What happens if a Pathfinder Panel gets disconnected?
Updated
by
Bryan Jones
Scope
This document applies to Pathfinder user panels for the Windows version of Pathfinder as well as Pathfinder Core PRO.
Description
There are several reasons why a Pathfinder user panel may become disconnected, and the question often arises as to what happens when it occurs.
Questions like;
- Will the panel automatically close?
- Will any of the controls still work?
- What if I click on buttons while it's disconnected? Will it remember those clicks?
- Do I need to restart the panel to reconnect it?
User Panel Behavior
The behavior of the panels depends somewhat on your configuration.
If you have redundant Pathfinder servers and one of those servers goes away, the panel will automatically connect to the second Pathfinder server. In this case, you might not even notice the change unless you have something on your panel to show you what server is active.
If you only have a single server (no redundant server), here is what you can expect.
In the event of a disconnection
- Your panel will remain open on your computer
- Any real-time monitoring of meters and routes will stop.
- In the Windows version, you will see a flashing message on the panel, indicating that it's "connecting" and listing the IP Address of the server like this.
- In Pathfinder Core PRO, the HTML panels will show a small icon in the upper right corner like this,
indicating the panel is disconnected. - You will have no control while the panel is disconnected.
- Clicks on the panel will not be remembered or acted on.
When the panel reconnects
Both Pathfinder PC (the Windows Version) and Pathfinder Core PRO do not accept client connections immediately after a restart. Pathfinder PC will show a Client Sockets Open message on the Cluster Tab. Pathfinder Core PRO will have an icon like this 
in the top right corner of each page, indicating that client connections can be accepted.
- Panels will reconnect automatically and do not need to be restarted.
- Meters will restart on their own.
- Button status will update automatically with any changes made while disconnected.
- Labels will update automatically with any changes made while disconnected.
Let us know how we can help
If you have further questions on this topic or have ideas about how we can improve this document, please contact us.
