required for an OC and requires additional elements, see documentation) and step 8 (select the relevant option for an OC or CM).
- Create a new folder (somewhere on your system) where the application will be located. We'll use /FEWS/201802/ in this example.
- Create a /bin/ folder in this (201802) folder.
- Copy/extract the basebuild in this /bin/ folder.
- Copy a (Stand Alone) application folder into this (201802) folder. This is the Region Home folder for this application. We'll use /FEWS/201802/Example_SA/ in this example.
- Copy the patch into the Region Home folder (Example_SA). The directory structure should now look similar to this (some elements are optional):
Open the clientConfig.xml file here, if it exists, and check if it contains at minimum the configuration below. More configuration options are available (see its XML schema and/or documentation page: Root Configuration Files for Operator Client and Forecasting Shell Servers). If the file does not exist, it can either be created manually with this minimum configuration or, alternatively, it can be created automatically during step 8.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <clientConfiguration xmlns="http://www.wldelft.nl/fews" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.wldelft.nl/fews http://fews.wldelft.nl/schemas/version1.0/clientConfig.xsd"> <clientType>Stand alone</clientType> </clientConfiguration>- Navigate to /FEWS/201802/bin/windows/ and double-click createShortcuts.exe.
- Click the option to use a clientConfig.xml file, navigate to the relevant folder (/FEWS/201802/Example_SA) using the Browse button and click on the clientConfig.xml file there. Alternatively, if it does not exist yet it can now be created automatically using the New button (make sure to place it in the same /FEWS/201802/Example_SA folder). Depending on your choices, the menu will look similar to this:
- Select the location(s) to place the shortcut(s) and click on 'Create shortcuts'.
- The next time you would like to start the application you can use any of the just created shortcuts.
