Proposal: SCT Series Value Threshold Exceedance Cell Color Alerts
Bake 2. Funding: USACE-SWD (Task 3.e).
Phil Weinstein, CADSWES, 12-15-2015

Task Description

"In the SCT, allow for predefined coloring of cells or fonts, when the value is over or under a certain threshold."

Background

From the users' point of view, this enhancement is an extension to the RiverWare 6.8 enhancement to support custom color overrides for individual cells in an SCT. (This was developed in September 2015, three months ago). That enhancement is described in this document:

SCT Custom Slot/Timestep Cell Colors / RiverWare 6.8
R:\doc\sct\2015\SctCustomColors-2015-Sep.docx
http://cadswes2.colorado.edu/~philw/2015/SCT/SctCustomFlags/SctCustomColors-2015-Sep-Phil-9-28.pdf

The differences between that support and this new exceedance alert capability are as follows:

  1. The criteria for a cell having the exceedance colors are dynamic, based on the value associated with the cell (series slot timestep) and threshold values associated with the slot within the SCT.
  2. Foreground (text) and background colors associated with the exceedance condition are optional. For example, it is possible to specify only a foreground (text) color, and not a background color. In that case, the cell's background color would be that corresponding to the timestep flag associated with the cell's slot and timestep.

Proposal

(A) Generalize and Enhance the "Custom SCT Slot/Timestep Cell Colors" dialog.

  1. Simplify the dialog's name to "Custom SCT Cell Colors" dialog (i.e. remove "Slot/Timestep"). The removed text had been intended to imply that these were colors explicitly assigned by the user to particular slot/timestep cells. These color configurations will now also be used for threshold exceedance alert cell colors.
     
  2. Add checkboxes (without additional text) to the left of each of the two color buttons in each row. When the checkbox is off, the color for the respective role (text color or cell background color) normally used (e.g. for the slot/timestep's series flag color). In the case of only a background color being specified, the text color will be dynamically chosen to contrast with the active background color (as is normally done by the SCT).

This screenshot is an example of this dialog as it exists in RiverWare 6.7 (before these enhancements).

       

(B) SCT "Edit Series Slot List" -- Value Alert Threshold Radio Button

The upper and lower threshold values, and associated custom color combinatin names, for each series slot, will be specified in new columns shown within the SCT's Edit Series Slot List tab when a new "Value Alert Threshold" radio button is clicked.

This screenshot is an example of this SCT tab as it exists in RiverWare 6.7 (before these enhancements). The "Add / Delete / Move Series Slot" label above the slot tree is being changed to a radio button (see the subsquent images below).

Enhancement: "Add / Delete / Move Series Slot" mode (providing the prior support):

Enhancement: "Value Alert Threshold" mode:

The added "Value Alert Threshold" columns are as follows

  1. Low Value -- numeric entry, can be empty.
  2. Low Color -- combobox selection of an SCT Custom Cell Color item.
  3. High Value -- numeric entry, can be empty.
  4. High Color -- combobox selection of an SCT Custom Cell Color item.
  5. Units (and Scale, if not 1.0. Display only).

The Low and High threshold values will be stored and used (within threshold checks) in user units, with the associated scale and unit designation. (Those are set when threshold values are edited). These provisions are intended to support per-month and per-year threshold values in the expected way.

The "Custom Cell Colors ..." button brings up the "Custom SCT Slot/Timestep Cell Colors" dialog discussed above. The renaming of any color item (row) will cause any references to that name shown in the Edit Series Slot List tab to be updated with the changed color item name.

Here is an animated GIF of the two modes of the "Edit Series Slot List" tab:
   http://cadswes2.colorado.edu/~philw/2015/SCT/ThreshColors/mock1/EditSeriesSlotTab1-MockupAnim.gif

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