Debugging the FlexiLayout

We recommend debugging your FlexiLayout as you add blocks and elements to it. To test a FlexiLayout, build it and match it with all the test images. Check that the FlexiLayout has no errors and that it enables the program to detect all of the objects and blocks.

A FlexiLayout may fail to find elements or blocks on an image because the searched object is outside the search area or does not match the parameters specified for the element. Therefore, debugging a FlexiLayout consists in finding images with errors, adjusting the description, and re-applying it to the images. A corrected FlexiLayout must be applied both to problem pages (to make sure that the error has been rectified) and to the rest of the pages (to make sure that your corrections have had no adverse effect on them).

Additionally, when you add new elements, be sure that they are matched correctly on all the pages of the test batch. This means that you will review the results of matching many times while your are creating a FlexiLayout. If there are several dozen images in the batch, this procedure may be very tiresome. To make debugging your FlexiLayout easier, you can create a so-called Reference layout, i.e. the layout you consider to be correct and which you wish to use as a benchmark. When matching your FlexiLayout with a page for which a Reference layout is available, the program will automatically detect the differences between the benchmark and the matching results (Matched layout). The difference between the Reference layout and the Matched layout is represented as a percentage ratio of the areas of the blocks of each layout. You must aim to make Matched layout as close to Reference layout as possible. A complete match of Matched layout and Reference layout corresponds to the value of 0% in the Missing Areas and Excess Areas columns in the Batch window. The higher the percentage points in these columns, the worse the match.

You can use a reference layout to debug your FlexiLayout.

You can disable an element when testing a FlexiLayout ( FlexiLayout → Elements → Disable). You can also hide an active block or element on the image (View → Images → Hide Active Blocks or Elements).

Building a FlexiLayout