GHG Monitor User's Guide

March 8, 2012


The GHG Monitor is used to monitor hazards in effect. It consists of a spreadsheet showing various information about each hazard, a map showing the spatial location of each hazard, a text displaying showing the contents of some of the products, and an alert system to inform forecasters when products are about to expire. The user can define various display filters to just show the information desired, and can save configurations for later use. The GHG Monitor may be launched either from the command line directly, or from the Products menu on the GFE.

The GHG Monitor is based off the VTEC Active Table, which is created by the VTEC Decoder. The active table is used by the GFE formatters to determine changes in state of VTEC actions and events. Currently the GHG Monitor can only monitor products that are VTEC-enabled.

The GHG Monitor is the basis for the GHG Administrative Editor, which allows an administrator to view and edit the VTEC active table.



Table of Contents


Command Line and Starting GHGMonitor
Components
How To Use
Main Menu
Spreadsheet
Map Display and Control
Text Display
Display Filter
Alert Charactistics
Appearance
Saving and Loading Configurations

Command Line and Starting GHGMonitor

GHGMonitor may be started through the GFE main menu Products -> GHG Monitor entry, or directly from the command line. If started through the GFE, then the GFE startup mode will be sent through to the GHGMonitor, e.g., if the GFE is started in PRACTICE mode, then the GHG Monitor will start in PRACTICE mode.

The command line for GHGMonitor is:

ghgMonitor [-h hostname] [-p portNumber] [-u userName] [-t activeTableName]

Command Line Option Optional? Meaning
-h hostname YES Identifies the hostname upon which EDEX is running. During installation, this value is automatically set, but may be overridden.
-p portNumber YES Identifies the RPC port number upon which EDEX is running. During installation, this value is automatically set, but may be overridden.
-u username YES Specifies the user id to be used for the GFE session. This affects the availability of GHG monitor configuration data. See the base, site, and user configuration guide for details. The default, if not specified, is the Linux login account name.
-t activeTableName
 YES
 Identifies the name of the active table to monitor. "" or "active" refers to the normal active table. "PRACTICE" refers to the practice active table, which is used while in GFE PRACTICE mode.

Components

The GHG Monitor consists of a main menu bar, display selector, map and text area, spreadsheet area, and status bar:


Main Menu Bar

The Main Menu Bar contains common commands used to configure the GHG Monitor. Most of the control of the GHG Monitor is performed through the Main Menu Bar entries, with the exception of spreadsheet and map "selections".

Display Selector

The Display Selector consists of two tabs which control a "Paned Window".  The options are:

Tab
Meaning
Text
 The Text tab selects the Text Display.  The Text Display shows the captured text for the selections made on the Map or Spreadsheet.
Map
 The Map tab selects the Map Display.  The Map Display shows the geographical layout for the hazard.  Selections may also be made on the Map Display.

Map and Text Area

The Map and Text Area can be toggled between the Map and Text using the Display Selector.  The Map shows a geographic layout of the area with a variety of map types available (e.g., FIPS, Marine, Fire Weather, Public Zones).  Zones/Areas are highlighted on the Map display to indicate the extent of a selected hazard.  The Map is also used to select/query a zone/area for all of its associated hazards.

The Text Area shows the captured text from a product.  Not all products have captured text.  Captured text consists of the overview section as well as the text within a segment.

Spreadsheet Area

The Spreadsheet Area is the main monitor area in the GHG Monitor and contains a sorted list of hazards.  The user has full control over the columns that are displayed, as well as the display filter to control the hazards to display.  Colors are used in the Spreadsheet Area to denote alerts for upcoming product purge times, selection of what hazard the Map display is showing, and selection of what hazard the Map selection is showing, as well as Test products.

Status Bar

The Status Bar consists of the status field, an indicator showing the name of the current display filter. The status field works just like the Status Bar in the GFE.

