Formatter Launcher User's Guide

March 7, 2012

The Formatter Launcher Dialog is used to define zone groupings, queue formatters for execution, monitor their progress, display and edit the final product, and send the product to AWIPS for transmission.

Components
Zone Combiner
Product Editor
Output Log

Components

The Formatter Launcher consists of the main menu bar, product tabs and product canvas area, and status bar.

Main Menu Bar

Products

The products menu permits selection of the products to appear in the panes. The menu is divided into "Site-level" products, then Hazard and Civil Emergency, then Baseline, Regional, and Hazard backup product configurations, and then the Product Editor / Make Correction tab. Each selection will open a new tab. The Product Editor / Make Correction tab brings up an empty editor, allowing for loading existing products from the AWIPS text database and making corrections to a product.

Data Source

The data source menu allows the forecaster to change the source database for all products to one of the four options: Official, Fcst, ISC, or Default. The Default setting uses the database definition contained within each formatter to determine which database should be used as a data source.

The default data source is configured within each formatter's definition section as one of the following:

Definition['database'] = "Official"
Definition['database'] = "Fcst"
Definition['database'] = "ISC"

Note in GFE PRACTICE mode, the only Data Source is the Practice Forecast database; in GFE TEST mode, the only Data Source is the Test Forecast database.

Processor

Formatters execute either on the server platform or the local platform. Better performance for the local GFE and faster formatter execution should be realized when the processor is set to "Server". This item is not configurable on a per-product basis. The default is "Server". Setting the item to "Local" will run the formatters locally. The default may be changed through the gfe configuration entry FormatterLauncherDialog_Processor.

Issued By

The Issued By option brings up a dialog allowing the forecaster to enter his/her site identifier (3-letters). The entry is only used when the site is performing service backup for another site. Defining an "Issued By" entry will result in the generated products containing the Issued By statement in the product header.

Help

The Help menu simply provides a color legend for the Product Tabs.

Product Tabs

There is a product tab for each selected entry in the Products Selector. Clicking on one of the tabs will then display that product's Product Canvas Area. The Product Canvas Area contains the zone combiner (if applicable), editor window, output log, and several other controls. The color state of the buttons indicate whether the product is queued, running, or finished as shown below:

Tab Color	Meaning
Gray	Product has not been requested to be started, or has been reset to the initial state (due to conflicts).
Yellow	Product is queued for execution and is pending.
Pink	Product is currently running.
Green	Product has finished and is ready to be edited if needed. Also used to indicate a Draft has been loaded and is ready to be edited if needed.
Red	Product has failed or has been aborted.
Blue	Product has been transmitted and editor is now locked.

Product Canvas Area

The Product Canvas Area appears for each product that has been selected. Use the Product Tabs to display the specific Product Canvas Area of interest. The Product Canvas consists of a control panel and the canvas area. Depending upon the state of the product, some of the controls are dimmed and not accessible.

The controls perform the following functions:

	Zone Combiner	When selected, the zone combiner will appear in the Product Canvas Area. This button is dimmed if the product doesn't support zone combinations, or while the formatter is currently running.
	Product Editor	When selected, the product editor will appear in the Product Canvas Area. Initially, this pane is blank. When the product has finished generation, the contents of the generated product will appear in the canvas. This button is dimmed until the formatter has completed.
	Output Log	When selected, the output from the formatter execution will appear in the Product Canvas Area. Initially this pane is blank. Only when the formatter has completed, will the output log button be undimmed and the contents available. If you wish to monitor the progress of a formatter during its execution, please use the Process Monitor.
	Load Draft	When selected, the Formatter Launcher is switched to the product editor and the saved draft for the product is loaded. If there isn't a saved draft, then a message will be displayed to the forecaster indicating that no draft exists.
	Run Formatter	This button will queue the formatter for execution. Once it is queued, the button will be dimmed until the product is completed. Queuing a product will cause the zone combiner, product editor, and output log buttons to be dimmed.
	Stop Formatter	This button is available during the execution of a formatter. If selected, the formatter will be aborted.
	Close Tab	This button will close the tab and ABORT any running formatter. Use this button only after the formatter is complete and you have stored or sent the product, or data loss will occur.

