Plot Page Configuration Revisions / RiverWare 6.7
Phil Weinstein, 1-14-2015 -- Ready for review.

Motivation

We would like to address two usability problems with RiverWare Plot Pages.

  1. Plot page configuration setting changes don't persist unless the user explicitly "saves" the page.
  2. There is currently no way of having plot pages be initially shown with a time range based on the run start and end timestep or certain other desirable symbolic date/times.

Requirements

  1. When making configuration changes to a previously saved (named) plot page, those changes should automatically be saved. (It's sufficient for this to occur automatically the next time the plot page is closed).
  2. When closing an un-saved (un-named) plot page, the user should be prompted to optionally save (and name) the page.
  3. There should be a time range configuration provision supporting both "specified" (absolute) and "symbolic" time ranges which are applied each time the plot page is shown. It should also be possible to re-apply this time range to the currently displayed plots (e.g. after having zoomed).
  4. Symbolic time ranges should support independent configuration of the beginning and end of the time range, including the following choices, with the addition or subtraction of an integral number of timesteps:

Relevant Existing RiverWare 6.6 Provisions

Current Menus

Edit Time Range Dialog

        

Save As... Dialog

Note: We had thought that, when saving a plot page, the current time range (e.g. set with the Edit time Range dialog or other displayed time range adjustment tools) would be retained and restored the next time the plot page is shown. Currently (e.g. with RiverWare 6.6) that doesn't seem to be happening.

Proposed Enhancements

(1) Automatic Plot Page Configuration Saving

When an unsaved plot page is closed (including with the window title bar "X" button), a simple popup dialog is shown asking if the plot should be saved:

... if the "Yes" button is clicked, the "Save As..." dialog is shown. This dialog shows the names of the currently saved plot pages, and allows the user to enter a new name. (See image in previous section). Pressing "Cancel" will do one of the following (TBD):

  1. Abort the plot page save operation, causing the plot page's configuration to just be discarded.
  2. Return the user to the new simple dialog presented above.

When a saved plot page (having an assigned name) is closed, its configuration is implicitly saved.

In our discussions about these features, it was suggested that we might be able to remove the "File >> Save" operation from the file menu. Note however that there are several save operations which would still need to be presented. (See the "File" menu screenshot above).

(2) "Time Range Configuration" Provision

A "Time Range Configuration..." menu item has been added to the Plot Page Dialog's "Edit" menu. That shows the following dialog box.

 

<<< updated 1-14-2014
... see comparison with prior mockup.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The primary purpose of this configuration is to determine the time scale of plots on a plot page each time the plot page is shown. It does also provide buttons to apply the selected "scale algorithm" to the currently displayed (non-permanent) time scale of plots.

There are two top-level scaling types selected with radio buttons in panels including associated settings:

  1. Symbolic Time Range
  2. Specified Time Range

The Symbolic Time Range choice uses one set of settings for all plots on the plot page. The following types of symbolic times can independently be selected for the "From" (earliest) and "To" (latest) times.

  1. Series Data Start*
  2. Series Data End*
  3. Run Start
  4. Run End
  5. Calendar Year Start -- the beginning of the calendar year containing the run start.
  6. Calendar Year End -- the end of the calendar year containing the run start.
  7. Water Year Start -- the beginning of the water year containing the run start.
  8. Water Year End -- the end of the water year containing the run start.

*In plot pages containing more than one plot, the "Series Data Start" and "Series Data End" choices are presented as four distinct options:

  1. Series Data Start (each plot)
  2. Series Data End (each plot)
  3. Series Data Start (all plots)
  4. Series Data End (all plots)

The "each plot" options consider only the series data within a particular plot for that plot's time range start or end. The "all plots" options use all of the series data among all of the plots for all plots in the plot page.

The Symbolic Time Range panel also shows the resulting date/times and the number of timesteps (based on the model run timestep size). For plot pages having multiple plots, if a "Series Data / (each plot)" option is used, the resulting date/times are shown only for the selected plot, and that is indicated; see the screenshot above.

The Specified Time Range choice allows the specification of absolute date/times for the time range. These date/times are maintained separately for each plot in the plot page, but changes to these configurations can be applied uniformly to all plots by selecting the "Setting for ... All plots on plot page" radio button. The date/times can be directly edited, copied from the system clipboard, or stepped using the date/time spinner controls. There is also a "Set From" drop-down menu button which supports the setting of both date/time values with these functions:

The currently configured scale algorithm can be immediately applied to the plot page's plots with these two buttons:

Apply to displayed time range in:   [ All Plots ]   [ Selected Plot ]

The user must click the "Save" button to retain the changes made to the time range configuration settings. This also dismisses the dialog. If the "Apply to all open plot pages" checkbox is checked, this configuration data is set on all open plot pages.

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