Libraries

Libraries are special types of components that contain data that is not project specific. The tables contained in each library are stored in an external XML file. See Data Tab for more information on managing external data files.

Tip: Creating a new Clean Project resets the libraries to their original state. See File Menu Options.

Libraries are stored in the Library folder of the Supervisor application directory. See Application Directories and Files.

Your libraries may be located in other locations if you do one of the following.

  • Create a new Clean Project.
  • Open a project from somewhere else that points to library paths not accessible on your PC.
  • Delete a Library component.

The following table explains what happens to Supervisor's libraries in different situations.

Function What Happens to the Libraries Comment
Create Initial Project The libraries tables are set to the defaults. Some libraries may be empty on first use. When you save your first ever project you are asked to save the library data to external XML files. The default directory is determined by the default Library Folder in the Options Tab.
Save Project The library components themselves are part of the project, so are saved in the project file. The paths of the external XML files are saved to the project. The files that contain the library table data are not part of the project file.
Open Project The library components are part of the project so the libraries and the paths they link to are loaded as they were saved.

The paths of the XML files (once set) will never be changed by the system, but can be changed by the user. When you open a project (copied from somewhere else) that has library paths that are not found on your PC, the system tries to find the library file in these directories in this order:

  1. The project directory (the directory from which the project file was loaded).
  2. The default library folder, as highlighted in the first entry of this table.
New Project A new project only removes the project components (such as Data Components and components in the Project Tree) and leaves the library and default components as they are. The libraries do not change when creating a new project.
New Clean Project A clean project resets the library and default components to their default states. The libraries are set to their defaults in the same way as when you open your first ever project. The paths to the external XML files are reset and you need to set a path once the new project is saved for the first time. See the first entry in this table for more information.
Start system without loading last project A new project is created with new library components, but with their data file paths (and the data) set to the library files you last selected or saved. The last used library files are not necessarily the same as in the last used project. See the Options Tab for the Load Last Project setting. The paths to the library data files that are used are stored in the user configuration file, which is located in the AppData directory (See the beginning of this page). Every time you select a library file these settings are updated.
Delete Library Component Deleting a Library component resets the library to its default location. Library components are recreated after deletion (when first used). The data is then set to the default settings and the path to the external data file is reset.