Manual Interfaces
Manual Interfaces are a type of Sensor Interface built inside CFE which allow a human to provide manual data to the data acquisition service as if the human themselves were a sensor. Times this may be useful are when normal sensors aren't available to record the data, such as cloud coverage, mammal sightings, etc.
While Manual Interfaces are built via CFE by an SCS Administrator, they can be utilized on a Layout the same as most other templated widgets. Putting a Manual Interface widget on a Layout allows users to act as the manual data feed supplying the device. In other words, this widget is the way you provide manual data and send it to ACQ.
See also - Manual Interfaces
Designing the Widget
Creation of this widget is extremely simple, however before you can do so you must have at least 1 Manual Interface defined in CFE.
Click the Manual Interfaces link on the Manage My Widgets panel then click the +Create New Manual Interface button on top of the grid.
Enter the standard information for widget creation including a name, description, any keywords and permission level you wish this template to have and hit OK.
This will bring you to the editor for this widget.
Anyone who can access this widget, even if set to read-only, can send data to ACQ on behalf of the Manual Interface this widget represents!
The editor only has 1 real option as most the details are defined in CFE.
There is a single checkbox which, if checked, automatically clears the input areas for your next entry when you click 'send' to submit your manual data the system. If left unchecked the your data remains exactly as you type it and you can submit the same multiple times.
If your data is somewhat unique each time or you want to ensure you manually retype/refresh your data prior to sending then leave this checked. If your data is more complicated (many datafields) and not much changes you might want to uncheck this so you don't have to retype everything each time.
The only other option is to select which Manual Interface you want this widget to represent.
Run Time
When running this widget the user will see a line for each data field defined by the Manual Interface Message Definition inside CFE.
The user may enter a value for each data field and when happy with their submission click the Send Data to ACQ button located at the bottom of the widget.
This effectively sends the data to ACQ and it will be treated the same as other sensor data (timestamped and pushed to any referencing events, logged to the database and files, send over UDP, etc). If the Clear inputs after sending checkbox was checked, all user entered values will be reset so the user can enter fresh values upon their next submission.