Settings Locked by Two Administrator Levels

This task shows how the Reset... button works with settings locked at two administration levels.
1. Using the environment editor, create the environment Admin1 and reset the variable CATReferenceSettingPath so that it points to an existing folder, for example:

CATReferenceSettingPath    E:\users\administrator\LockSettings

then click Set, then OK to save and exit the environment editor.

Environment  Admin1 is the top level administration environment containing the reference settings for all other environments that reference it.
  2. Using the environment editor, create the environment Admin2 and reset the variable CATReferenceSettingPath to concatenate the value for Admin1 and the name of another folder, for example:

CATReferenceSettingPath    E:\users\administrator\LockSettings;E:\users\administrator\LockSettings2

then click Set, then OK to save and exit the environment editor.

Note that the separator on Windows is ";", but on UNIX it is ":". Furthermore, there should be no blanks between the separator and the path string.
  3. Start a session using environment Admin1 in administrator mode as explained in Locking Settings.
  4. Select the Tools->Options... command, the Display category, then the Visualization tab.

At the start, settings A, B, C and D (identified on the screen shots):

  • are not locked
  • and are set to the default values.
 
  5. Reset and lock the settings as follows:
  • A: no lock - keep the default value
  • B: no lock - choose another color
  • C: lock the setting - keep the default value
  • D: lock the setting - choose another color.

The tab now looks like this, for example:
 
  6. Click OK to confirm, and exit the session.
  7. Start a session using environment Admin2 in administrator mode as explained in Locking Settings.
  8. Select the Tools->Options... command, the Display category, then the Visualization tab.

You inherit the settings and locks from environment Admin1. Note that the locked settings are displayed like this: .
 
  9. Reset and lock the settings as follows:
  • A: lock the setting - choose another color
  • B: lock the setting - choose another color
  • C: the setting is already locked - the value cannot be changed
  • D: the setting is already locked - the value cannot be changed.
 
  10. Click OK to confirm.
  11. Access the Visualization tab again, then click the Reset... button, then the Yes button:
 
  The tab now looks like this, for example:
 
 

What Happened?
  For locks C and D, the settings were already locked - the values are obviously kept.

However, in the case of locks A and B:

  • the locks you just set are kept
  • but the values for the corresponding settings in environment Admin1 are restored.
Consequently, unlike in the case of the scenario in which no locks are used, using the Reset... button in a scenario involving multiple administrator levels restores (for non-locked settings) the default values set by the higher level administrator environment, and not the default settings in the software.