Smart Tools and Procedures Training Guide

Contents


Edit Actions
Smart Tools
Procedures
Utilities
Answers to Exercises
Appendix -- Point-based Tools

Edit Actions


Edit Actions are operators that can modify many grids in a single operation, thus potentially saving you time. The GFE has two kinds of Edit Actions:
  • Smart Tools: bits of code which perform operations on a grid-by-grid basis. Smart Tools are written in a language called, Python.
  • Procedures: bits of code which can perform operations on many grids and may call Smart Tools and other useful commands which can create, interpolate, and delete grids.
    • The combination of Smart Tools and Procedures is very powerful. However, be careful. It's easy to unintentionally modify grids, too. The next section describes how you control which grids get modified.
    Before you actually execute an Edit Action you must first indicate the grids that you wish to modify. There are two ways to indicate which grid(s) you wish to edit. One uses the Spatial Editor Time and the other uses the Selected Time Range in the Grid Manager.

    Using the Spatial Editor Time to Identify Editable Grids

    If you want to edit a single grid, the simplest way is to MB1 press over that grid in the Grid Manager. This will make the grid "Editable" and set the Time Range to that of the grid. To edit your selected grid using the Edit Actions, follow the steps below. The grid you wish to modify should now be displayed in the Spatial Editor and the label for that grid should start with the word "(edit)".
        1. Make any grid you choose editable by moving the cursor over that grid in the Grid Manager pressing MB1. Alternatively, you can MB2 click on the Spatial Editor label that corresponds to that grid.
        2. In the Spatial Editor, pick the Select Points tool and create an edit area on the display.
        3. On the button bar, MB1-click on the button that looks like the icon to the right. A list dialog will appear looking similar the figure below containing items such as SetValue, AdjustValue_Up, AdjustValue_Down, and Smooth.
        4. MB1 press and hold on the AdjustValue_Up entry. Look at the corresponding grid in the Grid Manager. Note that the color of this grid has changed, indicating which grid is about to be modified.
        5. Now release MB1 and watch your selected area change in value.
        6. For more practice, select a different edit area and operate on the gridded data using different edit actions.

    Once you have selected an edit area, you can execute any of these Smart Tools in any order. (Sometimes the Edit Actions Dialog appears in an inconvenient location such as on top of the data you wish to edit. The Edit Actions Dialog is easily moved by pressing MB1 on the menu and dragging the menu to a more desirable location. Moving the cursor over the title bar of this menu and MB1 dragging will move this dialog as well.)

    When a grid is "Editable", the Smart Tools that apply to it will appear in the Edit Actions Dialog. If no grid is editable, all tools will appear. However, to execute a tool, the Weather Element to be modified by it, MUST be "Editable". The tools that apply to the "Editable" Weather Element also appear and can be executed from the MB3 pop-up menu over the Spatial Editor. In addition, keyboard shortcuts can be set up for Smart Tools and Procedures (see gfeConfig Keyboard Shortcuts).

    Using the Selected Time Range to Identify Editable Grids

    Since editing one grid at a time would be too cumbersome, the GFE allows you to edit many grids at once. However, this powerful capability must be used with great care or you could modify grids unintentionally. To learn how to modify many grids at once, follow the steps below.
    1. Make the Weather Element you wish to modify "Editable" as described above.
    2. In the Grid Manager, select a time range that spans across as many grids for the weather element that you wish to modify. To accomplish this, press and drag MB1 in the Time Scale or the weather element data pane.
    3. Now that you've identified the grids you wish to edit, press and hold MB1 on either the SetValue, AdjustUp(Down), or the Smooth edit actions.
    4. While holding down MB1, look at the Grid Manager and notice that the grids that you previously selected have changed color, indicating that those grids are about to be modified.
    5. Release MB1 and a warning message will appear.
    6. Click Yes and watch the data change as defined by the edit action that you chose.
    Examine all of the grids that you modified until you convince yourself that you did modify all the grids that you intended.

    Procedures may also depend upon the Spatial Editor time and Selected Time Range. However, they have the capability of internally defining the grids and time range upon which they operate.


    In summary, the Grid Manager's selected time range is used to indicate which grids will be modified by a Smart Tool. If no selected time range is defined, the Spatial Editor time is used. Pressing MB1 over a Smart Tool is the best way to know which grids will be edited before the operation is executed. If you decide NOT to perform the edit, simply move the mouse off the Smart Tool before releasing MB1.

    The list of Smart Tools may include items that are defined at the local site. These Smart Tools can use previously defined fields to modify new fields. Algorithms that incorporate the local terrain can be included as well. This paradigm allows for extensibility so that the local office can create their own tools customized for their office.

    Edit Action Warnings

    There are two types of warnings you might see when performing Edit Actions: Empty Edit Area Warning and Time Range Warning. These can both be turned on or off from the Main Menu or from the Warning itself.

    The Time Range Warning cautions you that multiple grids will be modified and will not appear if only one grid will be affected. Also, if the user is performing the same Edit Action (same weather element, tool or procedure, time range, and edit area), no warnings will appear. This way someone can smooth or adjust repeatedly without the warnings. The pickup value is not checked, so one can also perform Assign_Value repeatedly and change the pickup value in between without getting a warning message.