Additional Features

The GHG Monitor may be resized.   In addition, the size of the map/text display and spreadsheet can be changed using the Pane Resizer, which is seen between the map/text and spreadsheet components of the monitor.

Since there may be a large amount of data in the spreadsheet and text display, scroll bars are provided to scroll around in order to view the entire spreadsheet. The map display may also be zoomed and roamed to show additional detail.

The current configuration may be "saved", and subsequent restarts of the GHG Monitor will use the saved configuration.

How To Use

Once the GHG Monitor is started, it will read the VTEC active table and based on its filtering setup, will display a set of hazards. The user can determine the geographical extent of any of these hazards simply be clicking on a cell in the Spreadsheet. The Map will then identify the affected zones. Selecting the Text display will show the captured text for that hazard. The user may bring up the display filter dialog to change the hazards that are displayed, and may use the "Columns" pull-down menu to add or remove details about each hazard. As the product purge time approaches, the GHG Monitor alert system will alert the forecaster up to three times.  The alerts consist of highlighting the rows of the spreadsheet based on the alert level, as well as displaying a "banner" message. The user may click on a zone in the Map display and all hazards that are occurring in that zone will be highlighted in the spreadsheet.

The GHG Monitor will automatically update as the hazard state changes with the arrival of new products. During the update period, the watch cursor will be displayed.

All of the menus may be torn-away. The Display Filter Dialog is non-modal and may be displayed continuously as changes are made. The Alert Filter Dialog and other dialogs are modal and thus the user must respond to the dialog prior to other operations.

The initial state of the GHG Monitor is either the default configuration, or the previously saved configuration. Users can configure the GHG Monitor to their tastes, and then save the configuration. Each time the GHG Monitor is started (for that user), the saved configuration will be restored.

Main Menu

File

The File menu provides the ability to manage the configuration, as well as exit the GHG Monitor.
   
Save Configuration
 The current configuration is saved to EDEX. See the configuration section for details on what is saved.
Load Configuration
 The saved configuration is read from EDEX. The changes are made immediately to the GHG Monitor. See the configuration section for details on what is retrieved.
Default Configuration
 The default configuration provided by Raytheon is loaded. The changes are made immediately to the GHG Monitor. See the configuration section for details on what is restored.
Exit GHG Monitor
 Exits the GHG Monitor.

Column

The Column menu provides the ability to show/hide columns depicting different data fields.
Menu Item
 Description
 Default Displayed?
Action
 Action code for the event, such as "CON" for Continued.
 YES
VTEC String
 Displays the VTEC Strings(s) from the product, such as "/T.NEW.KBOU.BZ.W.0001.050107T0500Z-050107T2000Z/"
 NO
ETN
 Event Tracking Number, such as "0001".
 YES
Phen.Sig
 Hazard, in the form of Phen.Sig, such as WS.W for a Winter Storm Warning
 YES
Hazard
 Descriptive words for the hazard, such as "Winter Storm Warning"
 NO
Phen
 VTEC Phenonema Code, such WS for Winter Storm
 NO
Sig
 VTEC Significance Code, such a W for Warning.
 NO
Start
 Event starting time.
 YES
End
 Event ending time.
 YES
Purge
 Product Segment Purge Time.
 YES
Issue Time
 Product Issuance Time
 YES
Pil
 Product category, a.k.a. pil, such as WSW for Winter Weather Watches/Warnings
 YES
Seg
 Product Segment Number.  Segments are sequentially number from 1 in the product.
 NO
WFO
 Originating WFO Identifier.
 YES
GeoID
 List of zones that are affected by this hazard.
 NO



Default
 Restores the Default set of displayed columns.
 n/a

NOTE: Some displayed "Pil"s may not match the actual product pil.  This occurs for hazards that are issued with one PIL and updated/cancelled using another PIL.  Examples are the Tornado Warning (TO.W) which is issued in the TOR product and updated/cancelled in the SVS product.  The monitor will show TOR for the updates and cancels.  The VTECPartners VTEC_MAPPED_PILS entry defines this relationship.

