Using STTP Connection Tester

Subscription Controls

The subscription controls dialog is used to define the parameters for the STTP connection. The dialog is normally minimized when the connection is active and only the title of the dialog is visible. To activate the dialog when it is minimized, click on the title.

Subscription Controls

The following table details the functionality of the controls:

UI Control Function
Connection String
Text Box		 Defines the connection string parameters used to connect to an STTP data publisher. The format is server=hostname:port where hostname can be the DNS name or IP of the publisher. The port is the STTP TCP/IP port the data publisher is listening on.

To receive data values back on UDP, add a dataChannel setting to connection string. For example, adding ;dataChannel=9191 to the end of the connection string would request data values flow back to the STTP Connection Tester on port 9191.

TSSC compression is enabled by default. To disable compression and use compact measurement format, add ;compression=false to the end of the connection string.
Connect
Button		 Attempts a connection to the STTP data publisher defined in the Connection String.
Filter Expression
Text Box		 Defines an expression used select the desired signals to trend. This syntax is similar to a SQL clause, but does not implement the full SQL language, see STTP Filter Expressions documentation.
Update
Button		 Updates the active subscription with changes specified in the Filter Expression.
Start Time
Text Box		 Defines the timestamp or relative interval to now for the start time of a requested historical replay, see Historical Replay Time Intervals below.
Stop Time
Text Box		 Defines the timestamp or relative interval to now for the stop time of a requested historical replay, see Historical Replay Time Intervals below.
Process Interval
Slider		 Defines the replay speed of an active historical replay. The speed can be controlled while the replay is in progress allowing the data interval to be slower when the slider value is smaller, i.e., to the left, and faster when the slider value is larger, i.e., to the right.
Replay
Button		 Attempts to start a historical data replay on an already active connection to an STTP data publisher. Note that not all data publishers will be archiving data and/or support historical replay.

Historical Replay Time Intervals

Relative time intervals are parsed based on an offset to current time in UTC specified by *.

The value can be specified in one of the following formats:

Time Format Example Description
yyyy-mm-dd HH:MM:ss.fff 2020-12-30 23:59:59.033 Absolute date and time in UTC.
* * Evaluates to current time, i.e., now.
*-Ns *-20s Evaluates to N seconds before now.
*-Nm *-10m Evaluates to N minutes before now.
*-Nh *-3h Evaluates to N hours before now.
*-Nd *-1d Evaluates to N days before now.

Note that positive values are also supported, for example, *+2d would evaluate to 2 days from now. Future values keep a historical subscription active into the future so long as the data publisher and active replay rate support the time frame.

Hot Keys

Note that hot keys may only work when Subscription Controls dialog is minimized.

Key Action Version Available
ESC Exit Application 1.0.0
F1 Open Help Page 1.0.3
C Connect / Reconnect 1.0.3
D Disconnect 1.0.3
+ Increase Font Size 1.0.3
- Decrease Font Size 1.0.3
R Restore Default Graph Location 1.0.5
S Toggle Drawing Splines or Lines 1.0.5
P Toggle Drawing Points or Lines 1.0.5
M Toggle Status Message Display 1.0.5
H Display Hotkey Help Message 1.0.5

Settings File

Configurable settings for the STTP Connection Tester are defined in the text-based settings.ini file.

Default location of settings.ini on Windows deployments can be found in the user’s local low application data folder:

%appdata%\..\LocalLow\Grid Protection Alliance\STTP Connection Tester\

The settings are defined as follows:

Setting Default Value Description
AutoInitiateConnection False When value is True, connection to last defined connection string will be attempted on startup.
StartTime *-5M Last UI defined timestamp or relative interval to now for start time of historical replay, see Historical Replay Time Intervals.
StopTime * Last UI defined Last timestamp or relative interval to now for stop time of historical replay, see Historical Replay Time Intervals.
FilterExpression FILTER TOP 10 ActiveMeasurements WHERE SignalType='FREQ' OR SignalType LIKE 'VPH*' Last UI defined filter expression that defines which points to select. See STTP Filter Expressions documentation.
Title STTP Connection Tester Title that appears above the graph plane.
MaxSignals 30 Maximum number of signals that will be trended.
LegendFormat {0:SignalTypeAcronym}: {0:Description} [{0:PointTag}] Format of metadata description for signal trend legend. See available MeasurementDetail fields.
PointsInLine 50 Number of points to display per trend line.
ConnectionString server=localhost:7165; Last UI defined connection string.
StatusDisplayInterval 10000 Maximum time, in milliseconds, that status updates will remain visible.
StatusRows 10 Maximum number of rows that will be maintained for status updates.
LineWidth 4 Display width of trend lines.
LineDepthOffset 0.75 Z-axis depth offset for multiple trend lines.
GuiSize 1 Last UI defined font size factor for the text based GUI elements, e.g., subscriber controls. Valid values are from 1 to 3.
ArrowScrollsTarget False When value is True, arrow keys scroll the target plane; otherwise, arrow keys scroll the camera.
PointsScrollRight True When value is True, points on graph scroll left-to-right; otherwise, points on graph scroll right-to-left.
UseSplineGraph False When value is True, lines will be drawn with a spline; otherwise, lines will be direct drawn between points.
SplineSegmentFactor 3 Number of curve segments to use per each spline between points.
GraphPoints False When value is True, points will be drawn instead of lines.