Administrator Documentation

This document is meant for administrators to understand how to properly configure the Logger GUI and NexusLIMS back end for users.

Cloning the NexusLIMS Back End

All administrators need to clone the NexusLIMS Github repository on a computer that is connected to the central file server where measurement data is to be saved. This can be done by either forking the NexusLIMS repository to your own account, or directly cloning the NexusLIMS repository to your local drive using the Git bash command shown below:

git clone https://github.com/euclidtechlabs/nexuslims.git

Locating the Instruments Table

The information to be inputted into the Instruments table is in a csv file named instruments.csv located in the directory /path_to_repository/nexuslims/scripts/instruments.csv. Each row in the instruments.csv file corrosponds to a different user and each column corrosponds to a different entry. Starting from left to right, the Instrument table entries are as follows: instrument_pid, api_url, calendar_name, calendar_url, location, schema_name, property_tag, filestore_path, computer_name, computer_ip, and computer_mount. More information on the Instruments table entries can be found here.

Configuring the Instruments Table

In order for users to run the Logger GUI, some user information must be loaded into the Instruments table located in the NexusLIMS database prior to using the Logger GUI. While some entries in the Instruments table are not required by the Logger GUI to run, entries such as computer_name, filestore_path, and instrument_pid must conform to strict guidlines for the Logger GUI to operate. The instrument_pid is a unique instrument identifier used by the Logger GUI and cannot match the instrument_pid of any other users. The computer_name corrosponds to the hostname of the support PC connected to the instrument that runs the Logger GUI. If the computer_name in the Instruments table does not match the hostname of the user’s computer, the Logger GUI will display an error. Information on finding your computer hostname can be found here. The filestore_path corrosponds to the central file storage where the instrument stores its data, and should be entered as ./ + hostname of the instrument computer. For example, if the dedicated computer’s host name is DESKTOP-12345, the filestore_path would be ./DESKTOP-12345.

Building the Instruments Table

When all the necessary user information has been inserted into the instruments.csv file, a step must be taken to convert the .csv file into a .db database table. Running the Python script create_db.py (located at /path_to_repository/nexuslims/scripts/create_db.py) will input the instruments.csv data into a table contained in the NexusLIMS database.