Filter

The Filter menu provides access to view and set the display filter.  The display filter determines how the hazard records in the active table are consolidated and filtered prior to their display.

Define Filter...
 Brings up the GHG Display Filter Dialog.  This dialog provides options for consolidating records, and filtering out certain records based on criteria.
Default Filter
 Resets the GHG Display Filter to the default filter.
<Named Filters>
 Sets the display filter to one of the named filters.
Save Current Filter...
 Brings up the GHG Save Display Filter dialog, allowing the user to specify a name for the current filter.  The filter will then be displayed in the list of <Named Filters>.
Delete Named Filter...
 Brings up the GHG Delete Display Filter dialog, allowing the user to delete a previously named filter.

Alerts

The Alerts menu provides access to the Alert characteristics.

Define Alerts...
 Brings up the GHG Monitor Alert Dialog, allowing the user to specify the characteristic for the three alert types.
Default Filter
 Resets the alert characteristics to the default filter.

Map

The Map menu is used to change the map background to a particular one, in order to select a zone for queries.  The menu is also used for zooming the map display.

Show FIPS
 Changes the map background to the FIPS.  The FIPS contains counties over land and marine zones over water.
Show Public
 Changes the map background to the Public map, consisting of public forecast zones.
Show FireWx
 Changes the map background to the Fire Weather map, consisting only of fire weather zones.
Show Marine
 Changes the map background to the Marine map, consisting of the coastal marine zones and offshore marine zones.
No Zoom
 Unzooms the map to show the entire domain.
x2
 Zooms the map in to a factor of 2.  The center of the map remains the center of the map if possible.
x4
 Zooms the map in to a factor of 4.  The center of the map remains the center of the map if possible.
x6
 Zooms the map in to a factor of 6.  The center of the map remains the center of the map if possible.
x8
 Zooms the map in to a factor of 8.  The center of the map remains the center of the map if possible.
x12
 Zooms the map in to a factor of 12.  The center of the map remains the center of the map if possible.
x16
 Zooms the map in to a factor of 16.  The center of the map remains the center of the map if possible.
Show Labels
 Toggles on/off the map background labels.  The labels reflect the zone code.

Appearance

The general appearance of the GHG Monitor may be changed through this menu.

Font...
 Brings up the GHG Monitor Font Choice Dialog, allowing the user to choose a font size in the spreadsheet and text display from one of five options.
Colors...
 Brings up the GHG Monitor Color Choice Dialog, allowing the user to set the foreground/background color in the spreadsheet for seven different aspects of the display.
Identify TEST Events
 Toggles on/off the TEST product behavior.   If toggled on, then the color of TEST products will  appear differently than regular products.


Spreadsheet

The GHG Monitor Spreadsheet is the heart of the monitor.  It displays hazards derived from the VTEC active table.  The user can choose to display various information about each hazard using the Column menu.   The user can choose to filter out certain events through the Display Filter Dialog.   The hazards are sorted by the column highlighted, Purge in this example. Normally the color of the spreadsheet appears as follows, when no alerts or user selections are in effect:



If the user clicks on a row in the spreadsheet, the map and text displays will represent the geographical location and captured product text for that hazard.   Here is an example of  the user clicking on a hazard record in order to view the map and text associated with the record; the spreadsheet record is highlighted in blue/white:



Colors are also used to alert the forecaster that a product is about to expire.  The "Alert1" color is used for the first alert.  The default is blue text on a yellow background as shown.  The GHG Monitor clearly shows the hazards and their related products that will soon expire:



The "Alert2" color is used for the second level of alerts.  The default is white text on a red background as shown:



The final alert occurs when the product purge time has passed.  The default color is white text on a magenta background as shown below.  The "Expired" alert color is used on the record until either the forecaster replaces the record with a new product, or the event ending time passes:




