In rare cases the WATS test station is located in an isolated environment that is unable to access the WATS Server. We call these offline WATS Clients.
An offline WATS Client cannot register to WATS because it cannot reach the server. There are still ways to produce files with WATS that can then be submitted or further processed by an online WATS Client.
NOTE: Offline WATS Clients have to be connected to WATS once before they can be used.
NOTE: This article refers to "WATS data folder". It is the same folder where the wats log file can be found. See near end of Where to find the wats log file.
WATS Client API
You can use the WATS API directly on an offline WATS Client to produce submit-ready files. These files have to be copied from the Reports folder in the WATS data folder to the Reports folder on an online WATS Client.
Using SubmitOnline or Submit with SubmitMethod.Online will throw error on an offline WATS Client.
WATS Client Converter
Built-in and custom converters can run on an offline WATS Client. They will produce submit-ready files that have to be copied from the Reports folder in the WATS data folder to the Reports folder on an online WATS Client.
Using SubmitOnline or Submit with SubmitMethod.Online will cause the converter to fail on an offline WATS Client.
TestStand add-on
Offline WATS Client can be used to install the TestStand WATS add-on and produce reports from TestStand.
In WATS Client 6.x these reports will be submit-ready files that have to be copied from the Reports folder in the WATS data folder to the Reports folder on an online WATS Client.
In WATS Client 5.1, if the client is not "Active" (see below), the reports will be unprocessed TestStand files in the TSDump folder in the WATS data folder. These must be moved to an online WATS Client's TSDump folder to be processed and submitted.
In WATS Client 5.1, when it is "Active" (see below), the reports will be submit-ready files that have to be copied from the Reports folder in the WATS data folder to the Reports folder on an online WATS Client.
Set up offline WATS Client 6.x
An offline WATS Client 6.x needs to be connected to WATS once before it can be disconnected and used as an offline WATS Client. While it is connected you can do configuration like install TestStand add-on or configure converters.
Each time a change is made to processes in WATS you need to copy Processes.json from the WATS data folder of an online WATS Client to the WATS data folder of the offline WATS Client.
If you need do more configuration on an offline WATS Client 6.x later, you can bypass the Setup page:
- Open WATS Client Configurator and enter a URL in Account/Server and a username and password.
- The URL must be to something the machine cannot reach, ex. http://offline-client.
- You should get the warning "Specified server could not be reached. Configure anyway?". Click Yes.
- Install TestStand or LabView add-on normally.
- Install and configure converter normally.
Set up offline WATS Client 5.1
- Install WATS Client 5.1.
- Copy Processes.json from the WATS data folder of an online WATS Client to the WATS data folder of the offline WATS Client.
- This needs to be repeated when processes are changed in WATS.
- Open WATS Client Configurator and enter a URL in Account/Server and a username and password.
- The URL must be to something the machine cannot reach, ex. http://offline-client.
- You should get the warning "Specified server could not be reached. Configure anyway?". Click Yes.
- Install TestStand or LabView add-on normally.
- Edit settings.json in the WATS data folder and change "ClientState":"NotConfigured" to "ClientState":"Active"
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