USGS MIPS Mipsgui Documentation

USGS MIPS Mipsgui Documentation

The sole purpose of the graphical user interface(Gui) is to interact with the user in the X windows environment and pass the results of the interaction to the image processing program (e.g., ratio, filter, etc). Thus the Gui obtains file specifications and parameters from the user and gives the information to the image processing program. Also, the program can report, back to the Gui, the current progress level of the processing, which is then reported to the user via the Gui.

There are four types of windows that are used for interaction between the user and the Gui. They are:

Files Interface
Parameter Interface
Progress Interface
Error Interface

where a standard set of menus can be found on the windows of these interfaces.

The Files Interface

This interface is used to obtain input and output files specifications.

Files OK Button

The files ok button is selected once the user has entered all the necessary filenames and is ready to go onto the next stage of the program.

Files Cancel Button

The files cancel button is used as a way of exiting the program.

Files Recall Arrow Buttons

The recall arrow buttons for files are used to trace back or forward through the previous filenames that have been entered for a particular file input box. This file input box needs to be highlighted by clicking in the box using a mouse.

Files File Arrow Buttons

The file arrow buttons for files are used to trace back or forward through the previous filenames filling in all the file input boxes.

The Params Interface

This interface is used to obtain parameter specifications.

Params OK Button

The params ok button is selected once the user has entered all the necessary parameters and is ready to go onto the next stage of the program.

Params Cancel Button

The params cancel button is used as a way of exiting the program.

Params Recall Arrow Buttons

The recall arrow buttons for params are used to trace back or forward through the previous parameter values entered by filling in all the parameters with these values.

Params Reset Button

The params reset button is used to reset all the parameters to their default values.

The Progress Interface

The progress interface gives the user information about the current state of the program. This can include information such as the percentage of processing completed and the estimated time of completion. This interface only appears under one condition. Using the program Customize under the Program Status Options section, the corresponding buttons for eithr Output Progress or ETA must be selected. Without this, this interface will never appear to the user when running a program.

Progress Cancel Button

Activating the cancel button will cause the program to exit.

The Error Interface

The error interface is used to give the user information when an error occurs. There are two types of errors that can occur and the type of error is reported in the title bar of the error window.

The first type of error is a warning which typically indicates to the user they have entered something invalid to the program and should correct the error. The second type of error is a fatal error which is uncorrectable by the user during the execution of the program. The program will stop and the user should correct the problem and then re-execute the program.

Error OK Button

The ok button closes the error window.

Error Cancel Button

The cancel button closes the error window.

Error Help Button

The help button gives additional information about the error which occurred. The information usually includes several suggestions about how to fix the error.

Menus

The menus currently available on most programs are the File, Options and Help menus. Clicking on any of these allows anything from exiting the program to selecting file names, even obtaining on line help on the program.

The File Menu

The File Menu is used to exit the program.

The File Menu Exit

The exit menu item is used to manually exit the program.

The Options Menu

The options menu is used to select alternative options that can be used with the current interface. The available options are selecting files and copying selections made to other areas within the current interface.

Options Menu Copy

The copy menu item is used to copy the contents of an input box to another one. This may help when having to specify similar numbers or file names more than once.

Options Menu Select

The select menu item allows the user to select file names with the use of a files selection box.

The Help Menu

The help menu gives the user the ability to obtain information about the program and Gui.

Help Menu Context

Context-sensitive help will give information about the function of a button, menu, or any other object contained in the Gui window.

To use Context-Sensitive Help select it from the help menu. The cursor will then have had changed to a question mark. Move the question mark to the desired object and press MB1. This will give information about that object.

Help Menu Program

Selecting the Overview of "program" item from the help menu will give information about the input requirements and capabilities of the program.

This is the highest level of information about the program and all other information will be available under additional topics.

Help Menu Gui

Selecting the Overview of the Gui item from the help menu will give information about the Graphical User Interface(Gui) and how the user should interact with the Gui to get information to the program.

This is the highest level of information about the Gui and all other information will be available under additional topics.

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Last Modified: Thu Oct 31 15:08:24 MST 2002