Since VTEC "Test" products do not represent real hazards, the VTEC hazard records found in a Test product use the "Test" color, which defaults to a dark gray box with white lettering as shown:



Multiple highlighting is possible on the spreadsheet.  In the following example, all records are highlighted (yellow) with the "Alert1" status.  The first record has alternating colors of yellow and dark gray.  The dark gray indicates that the first product is a Test product.  The second record shows three highlighting types together: Alert1, Test, and user-selected.  In the cases of multiple highlighting the columns are alternating colors -- the specific color in a column has no meaning, i.e., you must look at all of the colors in a row to determine the record's complete state:



User Actions

The following user actions are supported on the spreadsheet:
MB1 click on a column header
 Sorts the data in the spreadsheet by the data in that column.  Alternating clicks will sort in ascending order, then decending order. The column header will highlight to indicate that the spreadsheet is sorted by that column.  There is no indicator, other than inspecting the data itself, to indicate whether the spreadsheet is sorted in ascending or decending order.
MB1 click on a cell in the spreadsheet
 Highlights the row with the "Monitor Selection" color, and then indicates on the map the geographical location of the hazard, and on the text display the captured text of the issued product.  Not all hazards have associated captured text.

Note that only one hazard record may be manually selected on the spreadsheet.  Multiple records are not allowed due to ambiguities.   There is an exception to this and that involves selection of a zone on the map display.


Map Display and Control

The Map Display is used to graphically depict the geographical extent of a hazard. The map background type is automatically chosen based on the set of zones that contain a hazard. The software will automatically choose the FIPS, Public, Fire Weather, or Marine map backgrounds. You can also manually choose a map background from the Map menu; however, the only useful purpose of manually chosing a map is to next select a zone to query its hazards.

The map is drawn using shapefile data available from EDEX. Zones that are your responsibility are drawn with yellow outlines and zones that belong to another WFO are drawn with black outlines.  The background color of the zone is dark gray. If a user selects a hazard on the Spreadsheet, the corresponding zones will be highlighted using a blue fill color, as shown in the following image:



The Map menu may be used to zoom in on the map background and the scroll bars are used to scroll around the map. Resizing the window larger will simply show more of the map until the entire map is shown, then it enlarges the map. Resizing the window smaller will show smaller and smaller sections of the map. You can restore the "No Zoom" by using the Map menu. The menu also provides a toggle to turn on/off the zone labels. Examples of the zoomed map with and without labels is shown below. Note the spreadsheet display shows the Expired alert for the FA.A hazard, but the zones appearing in the map belong to the SN.Y beginning at 02z 08-Jan-05:

 

The map labels are drawn in the exact center of each zone.  This technique works well for rectangular zones, but not good for irregularily shaped zones. Use caution when using the zone labels for identification.   Decluttering is applied to the zone labels, thus not all zone labels will necessarily show up at a particular map size.

The other purpose of the map is to query the hazards based on a zone.  In the example below, the user clicked in the COZ045 zone.  The software examined all of its hazard records and highlighted those in the spreadsheet that contain the COZ045 zone.  It then examined the records and highlighted all of the zones in the map that are common to the selected records.  Thus in the example below, the WS.A and SN.Y both affect COZ045.  They also affect the other highlighted zones shown in the map too.  The highlighted zones in the map are the logical "AND" of the events, thus if event A covered 10 zones and event B covered 5 of the same zones and 5 other zones, clicking on one of those 5 zones would highlight all common zones to the event A and event B hazard as well as highlight event A and B in the spreadsheet.  Switching to the Text display would show all of the captured text for all of the hazards that have been identified and marked selected.

Note the spreadsheet also contains an expired entry as shown in magenta.  We can tell that the expired entry did not affect the highlighted zones in the map since the magenta row is a solid row and isn't interspersed with the cyan color.



