GDI.wif

The GDI.wif file is used by VTS to identify a directory on your hard drive as being an application directory; therefore you can expect to find one GDI.wif file in each of your application directories.

The GDI.wif file consists of the following information (line by line from top to bottom):

1.   The name of the application;

2.   The path of the parent application layer relative to the VTS installation directory (i.e. the path of the application directory (within the VTS installation directory) upon which this application is based. If this application is based on the VTS layer, the second line will read, "VTS\". If this application is based on another VTS application, such as a custom OEM layer, the second line will display the name of the custom OEM layer's directory, as shown in the example below. If this application is a script application, the second line is left blank.);

3.   A globally unique identifier (GUID) for the application (see details below);

4.   The name of the .RUN file for the compiled application (typically "System"); and

5.   The name of the ODBC data source used to connect to the application's tag properties database (Points.mdb) and replica tag database (SCT.MDB).  Prior to VTS 8.0, the ODBC name would normally be the same as the application’s name.  If using a file DSN (the default after VTS 8.0), you must indicate that this is the case by putting “fileDSN=” in front of the name

Example:

fileDSN=c:\vts\Access.DSN;DBQ=c:\vts\app\Points.MDB;

This can be shortened with two special symbols:  ^V indicates the VTS directory and ^A indicates the application directory. 

If this application is a script application, it does not require an ODBC data source, and the fifth line is therefore blank.

 

An example of the information to be found in a typical GDI.wif file for a standard, layered application is displayed below. Note the use of the shortcut symbols in the ODBC data source.

 

The second example below displays the contents of a typical GDI.wif file that might be found in the application directory for a typical script application.

 

Note that the second and fifth lines remain blank for the script application's GDI.wif file. If editing a GDI.wif file, it is very important that a blank line be left in place of the deleted data, rather than deleting the line completely, as reflected in the example above.

GDI.wif files are text files that can be opened and modified using any text editor (such as Notepad, WordPad or UltraEdit).