Common Trending and QC tools:
Documentation

tqs = Trending and Quality Control System
*make printable 

new:
v1.6:
- TOC files de-commissioned

see also:

[ used databases ] databases none
[ used dfos tools ] dfos tools none
[ output used by ] output used by trendPlotter; QC web pages
[ upload/download ] upload/download created navigation bars uploaded to configured web site

webNavBar

Description

This tool helps the QC scientist to create and maintain navigation bars for their web pages, mainly for the calChecker, QC and HC web pages. The tool creates standardized output, for easy cross-instrument navigation bar. It makes creation and maintenance of navigation bars simple.

The tool uses standardized web styles, coded in cascaded style sheets (CSS). These are files describing format attributes like color, size etc. All styles used by webNavBar are defined under /qc/ALL/common/qc_eso.style. You are not supposed to edit that file unless authorized.

The tool uses extensively the 'include virtual' mechanism which provides automatic embedding of the output HTML code into other web pages. If the navigation bar is updated using webNavBar, it immediately becomes visible and updated in all web pages where it is included. This is an important aspect: the navigation bars are maintained centrally. 'Maintenance' has two aspects here: content (maintained by you in the configuration files), and makeup (maintained centrally in the style file). Changing e.g. the color for style 'this-nav-subitem' will reflect immediately in all QC web pages.

Furthermore, the QC navigation bars have typically several components, again linked by the include virtual mechanism: a user-defined component, and one or more externally controlled components (see below), typically used to create standard further links.

Also, there are the score HTML files used for the HealthCheck scoring (QUICK-LOOK versions). Upon user's prompt, they are uploaded to the web server for those navigation bars of TYPE=HEALTH. In a similar way, the calScores on the calChecker monitor are embedded in the navigation bar, and also the instrument scores on the main HC navigation bar (TYPE=HEALTH_MAIN).

The user defined navigation bars are collected under /qc/<instr>/common/, the externally controlled components (since they are common to all instruments) under /qc/ALL/common/. These paths need to be configured (under $QC_DIR). Once done, you don't need to care about those navigation items anymore.

CAL, HEALTH and QC navigation. These are currently the main types of configuration files. They are marked in the configuration file by TYPE=CAL, HEALTH or STANDARD. The main differences are:

Highlighting. This feature is a key to user-friendly navigation. It marks the current link, so that after reading the web page, or after further navigation, the user still has a clue about the current position. Technically, highlighting requires cloning of the navigation bar into n copies, with each copy having a different link highlighted; plus a naming convention for these navigation bars.

For TYPE=HEALTH pages, the naming convention is that the bar has to be called 'vnavbar_HC_<group_name>.html' where group_name is the name of the navigation group, as used in the trendPlotter group file. Set VNAVBAR to YES in all trendPlotter configuration files for the reports of that group.

For TYPE=STANDARD, there are conventions:

SUBLEVEL. This feature can be used for TYPE=STANDARD navigation only. If in a set of web pages the first one is marked as PARENT and the others as CHILD, only the PARENT item will display if any of the other items is selected, while the PARENT plus all CHILD items display if any of these is selected. In other words: the SUBLEVEL mechanism is a 'close-up' mechanism which helps avoiding too much navigation options at the general level. Find an example here (click first on 'general info' and then on 'trending&QC1' to see the difference).

Additional parts. To construct a fully operational navigation bar, there are typically standard parts to be added on top and at bottom. These are configured under INCLUDE_TOP and INCLUDE_BOTTOM. The template files have these standard parts configured correctly, you are not supposed to edit them.

In order to create these additional parts with webNavBar as well, there is the option to specify FULL=NO which, for these 'partial' navigation bars, would only create the table rows and cells needed, but not the other HTML tags. The standard user can ignore that configuration part. User-configurable navigation bars always have FULL=YES.

Available styles. Check out the style file here: /qc/ALL/common/qc_eso.style

These are the currently defined navigation items:

style example configurable? TYPE comment
headlines:
nav-head HealthCheck Monitor yes   major headline
nav-div HealthCheck Monitor yes   headline level2
navigation items:
nav-item yes   item (only used without links)
nav-subitem yes STANDARD style for standard navigation link
nav-subitem yes HEALTH style for standard navigation link; the additional cell is auto-inserted and filled with score result file by trendPlotter
[nav-noscoreitem] yes HEALTH special style for TYPE=HEALTH, if no scoring is supported for this link (same makeup as nav-subitem for STANDARD)
NOTE
: this style should be used only exceptionally!
 