If the GFE is started in PRACTICE mode, an additional Formatting button is available as shown below. The button only affects the product in that tab, and no other tabs. The selection must be made before the Run Formatter button is pressed:

The Formatting button defaults to the VTECMessageType definition for the product, but the user may change it depending upon the task at hand. Here are the available options:

Option	Meaning
Normal: NoVTEC	Product will be formatted normally (no test wording), and will not contain VTEC.
Normal: O-Vtec	Product will be formatted normally (no test wording), and will contain Operational VTEC (O-code).
Normal: E-Vtec	Product will be formatted normally (no test wording), and will contain Experimental VTEC (E-code).
Normal: X-Vtec	Product will be formatted normally (no test wording), and will containg Experimental in an Operational Product VTEC (X-code).
Test: NoVTEC	Product will be formatted with test wording, and will not contain VTEC.
Test: T-Vtec	Product will be formatted with test wording and will contain Test VTEC (T-code).

More details on the output log, zone combiner, and product editor are found later in this document.

Status Bar

The bar is used to relay important messages to the forecaster. The status bar is used for displaying routine (as green), significant (as yellow), alert (as orange), and urgent (as red) messages. A partial list of messages is shown in the table below:

Message Contents	Significance	Description
Formatters Queued: [prod1, prod2, prod3]	Regular	Indicates that formatters have been queued for execution.
Map mapname not available	Urgent	Indicates that the zone combiner could not find or load the map background required by the zone combiner. The map background is defined in the Definition['mapNameForCombinations'] of each product formatter needing combinations. No zone combinations may be changed for the product.
Bad format in Combo file: combofilename	Significant	The user has attempted to load a previously saved combinations file from the Combo Sets -> Load menu, and the format of the combinations file is corrupted. The zone combiner may still be used, but the current set of combinations is cleared.
Combo file has python syntax errors: combofilename	Significant	The product's combination file was retrieved from EDEX, but could not be decoded. The zone combiner may still be used, but the current set of combinations is cleared.
Combo file is not in combo format: combofilename	Significant	The retrieved combination file (from EDEX) was not in the correct format, i.e., not a list of tuples containing a list of zones and a label. The zone combiner may still be used, but the current set of combinations is cleared.
Combinations file saved: combofilename	Regular	Indicates that a combinations file was saved. If a GFE red banner appears, then there may have been a problem with the save.
Missing Color file or errors in Color file	Significant	The color file for the zone combiner was not found or there were errors in the color file.
Removed Unknown Edit Areas: [ea1, ea2, ea3...]	Significant	Informs the user that the combinations file contained zones that were not in the map background assigned to the product, and thus these names have been removed from the combinations file.
Missing zones have been added [ea1, ea2, ea3...]	Regular	Zones identified on the map background but not included in the combinations file have been added to the combinations file as individual zones, i.e., not combined.

Zone Combiner

The Zone Combiner is used to view and modify the set of combined zones for the product. Not all products support zone selection. In the case of a product that doesn't support a zone selection, the zone combiner selection button is dimmed. The Zone Combiner contains a menu bar, the canvas depicting the zones, and a label containing the product name and combinations filename, and the Apply Zone Combo button.

Unlike most configuration files throughout GFESuite which adhere to the BASE/SITE/User concept, the Zone Combiner color table, saved combination sets, and saved combination files are shared among all users.

Zone Combiner Menus

Combo Sets

The combo sets menu contains three entries as shown in the following table:

Save...	Brings up the SaveComboSets Dialog allowing the user to save the current set of combinations for later retrieval. Only those combinations that apply to the current map background are displayed. The user can select an existing name (to overwrite a combo) or type in a new name. Pressing "Save" will save the combinations.
Load	Loads in a saved set of combinations. Another menu will be displayed showing the list of saved combinations.
Delete	Brings up the DeleteComboSets Dialog allowing the user to delete saved sets of combinations. Only those combinations that apply to the current map background are displayed. The user can select an existing name from the list and then press "Delete" to delete the combination.

Combinations are available based on the base map background in use for each formatter. Each formatter requiring zone combinations contains a definition defining the map background. An example is: Definition["mapNameForCombinations"] = "Zones_BOU" . If the definition is missing, then zone combinations may not be changed for the product.

