Managing Stations

Introduction

The Stations page displays a comprehensive overview of all your configured stations. This page provides quick insights into the status of each station and offers various actions for creation, management, and bulk operations.

Station Status Indicators

The overview page displays the current status of each station, helping you quickly identify any issues or pending actions:

• No computer registered - The station has been created in Workstation Management, but no physical computer running the Workstation Client has been linked to it yet.
• Computer registered - A Workstation Client on a physical computer is successfully registered and actively linked to this station.
• Client's config is out of sync - The configuration defined in Workstation Management for this station has changed, but the Workstation Client on the registered computer has not yet received or applied these updates. This can happen if auto-refresh is disabled or if there's a temporary connectivity issue.
• Unknown computer - The Workstation Client on the registered computer is reporting an unrecognized identifier, or there's an issue with its registration.
• Error while registering - An error occurred during the attempt to register a Workstation Client to this station. Further investigation (for example, checking client logs) may be required.

Creating a New Station

To create a new station, choose one of the following options, depending on your deployment scenario.

Creating a Station from Scratch

To create a station from scratch, perform the following steps:

1. Click Create Station.

2. Provide a unique name in the Provide a Station Name field.

   The name is a mandatory identifier for your station.

3. Optional: In the Add to Station Group field, select a group to organize your stations (for example, by location, department, or function). For more information, see Station Groups.

4. Optional: Specify an Auto-Accepted Computer Name.

   If provided, during a bulk registration process, any Workstation Client reporting this computer name is automatically mapped and registered to this specific station, streamlining large-scale deployments.

Creating a Station from Clipboard

If you have previously copied the configuration of an existing station (for example, from another workspace or for duplication purposes), you can use the Create Station from Clipboard option to paste and create a new station based on that data.

Create Station from File

This option allows you to import a station's configuration from a previously exported file. This is particularly useful for migrating or replicating single station configurations.

Create Copy from Station

This option allows you to directly copy an existing station's configuration without needing to import it from the clipboard or from file.

Station Groups

A station group is a label that you assign to stations in order to organize them, for example by location in the factory ("line A") or function ("assembly"). Station groups are defined per workspace, and a station belongs to at most one group.

Station groups additionally control which stations may run an app: in the Enable in station groups field of an app, select the groups that should have access to it. For more information, see Managing Apps.

You can assign a group to a station in the following ways:

• While creating the station, in the Add to Station Group field. If the group does not exist yet, click Create Station Group on the same page.
• Afterwards, by clicking Edit Station and selecting a group in the Station Group field.

Managing Station Groups

To review the station groups of a workspace, click Station Groups in the workspace menu. The overview lists each group together with the number of Stations that belong to it.

From this page you can perform the following actions:

• Create Station Group - Click Create Station Group, enter a name in the Station Group Name field, and then click Create Station Group.
• Rename Station Group - Click the three-dot menu of the group, and then click Rename Station Group.
• Delete Station Group - Click the three-dot menu of the group, and then click Delete Station Group. The group is removed from every station that used it, but those stations are not deleted.

Exporting and Importing Stations

Workstation Management provides robust features for managing stations in bulk, facilitating migration, backup, and replication tasks.

• Export Stations - Export all stations in the current workspace, or select specific stations from the overview list to export only those you need.

• Import Stations - When importing stations from a file, you have fine-grained control over how duplicates are handled:

  • Ignore - If a station with the same identifier already exists, the imported station will be skipped.
  • Duplicate - A new station will be created, even if one with the same identifier already exists, resulting in a duplicate entry.
  • Replace - The existing station with the matching identifier will be completely overwritten by the imported station's data.
  • Merge - The imported station's data will be intelligently merged with the existing station's configuration, updating fields where there are differences.

The import process allows you to specify what information to include:

• Include Apps - Specify whether to include the associated Mendix applications configured for the imported stations.
• Include Devices - Specify whether to include the device configurations linked to the imported stations.

Bulk Registration Tokens

For large-scale deployments, administrators can generate bulk registration tokens to simplify the process of linking multiple Workstation Clients to stations without manual intervention for each client.

Generating a Token

Specify a valid time period for the token, after which it will automatically expire. Upon generation, the system provides the registration command for the terminal, which can be used to register Workstation Clients.

Managing Tokens

You can revoke an active bulk registration token at any time, immediately invalidating it and preventing further registrations using that token.

Station Detail Page

Once a station is created, clicking on the arrow in the Stations Overview page will take you to the Station Detail page. This page is your central hub for viewing and configuring all specific settings and associated devices for that individual station.

From here, you can perform the following tasks:

• Change the station name.
• Manually refresh configuration to the client, forcing the Workstation Client on the registered computer to immediately pull the latest settings from Workstation Management.
• Configure advanced settings like Detect Card Readers and Station Developer Mode.
• Manage and configure all devices associated with this station.

Advanced Station Settings

Detect Card Readers

Card readers are handled uniquely within Workstation Management. They are not configured as separate devices in the Devices overview of a Station page. Instead, the Workstation Client automatically detects connected card readers.

Auto detecting card readers is enabled by default. You can toggle the Detect Card Readers setting on the Station Detail Page to Off if you do not want the Workstation Client to automatically detect smart card readers for this specific station.

Developer Mode

Developer mode can be configured on the Station page by selecting Enable Developer Mode.

Environments created with the Test environment type have developer mode enabled by default for easier testing. Changing the environment type after creation does not enable or disable developer mode. For more information about creating environments, see Configuring Workspaces.

When developer mode is enabled, users of the Workstation Client can perform the following actions:

• Quit the program from the Start menu.
• Deregister the Workstation Client, allowing it to be registered to another station.
• Debug level live logs displayed in the Logs pane of the Workstation Client, even if the workspace's log level is set to a different level.