Insert an Object from an STK Data Federate Server

You can insert objects from an active STK Data Federate (SDF) server using the From STK Data Federate method in the Insert STK Objects Tool or the From File... command in the Insert menu. In the Open window, select STK Data Federate. You can search for or browse to files using either method.

The Logged in as field displays the SDF user account that is currenty logged in. Click the account name to log in with a different account. If you are not currently logged into a server, you can open the SDF Servers page of the Preferences window to define a connection. When you return to the insertion window from the preferences window, you will need to click on another file location (e.g., My Documents) and then back on the STK Data Federate to refresh the connection.

Searching for a File

To search for a file in an SDF, click the Search tab in the Open window; the search interface will be displayed.

You can set search criteria for the file name and for words or phrases in the file details. When you have entered the search criteria, click Search to see the results from the SDF server. By default, the search will be constrained to the latest revision of the files in the SDF. The results are displayed in a table with the name, revision, and location of the file listed in each row. To select a file, click it. To insert the selected file into your scenario, click Open; to evaluate the file before inserting it, click to see revision and description information about it.

Advanced Search Criteria

Click Advanced Criteria... to open the Advanced Search Criteria window, which provides additional search options. The Limit searching to my SDF data option constrains the search to files that are within your home folder in the currently connected SDF. The Limit searching to latest revisions option constrains the search to the latest revision of the files in the SDF, and is selected by default. Select Search by filename only to constrain the search to the names of files. You can also define search criteria for the creation or last modification date of the file; you can use the After and Before date fields to define a range of dates to search within.

Search Conditions

An SDF server can be searched with boolean full-text criteria. By default, SDF treats each search term as an OR condition (i.e., a file that matches any one of the terms will be returned as a successful search result). You can put a minus sign in front of a term to make it a NOT condition (i.e., a file that does not match the term will be returned as a successful result), or a plus sign in front of a term to make it an AND condition (i.e., the file must match the term to be returned as a successful result).

For example, if you enter the following search terms:

ground observation +France -inactive

SDF will return a matched result for any file that contains the words "ground" or "observation" and also contains the word "France", and does not contain the word "inactive".

For complete details on the search methods available in SDF, refer to the online documentation for MySQL 5.0:

http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/fulltext-boolean.html

File Details

The File Details/History window displays revision and description information about the selected file; it is this information that SDF compares against the criteria of a search. By default, the details of the latest revision of the file are shown when the window is opened, but you can select earlier revisions of the file from the Revision drop-down menu. Click Open Selected Revision to insert the currently displayed revision of the file into your scenario.

Browsing for a File

To browse for a file in an SDF, click the Browse tab in the Open window; the folders and files in the SDF will be displayed. Each file will be displayed with the number of revisions of the file in the SDF in parentheses after the name. Click a folder to select it and see its contents, or click a file to select it. To insert the latest revision of a selected file into your scenario, click Open.

You can evaluate a selected file before inserting it by clicking to see revision and description information about it.

You can delete a selected folder or file by clicking ; you need to have a server account with write permission to take this action.

To make a selected folder the default location to browse on the server, click .

To return to the home folder of the currently logged user account, click .