Manual configuration mode is a special mode of Logger Pro designed for instructors wishing to have their students set up data collection and graphing themselves. Logger Pro will no longer set data-collection rate and duration, and graphs will no longer be automatically associated with columns in the data table. Graph scaling is also no longer adjusted to suit the sensor defaults.
This mode is intentionally difficult to defeat, so enabling it requires a minor edit to a support file of Logger Pro. The edit must be done once on each computer where Logger Pro is installed.
Instructions for enabling manual configuration mode in Logger Pro 3.7 or newer. Earlier versions of Logger Pro do not support manual configuration mode.
Instructions for English Windows:
(Macintosh instructions are later in this document.)
1) Close Logger Pro 3.
2) Open the folder c:\Program Files\Vernier Software\Logger Pro 3\en-US\Support. If the computer has 64-bit windows, the path will be c:\Program Files (x86)\Vernier Software\Logger Pro 3\en-US\Support
3) Open the UserSettings.txt file in a text editor such as Notepad.
4) Save the file as UserSettingscopy.txt. (Note: If you are using Windows Vista or Windows 7, you will need to save the file somewhere else, such as the Your Documents folder, and then move it to the Support folder after editing.)
5) Search for “Manual”. This will locate the Manual Sensor Configuration portion of the User Settings file.
6) Set the Manual_Sensor_Config value to “1”. This will enable Manual Sensor Configuration , disabling many automatic behaviors of Logger Pro.
7) Save and close the UserSettingscopy.txt file.
8) Rename the original UserSettings.txt file to UserSettingsOriginal.txt.
9) Rename UserSettingscopy.txt to UserSettings.txt. Move the file to the Support folder. You may be prompted for permission. Logger Pro will now use the settings in this file.
10) Choose Preferences from the Logger Pro menu. Find the Startup File: checkbox, and clear it if checked. Click OK. This setting must be done once per user of the computer.
11) Test by connecting an interface with an auto-ID sensor, and launching Logger Pro. Logger Pro should show the presence of the interface in the toolbar, but not set up any columns or graphs for the sensor.
Instructions for enabling manual configuration mode in Logger Pro 3.7 or newer for Macintosh. These steps assume you have permission to modify the Logger Pro Resources folder in the application bundle or can authenticate with administrative rights to obtain permission.
1) Close Logger Pro 3.
2) Open the folder Applications/Logger Pro 3.
3) Control-click on the Logger Pro application, and choose Show Package Contents.
4) Open the folder Contents, and open the folder Resources.
5) Open the UserSettings.txt file in a text editor such as Textedit (Note that starting with the Lion release of OS X, Textedit’s behavior has changed — specifics noted parenthetically below).
6) Choose File. Save As. . . to save a copy of the file as UserSettingscopy.txt. (Lion+: File > Duplicate and then File > Save in the duplicate window. You may need to save the file to the Desktop as an interim step.)
7) In the file, search for “Manual”. This will locate the Manual Sensor Configuration portion of the User Settings file.
8) Change the Manual_Sensor_Config value to from “0” to “1”. This will enable Manual Sensor Configuration, and disable many automatic behaviors of Logger Pro.
9) Save and close the UserSettingscopy.txt file.
10) Rename the original UserSettings.txt file to UserSettingsOriginal.txt.
11) Rename UserSettingscopy.txt to UserSettings.txt (and if necessary move it from the Desktop into Resources folder as above). Logger Pro will now use the settings in this file.
12) Close the Finder window showing the contents of the Logger Pro package.
To return to the original automatic behavior of Logger Pro on either Mac or Windows, follow these steps. (Once again you may need to authenticate to the computer administrator to make these changes.)
1) Rename the current UserSettings.txt file to UserSettingsManual.txt.
2) Rename UserSettingsOriginal.txt to UserSettings.txt. Logger Pro will now use the settings in this file.
3) Launch Logger Pro. Choose Preferences from the Logger Pro menu. Place checkmarks in the two items under “Update Screen Objects for Sensor Change:” This setting must be done once per user of the computer.