Minutes from SSS Mtg 2007-Sep-14 Attendees: B.Butler, D.Harland, B.Hesman, J.Rochford, M.Rupen, L.Sjouwerman, B.Truitt This meeting started with a presentation by Brian T. on the newest features of the Source Catalog Tool (SCT), Resource Catalog Tool (RCT), and the Observation Preparation Tool (OPT). As we were viewing the presentation, the scientists suggested improvements. The individual points discussed are listed below. If i noted who raised a particular issue, his/her name is in square brackets. ALL APPLICATIONS ================ * User should not have to click the "x" in the cut/copy/paste box in order to make the box go away. Simply moving the mouse away should do that. + The software staff (henceforth referred to as "we") have had some technical difficulties with the auto-disappear feature. We'll try to solve that. * Save user preferences. (See existing JIRA item EVL-286.) (This was discussed as part of SCT, but applies to all apps.) + We need generalized save-user-preferences scheme. Then, w/in each app, we need to decide which things are configurable by users. * The group talked a lot about auto-save. + Lorant suggested a behind-the-scenes auto-save that does not update the main database, but that saves to some temporary area. + A user-configurable auto-save feature was discussed. User would specify how many minutes should elapse before system automatically saves; zero-minutes would be a valid value. I believe this auto-save would have us updating the main database, not some temp location. + A PST-like count-down-to-time-out clock was discussed. + We had two concepts mixed in here. One had to do with ensuring that a lot of data entry was not lost due to some unfortunate incident, the other had to do with working off-line and later syncing up with the online database. I don't think there was much support for the off-line use case, so we will concentrate on the don't-lose-my-data case. + Note these existing JIRA items: - EVL-290 Ability to Recover from a Crash - EVL-291 Indicate Presence of Unsaved Data + We need the users to think about this feature and specify what the system should do. SCT === * Show all longitudes and latitudes in the same coordinate system. + There was a fair amount of discussion on this. The idea is that on the top of the column would be some button to click for selecting a particular coordinate system (galactic, equatorial, etc.). I was not clear on whether the group wanted to continue to allow the display of the mixed coord systems (some sources shown w/ RA/Dec, some w/ GLON/GLAT). If the group does not need the mixed display, we would then be able to free up space on the source lines where we currently show the names of the longitudes (RA, GLON) and latitudes (Dec, GLAT). * Use less precision on the displayed positions of sources in the source list. We're currently showing 5 dp in the seconds field. * Let user choose which columns are shown in the source list. + The group supported this idea but felt that this is more appropriate for further down the road. * The number of sources displayed in the source list should be configurable by the user. * Need more description on import / export formats. * Capitalize the import / export formats (eg, "XML" & "PST" i/o "Xml" & "Pst"). * Change "View Current Results" to "View Results for *abc?", where "*abc?" is what the user entered into the search box. [Sjouwerman] * David needs to talk to John Benson regarding what things a user may specify for searching for sources, since this was already hashed out for the archive. * Allow searching for source based on undefined fields. Eg, "find all sources whose flux density is missing". [Rupen] * Allow use of the NOT operator in searching. Eg, "find all sources that do not match '*abc?'". * When searching for sources by name, allow user to turn on or off the matching of aliases. [Sjouwerman] * Should there be one grand NRAO source catalog instead of separate GBT, VLA, VLBA, etc.? * Allow searching across multiple catalogs. [Sjouwerman] RCT === * The use of the word "Resource" should be replaced with something else, such as "Hardware Setup" or "Instrument Configuration". * There should be NRAO catalogs of standard hardware configurations, just as there are with catalogs of sources (calibrators). OPT === * There needs to be a button for submitting an observation. * The Scan Loop should have show the total amount of time taken up by its members, accounting for the number of iterations. * Need visual cues for making it clearer what is inside, and outside, a scan loop. * Add ability to open / close the display of a scan loop. * Two approaches were suggested for naming scan loops: 1. Let the user name the loop 2. Automatically name the loop, using an outline convention for dealing with nested loops. * The Scan Intents need abbreviations. * We need to display more information about the scan intents so that users can understand them. * The time durations (hour, minute, second) need abbreviations. * The scan table needs column headings. * The navigation aide near the top of the screen that shows project > prog block > ... > scan should include the name of the scan loop. * In that same navigation aide, we currently display "Scan m of n (Next Scan)", yet on the previous page (SB details) we do not currently number the scans. Add the scan number to this display. * There was some discussion regarding the selection of sources and resources when setting up the scan. I believe the consensus was: + Entirely remove the source and resource information that is currently on the left side of the screen. + Use the "Assign Source" button to display the catalog / group / source and allow user to make choice there. * In the scan details block we use the leftmost column for row headings. These headings can span multiple rows, depending on how many rows the data on the right consumes. It is not obvious which of the data on the right goes with which headings on the left. Use visual cues to make this more obvious. * Change the names of the options for "Scan Timing". New values: 1. Duration (replaces Total Duration, means total amount of time spent on scan, including time on source + slew & setup) 2. On-Source (replaces Dwell Duration) 3. Start (replaces Start Time) 4. Stop (replaces Stop Time)