RiverWare 6.1: Qt4 Port of MRM (Multiple Run Management) Dialogs
Phil Weinstein, CADSWES
This document describes the changes to the RiverWare MRM dialogs in the port from Qt3 to Qt4 -- to support additional testing and updating user documentation.
Document Status:
Contents:
1.0 Enhancements
1.1 Enhancements: Usability Issues
1.2 Enhancements: New Features
1.3 Bug Fixes
2.0 Ported Dialogs and Lists
2.1 MRM Config: Policy Tab -- Ruleset List
2.2 MRM Config: Input Tab -- Input DMIs List
2.3 MRM Config: Runs Tab -- Run List
2.4 DMI Selector Dialog -- DMI List
Image Files:
In the course of this port, certain usability issues were addressed. In the original implementation, it was difficult for users to understand how to proceed after creating a new, empty MRM configuration. This seems to be for the following reasons:
These difficulties are described in these Gnats entries:
These issues were generally resolved by adding visible widgets for creating new entities, and allowing the initiation of incell edits through more usual techniques, i.e. double-clicking -- and, in some cases, showing an "edit" icon button which initiates an incell edit just by clicking on it (in the Consecutive Runs list). "Selected Click" ("click-wait-click-wait") is still also supported in cells where a single click isn't now sufficient to start an edit.
This port also provides these new features, accessible from context menus in the relevant lists:
These three filed bugs were fixed also in the RiverWare 6.0.2 Patch Release:
Also, these bugs were addressed during this port in the RiverWare 6.1 Development Build:
Porting the MRM dialogs from Qt3 to Qt4 involved several types of widgets, including file choosers (Q3FileDialogs) and button groups. But the only changes which resulted in significant operational differences involved the various lists. See subsequent sections for details on those with notable changes.
With the replacement of Qt3 file choosers to Qt4 file choosers (in three places within the MRM Configuration Dialog), improvements were made in the initial directory shown in the file chooser dialog. The file chooser is initialized to the directory containing the current path definition (for the file path entity being set) -- or, if that isn't defined or doesn't exist -- some other reasonable default directory based on application level file access history.
| Dialog / List |
Details Below |
Qt4 Implementation | |
| Multiple Run Control Dialog | |||
| Multiple Run Configurations List | --- | Simple QTreeWidget (see image). | |
| MRM Configuration Dialog | |||
| Iterative Runs Tab: Pre- and Post-Run Lists Lists | --- | Simple QTreeWidget | |
| Policy Tab: Ruleset List | 2.1 | QTreeView with QAbstractItemModel | |
| Input Tab: Input DMI List | 2.2 | QTreeView with QAbstractItemModel | |
| Concurrent/Consecutive Runs Tab: Run List | 2.3 | QTreeView with QAbstractItemModel and QAbstractItemDelegate | |
| (Input/Output) DMI Selector Dialog | |||
| DMI List | 2.4 | Simple QTreeWidget | |
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Each row identifies a particular Ruleset file path.
Added controls:
Display enhancements:
A new empty Ruleset item (row) can be created by clicking on the "Append Ruleset" (Green-Plus) button below the list, or with the similar context menu operation.
The file path for a particular Ruleset item can be modified in two ways:
As with the prior implementation, direct incell editing supports the use of environment variables (prefixed with "$") which is useful for symbolically specifying the first part of the Ruleset path -- to facilitate moving the model file and Ruleset files to a different directory or environment. Note that the "$" prefix is not part of the environment variable (e.g. when defining such variables in the user's system configuration). The new implementation includes this note below the list:
| Note: Ruleset file paths support environment variables (prefixed with "$"). Double-click to edit. |
A new Red "X" button on each Ruleset row -- and the similar context menu operation -- remove the row item.
A new "Open Ruleset..." context menu operation opens the Ruleset file in a RBS Ruleset Editor dialog.
| Old RiverWare 6.0 Implementation
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Each row identifies a particular Input DMI, and the number of times the DMI is repeated (in the enumeration of Runs).
Added controls:
Display enhancements:
A new empty DMI item (row) can be created by clicking on the "Append DMI" (Green-Plus) button below the list, or with the similar context menu operation.
A DMI's "Repeat" count can be edited by double-clicking in that cell. This shows a "spin-box" which supports direct editing of the integer, or stepping the integer value up or down with the small triangle arrow buttons.
The name of an item's DMI can be modified in two ways:
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A new Red "X" button on each DMI row -- and the similar context menu operation -- remove the row item.
A new "Open DMI..." context menu operation opens the DMI in a DMI Editor Dialog. This is currently supported only for DMI items having a single DMI rather than a DMI Group.
Note that DMI Editor Dialogs are managed as child dialogs of the DMI Manager Dialog. So, when opening a DMI from the MRM Configuration dialog, the Manager Dialog is automatically opened (and is automatically minimized if it hadn't already been open). However, if the DMI Manager Dialog is "Locked" -- preventing the display of DMI Editor Dialogs -- an error message popup indicating that "The DMI Manager is locked" is shown. The user has the option of unlocking the DMI Manager (by toggling its lock icon button).
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The "Concurrent Runs" and "Consecutive Runs" tabs each show a variation of the Run List. Limited editing is supported in Consecutive mode. The list is display-only in Concurrent mode.
In Consecutive Mode, the first run's "Initial Date", and all runs' "Timesteps" (count) cells are editable -- and those cells are ornamented with an "edit" (pad and pencil) icon -- see below. A single mouse-click is sufficient to initiate incell edits of those cells.
Generally, the number of Runs is a function of the MRM configuration. But in the Consecutive Mode, the user has the ability to add or remove runs. This can now be accomplished with the Green-Plus or Red-Minus icons below the list, or with the similar context menu operations
As with the Policy Ruleset and Input DMI lists described above, the Run List context menu includes new items to Open each Run's Ruleset and DMI, if those are used in the MRM configuration.
The new implementation of the Run List includes ordinal numbers for Input DMIs and Policies whether or not "Show Details" is checked. The old implementation showed those numbers only when Details were not shown. Also, the Timestep size (time interval) is now shown above the list instead of in the "Timesteps" column header -- to economize on the total width of the list.
| Old RiverWare 6.0 Implementation
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... See Full Dialog
... see Full Dialog
... see Full Dialog.
The DMI Selector used by the MRM Configuration Editor now supports picking a DMI item by double-clicking -- that is, without having to click the "OK" button. Also, the window title was corrected -- the old implementation showed only "riverware".
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