One of the means of uploading data to WATS, is by using a custom converter that will process test data from your test equipment, convert it to WATS data and upload it to your server.
A custom converter comes as a .NET .dll that is used by the WATS Client and in this article we will describe the step-by-step process of the setup of a custom converter.
Install the WATS Client
Before you can use your custom converter, you will need to install the WATS Client on the computer that will be uploading your data - typically at each test station that produces the file format for conversion.
You can download the WATS Client here: download.wats.com
If you are having installation issues, check out this troubleshooting article: https://support.virinco.com/hc/en-us/articles/207425143-WATS-Client-troubleshooting
Register WATS Client
Once the WATS Client is installed, you will have to register it to connect to your WATS server. When the client is first registered you will need to authenticate it, either by using your username & password (provided that your user has the role Administrator or Manager) or by a register client token.
To obtain a token, go to the Control Panel > Users & Account > Tokens and click the "+ New 'register client'" button. Copy the token to your clip-board or to a temporary document.
In the WATS Client, fill in the fields for Location, Purpose as well as the Account/Server like shown in the screenshot below.
If using a token, leave the user name blank and add the token to the password field.
Click "Connect" to connect, which should prompt the following message:
Download the dll
If you are downloading the DLL from a file-share or from e-mail, the downloaded .dll might be blocked by Windows security. In your download folder, locate the .dll, right click and select properties. If the file is blocked, the following will be displayed. You can unblock the .dll by checking the unblock checkbox and clicking apply.
Add the new converter
In the WATS client, click the converters menu item, click "ADD CONVCERTER" to add a new one and give it a name.
Assembly & class
Click "BROWSE" button to locate and select your .dll.
In the class dropdown, you can now select the appropriate class for your converter.
Input path
The input path points to a folder on your computer holding the source files for conversion. The selected folder will be monitored by the WATS Client and will trigger the converter once files are dropped to this folder.
Filter & PPA
The filter takes a regular expression that lets you filter for what file-types / file names are picked up by the converter. Typically "*.txt", "*.xml", depending on the type of files being converted.
The PPA (Post Process Action) lets you select what will happen to the source file once converted. You can choose from Move, Zip or Delete. We advice you use move when testing your converter to better be able to tell if the conversion was successful or not.
Converter parameters
Converter parameters are often used to append data to the test report that is not available in the source data. Typically this is essential report-ID data such as operationTypeCode, partNumber, partRevision aso. If your converter has parameters that needs to be assigned you will find these in the Parameters-tab of your converter.
Once all settings and parameters are filled in, click "APPLY" and the converters state should change to: "Running".
Adding a custom process (Test Operation)
If your converter requires a operationTypeCode that does not exist in WATS, custom test operations can be created in the Control Panel > Process & Production > Processes. See this article for more info: https://support.virinco.com/hc/en-us/articles/207424373-Edit-Processes-Test-Repair-Operation
Successful & failed uploads.
In your upload folder, two sub folders will be created: "Done", and "Error". All successful uploads will be moved to the Done-folder, while files that fail will be moved to the Error-folder.
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