Column profiles in WiFi Explorer Pro 3

One of the useful features you can find in WiFi Explorer Pro 3 is custom column profiles. You can use profiles to define and display different sets of columns for specific troubleshooting tasks and scenarios. For example, you can create a profile that includes columns you would only need when deploying Hotspot 2.0 networks, a profile to troubleshoot QoS issues, and a profile for general use.

By default, each profile has a set of built-in columns, such as BSSID, network name, signal strength, and other standard network parameters, that you can choose to display or not, but you can also create additional columns from fields found in the information elements that access points advertise in their beacon or probe response frames. You can create a column from more than 550 available fields.

Creating and using column profiles

To create a custom profile in WiFi Explorer Pro 3, you need to go to WiFi Explorer Pro 3 > Preferences and click Profiles, then click the “+” button under the profile list to create a new profile. You can rename the profile (select the profile, then press “Enter”) to give it a more meaningful name.

You will find the list of built-in columns and their configuration for the selected profile on the right side of the profile list. In there, you can show, hide, pin, rename, or reorder columns. You can also add other columns by clicking the “+” button to choose the field you want to display as a column. The easiest way to find a particular field is by using the search field and entering the field’s name if you know it, for example, BSS Color, or keywords that may describe a technology. For example, by entering “interworking,” the list is quickly reduced to show only those fields that may provide information about 802.11u capabilities implemented by access points.

Another way to create a custom column and add it to the active profile is by selecting a particular item from the Advanced Details view and dragging it to the networks table at the desired position. Then, you can right-click on the column’s title and choose to rename the column if needed.

Switching between profiles

You can switch between profiles in two ways. You can go to WiFi Explorer Pro 3 > Preferences > Profiles and choose the desired profile from the active profile pop-up menu, or you can select a different profile from the profile chooser shown above the networks table in WiFi Explorer Pro 3.

Sharing profiles

Once you start creating and customizing column profiles, you may want to share them with your customers, colleagues, or friends, so they don’t have to redo the work. You can share a profile by exporting it to a file and then importing it into another instance of WiFi Explorer Pro 3.

To export a profile, go to WiFi Explorer Pro 3 > Preferences > Profiles, select the profile and click the “Action” button under the list of profiles, then choose Export. To import a profile, choose Import instead, and then choose the file with the profile definition you want to import. You can also drag the file into the profile list in WiFi Explorer Pro 3 > Preferences > Profiles.

A simple yet more flexible user interface

In previous versions of WiFi Explorer Pro, we had to create a built-in column every time we needed to display certain information in the networks table. With time, the list of built-in columns grew, and it started to become difficult to manage. It also became a very inefficient process as each new column required some coding and a new WiFi Explorer Pro update. We designed custom column profiles to address these problems, and as a result, we also removed several built-in columns in WiFi Explorer Pro 3 since you can now create these columns from their corresponding information element fields when necessary.

Below is the list of built-in columns you could find in previous WiFi Explorer Pro versions that we did not include in WiFi Explorer Pro 3. If you would like to have some or all of these columns available in WiFi Explorer Pro 3, you can download here a column profile that includes the list of columns found in WiFi Explorer Pro 2.x.

Custom column profiles allow you to define different sets of columns for each troubleshooting task or scenario. They give you total flexibility to display the information you need while keeping a manageable list of built-in columns and eliminating the need for software updates to make new columns available. You can customize a profile and show, hide, pin, rename, or reorder columns and create additional columns from more than 550 available fields.

To learn more about profiles, check out the section Create and manage column profiles in the WiFi Explorer Pro 3 Help.