Sessions 102 - New Feature

In a recent posting (Sessions 101), the many different aspects of sessions were reviewed. One key item it discussed was creating a session file (.GTS) from an Extract File (.GTX) instead of a .GTM file. Traditionally, the session for an Extract file (.GTX) has been stored internally (in the .GTX file along with the data), to keep the dataset and the session in a single file. Many users expressed the desired to keep their data as single Extract file to simplify data management, so the Session File (.GTS) was extended to work with a .GTX file as well as a .GTM file. With this change, multiple users could have their own session (or multiple session) with a single Extract File (.GTX file). This feature has worked very well with one exception; it is sometimes confusing to a user that they need to create a session from a .GTX file (with File/New) rather than just open it with File/Open (which will open the internal session). With the latest version of GTViewer (version 5.0.x.10) and GTVx (version 5.0.x.5), a new feature was added to make the process of using .GTS session files with a .GTX file easier and less confusing.

In the .GTM file (remember that a .GTX file is made from a .GTM file), you can add a new entry to the [Additional Properties] section called ExternalSessionsOnly. If this entry is set to 1, the internal session in a .GTX file will not be accessible to GTViewer or GTVx. If this option is set, there can be no mistake of opening a .GTX with it internal session instead of creating an external session. If the user opens a .GTX with File/New, it will simply create a new session and when the user exists, it will ask if they want to save it (just like it does when a .GTM file is opened).