separators, used for additional structure:
nav-dailyitem yes HEALTH only separator, to distinguish DAILY and NONDAILY HC plots; values: "daily ..." or "other ..."
nav-subitem yes   enter "SPACE" under 'TEXT' and 'LINK' if you want an empty line
additional classes, set by the tool or used by the included parts (not configurable by the user!)
this-nav-subitem MIDI no   like nav-subitem, marks current link; used by webNavbar, not configurable
nav-otheritem no for INCLUDEs only like nav-item, for "other" items
nav-othersubitem no for INCLUDEs only like nav-subitem, for "other" subitems

Example: this is the current composition of the HC_GIRAFFE navigation bar:

 
 
 
INCLUDE_TOP
HealthCheck Monitor
    HOME | UsersGuide
 
FLAMES/GIRAFFE:
 
auto-entered by webNavbar ->
     
  user configured detector
 
  HIGHLIGHT=YES
--> all groups get their own highlighted copy of the navigation bar
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

INCLUDE_BOTTOM (navbar_HC_bottom.html)

This part uses a slightly paler background color (as defined for nav-otheritem and nav-othersubitem). It links to all other HC sites, for easy cross-navigation within the HC domain.

Other HC:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

INCLUDE_BOTTOM (navbar_QC_links.html)

This part is a standard QC navigation, always offered at bottom. It uses the same classes as the other INCLUDE_BOTTOM.

QC links:
 
 
 
 
 
 
[best viewing with style sheets and javascript enabled]  

Output

How to use

Type webNavBar -h for on-line help, webNavBar -v for the version number, and

webNavBar

for interactive selection of the navigation bar to be created.

At the end, you are prompted about transfer and publication on the web site. If reply is 'N', the navigation bar is visible only locally in the $TMP_DIR, for inspection and final checks.

Group score defaults. For TYPE=HEALTH navigation bars only, there will be scoring symbols in the HC navigation bar. webNavBar supports them by providing the necessary HTML structure, and default entries. These are then updated by trendPlotter.You will be prompted at the end of the creation of a HC navigation bar:

"Transfer empty score files?"

Typing "Y" then replaces any existing group score file by the default again (as a cleaning-up mechanism). The default is "N" which preserves any existing group score file. In any case, the next trendPlotter call will re-create non-empty score files.

Configuration

The tool needs a tool configuration file, and one configuration file per navigation bar. All these go to $DFO_CONFIG_DIR/webNavBar (!).

1. The tool configuration file (config.webNavBar) defines the start menu:

Section 1: configuration of start menu
INDEX 01 controls sequence in which menu items are displayed; must be unique
SPACE: display empty line
CONFIG_NAME config.navbar name of config file for navigation bar; also: name of output HTML file
MENUE_TEXT QC_<your_instrument> text to be displayed as menue item (words linked by '_')

The template/example file has four example items:

2. The navigation bar configuration files have the following format:

Section 1: general variables
TYPE STANDARD | HEALTH | HEALTH_MAIN | CAL type of configuration file (STANDARD, HEALTH/HEALTH_MAIN, CAL are very similar)
QC_DIR /home/qc/qc/<instr>/common target directory for navigation bar(s) on web server
HIGH_LIGHT YES | NO YES: create highlighted family of navigation bars, with their names in HIGH_NAME (below)
FULL YES | NO don't change; user-configured navigation bars are always FULL=YES.
common parts: don't change; multiple entries are supported
INCLUDE_TOP /observing/dfo/quality/ALL/common/navbar_QC_TOP.html to be included on top of this navigation bar
INCLUDE_BOTTOM /observing/dfo/quality/ALL/common/navbar_HC_bottom1.html to be included at bottom
     
Section 2: List of navigation items
This list defines, row by row, the navigation items.
TEXT grating_stability

text to be displayed; you can enter SPACE to have an empty line
must be one word, no spaces (use '_' which will be replaced by a space)

CLASS nav-subitem | nav-div CSS classes; TYPE=HEALTH: also nav-dailyitem (see above table for available styles)
LINK /qc/FORS2/reports/HEALTH/trend_report_gratings.html URl, or 'NONE' (for nav-div)
WINDOW_TEXT FORS1_grating_stability_(low_resolution) text to display on mouse over
HIGH_NAME vnavbar_HC_STABILITY.html optional; name of highlighted navigation bar (HIGH_LIGHT=YES)
SUBLEVEL PARENT | CHILD optional; for TYPE=STANDARD only: marking of SUBLEVEL in navigation bars

Last update: April 26, 2021 by rhanusch