User Actions

The following user actions are supported on the map display:
MB1 click on a zone on the map.
 Highlights all rows in the spreadsheet that contain a hazard affecting the clicked-upon zone. The Map display in turn will show all of the zones in common for those selected rows in the spreadsheet using the "cyan" default color.  The Text display will show the captured text from all of the products identified by the selected rows in the spreadsheet.

Depending upon your Display Filter settings, additional records may be added to the spreadsheet when clicking on the map. The display filter also is used to determine whether clicking on a map zone will include records that are already expired or are old events.

Text Display

The Text Display is used in conjunction with Map and Spreadsheet selections. If the user clicks on a spreadsheet row, or clicks on a map zone, the appropriate hazards are highlighted in the spreadsheet. At the same time, the text display will show the overview text and segment text relating to those hazards. Scroll bars on the text display permit the user to see the entire set of text. Not all products are supported with captured text.

Only segmented products have overview text. Overview text is defined as the text between the MND header and the first UGC line. Segment text is defined as the text within each segment between the end of the UGC/Date block and the $$ segment ending characters.


Display Filter

The Display Filter is a very important aspect to the GHG Monitor. Depending upon the display filter settings, you may end up with just a few entries, or hundreds of entries on the spreadsheet. A default display filter is provided with the software and the user can always select the default filter from the Filter menu. The Display Filter Dialog is used to define the filter and it is also accessed from the Filter menu. The filtering technique consists of four steps:

This is the GHG Monitor Filter Dialog.  The upper section consists of the listbox options. Selecting items from the listbox will change the filtering. If a particular column/listbox contains no highlighted sections, it is intrepreted as if all of the sections were highlighted. In the example, only the CON, EXA, EXB, EXT, and NEW actions will be shown in the spreadsheet; all other records will be filtered out. All Phen/Sig and Pils will be shown since no entries are highlighted in those two listboxes. Buttons at the bottom of each listbox allow quick selection and deselection of all entries.

The "Show Current Hazards Only" button will filter the displayed set of entries in the listbox based on those records actually found and is a quick way to get an overview summary of all hazards. "Current Hazards" are considered those hazards found in the VTEC active table AND those hazards whose ending time or purge time has not yet passed.

The "Show Advanced Columns" is intended for advanced users to examine other hazard aspects, such as filtering by geographical id (e.g., zone), segment number, and ETN number. The regular user will not need this capability, but it is useful for diagnostics.

The Record Consolidation section and the Filter Override section provides additional control on what records will appear in the Spreadsheet.

The Record Consolidation section contains four options. For normal use, these options should always be turned on which will minimize the number of records shown in the spreadsheet. Like events will be combined based on the state of the record consolidation values. Records that have a different event starting or ending time, phen/sig (hazard), originating office WFO, event tracking number, product pil, or issuance time will NEVER be combined. The same hazard is identified by the same starting and ending time, the same issuance time, same product pil, originating office, event tracking number, and hazard type (phen/sig).

Option
 Description
 Default
Combine GeoIDs
 This option attempts to combine all records with the same hazard that differ only by their location (e.g., zone).
 YES
Combine Segments
 This option attempts to combine all records with the same hazard that appear in different product segments.
 YES
Combine Purge Times
 This option attempts to combine all records with the same hazard that have different purge times (due to different segments). The purge time reflected in the spreadsheet will be the "soonest" or "earliest" of the different purge times.
 YES
Combine Actions
 This option attempts to combin all records with the same hazard that may have different action codes. When combining action codes, only codes within the same group will be combined. For example, CON, EXA, EXB, EXT, NEW all reflect active hazards and those action codes may be combined. records with CAN, UPG, EXP reflect hazards no longer present and those action codes may be combined. You cannot combine records with a CON and CAN since they belong in two different action groups.
 YES