The Combo Sets menu entry is dimmed if there are no combinations being shown in the zone combiner.

Combo Actions

The Combo Actions menu controls the Zone Combiner and provides commonly used actions, such as clear.

Clear	Removes all zone combinations from the zone combiner.
Revert	Reverts the zone combinations to the last saved (e.g., last applied) combination setup.
Examine/Clear Groups...	Brings up a dialog which is used to clear zone groupings. This dialog can also be used to examine the currently defined set of zone groupings.
Shuffle Groups...	Brings up a dialog which is used to shuffle (move the order) of groups. Multiple selections may be made and the group will move top/down together. The Up and Down buttons move the selection one step at a time. The Top and Bottom move the selection to the top or bottom of the groups.

The Combo Actions menu is dimmed if there are no combinations being shown in the zone combiner.

Combo Options

The Combo Options menu provides display and execution options for the Zone Combiner, as shown in the following table:

Include All Zones	If include all zones is selected, then all zones will be part of the combinations file. If Include All Zones is off, then zones that are not part of a specific combination will be stand alone, or will be indicated as not included. Generating a product with some zones that aren't included will result in a product that does not represent all of the zones. Toggling Include All Zones on will take all zones that were previously not included and place them as individual zones.
Label Zones	If Label Zones is selected, then the zone label identifiers will be placed for each zone on the map background.
Label Zone Groups	If Label Zone Groups is selected, then the zone grouping numbers will appear on the map background. Zone groups are counted from 1.
Zone Colors...	The Zone Colors... selection brings up the Zone Color Table Editor. There is only one color map for all products, and the size of the color map depends upon the maximum number of zones that have been color-edited. The color editor works simlarily to the other Color Table Editors in the GFE. Pressing "Apply" will change the color mapping of the Zone Combiner as well as save the new color table to EDEX.

The Combo Options menu entry is dimmed if there are no combinations being shown in the zone combiner.

Zoom

The map background in the zone combiner may be zoomed. The scroll bars around the map are used to pan the display. The options on the zoom menu control the amount of zooming, from "No Zoom" to various zoom factors.

Zone Combiner Canvas

The canvas is the drawing area of the zone combiner. Through a series of clicks and drags, the set of zone combinations may be edited.

The canvas may be resized. Its initial size is configurable through the gfe configuration file. By default, the zone combiner dialog is about 80% the height and width of the display.

Drawing a New Combination

Using MB1, press over a zone that is "grayed-out" which represents an individual zone, and drag through that zone into zones you wish to be part of the same combination. The "zone color" is chosen automatically for you. You can change the zone colors if desired through the Zone Colors.... menu entry.

Picking Up a Zone Combination

A MB2 click over a zone will "pick-up" that zone's configuration. This is useful for adding another zone to a combination or changing the existing configuration of a zone to that which was "picked-up".

Adding Another Zone to a Combination - Contiguous

Using MB1, press over the zone which you want to extend. Drag through the new zones (whether they are already assigned or not doesn't matter). As you drag through the zones, they become part of the same combination.

Adding Another Zone to a Combination - Non-Contiguous

MB2 click over a zone in the combination you wish to extend to pick up its value. MB1 click over the zone you wish to add. You may need to MB1 click more than once.

Toggling Zones

MB1 clicks will toggle a zone from the combination, to a new group, and to "off" or non-included zone. If the "Include All Zones" is selected, then the clicks will toggle between the combination and a new group.

Apply Zone Combo

This button is enabled when the zone combination has been modified but not saved. Press this button to save the zone combination to the server.

Proper Formatter and Configuration Setup

The zone combiner requires certain Definition section items to be set up in each formatter. It also requires map backgrounds to be configured properly in the EDEX.

