General
The Schematic Status Display (SSD) in Delft-FEWS is used for displaying and monitoring data. The schematic status display shows one or more configurable schematic views that represent data values in some way. For example, to show the most recent data value of a given time series, it is possible to show just the numerical value, or to show a rectangle that varies in height depending on the data value, or to show a polygon that changes in color when the data value crosses a certain threshold, etc.
How data is represented, and which data is shown can be configured in the schematic status display configuration file. The schematic status display is dynamically updated whenever new data becomes available in the system or whenever data is changed (e.g. in the time series editor). The SSD is comparable to the main map display, only the SSD does not and cannot refer to any geographical coordinate system. Furthermore, the SSD can be used to show text and figures as well as objects that represent data values.
Using a Schematic Status Display
Schematic Status Displays come in a lot of different shapes and sizes. However, it usually exists out of the following components:
- Time slider
- Selection panel
- Map Display
Opening the Schematic Status Displays
How the Schematic Status Displays can be opened depends on what decisions the configurator of the Delft-FEWS system took.
The first option is via the Tools menu of the Delft-FEWS taskbar (see Figure 2, left rectangle).
The second option is by configuring an explore task in the explorer.xml file. Here one can connect the explorer-task to an icon. By double clicking the icon (see Figure 2, right rectangle) the relevant SSD will open.
Selection Panel: Selecting Schematic Status Displays
Schematic Status Displays can be grouped by putting their configurations together in a single configuration file in the config/DisplayConfigFiles folder. The user can use the selection panel on the left side of the SSD display to navigate through the displays within a group. A single left click opens the selected display.
Time Slider: using the time slider toolbar
The time slider of the Schematic Status Display is located at the of the display. In the Table below a description of the functionality can be found.
Button | Description |
|---|---|
| Activate or deactivate the time slider. Can be used to enable the functionality included in the time slider. |
| Set slider period or period time. After clicking this button, a menu appears where the user can change the Start Time, Display Time and End Time. Changes can be applied, saved or reset. |
| Follow system time. When pressed the SSD follows the system time. Pressing the button again will stop the following of the system time. |
| Play. Starts continuous play mode. The slider will indicate the time slice being shown. This button is merged with the pause button. So after this button is pressed, the pause button appears. |
| One frame back. Pressing this button will send the time slider one frame / one timestep back. |
| One frame forward. Pressing this button will send the time slider one frame / one timestep forward. |
| Last frame. Pressing this button will send the time slider to the last frame time available in the slider period. |
| Record. Creates an AVI or animated gif movie file. When the user presses this button first a file location, -name and -extension needs to be defined. By default, the AVI file format is selected. After saving the file, the display will start playing from the current time position, until the stop button is clicked. This stop button will appear on top of the button. The recorded movie is now stored automatically. |
| Number of ms to pause before going to the next step. Here the user can define how long the time slider pauses at each time slice. |
SSD Display: using the Schematic Status Display
Objects such as texts, numbers and shapes can all contain extra functionality when you use the mouse to hoover over or to click on the elements.
Element | Functionality |
leftSingleClickAction | Single clicking on an element can trigger an action. Possible actions that can be configured when performing a single-click on a SSD element are: - Open graph of parameter displayed: clicking on the element opens a graph. - Changing the value of the parameter: by entering a new value or by using the enumerate values functionality. - Open new display, PDF, URL or SSD: clicking on the element redirects you to other information. - Run a Workflow: clicking on the element can trigger the start of a workflow run. |
leftDoubleClickAction | Can be used together with the leftSingleClickAction, it can trigger an additional action. Possible actions that can be found when performing a double-click on a SSD element are: - Open graph of parameter displayed: clicking on the element opens a graph. - Changing the value of the parameter: by entering a new value of by using the enumerate values functionality. - Open new display, PDF, URL or SSD: clicking on the element redirects you to other information. - Run a Workflow: clicking on the element can trigger the start of a workflow run. |
toolTip | A specified text can be displayed in the SSD when the user hoovers over a text, number of shape. This can be used to reveal extra information. |
The Map Display can also contain elements that move, rotate or change in color based on the underlying data. In the Table below an overview of these is given.
| Element | What | Potential usage | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
| Rotation | Can be used to display wind direction. |
|
| Changing colors | The thresholds of timeseries in Delft-FEWS can be linked to elements in the SSD. In this example the water level in the Southern canal starts too low. The SSD element is orange. In the next timestep the water level has increased and the default color is shown again. Similarly, the arrows - connected to flow - can change color). |
|
| Moving | Can be used to visualize increasing water levels or the usage of sluices. |
Drawing the Map Display of a Schematic Status Display
The technical documentation to configure a Schematic Status Display in Delft-FEWS can be found here: https://publicwiki.deltares.nl/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=8684020. The Schematic Status Display uses SVG files for displaying data, these files are created outside of Delft-FEWS. There is no preferred software package to build these files however many configurators have used the free and open-source vector drawing software from https://inkscape.org/.