The Filter Overrides section controls methods to show items in the spreadsheet that normally would be filtered out:
Option
 Description
 Default
Include Alerts
 With this option turned off, alerts that have been filtered out will not be shown in the spreadsheet, although alerts will still occur. With this option turned on, alert records that are filtered out will be automatically added to the spreadsheet and highlighted. For example, if this option is on and the display filter has WS.W (Winter Storm Warning) turned off, and a WSW product is about to expire, then a WS.W record will appear in the spreadsheet anyway.
 YES
Include Map Selections
 With this option turned off, selections made on the map background will only highlight those records already displayed in the spreadsheet that match the geography. With the option turned off, the display filter is bypassed when a selection is made on the map background and additional records that reflect hazards in that zone will be added to the spreadsheet listing. For example, if this option is on and the display filter has WS.W turned off, there will be no hazard records shown in the spreadsheet containing WS.W. If the user clicks on a zone that has a WS.W, then the WS.W hazard record for that zone will be automatically added to the spreadsheet. Note that "Include Past Events" affects the records in the spreadsheet for the "map selections". If set, then any records with the zone selected will be added to the spreadsheet. If not set, then only records that are currently in effect (i.e., ending time of the hazard has not passed) that contain ongoing actions (NEW, CON, EXA, EXB, EXT) will be shown.
 YES
Include Past Events
 With this option turned off, hazard entries in the spreadsheet will not contain any hazard records that are in the "past". "Past" is defined as records that have an event ending time earlier than the present time.
 NO
Include OrgPil Events
 With this option turned off, hazard entries in the spreadsheet will not contain any OrgPil hazard records.
 NO

The "Show Advanced Columns" option on the Filter Dialog will add the GeoID, ETN, and Seg columns. Normally a user does not filter on these columns, but it is useful for diagnostic purposes.

The ETN, and Seg columns always show the list of ETN and segments that are contained within the VTEC active table and are updated as new records arrive.
If the "Show Current Hazards Only" option is enabled, then the listboxes will change to show just those entries that have been found in the VTEC active table. In this case, only the CON and NEW actions were found. The GeoID column shows just those zones containing current hazards.

Remember that filters are set when you turn on "Show Current Hazards Only" and future events may be filtered out.

The Display Filter offers many choices on filtering which events are to be seen on the GHG Monitor's spreadsheet. At any time, the user can save the current state of the filter as a named filter.   Named filters may be loaded, saved, and deleted from the Filter menu. There is an indicator on the status bar showing the name of the current filter that is in effect.  The indicator shows "<Default>" when the default filter is chosen and "<Initial>" when the initial display filter is loaded.

Named Display Filters are saved and loaded with the overall GHG Configuration. The GHG Configuration may be saved and loaded from the File menu.

Changes in the Display Filter will deselect any Map or Spreadsheet selections that may be present.

NOTE: Some displayed "Pil"s may not match the actual product pil. This occurs for hazards that are issued with one PIL and updated/cancelled using another PIL. Examples are the Tornado Warning (TO.W) which is issued in the TOR product and updated/cancelled in the SVS product. The monitor will show TOR for the updates and cancels. The VTECPartners VTEC_MAPPED_PILS entry defines this relationship.



Alert Characteristics

One of the primary purposes of the GHG Monitor is to remind forecasters that products are about to expire and updates/replacements are necessary. The GHG Monitor offers three types of alerts: Alert1, Alert2, and Expired alerts. The characteristics of these alerts are set by the GHG Monitor Alert Dialog. When an alert is "fired", an alert banner (if desired) is displayed and the affected hazards in the Spreadsheet are highlighted, as shown:





The Alert Dialog is accessed from the Alert menu.  Through the "Enable Alert1", "Enable Alert2", and "Enabled Expired" checkbuttons, the user can turn on or off the alerts. Each of these alert types also has a "Show Banner" checkbutton. If enabled, then a banner alert will be displayed when the alert is fired. If disabled, then only the spreadsheet will be highlighted.

The Display Filter "Include Alerts" checkbutton needs to be enabled in order to see all alerts. Without that checkbutton enabled, it is possible that the forecaster may have filtered out the hazards causing the alerts.

