Vernier Spectro Pro - Manual (Page 61)

Appendix B
Spectro Pro 65
Appendix B
Using Spectro Pro on a Network
If your computers are served software from a central file server on a
network, you can install Spectro Pro on the server. Create a folder on the
server to hold Spectro Pro (you will need sufficient privileges
2 to do
this). Run the Spectro Pro Installer from the CD, and specify the file
server folder when the installer asks for the desired location for Spectro
Pro. Set the student access rights to the Spectro Pro folder to read-only
and shareable. Then students can see and run Spectro Pro, but cannot
change it. If students will be setting up sensors themselves or accessing
the Sensor Properties dialog by choosing Sensors… from the Setup
menu or clicking on the interface icon on the toolbar, additional write
access to the calibration files folder is needed.
Spectro Pro will read preferences saved locally on the computer.
Preferences indicate the location of calibration files and the default
location of experiment files. If you want students to use a standard set of
calibration and experiment files, the files should be stored on the server
in a location to which students have the same access privileges as the
Spectro Pro program itself. The preferences must then be set to indicate
the location of these files on your server. When you set the preferences,
you must have write access to make changes to the experiment, or
calibration files.
Two good choices for the location of experiment files are 1) A protected
directory on the file server where the students cannot make changes; or
2) A local directory where students can store their own files. In the first
case students must be directed to save files to another directory; in the
latter, experiment files must be placed on each computer and could be
changed inadvertently. To avoid accidental changes, set file attributes to
Read-only (Windows, right-click on file to see dialog) or to Locked
(Macintosh, select file, choose Get Info to see dialog). This way you can
have a reference set of experiment files while students can still save their
own files.
Similarly, calibration files can be stored either centrally on the server or
on individual machines. If your students will use a common set of
calibration files, then choose the former. For the less common case of
individually calibrated sensors (custom calibration done for a specific
sensor/interface/computer combination), then the calibration files must
be stored locally since they will be different for each computer. Lock or
set to read-only those files you do not want changed.
To use the network copy of Spectro Pro, log in to the file server so the
server’s icon is on the Macintosh desktop. Locate the Spectro Pro icon,
and double-click to start. For simplicity, create an alias for Spectro Pro
on the local hard disks. Then, when the alias is double-clicked, the user
will be prompted to log in, the file server disk will be mounted and
Spectro Pro will start.
2
File servers provide some security by only allowing certain users to perform
functions like saving, modifying, or deleting files in certain directories.
Typically only administrative accounts are allowed to make changes anywhere
on the server—one speaks of having the privilege or right to make these
changes.
General principles
Spectro Pro preferences
Macintosh