Definition section of product

Definition['mapNameForCombinations'] = "Zones_PBZ"	Mandatory	Defines the map background used for this product's zone combinations. All edit areas in the combinations file must match the map backgrounds's attribute "EDITAREANAME"'s values.
Definition['defaultEditAreas'] = "combinations Name"	Mandatory	Defines the combinations file to be used for this product. If default edit areas is not a combinations file, i.e., it is a list of edit areas, then the zone combiner will not be available.
Definition['singleComboOnly'] = 1	Optional	If this definition is set to 1, then the zone combiner will only allow ONE combination. Some products are intentionally restricted for this capability.
Definition['subDomainUGCs'] = ["ugc1", "ugc2", "ugc3"]	Optional	Limits the zone combinations to just those zones listed in the subDomainUGCs entry. This is normally only used for those sites whose domain is split into several products.

Note: the combinations file must be read-write in the server in order for the user to modify the zone combinations. If a combinations file is marked read-only, then the zone combiner will not be displayed.

Map Configuration in EDEX

The map background configuration defines the editAreaName for certain map backgrounds. If this attribute is defined, then edit areas will be automatically generated for the map background, based on the attributes specified. The Zone Combiner uses the edit area names associated with each shape in the map background to map combination edit area names to map background names. If your combinations file uses other names, then the zone combiner will reject those names and start out with an empty set of zone combinations.

Product Editor

The Product Editor is used to display the finished product to the forecaster, and then allows the forecaster to edit, save to a file, save as a draft, store, and transmit it.. It consists of a menu bar, the text editor, and to save a draft and transmit the product.

Some fields in the product editor may appear in a different color (default is blue). These fields are "Locked" and cannot be edited by the forecaster. NWS policy requires quality control on the UGC, VTEC, and other components of the product thus requires that the forecaster not be able to edit that field. Some fields may appear in another color (default is red). These fields are "framing codes" and indicate to the forecaster that the text within the framing codes and the framing code deliminators must be edited/removed by the forecaster.

A special entry on the Products menu called "Product Editor / Make Correction" brings up a blank slate. You can load files from the AWIPS Text Database, text file on disk, type an original product, or make a correction to an existing product.

Menu Bar

File	Save File...	Brings up a file chooser to allow the user to save the contents of the text buffer to a disk file. The default location is defined in the Definition['outputFile'] part of the formatter.
	Store...	Brings up an entry field containing the 8 or 9-letter PIL (Product Inventory List) that will be used to store the product into the AWIPS text database. The default pil is defined in the Definition['textdbPil'] part of the formatter. Use with caution: Saving to the text database will cause triggers for that PIL if they have been defined. This button is colored Blue when in practice mode and the product won't get stored to the AWIPS text database. Normally the button is gray. The user can change the AWIPS Product ID if necessary, and then presses the "Store" button to store the product. The Store Countdown timer counts down from 5 seconds giving the user the chance to abort the store operation. If the operation is not aborted, the product will be stored into the AWIPS text database. Use with caution: Saving to the text database will cause triggers for that PIL if they have been defined. If the store was not successful, then an error dialog is raised which contains the traceback on the store failure.
	Transmit...	Brings up an entry field containing the 9 or 10-letter AWIPS WAN PIL (Product Inventory List) that will be used to transmit the product onto the AWIPS WAN. The product is also stored into the text database during this operation. The default pil is defined in the Definition['awipsWANPil'] part of the formatter. This button is colored RED if live transmission is enabled and colored BLUE if live transmission is disabled due to practice mode.
	Print	Sends the contents of the editor to the lpr command. This should cause the contents of the editor to be printed. However, the lpr command must be configured at the system level for this to work.
	Load Draft	This option only appears for product tabs. It retreives a previously saved draft and places it into the product editor for editing. If there is no previously saved draft, a message is displayed to the forecaster.
	Save Draft	This option only appears for product tabs. It saves the current text in the editor along with the product definition for later callup with Load Draft.
	Open File	This option only appears for the "Product Editor"tab. It allows you to bring any local file into the text editor. Products brought into this window are set to routine products with an option to set them to Corrected, Updated, Delayed, or Resend mode through the "Type" pulldown menu choice at the bottom of the Formatter Launcher window.
	Load Product / Make Correction	This option only appears for the "Product Editor" tab. It allows you to specify a pil, then retrieves the product from the AWIPS text database and loads it into the editor. The editor is placed into Resend mode automatically when selecting this option. Typing in the product changes the mode to Corrected automatically.
Edit	Undo	Undoes the last edit operation.
	Redo	Undoes the Undo.
	Cut	Cuts the selected text from the buffer and saves it temporarily for pasting.
	Copy	Copies the selected text and saves it temporarily for pasting.
	Paste	Pastes the Cut or Copied text at the cursor location.
	Find...	Brings up the Find dialog, allowing the user to find words. There are many options available, such as backwards and forwards searches, regular expression or exact searches, ignoring case, starting at the start, end, or at the cursor position.
	Replace...	Brings up the Replace dialog, allowing the user to find and replace words. Various options are available to find and replace forwards, backwards, using regular expressions or exact matches, and starting at the beginning, end, or cursor location.
	Spell Check...	Brings up the spell checker. As each mispelled word is found, suggestions are provided and the user can choose the suggestion or type in the correct spelling. Capabilities are provided to add a word to your personal dictionary, or to ignore the mispelling.
	Wrap Selected	Rewraps the selected portion of the product based on the wrap length. You probably will want to wrap paragraph by paragraph rather than selecting the entire text. The Product Editor does understand certain types of paragraphs, such as blank lines denoting paragraphs and ".xxx..." syntax such as ".TONIGHT..." as paragraphs.
Options	Auto Wrap	Enables/disables automatic wrapping while typing. The default value may be set through the gfe configuration file on a per-pil basis.
Options	Wrap Length	Specifies the wrap length.
CallToActions	Hazard...	Based on the editor insertion point which defines the segment, brings up the possible set of call to action statements for the VTEC hazards identified within the segment. The user selects a call to action and the text is inserted at the insertion point in the editor. Call to action statements are configurable through the CallToActions TextUtility. If the cursor is not in a segment that has VTEC hazards, then the Call To Actions dialog will be empty. The text appearing in the dialog is either the actual Call To Action text or a descriptive string, depending upon the Call To Action entry format.
CallToActions	Product...	Based on the editor insertion point, brings up the set of product-specific call to action statements. The user selects a call to action and the text is inserted at the insertion point in the editor.
Generic...	Based on the editor insertion point, brings up the set of generic call to action statements. The user selects a call to action and the text is inserted at the insertion point in the editor. Call to action statements are configurable through the CallToActions TextUtility.
Help	Tab Color Key...	Displays the various Product Tab colors and their meaning.

