🧩 Managing Operators

You can enhance accountability and record-keeping in your lab by tracking which operator conducts a test in a Delvotest® Accelerator Smart (DAS). In this article, we will explore how to do this by viewing and editing your operators name-list via the operators.txt file. For all these steps, you will first need to make sure you are signed in as the administrator🔗.

Viewing and Editing Operators

Step 1
In the top-right corner, click on the Setup tab, then scroll down to the Operators section where you can see the Nr Operators and Upload operatorsnames file parameters (see below). To view the currently listed operators, simply click on the View button on right of the Nr Operators parameter's row where the number value at the centre lists the total number of operators currently configured (e.g., "3"). This will open a .txt html view on your browser's tab. To return, simply click to go back on your browser's interface.

Step 2
To edit your operators name-list, you will need to work with a .txt file, which on Windows computers is typically opened via the Notepad app. There are three ways you can work with this file:

• Option 1. Download the current operators.txt file from your DAS's file repository🔗; or,
  
  
• Option 2. Download the default operators.txt file directly from this link 🔗; or, // add link //
  
  
• Option 3. Create a new, blank .txt file, saving it with the file name operators.txt.

Step 3
Once the operators.txt file is opened, every line represents an operator's name. Adding operators means entering a new line by pressing Enter ↵ on your keyboard, and removing operators means deleting the line entirely. In the default file, three operators are listed — 'Operator1', 'Operator2', and 'Operator3' (see below).

❗Make sure input follows the DAS's Special Characters requirements🔗. Generally, it should only include uppercase letters (A–Z), lowercase letters (a–z), digits (0–9), hyphen (-), and underscore (_). Unlike most fields however, operators.txt also allows spaces ( ) to accommodate clearer names, such as "John Smith" or "Lab Technician A".

Below is an example of how you might format your own operators.txt file for a laboratory with seven operators.

Step 4
Save the file in your computer in a place you can later easily retrieve it during upload, making sure it uses the name operators.txt so that the DAS can properly recognise it.

💡 By the way, if for any reason this file is ever deleted, the DAS it will automatically generate a new default operators.txt file during reboot. 

Step 5
Going back to the interface, in the top-right corner, click on the Setup tab, then scroll down again to the Operators section. On the right of the Upload operatorsnames file parameter, click on the Choose File button. 

Step 6
Once you click on it, a dialogue box should appear, where you will need to then navigate to the location you've stored the operators.txt file and select it.

Step 7 
The dialogue box should then disappear, returning you to the still-open Setup tab where the operators.txt file name should appear next to the Choose File button. Once that's shown, click on the Upload file button.

Step 8
If the upload has been successful, the interface should automatically refresh and the text in red "[Upload Succeeded!]" should display next to the Upload file button. 

Step 9
You should now be able to see and select any of the operator names you have entered in the Incubation tab's Operator dropdown field.

💡 By the way, if you are operating multiple DASes, did you know that you don't need to manually update the operators for each by following the steps above? That's right! As long as one DAS that's been updated with the latest operator.txt file is connected to the other DASes in your local network, you can deploy the latest version to all other DASes with the Update other devices feature🔗.

Next Steps

If you're following the Installation and Setup flow🔗, it's now time to understand how plate layouts work as proper plate placement will be essential for running one of the three required calibrations.

⏭️ Next article: Introducing Layouts🔗