Event Management
SCS Events are defined via templates which are created and edited using the template builder like other templates. Once a template has been defined and passes validation checked it can be run. Events differ from most other templates here in that the Event UI cannot be added to your normal SCS Layout, instead it has to run in a dedicated full screen browser window or tab via the Event management page.
The management page has a single grid on it, within that grid is a list of all event templates that your [currently logged in] account has access to. The grid has multiple columns:
- The first column is the name of the template / event
- The second column tells you if any instance of that template are currently running
- The third column tells you how many users are actively joined to and participating in the active instance of the event
- The fourth column provides various commands allowing you to start a new instance of the event, start a new instance and immediately join/switch to it or kill all running instances.
For each event template you can click the arrow to expand and see a details pane. This pane will let you manage the actual running or previously finished events. This is where you join an event which is already running, download or delete the data from prior runs and so forth.
Joining or leaving (closing your window/tab) an event does not have any effect on it. If you leave it will continue to run in the background and you can rejoin it later. The only way to stop or end an event is via the appropriate Action or via the Stop buttons mentioned above (not recommended).
The grid has a toolbar which allows you to expand/contract all, refresh the entire grid and most importantly manage the Global Meta Items
The users interact with the Events via the website, however the actual process running all events is a windows service running in the background. The website only provides users with a point-and-click interface to this service. This service is why you can log in, interact with an event and log out without terminating the event. Unlike prior versions of SCS the event is NOT running on your machine under your account, it's server bound. It handles all the request from various users throughout the ship whether for a single event or multiple at one time and coordinates all the back and forth.
Global Meta Items
Global Meta Items (GMI) are Meta Items which can be referenced by all events but are centrally managed. A few key Meta Items are in almost all events, rather than change them all one by one you can reference a single global and take care of all references in one step. A good use case for these are things such as the current Cruise ID, who the current primary investigator is, what current fiscal year is, etc. Anything that might be useful for multiple events and should have the same value in each.
Grid Commands
There are 3 primary commands for each event template row.
- Start New allows you to create a new instance of the event based upon the last valid template.
- Start New & Join is the same as Start New however immediately after creating the new instance you are immediately joined to the event so you can start participating.
- Stop ALL immediately kills all running events of the given template type.
Stopping a running event via command buttons is not recommended (similar to killing a process instead of closing it and exiting gracefully).
Grid Details
Expanding an Event template will reveal all instances of that event which remain on the server.
If a value is present for Date Ended then the event is historical and you may download it's data via the Download command button at the end of its respective row.
If the Join button is enabled then the event is currently in progress, you may join it and potentially participate (based upon template rights and settings) by clicking the button.
If the Stop button is enabled then the event is currently in progress and you may abort/kill it by clicking the button.
You can also Delete completed events and/or Inspect the data collected by both completed and running events.
Once you have created and/or Joined an event you will move on to the Event Participation screen.
When downloading data for an event which has ended there are at least two formats you can choose from. If you are supporting legacy software you can choose the Legacy (SCSv4) option. This will attempt to generate the same files and contents are prior versions of SCS (header files, elg files, etc). If not it's recommended you use the new XML format or NetCDF (if available) format for export.
If you want to review the data collected without actually downloading it (or view the data collected during a live / still running event) you can click the Inspect button on the grid for the particular instance of interest. This will display a general overview of the event including changes to meta items, outputs, all button presses and the full diagnostics log.
This is just a summary and does not cover ALL data available in the XML download option, but it does give a good high level overview.