Text Window

The Text Window is the text editor. Clicking on a location will set the cursor position to that location. Typing will then insert characters at that point. Dragging over text will select the text, which then can be used in cut/copy/paste operations.

The WMOID block, headlines, and UGC blocks cannot be edited and appear in a different color (configurable through the GFE configuration file). The UGC block consists of the UGC codes, any VTEC lines, the list of zone names, the list of city names, and the date-time group.

A MB3 popup menu is available that duplicates the functions found on the menu bar.

Buttons

There are usually three buttons available: Save File..., Store, and Transmit. During GFE Practice mode, the buttons are labeled the same, but have a different appearance.

Save Draft	Saves the current text and product definition to EDEX. The name of the file is based on the Definition['awipsWANPil']. This allows other workstations to access the text/product to continue edits.
Transmit	Brings up an Transmit Dialog containing the 9 or 10-letter AWIPS WAN PIL (Product Inventory List) that will be used to transmit the product onto the AWIPS WAN. The product is also stored into the text database during this operation. The default pil is defined in the Definition['awipsWANPil'] part of the formatter. If live transmission is enabled, then this button is RED. If live transmission is disabled, as in PRACTICE mode, then this button is BLUE. In practice mode, this action emulates the normal sending out of the product via the AWIPS WAN, the receipt of the product via the SBN, and the running of the VTEC Decoder.
	The Check button will rescan the text in the product editor. It searches for framing codes and rehighlights the framing section ("red" is the default color). It updates the transmission time in the WMOID header block and each UGC block. It rescans the headlines. It checks the VTEC times and updates those to the current time. It also checks for invalid products, which can occur in situations when the ending VTEC time is earlier than the present time. If the VTEC is determined to be invalid, then the editor is disabled and a red banner message is displayed.
Type	This pulldown menu provides the type of the product. Changing the product to AAA, AAB, or AAC will result in the "UPDATED" wording to be appended to the product's MND header. Changing the product to RRA, RRB, or RRC results in the "DELAYED" wording to be appended to the product's MND header. Changing the product to "res" indicates this is a retransmission, no "bbb" field is included in the WMO line, but the MND header will contain "RESENT". "rou" indicates a normal type of product. When the editor is put into Correction Mode, only the CCA, CCB, and CCC options are available and the MND header is appended with CORRECTED.
Product Expiration Time	The user may adjust the product expiration time in the segments by changing the selectors in 15 minute increments. The interval plus the calculated expiration time is shown on the interface. Each segment will receive the earlier of the specified time, 1 hour if a segment only contains a CAN VTEC code, or the end of any event.

