Help - About

<product name>

The product which is running.  Manifold Release 9 editions will be cited as Manifold System Professional, Manifold System Universal, or Manifold System Server depending on the edition of the serial number used to activate the license.   Manifold Viewer is cited as Manifold Viewer.  SQL for ArcGIS® Pro is cited as SQL for ArcGIS Pro.   The illustration above shows an About dialog for a  Manifold Server edition.

<build>

Build number and date of release.

<version status>

Manifold System Release 9,  Manifold Viewer, and SQL for ArcGIS Pro builds are issued in base builds that are updated every few months, with cutting edge builds issued approximately every two weeks in between base builds.   Most Manifold users work with cutting edge builds, since they provide new features and bug fixes.  However, to avoid nagging people to update more frequently than they would like, the About dialog checks for base builds only when reporting whether the package is up to date.  

If the build running is the latest base version or a cutting edge build released after the latest base version, the dialog reports Your version is up to date.   If a newer base version is available, the dialog reports New version available, with the new version number as a link that launches the Free Updates page in the default browser.   The Free Updates page provides links to downloads pages for Manifold Release 9 and for Manifold Viewer.

CPU

The CPU that is operating, as reported by Windows.

GPU

Reports the number of GPU devices installed in the system, if GPGPU capable, as reported by NVIDIA driver.  The GPU report uses the name CUDA, the name of the NVIDIA GPGPU programming library which the card must support.  

• If no GPGPU-capable device has been installed in the system, will report Graphics only for the GPU.

• If one GPGPU capable card is installed in the system, the dialog will report the name of the card (if the card's firmware reports  the name, as almost all modern cards do), together with the CUDA level the card supports.  

• If more than one GPGPU-capable card has been installed, the dialog reports the number of GPGPU-capable devices but not the card names of each.

The illustration above shows a system with two GPU cards installed that are GPGPU capable and are thus reported as CUDA (2 devices).  To get a report of all cards installed, in Manifold launch a Command Window, enter  the following command, and press the ! run button on the main toolbar.

? CALL SystemGpgpus()

The result table will list all cards by name, together with the CUDA library level they support.

RAM

Amount of random access memory installed in the computer system.

OS

The version of Windows that is running, as reported by Windows.  The dialog reports Windows 11 as Windows 11 vvvv, Windows 10 as Windows 10 vvvv and Windows Server 2016+ as Windows Server vvvv, with vvvv being a Windows 10 style version label such as 21H1.   The illustration above shows a machine that is running Windows 11.

Lang

The language in use.   See Localization.  

ODBC

Appears for Manifold Release 9editions and SQL for ArcGIS Pro but does not appear for Manifold Viewer.  Reports the installation state of the Manifold ODBC driver, and allows installation or removal as desired.

The Manifold ODBC driver is automatically installed when installing Manifold using a Windows Installer installation package, but it is not automatically installed when running a portable installation.  When using a portable installation we must install the Manifold driver using the Help - About dialog.  See the Installations topic for a quick guide to using portable installations and to installing the Manifold ODBC driver.

The report shows if ODBC has been installed, whether it is an ODBC driver from an base build or a cutting edge build.  The accessory button allows installation/update/repair and removal.    ODBC status can be reported as:

• Not installed - The ODBC driver has not been installed

• Installed - The ODBC driver has been installed into the same location from which Manifold has been launched

• Installed with mismatching options - The ODBC driver has been  installed into current location, but the install is partial, or damaged, or out-of-date, and thus must be reinstalled/updated.

• Installed in different location - The ODBC driver has been installed but into a location different from that from which Manifold has been launched.  Typical examples are an ODBC installation that is part of an base build with the current Manifold session launched from a portable installation, or an ODBC installation from one portable installation that is different from the portable installation from which Manifold has been launched.  

If our login does not have Administrator rights, pressing the Update or Remove button to install or uninstall the ODBC driver will launch a dialog that allows us to proceed with Administrator rights.   

For example, to get the illustration above, starting with an installation that did not have ODBC installed, we pressed the Update button, provided the password for Administrator privileges, and the ODBC status immediately switched to Installed, with the button caption changed to Remove.   If we have multiple Manifold sessions launched from the same installation, installing ODBC on any of them will install it for all of them, with no need to restart.

License for all users

Appears for Manifold Release 9 editions and SQL for ArcGIS Pro but does not appear for Manifold Viewer.  Reports if the license in use has been installed (activated) for all users.  

By default, when a Manifold license is installed on a computer the first time each user login launches Manifold that user login must provide the license serial number to be used to activate that license for that user login on that computer.   The same serial number can be used for however many user logins are desired on that computer without using up activations.  The default system allows administrators to control which users can utilize a Manifold license on a given computer by controlling to whom they give a serial number.  Administrator privileges are not required for the default system where each user login activates Manifold for the use of that user login.

An option is to activate Manifold at once for all user logins on the computer.  Doing that requires having Administrator privileges.  However, it allows any user login on the computer to use Manifold and it does not require providing the serial number to any user, if administrators want to keep their serial numbers secret.

Status can be reported as:

• Not installed - The license has not been activated for all users.  Each new user login when Manifold is first launched must activate the license by providing a serial number.  Note that activation additional users on the same machine does not use up any activations.  Press Install to activate for all users, if desired.  Administrator privileges are required to install (activate) for all users.

• Installed - The license has been activated for all users.  Each new user login can launch Manifold without having to provide a serial number.  

When a license is installed (activated) for all users, the button caption changes from Install to Remove.   Press Remove to remove installation (activation) for all users.  Administrator privileges are required to remove activation for all users. That will reset the Manifold license on that computer back to the default activation system requiring each user login to provide the serial number the first time that user login launches Manifold.

When running a Manifold Server license, make sure to install the license for all users.  That will allow running Server instances as Windows services.

<Using...>

An approximate snapshot of the resources currently used by Manifold: the amount of RAM in use, the amount of hard disk in use and the number of files open.

<Running...>

Reports Running in 64-bit mode or Running in 32-bit mode.    All new Manifold builds are exclusively 64-bit.   Older Manifold product releases provided both 64-bit and 32-bit versions.   This readout reports 32-bit operation when running an older 32-bit version.  

Check License

Appears for Manifold Release 9 editions and SQL for ArcGIS Pro but does not appear for Manifold Viewer.  Pressing the button contacts Manifold's activation servers to check the status of the license currently in use.  Doing so also validates the license so the software can be used for at least three weeks without any Internet connection for the computer.   Before taking off for a very long plane ride or a voyage without any Internet contact at all, press the Check License button to validate the license.

Switch License

Appears for Manifold Release 9 editions and SQL for ArcGIS Pro but does not appear for Manifold Viewer.  Launches the Activation dialog to allow entering a different serial number, thus providing a simple way to switch the license in use to a different serial number.   Useful when changing the serial number in use on a machine, for example, when upgrading Universal Edition to Manifold Server edition, or downgrading to a Professional Edition serial number.  

The serial number in use on a machine can be seen by using the manifold.exe -showserial command line option.  That shows only the first eight characters of the serial number, but that is enough to determine which of several serial numbers we might have is the one in use on that machine.

Buy Manifold 9

Appears for Manifold Viewer and does not appear for Manifold Release 9 editions and SQL for ArcGIS Pro.   Launches the Manifold Online Store entry page in the default browser.

OK

Close the dialog.