Customer Support Document

Version 6.0
Latest Revision: September 11th 2024 
Copyright© 2017
Nox Medical - All rights reserved

 

• Contents
• Overview
• Storing Settings in Noxturnal
• Different Access Modes of Noxturnal
• Noxturnal in Administrator Mode
• Settings Locations
• Sharing Settings between Users on a Network
  • Noxturnal Configuration in Administration Mode
  • Define Central Location for Settings to be Shared
  • Copy Configuration Databases to Network Location
  • Point Noxturnal to the Shared Settings Location
  • Export Settings and Configuration to Share with Other Workstations

 

Overview

This knowledge base article describes how the settings location system in Noxturnal works and how to centralize settings on a network. Another feature in Noxturnal is to manage default settings through an administration mode which is also covered in this article.

These features allow users to share settings amongst themselves and also to have an administrator (or lead tech) dictate general settings which are then used by everyone in the sleep clinic. These features also allow users that are moving between workstations to bring their settings with them between the different workstations, thereby ensuring a uniform working environment.

In order to get a full understanding of the way that these features work a good working knowledge in IT and network infrastructure is needed. Ideally, these instructions should be read jointly by an IT person in tandem with a Noxturnal expert.

Storing Settings in Noxturnal

Noxturnal allows the storing of a multitude of different settings. These can be anything like workspace layouts, colorings of trace views, analysis settings, report settings and many more. Through these settings, both users and sleep clinic managers can customize the inner workings of Noxturnal to fit their own wishes.

There are two different levels of settings in Noxturnal:

 

Noxturnal stores these settings in Configuration Databases. These are files that are initially stored locally on the computer which Noxturnal is set up on but the features explained in this document allow users to share these files amongst themselves.

Different Access Modes of Noxturnal

Before we can start sharing settings between different users we must understand the different Access Modes of Noxturnal and how they interact with the local computer’s administrator rights.

In order for Noxturnal to control access of its settings it offers three different levels of program access:

 

Noxturnal in Administrator Mode

To change default settings in Noxturnal you must run it in Administrator Mode as described above.

To make this possible you must have local computer administration rights (ask your IT dept.) and use the switch “/admin”.

• In the Windows desktop locate the Noxturnal shortcut

• Copy and paste the shortcut, and then rename it to Noxturnal – Admin Mode

• Right-click on the new shortcut and select Properties from the context menu. Append the admin switch to the end of the Target: text field... nal\Noxturnal.exe" /admin and select OK.

• To start Noxturnal in administration mode, right click on the Noxturnal – Admin Mode and select Run as Administrator

 

To verify that Noxturnal is in administration view the application name. It should state “(Admin Mode)”.

 

In “Admin Mode” all default settings / protocols appear like user settings / protocols but it is important to note that all changes here will be saved in the default settings *.ndb. 

(Tools -> Settings ->Advanced).

 

Settings Locations

The user has the option to change where these configuration databases are stored for Noxturnal. The location settings can be accessed through the Tools->Settings dialog under the Advanced tab page.

In this screenshot you can see where the Default Settings and the User Settings are stored. These are the fields that you will need to modify in order to share settings between users.

In this screenshot you will see that some folders have names with a ‘%’ symbol in them. These folders are using environment variables from Windows to maintain the default Windows folder structure. In order to get a full understanding of these, please contact your local IT administrator (see also: http://ss64.com/nt/syntax-variables.html) as this is beyond the scope of this article.

You will also see two check boxes. They function as follows:

Apply changes for all users – If checked, this stores the settings locations for all users on the local machine. Each user that logs onto this machine will use the settings locations specified. With this option ON all changed settings made by a Windows administrator will overwrite local user settings options. This option is greyed out if you are not the administrator on the local workstation.

Allow users to change locations – Check this option to allow users to make changes to their own locations. Uncheck this option to only allow Windows administrators to edit the settings locations.

Reset to default – By selecting this option the settings locations are restored to the default values. This option is not available if the “Allow users to change location” option is checked off.

 

Sharing Settings between Users on a Network

After having understood the concepts of Settings Configuration Databases, Settings Locations, and Access Modes of Noxturnal you can start sharing settings between users on a network.

