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Schema definition

The structure of the XML-schema for the application configuration is as shown on the right.

Explanation

The keys in the XML-schema are explained in the figure on the right. Some of the keys are explained in more detail here.
Note: when 'relative path' is mentioned, this is the relative path with respect to the location of the WaterCoach executable (i.e. not the FEWS executable).

• The value of the key locale must be a 2-letter abbreviation of the language in which the game screens will be displayed (currently available: EN for English or NL for Dutch). For specific applications, extensions to this locale are supported (currently available: EN_AU_BOM for the BoM in Australia).
• Historical scenarios/scripts may be familiar to players of the game. Therefore it is possible to hide the year of the scenario/script in the WaterCoach by setting the flag hideYear to true. Note that for the WaterCoach a copy of the operational system should be used since some changes in the FEWS configuration are required; see below. A better option for misleading players is to overrule the date/time of the historical scenario by explicitly setting the in-game time in the script configuration.
• The key fewsExecutable must contain the (absolute or relative) path to the FEWS executable, which is usually located in the bin-directory of a FEWS release. On the Linux platform, the FEWS executable is the shell script fews.sh. See below for required changes in the FEWS configuration.
• The key fewsRegionDir is the (absolute or relative) path to the so-called region directory of FEWS. The region directory contains the FEWS configuration (the Config-subdirectory) and the global properties for the FEWS configuration. The WaterCoach is generic and can be used with any FEWS configuration. Note that on a Windows system, the FEWS region directory is also specified in the so-called jpif-file (for FEWS release 2014.01 or earlier) or ini-file (from FEWS release 2014.02 on) that is located in the bin-directory of the FEWS system. This specification must be consistent with the one in FewsRegionDir.
• The system time in FEWS is controlled by the WaterCoach. The frequency for updating the FEWS system time is specified by the key fewsSystemTimeUpdateInMinutes . See below for required changes in the FEWS configuration. (obsolete as of FEWS release 2013.02)
• Scenarios/scripts that can be played with the WaterCoach must be part of a scenario/script database. The key scenarioScriptDatabasePath contains the (absolute or relative) path to the scenario/script database.
• Events in a script can be associated with a file that is executed during the game. For example, a pdf-file can be associated with an event to simulate an incoming e-mail or an mp3-file to simulate telephone calls. Using the key fileAssociation , programs can be specified with which files with indicated extensions must be processed. Default file associations are used if nothing is specified here.
• In the section timeControl , the presence of buttons for time control during the game can be configured, namely a pause/play button, a next button for jumping to the next scheduled event in the script, fast Forward/Backward buttons for speeding up/down time, and a set button for adjusting the time manually.
• Section  experienceLevel  contains configuration of experience levels in the game. With the key  levels , the actual experience levels are defined, separated by semi-colons, e.g. "Beginner;Intermediate;Expert". In the script configuration, events can be defined for each of these experience levels. The flag  adjustLevel  indicates that the experience level can be adjusted during the game.
• Communication between FEWS and the WaterCoach is handled by the so-called FEWS PI service. This service requires a port number that must be specified in the section fewsPiPortNumber . See below for required changes in the FEWS configuration.
• The key fewsLogEventCodes accepts a list (separated by semi-colons) of event codes from FEWS that have to be logged in the WaterCoach log, e.g. "Info;ManualForecast.started".

• Anchor
  visualization visualization

  The option to visualize the script can be activated by setting  showVisualizeScriptButton  to true.

  Info
  title Note on showVisualizeScriptButton
  Note: The showVisualizeScriptButton is not supported in the embedded version of WaterCoach (2016.01 and up)

• The WaterCoach can be played combined with the so-called "procedure game", developed for the Dutch Water Service (Waterdienst). In such a combined setting, the hostname and the port number for connecting to the combined game must be specified in serverHostName and serverPort , respectively. Furthermore, forecasts must be published to a file in so-called PI-format. This can be accomplished by setting the key writePiOutput to true (defaults to false).
• The keyword participant should be used to indicated the game is part of a combined setting. See also below.
• The option copyLocalDataStore has been added to aid the script configurator. If you are working on the script for one scenario, you can turn of the copying of the localDataStore at the start-up of the WaterCoach by temporarily setting this keyword to false. Note: this option has no effect in an application that is configured as participant.

• The keywords log4jConfigPath, logPath and scriptLogPath  can can be set to overrule the default locations of the various log input and output files.

  Info
  title Note on logging
  Note: log4jConfigPath and logPath are deprecated in the embbeded version of WaterCoach (2016.01 and up), since logging is in Log4jConfig.xml as it is for all plugins.

• Keyword  displayConfirm  controls the presence of "Are you sure?" confirmation buttons.