Using Quick Run mode

Quick Run mode allows you to quickly isolate and test small parts of large or complex projects (including legacy projects), or to force the flowchart to run to a particular step, overriding any conditions which would normally prevent reaching that step or set of steps.

To use Quick Run mode, right-click on the step (or hold Ctrl and right-click on the selected steps) that you want to test, and select the Create Quick Run Group context menu item. Then for each selected step (also known as root step) the flowchart is analyzed to determine all the steps that it depends on. You are now in Quick Run mode. The root step(s), and the steps it depends on, will be in green. All other steps are hidden with a collapse symbol. Often, a Quick Run group has only a single root step.

When to use Quick Run mode

Quick Run mode is often used to make adjustments to the settings of an Analysis and Processing step, based on a set of test images. When doing so, it is usually essential to know if those adjustments affect that step's pass and fail conditions. The Status step, if present, is therefore included in a Quick Run group.

The following image shows a Quick Run group for a Measurement step (root). It uses a fixture from a ModelFinder step, which works with images from a Camera step. These steps, their dependencies, including all required conditional and switch paths, and the Status step, are included in the Quick Run group. All other steps are collapsed accordingly.

To see which steps are collapsed, hover on the collapse symbol. Collapsed steps can be expanded by right-clicking and selecting the Expand Collapsed Steps context menu item. Similarly, expanded steps can be recollapsed by right-clicking and selecting the Collapse Steps context menu item. The Condition step, Switch step, and Loop step are considered flowchart construct elements and cannot be set as root steps, but they can be part of the Quick Run group. Forcing Condition and Switch steps down a specific path is discussed in the the Advanced features of Quick Run mode subsection of this section.

To exit Quick Run mode, click the Quick Run mode () toolbar button in the Project toolbar. If you switch back (by clicking on the same toolbar button), you will see the previously established Quick Run group. If you create another Quick Run group, the previous one is deleted. Each project can have one Quick Run group.

When you save the project, the Quick Run group is saved. You typically access Quick Run options by right-clicking on steps, although you can also use the Quick Run mode toolbar button in the Project toolbar.

Advanced features of Quick Run mode

The following are some advanced features of Quick Run mode:

Selecting multiple root steps.

To do so, press and hold the Ctrl key, click on the root steps, release the Ctrl key, right-click on one of the root steps (they should all be highlighted), and clicking on the Create Quick Run Group context menu item. The group is established based on the dependencies of all the root steps.
Forcing the flowchart to execute a specific branch.

When a Quick Run group includes Flow Control steps with multiple output paths (as is the case with Switch and Condition steps), a specific path (branch) is chosen to execute. To choose a different path, right-click the Flow Control step and use the Force Branch context menu item to select a path. For example, you can force the flowchart to go through an initialization path before going down an analysis path. If you choose the Use Condition context menu item, the condition will be evaluated. However, if it depends on steps not currently in the Quick Run group, you will need to add them manually, or re-define the group by selecting multiple root steps.
Adding/removing steps to/from the Quick Run group.

The Quick Run group is established automatically. You can explicitly add steps to it by right-clicking on the step (ensure that it is not collapsed), and clicking on the Add to Quick Run Group context menu item. Similarly, you can remove a step by right-clicking and selecting the Remove From Quick Run Group context menu item.