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Profiles, Bundles and Resources

Profiles

Expand IOTZ Explorer | Profiles

The profile defines a group of users that have the same access rights (these rights are defined in the bundles). When a profile is selected the Web View shows the HTML page associated with this profile (with the bundles it can access).

There are 4 **predefined** profiles:
admin admin (password admin) has full rights (read/writes) on all bundles. It is the only profile authorized to execute a “Factory Reset” or reconfigure the .iotz file. There is no method to recover this password yet, so keep it in a secure place.
supervisor supervisor (password supervisor) can modify logins and passwords (except the administrator password).
tech tech (password tech) has 2 users with their own passwords. This is a simple way to give multiple users the same access with their own passwords.
anonymous anonymous provides the initial login screen. It does not require login. Everyone has anonymous rights as a minimum, so if you associate it with a bundle, everyone can access this bundle.
Create a new profile
  • Right-click Profiles, select New Profile.
  • Click on the new Profile and modify the Profile information pane:
  • Items in blue can be modified.
    • Name: your choice: up to 16 characters. Longer strings will be truncated.
    • Description: kept in the *.iotz* file on the PC
    • Id: Unique Profile Id (that can be used by software to access this info.)
    • LifeTime: duration before timeout (mins)
    • Window Color: used in the WebView pane (enables to distinguish each profile’s HTML page)
    • Support from Generated App: Set to No if you don't want this user to be available in your app. We strongly suggest you leave Admin as Yes, so that you can reconfigure the Tap. (If you lose the administrator password, you can no longer change your Tap's configuration)
    • Page Title from Generated App: The monitoring page title (default is profile name).
    • Login Type: Username and Password, or Security Key
    • Login: your choice
    • Password: your choice
  • You can Rename/Delete profiles: right-click Profile and select Rename/Remove

Users (alias)

This mechanism avoids sharing passwords between individuals. Users are just aliases of profiles, their access rights are inherited from the parent profile.
  • Add User: click on a Profile and select New User.
  • Add the Name, Description, Type of Login (user name and password, or Security Key) and Password.
  • Rename/Delete: right-click User and select Rename/Remove.

Bundles

A Bundle contains one or more variables, and has one or more Profiles attached to it, with read or write access to all the variables in a Bundle.

When a Bundle is selected, it appears as an Active Bundle in the menu bar of the window. Right-click a Bundle to Rename/Remove/move up/down. WebView displays Bundles in the order they occur in IOTZ Explorer.

Create a new Bundle
  • Right-click Bundles, select New Bundle.
  • Click on the new Bundle and modify the Bundle information pane:
  • Items in blue can be modified.
    • Name: appears in the HTML page. Must be smaller than 16 characters. Longer strings will be truncated.
    • Description: your choice, saved in .iotz file, not Tap.
    • Monitoring Period: Time interval (ms) to read bundle values.
    • DataLog Period: Time interval (s) to log bundle values. 0 disables data logging.
    • Consistency: The Bundle stays red until a Profile and variable have been added.

Give Users Access rights

You can add several Profiles to a Bundle, and give them different access rights (as we did with the profile Count_Control in the Sensor Demo example).

A user's access right applies to all the variables in the bundle.

To give a Profile/User access to a Bundle:

1. Select the Bundle (check it appears as the Active Bundle).

2. Select the Profile/User that you want to add.

3. Drag the Profile/User to the Bundle.

To set the access rights of a Profile/User for a Bundle:

1. Expand the Bundle and click on the Profile name.

2. Set "Access rights to Bundle-name" to read or write or both.

Add Resources (variables) to Bundles

After a resource is attached to a bundle, it is referred to as a variable (in the configuration and in the HTML page generator).

  • To add a Resource to a Bundle:

  • Select the Bundle.

  • Right-click the Resource in the Resource View.

  • Select Add to current bundle.

  • To add an array element to a Bundle:

  • Select the Bundle.

  • Expand the array in Resource View.
  • Right-click the array element and Add to current bundle.

There are 4 types of Resource:

  • Embedded application symbols (purple icon), defined in the ELF file. It is NOT recommended to use large elements, it is better to add just a sub-element to a bundle.
  • MCU registers of the microcontroller (blue icon), defined in the SVD file from the microcontroller manufacturer (can be downloaded from the ARM website after free registration). The size of registers is limited to a word (32-bit register).
  • Custom symbols (green icon). You can define your own symbols and related properties as explained below.

  • Features (yellow icon) which give access via APIs to your target application (refer to the Application development center for details). If you use this, you cannot use the built-in HTML page generator (you have to use APIs to develop your monitoring app).

  • 'SWD Direct': Accesses any address in a Cortex device memory, so has security issues and must be attached to a dedicated restricted profile. Is generally used to debug or program the target system.

  • 'Serial': Uses Send and Get functions. TapNLink is a simple serial communication channel between the mobile device and the target.
  • 'Modbus Direct': Addresses any Modbus register whose address is passed as a parameter.
  • TAPNPass Control: (not available yet) Accesses TapNPass Status / Control registers.
  • TAPNLink Maintenance: Allows TapNLink maintenance (eg firmware update).

Add Custom symbol

You can define your own target symbols and related properties:

  • based on information in the MAP file, if you have no access to the ELF file
  • or specific addresses that are not mapped as variables in the ELF file.

You can also define some 'InTap' variables. There are several types of InTap variables:

  • volatile InTap variables are stored in RAM. They can be used for example by the JVM and frequently modified. They are lost on a Reset event.
  • standard InTap variables are stored in FLASH. A write operation is a long process and cannot be repeated too frequently. They must be reserved for setpoint that are rarely modified.

Finally, GPIO variables correspond to the extension ports of the modules. At the moment they are not managed by the generated Apps and are only accessible through the API.

  1. Right-click on Custom symbols, select New absolute symbol.

  2. Right-click on the symbol and rename it. Fill in the details:

  3. Name: rename this variable if you wish
  4. File: autofilled
  5. Domain: Target variable; address / Target GPIO variable; address /InTap value; Initial Tap value / InTap volatile value.
  6. Unit-size: to be accessed (8, 16 or 32 bits)
  7. Quantity: Number of items in the object
  8. Id: autofilled: Unique Id of this variable.
  9. Bundle: autofilled
  10. Add the Symbol to a bundle and fill in the new details:
  11. Display in HTML: Y/N
  12. Propose submit: Y/N
  13. Display as floating point: Y/N (if unit-size = 32)
  14. Digits for float (if display as floating point=Y): 255 = default value kept
  15. Display as unsigned: Y/N
  16. Byte order: (if unit-size = 16 or 32): can modify byte order for word/half-word encoding
  17. Alias: to be displayed on HTML page
  18. Expression: to be calculated to replace the value in HTML page
  19. Unit: physical unit (e.g. V, cm)

Duplicated symbols

A variable is always linked to a single bundle. Therefore, the rights to address it are clearly specified. However, a workaroung exists to create several links: you may 'duplicate the variable as an absolute symbol'. If you run this command (popup menu in the 'Resource View'), the symbol will be duplicated with all its attribute. The resulting absolute symbol will be considered as a different variable with the same address.

NOTE: Because the duplicated symbols are 'absolute', their address will NOT be modified if you reload a different ELF file. You must check by yourself any changes regarding the address of the absolute symbols.

Details for the generated app

To define how your Variables appear in your App, see IoTize Studio User Manual step 5.

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