Transmit Dialog

The Transmit Dialog is presented when the user chooses the "Transmit" button. The user can change the AWIPS Product ID if necessary, and then presses the "Store" button to store the product. The Transmit Countdown timer counts down from 5 seconds giving the user the chance to abort the transmit operation. If the operation is not aborted, the product will be transmited to the AWIPS WAN.

If the transmit was not successful, then an error dialog is raised which contains the traceback on the transmit failure.

Changes to Product when Transmitting, Storing, or Saving

Whenever products are transmitted, stored, or saved, certain modifications are made to the product text (Except as noted for Corrections below):

The issuance time in the CI header is updated to the present time.
The descriptive text indicating the issuance time, such as 400 AM MST THU DEC 25 2004, is updated to the present time.
The product purge times for each segment are updated.
VTEC codes that have an explicit starting time that is now in the past, are updated to the present time.

For Corrections (from the Product Editor tab):

The MND time stamp remains unchanged.
The product purge times for each segment are updated.
VTEC codes that have an explicit starting time that is now in the past, are updated to the present time.

In addition, other checks are made:

If any VTEC string ending time is now earlier than the present time, the operation is aborted and the product is invalidated.
If a VTEC notification is received that your WFO has updated some of the VTEC strings in the product, usually by running and transmitting another product in the office, then the operation is aborted and the product is invalidated.
All text is changed to Upper Case, per the 10-1701 product directive.

If the product is invalidated, you can still save the text to a temporary file or Save Draft, but will be unable to transmit it or store it. You will need to regenerate the product.

Once a product is transmitted, you can no longer transmit the same product. Instead you need to re-run the formatter.

Locked Out Fields and Editing Headlines

Due to NWS Quality Control rules, the CI, MND, VTEC lines, UGC lines, Zone and City Names, Issuance Date Lines, and Headlines are locked and cannot be edited by the forecaster.

Headlines do allow additional phrasing to be added at the end of each Headline. This is to accomondate specific phrases such as "ABOVE 9000 FEET". The text must be added right before the "..." or "TEST..." in the headline. Your additional headlines, or added words to existing headlines should not contain any of the following words, or your headline will lock.

The words that should NOT be used in local headlines or added phrases to headlines are:

AFTERNOON
CANCELLED
EFFECT
EXPIRED
EVENING
FRIDAY
MONDAY
MORNING
NIGHT
SATURDAY
SUNDAY
THURSDAY
TODAY
TONIGHT
TUESDAY
WEDNESDAY
IS FOR TEST PURPOSES ONLY

This example illustrates adding words to the end of the headline. The blue text is locked and cannot be edited. The black text is editable. The cursor was placed right before the "..." and the user typed ABOVE 9000 FEET.

It is important to realize that some headlines that are edited by the user will lock and thus not be correctable. If the forecaster uses different words that what is expected the software will not be able to distinguish the words from the non-editable portion of the headline.

Automatic word wrap is disabled in the headlines for technical reasons and thus the forecaster will need to provide the appropriate word wrapping.

Using Load Draft and Save Draft

The Load Draft / Save Draft feature provides several benefits:

Provides a quick way to save a copy of the current product "just in case" a system problem or editing mistake is made.
Provides a way for one forecaster to edit part of the product, and then hand off the product to another forecaster for review or further editing.