The scales are used to define the number of minutes prior to the product purge time (expire time) that the alert will trigger. The "Expired" alert type does not permit adjustment of the scale and is always fixed at 0 minutes.


The "Alert for My WFO Only" checkbutton limits alerts to only my WFO. If cleared, then you will receive alerts for products generated by other WFOs. The "Alert for TEST Products" indicates whether alerts will be issued for products in the VTEC Test mode.

The three listboxes define the Actions, Phen.Sig, and Pil for the alerts. This allows the user to only alert on certain events.

Alert criteria is checked once each minute to determine if there are new events that require alerting. Once an alert has been triggered for a particular event, the entry in the spreadsheet will be changed to that alert color. If a banner alert was requested, the banner alert is displayed. The spreadsheet alert will continue until either a different alert type is displayed, or until that record is removed from the spreadsheet. Records are removed from the spreadsheet either manually using the Display Filter, or by new events that supercede the previous event.



Appearance Options

There are three appearance characteristics that can be changed:  font sizes, colors, and identifying Test products.

Font Sizes


Selecting Appearance -> Font... will bring up the GHG Monitor Font Choice Dialog. Five choices of font sizes, with the current font size are shown. The user selects the new font, and selects Apply Font.

Example of the Spreadsheet using the smallest available font:
Example of the Spreadsheet using the largest available font:

To make the font size persistent, be sure to save your configuration under the File menu. Refer to the Saving and Loading Configuration section for more details.

Colors

The spreadsheet and alert colors may be configured by the user from the Appearance->Colors menu entry. The GHG Monitor Color Choice Dialog will be displayed allowing the user to configure seven different color schemes. For each scheme there is a Text Color (foreground) and a Background Color. The user chooses the Color Scheme to modify, then uses the two color choosers to set the color, then uses "Apply Colors" to make the change. Refer to the Color Chooser Dialog on how to use the color wheel and hue, saturation, and brightness sliders.



The various color schemes and their use are:
Alert Level 1
 This color is used in the Spreadsheet and the Alert banner messages for the 1st level of alerts when a product is about to expire.
Alert Level 2
 This color is used in the Spreadsheet and the Alert banner messages for the 2nd level of alerts when a product is about to expire.
Expired Alert
 This color is used in the Spreadsheet and the Alert banner messages when the product has expired.
Map Selections
 The Map Selection color is shown in the Spreadsheet and on selected zones in the Map Display. A Map Selection is made when the user has clicked upon a zone in the map background.
Regular Entries
 Regular Entries are those entries in the Spreadsheet that aren't highlighted by map clicks, spreadsheet clicks, aren't TEST products, and aren't alerted entries.
Monitor Selections
 Monitor Selection color is shown in the Spreadhseet and on releated zones in the Map Display.  A Monitor Selection is made when the user has clicked upon a spreadsheet cell/row.
Test Product
 Test product are displayed in a different color in the Spreadsheet to indicate to the user that this is a TEST product and not an operational product. The special appearance of the test products may be disabled using the "Identify Test Products" option.


To make the colors persistent, be sure to save your configuration under the File menu. Refer to the Saving and Loading Configuration section for more details.


Identify Test Products

The "Identify Test Products" allow the user to highlight Test products in the Spreadsheet. Test products are determined solely by their VTEC mode.

Saving and Loading Configurations

The menus provide the capability to Save the current configuration, Load the saved configuration, and Load the Default Configuration. The configuration uses the GFESuite BASE, SITE, User concept, but the user does not have a choice of names for the configuration file. There is exactly 1 configuration that can be saved for the monitor (per person).

Upon GHG Monitor startup, the previously saved configuration, if available, is used for the startup characteristics.    If a mistake is made in saving a configuration, the default may always be loaded by choosing "Default Configuration", and then saving it with "Save Configuration".

The following information is saved in the configuration: