Enable projects

This is the first topic of the Use Projects guide.

To use Projects, the feature must be enabled, either during installation or after, and Git must be installed. Once Projects is enabled and ready to use, the feature can be select in the upper left menu.

The workspace menu, with Projects as an option.

Enable during installation

The OL Connect Automate installer allows you to enable the Projects feature during installation. When this option is selected, the installer automatically applies the necessary settings and stores these in the olca.settings.json file.

Automate setup dialog window showing the option to enable projects.

By default, Node-RED stores configuration in the settings.js file. In OL Connect Automate, these settings are externalized to olca.settings.json. This prevents overwrites during updates or reinstalls, and ensures that your custom configurations, such as Project and Git settings, remain intact across software upgrades. For a default Automate installation, these files are found in the following location:

C:\ProgramData\Objectif Lune\OL Connect Automate

Note: Projects uses the open source tool Git for version control. It tracks changes of your project files and lets you push them to remote repositories. When you commit a set of changes, Git records who made the changes with a username and email address.

You may already have Git configured on your machine, in which the software will reuse those settings. Otherwise, visit the following site to download the installer package: https://git-scm.com/install/windows

Git can be installed before or after Automate. If Git is installed after Automate, restart the Automate service to enable Projects.

Enable after installation

To enable the Projects feature after installation, you can reinstall OL Connect Automate or manually update the appropriate settings file. If you update the settings file, restart the Automate service to enable Projects.

The olca.settings.json file

This is the JSON file holding the configuration of the installation and is created by the OL Connect Automate installer. The structure follows the structure of the settings.js file but in JSON format. Below is a configuration where the Projects feature is enabled.

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{
    "credentialSecret": "olca-9H9LNhc-7H",
    "userDir": "C:\\ProgramData\\Objectif Lune\\OL Connect Automate",
    "uiPort": 
        "type": "env",
        "value": "PORT",
        "defaultValue": "1880",
        "override": true
    },
    "editorTheme": {
        "page": {
            "title": "OLCA",
            "favicon": "C:\\ProgramData\\Objectif Lune\\OL Connect Automate\\assets\\favicon.ico",
            "css": "C:\\ProgramData\\Objectif Lune\\OL Connect Automate\\assets\\olca-style.css"
        },
        "header": {
            "title": " ",
            "image": "C:\\ProgramData\\Objectif Lune\\OL Connect Automate\\assets\\olca-logo.svg"
        },
        "projects": {
            "enabled": {
                "type": "value",
                "value": true,
                "override": true
            }
        }
    },
    "logging" : {
        "console": {
            "level": "warn"
        }
     }
}

The settings.js file

For installations that didn’t use the OL Connect Automate installer, the Projects feature can be enabled in the settings.js file. The option is found in the editorTheme section. This information is useful when working with a custom installation or Docker Container setup.

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module.exports = {
  editorTheme: {
    projects: {
      enabled: true
    }
  }
}

Once projects are enabled, you can Create a Project.