GDI.WIF

One of the important files within an application directory is the GDI.WIF file. The GDI.WIF file is a text file that identifies to the VTS Application Manager (or "VAM") that the directory houses an application. An example of a GDI.WIF file is shown below.

Tutorial
TUTSIM\
11c20971-1efe-11d5-b3b1-00104bc92dae
System
fileDSN=^VAccess.DSN;DBQ=^APoints.MDB;

As you can see in the above example, a GDI.WIF file is composed of 5 lines of text. Each line identifies a crucial piece of information to VTS.

 

 

The application name is identified on the first line of the GDI.WIF file. This is the name you provided in the New Application Properties dialog's Name field.

The name of the application layer upon which this application is based is identified on the second line of the GDI.WIF file. If the application is based on the VTS layer, this line will read "VTS\". If the application is based upon a custom application layer, the name of the application directory will be identified (e.g. "MyCustomOEMLayer\").

A globally unique identifier is automatically generated by VTS each time a new application is created. This globally unique identifier is exclusive to this application, and is the means by which VTS recognizes this directory as an application directory.

The fourth line of the GDI.WIF file indicates the link(s) to the compiled form of the application (typically the application's directory).

Finally, the ODBC data source used to access the data in the tag properties database is identified on the fifth line of the GDI.WIF file.

If using a file DSN (standard since version 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;

Two special characters in the fileDSN string allow relocation of the application using the GDI.WIF without needing to edit any files or ODBC data sources.  The ^V string will be replaced with the path to the VTS installation directory.  The ^A string will be replaced with the current path to the application.  Such a fileDSN string might look like:

fileDSN=^VAccess.DSN;DBQ=^APoints.MDB;

 

The GDI.WIF file is modifiable using a text editor (such as Notepad, WordPad, or UltraEdit).