The saved draft is put into the EDEX /awips2/edex/data/utility/cave_static/site/SITE/gfe/drafts directory and is named via the Definition['awipsWANpil'] contained in the product definition. The saved information consists of the product text and the product definition. The product definition contains important attributes for the product, such as line length and segment expiration time characteristics. EDEX monitors incoming VTEC notifications and compares them to the contents of the draft products and invalidates the draft products if there is a match; this prevents the loading of a draft that might contain invalid VTEC and then transmitting a product with invalid VTEC. Loading a draft that has been invalidated will result in the editor being disabled and a message indicating that there is a possibility of invalid VTEC so the product must be regenerated.

Once the draft is saved, the same forecaster or different forecasters may load the draft into their product editor. Loading a draft is accomplished by selecting Products -> XXX in the Formatter Launcher, where XXX is the product name, to create the product pane. Then the forecaster clicks on the Load Draft ( LoadDraft

) button and the previously saved text and its product definition are loaded into the editor.

The forecaster than continues to edit the product until it is ready for transmission.

Drafts are automatically purged from the server when the segment expiration time has been reached.

NOTE: Due to VTEC QC requirements, and the calculations of segment expiration times, it is NOT recommended to use the Save File... and Open File..., nor Store... and Load Product... capabilities to faciliate multiple forecasters editing the product. The VTEC QC will be bypassed and the segment expiration times may be miscalculated since the product definition will not be reinstated from the plain text that was previously saved.

Making Corrections - from the Product Editor tab

The Product Editor has a correction mode. Correction mode is entered automatically when a user opens the "Product Editor" tab on the Formatter Launcher and then uses the "Load Product" option. This option loads a product from the AWIPS Text Database. If the user modifies the headline, such as in the following example, the VTEC action codes for the segment will change to "COR" and the MND product header will have "...CORRECTED" appended. The "Type" field in the editor is automatically set to "CCA". The user can change this to "CCB" or "CCC" if necessary.

Note that using the "Open File" option or no option at all, i.e., blank editor, will not put the editor into correction mode.

Resent, Updated, Delayed Products

The "Type" selector at the bottom of the product editor allows the user to specify the type of the product as shown below:

Type Field	Meaning
rou	Routine product, no additional words added to the MND header.
res	Product that has been resent. The word RESENT is added to the MND header. This is only available from the "blank" product editor tab.
AAA...	Updated product. The word UPDATED is added to the MND header.
RRR...	Delayed product. The word DELAYED is added to the MND header.
CCC...	Corrected product. In the blank Product Editor with a loaded product from the AWIPS text database, the word CORRECTED is added to the MND header and changes made to any segment text will result in the corresponding VTEC lines to indicate a "COR" action. This is only available from the "blank" product editor.

Adding the Update Reason Field

Some products require adding a reason for the update or correction. The user can insert a new line, which will be unlocked, between the UGC block and the headline. The cursor is placed between the UGC block and any headline and then the text is added. Be sure to follow polices and leave a blank line between the UGC block, the update reason, and the headline.

Framing Codes

Some of the product formatters and Call To Action statements may contain "Framing Codes". These codes are highlighted in 'red' by default in the Product Editor. The product will not be able to be saved to a file, stored, or transmitted if there are framing codes present in the product. An example of a product with framing codes is shown below; the user must remove the frame codes prior to attempting to save the product. The software only checks for pairs of framing codes; i.e., if a single framing code is left in the editor, it may be transmitted.

In the example below, locked text is shown in blue, and framing code text is shown in red:

Simulated Transmit

If the GFE is brought up in PRACTICE mode, then the Store and Transmit are simulated. The dialogs appear different and state that the simulated store/transmit operations. The dialogs look like:

In PRACTICE mode, the Store operation writes the product to the GFESuite products/PRACTICE directory as a time-stamped and pil-stamped file. The first three characters of the AWIPS product id are ignored. The Transmit operation in practice mode writes the product to the GFESuite products/PRACTICE directory in the same manner as the Store operation, and then runs the VTEC Decoder on the product to simulate sending the product on the WAN and re-receiving it. The operational VTEC active table is not used during practice mode, instead a special active table called PRACTICE is used.

Output Log

The Output Log is available after the product has finished. It contains the log and print statement output from the formatter run. It can be used to look for errors that may have occurred. A Save As... button is available to allow the contents to be saved to file for later use.