Locating the Erudine configuration file

Purpose

To locate the Erudine configuration file, which defines any override default properties for the Erudine Behaviour Engine.

Theory

There are many different places where a System Administrator may want to save the Erudine configuration file. This is because there are many possible usage scenarios for the Erudine Behaviour Engine, each of which will have its own configuration requirements. For example, if the application is being used to demonstrate a particular knowledge model, it may be convenient to link a configuration file to that knowledge model by placing it in the same location. In a development environment, however, it is often preferable to use a single configuration file regardless of which knowledge model is being loaded so that the developer can easily configure the Erudine Behaviour Engine.

On starting, the Erudine Behaviour Engine searches for the Erudine configuration file in a number of different locations in a specific order, until it finds the file or it runs out of locations to look in. If no configuration file is found, then all the properties will be set to their default values.

The default name for the configuration file is erudine.config .

To view the location of the configuration file, whilst running the Erudine Behaviour Engine, select About Erudine from the Help menu and then select the Settings tab.

The Erudine Behaviour Engine will search for a configuration file in the following order:

1. If the Erudine Behaviour Engine is started from a batch file and a -c command line parameter is used inside the batch file to specify a configuration file, then the file specified with the -c parameter will be used. If the specified file does not exist, then a dialog box is shown which asks the user if they wish to continue or exit the application. If the user chooses to continue then the application searches in the next location. In a headless environment, the application quits automatically if the specified file does not exist.
   
   
2. If the Erudine Behaviour Engine is started from a batch file and a -m command line parameter is used to specify a particular knowledge model to be loaded at application start-up, then the configuration files are searched for in the same directory as the knowledge model. The application will search for a config file in the following order:
   
   
   • A config file with the same name as the knowledge model, but ending with a .config extension instead of a .knm extension.
     
   • A config file with the name erudine.config.
     
     
3. An erudine.config file in the directory that the Erudine Behaviour Engine is launched from (i.e. the './' directory).
   
   
4. An erudine.config file in the /erudine directory under the user home directory.
   
   
5. An erudine.config file in the ERUDINE_HOME location. See Locating the ERUDINE_HOME folder for details of how to find this.
   Note : If this environment variable is not available, then the Erudine Behaviour Engine will start with all its properties set to default values.
   

On some operating systems, it may be important to ensure the correct case (upper or lower) is typed for directory and file names.

Platform: all
EBE Version: 2.4
Category: Administrator Guide
Author: Colin Froggatt