Settings location

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Friday, September 15, 2006 Once the monitor is loaded to a PC, are the settings in Option specific to that PC or the logged in user? If it is the logged in user, is it the user of the PC or the Misys log in entered? If I load the monitor onto several PC’s in a department, can each PC have a different setting?

The good news is, it can work both ways. If you save settings as the current user, those settings will be applied only to that windows user. It is the windows logon not the Misys that stores the settings. Most all networks transfer these settings when you log on to a different pc. And this is all only if you save settings as the current user. You can also save settings as “All users”. Unfortunately this only applies to the pc you are working on. There is no way to apply the settings to all users across the network. All users who logon to that particular pc will immediately have their settings already in place. Any user who wants specific settings can still do so with their logon. You can also export your settings to a .reg file. You could save this file and then import it when you install the program to a new pc, and it would not require much setup. Exporting settings is also a good for backing up before you make a lot of setting changes.

How many instances can run at one time

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Thursday, September 21, 2006 I had the demonstration with the facilities and they all loved it. There was one question that I failed to ask you, I know you stated 1 license purchase could be loaded onto as many PC’s in a physical lab as required. How many can be running at a given time simultaneously?

Only one instance can be run on any given pc, but I know of no limit to how many you can have running on different pc’s at the same time. Our system used to have at least 20 running at any given time for different hospitals and departments.

Wall mounted monitors

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Monday, October 30, 2006
I am planning to display the OL Monitor on large monitors mounted on walls. How would I connect these monitors to the PC running Misys and OL Monitor?

You can purchase a vga mult-plexer that will allow you to display a single pc’s display on multiple monitors. It also works to extend the length of the VGA cable. I am not sure what the exact range is but I can tell you we have a rather old multi-plexer with cables at least 25 feet long. You can purchase cables of varying lengths. We bought ours from Blackbox www.blackbox.com. You may be able to find a better deal if you shop around. They may also have a simple extender if you only need one display.

Unable to change font size in Classic version

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November 01, 2006

Hi Eric, we love OL monitor. It is a great tool. Recently we purchased two 50 inch plasma screens and have them displayed the lab. We are having some trouble with the font size and were wondering if in the program you could do something to make it larger. These screens are mounted from the ceiling and it is difficult to see it from the instruments.

Yes not being able to change the font was one of the hair-tearing reasons I created the VIM (Visual Interface Module). With the VIM you can change the size, color, and name of the font. If it would have been possible to do this with the older version believe me I would have, having to reprogram the entire program from scratch was not what I wanted to do. But it is done now and if you would like to give it a try you can download it here: http://www.olmonitor.com/VIMTrial.zip Aside from that on the classic version you can change the option for ‘resolution’ in the options screen of ol monitor. Change it to 800×600. This will cause the display to take up more of the screen. You can also change the resolution of windows from the desktop to 800×600. This will cause the entire screen to be taken up by the program. As for changing the fonts I’ve tried and tried, I even tried to trick windows into using a different font by swapping the font files on the system, to no avail.

Advanced tab

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Monday, July 03, 2006
Seems like the VIM doesn’t automatically reprocess.
The classic one does, but it doesn’t transfer to the VIM.

I have a new version of the VIM for you to try, it is located here:
http://www.olmonitor.com/VIMTrial.zip
In this version if you have trouble you can go to options and then to the new ‘advanced tab’. First click on ‘Find’ and then the numbered buttons below. This should force Smarterm to start with the VIM code instead of classic. Here is a screenshot

Outlook.jpg

Smarterm 7.0 upgrade pains

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Wednesday, August 30, 2006
I am having a problem with older machines that still have some remnants of SmarTerm 7.0 on them. When I run your install program it changes the smarterm program to version 7.0 and then we get an stoffice.exe error. We are running version 12.1.1 but there is still a “Persoft” directory on the C: drive and there must be some ini files or registry entries that are re-pointing smarterm to version 7.0, which then errors. We have uninstalled and reloaded several times (that is the only way to get smarterm working again) and have verified that we are installing to all the right folders but there is still a problem somewhere. Aside from re-formatting the hard drive, are there any ideas you have? We don’t have an uninstall program to run on version 7.0.

You might try logging on as an adminstrator, then go into regedit and delete all the smarterm entries from the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT branch:
If you can uninstall smarterm 7.0 that would be good. If the uninstaller is missing you could install 7 over the old one again and then uninstall.
Then make sure to delete the smarterm 7 folder from the program files folder.
After leaving nothing but scorched earth where 7 once was, you can install the 12.
The problem is that previous versions of smarterm would automatically ‘repair’ any broken components as soon as the program runs. This would result in the behaviour you described.
To un-repair 7’s modifications you can go to add remove programs and attempt to repair the 12.0 installation. But if the 7 executable is still sitting around anywhere and gets run, it will break 12 again. Back when I had to ensure compatibility between 7 and 9 and above, I would repeatedly go through this process while testing the different versions.
7 and 12 will never play nice and you have to eradicate 7 from your system manually if the uninstaller fails to do so.

Outlook.jpg

Next greyed out

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Thursday, June 29, 2006

I’m trying to install the demo software for our lab manager and I ran into a problem. After selecting the SmarTerm version, I can go no further because the “next” button is grayed-out. (See attached screen shot.) Any ideas on how to complete the install?

I tried to duplicate the problem but was not able to. Is it possible that there is not enough space on the drive you are installing to? Are you logged on as an administrator or as a user with install rights on the computer? I have re-compiled the setup program, try downloading it and installing again.

I see why it doesn’t work. It’s because SmarTerm is accessed on a network share, rather than the local drive. The SmarTerm executable location field currently looks like this: \serversoftwarelabsmarterm . When I put a drive letter in front of it, like “C:serversoftwarelabesmarterm” the “Next” button appears. Since our network share isn’t associated with a drive letter, however, the “Next” button will remain grayed-out. I was able to map a drive to the network share to complete the install, but I don’t know if we’ll want to do this for a system-wide implementation.

Can’t find WrkGvtCurrent.stm

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Sent: Wednesday, March 15, 2006
Hi Eric
Okay, I’ve installed on new machine and can’t run OLM because I can’t get to WrkgvtCurrent. I can see that file in the ….PersoftSTOfficeMacros directory when I explore, but not when I browse from within SmarTerm.

Well, with the new one (gui beta) you should just be able to start the program from the start menu and it will handle starting Smarterm for you and loading the necessary files.

ATT00051.bmp

Misys

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Eric, our site has only ever used function PL-pending log, instead of the function OL. Will your program work with PL, or is there maintenance I need to do to utilize OL?

The OL only needs a worksheet to call up. The worksheet can be a group worksheet. Most labs end up creating a special worksheet with only the tests/departments they are interested in. But you can use any worksheet to try out the program. If typing in “OL” at the function prompt does not call up the outstanding log, you might need to get in touch with Misys to give you the program tag for OL. Alternatively, OL Monitor will try “LO” which usually brings up a report menu, then it chooses the outstanding log from that menu. If this works for you there is no need to get the program tag.


smarterm

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Hi,

Our Misys labs use WRQ Reflections, does your product work with Reflections?

Thanks

Hi Guy,
OL_Monitor uses Smarterm’s macro language to retrieve the data from Misys. So unfortunately no, it will not work with Reflections. However there are at least 2 other labs I know of who use Reflections but also have OL_Monitor running on Smarterm. You can download a free trial of Smarterm from Persoft’s website. I have a couple of links to their download site on my website here: http://www.olmonitor.com/Requirements.html
Let me know if you have any more questions.