Several steps need to be completed to share the settings. They are:

1. Run Noxturnal in Administrator Mode and configure the Noxturnal Working Environment and all Settings on one workstation. This configuration will function as the template for all the other workstations on the network.
2. Define a central location on your network where the Default Settings will be stored. This would typically be a folder where all the workstations that will have Noxturnal installed upon can see. You might need help from your IT Administrator for this step.
3. Copy all Configuration Databases from your local workstation to this centralized location. You can access the configuration databases by opening Tools->Options, and then selecting Advanced. There you will see an option for Default Settings. This will open the settings location in Windows Explorer.
4. Go back to Noxturnal and make sure that your Settings Locations are pointing the Default Settings to this centralized location.
5. Now you have completed your template for the setup and this can be copied between workstations by exporting the appropriate keys from the Windows Registry (you might need help from your IT Administrator for this).
   • Take the file you just exported and copy it to a flash drive or a central location.
   • Import the file you just exported to all the other workstations where Noxturnal is installed and you wish to share the centralized settings. You might need help from your IT Administrator for this.
   • You will now have configured all Noxturnal installations to point to the same centralized settings.

 Below is a detailed explanation of each step.

 

1.    Noxturnal Configuration in Administration Mode

Make sure you run Noxturnal in the Administration Mode as described above. In this mode, the following configurations can be changed:

• Report Templates
• Analysis Protocols
• Data Locations
• Sheet Layouts
• Tools Options (all settings except for settings Locations which are saved to the local machine registry)
• Signal Types and Groups
• Event Types and Groups
• Signal and Event Mappings for all file formats
• Shortcut keys
• Network folder in Recording Library

In this way for example:

• Default analysis protocols can be changed or deleted (and appear all under “User”):

(Analysis -> Manage Protocols -> Manage Analysis).

• And all changes made to settings can be locked: 

     (Tools -> Settings -> Advanced -> Edit All Settings). When settings are locked, standard users cannot change these settings to their preferred ones.

This e.g. would lead to a local User not being able to change the company name (in difference to the Website which is not locked):
(Tools -> Settings -> User & Company).

 

Make sure that all settings are set as you see fit before you start sharing between users.

 

2.    Define a Central Location for Settings to be Shared

Work with your IT Administrator to find a suitable network location where you can store the settings files that will be shared. An example is:

\\[server]\[path to settings]\

You will probably need to create a folder at this location, for example, named “CentralSettings”.

 

3.    Copy Configuration Databases to Network Location

When using a network location, as in our example, the configuration databases (default settings) need to be copied once to the network location.

In the Tools->Settings dialog under the Advanced tab page, the installation folder for the Default Settings can be found

The Noxturnal.[language].ndb files shall be copied from the local folder into the newly created folder located on the Network from step 2 above.

Copy all files except the license.lcx:

Paste all the files (except license.lcx) into your Network Location:

4.    Point Noxturnal to the Shared Settings Location

After you have configured Noxturnal and copied the settings to your shared location you must direct Noxturnal to use the settings from this shared location.

1. Open Noxturnal in Admin mode
2. Browse to Tools -> Settings -> Advanced
3. Change the Default Settings to your shared settings location from step 2 above. You do not have to change the other settings locations to share these settings.
4. Check, “Apply Change for all Users”
5. If you desire to forbid users to change their Settings Locations you must uncheck the “Allow users to change locations” check box.

 

5.    Export Settings and Configuration to Share with Other Workstations

This step is necessary for the first time that you are installing Noxturnal on your network or setting up new workstations. When you have finished your initial setup with these steps you can easily modify central default settings by using the Admin Mode, running as a local computer administrator on any of the workstations. Those changes would then propagate to the rest of the computers on your network.

To export on the workstation where you configured your main template for settings do the following:

In the registry editor (Start -> Run -> Regedit) you need to browse to "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Nox Medical\Noxturnal" if you are doing this for all users on the machine. Select the registry key on the left side, and then select File->Export.

Make sure that where it says "Selected Branch" is selected and the path is the one you need to export. Then give it a File name and select Save. Now you have the registry script file that you can use on any other machine that you want to share the settings with.

Take the file you just exported and copy to a flash drive or a central location.

Import/run the file you just exported to all the other workstations where Noxturnal is installed and you wish to share the centralized settings. You might need help from your IT Administrator for this.

You will now have configured all Noxturnal installations to point to the same centralized settings.

 

Ver 6.0