WebDrogue Instructions

Overview

The WebDrogue window consists of five distinct components: the main viewing area, a button bar along the right, a toolbar along the top, a status panel at the bottom and a menu bar above the toolbar at the top.

The main viewing area is the primary means of visual interaction between the user and the software. DrogueMarkers are placed, selected and manipulated in this area and the resulting drogue paths are displayed here. The viewing area also displays a map and bathymetry of the region.

The button bar on the right contains all the commands to run the drogue path predictions.

The toolbar above the viewing window contains panning and zooming features and easier access to mouse modes.

The status bar along the bottom gives messages about how the program is working.

The menu bar above the toolbar gives you a few more choices for commands.

WebDrogue Commands

Currently there are eight commands specific to WebDrogue that are found in a buttonbar along the right of the viewing window when the program starts. These commands are repeated under the WebDrogue Menu. Under the Control menu there is an option for hiding the button bar allowing for a larger viewing area. Only commands that can be used at a certain time are enabled. For example just after starting the program only Add Drogue Marker and Edit Parameters are available all the rest are grayed out. The following is a brief description of each of the commands:

• Add Drogue Marker will add a new drogue marker to the center of the viewing area.
• Delete Drogue Marker will delete the currently selected drogue marker from the viewing area. (See Using Mouse Modes for how to select a drogue marker)
• Drogue Marker Parameters will let you change the colour, size or location of the currently selected drogue marker.
• Edit Parameters lets you set the start and end times (in GMT), and which tidal constituents will be used for the drogue path prediction. Also the wind speed and direction, season and depth level can be set here.
• Run Drogue Prediction will run the drogue path prediction for each drogue marker on the map and return a plot of the path taken for each marker.
• Get Drogue Prediction will return a web page with the latest path data. (See Getting and Saving Results for more about this).
• Clear Drogue Prediction will clear the latest set of path results. This is called automatically when Run Drogue Prediction is pressed.
• Cancel will stop any prediction that is currently running.

Toolbar Commands

Currently there are four commands that are found in a toolbar along the top of the viewing window when the program starts. Some of these commands are repeated under various menus in the menu bar. Under the Control menu there is an option for hiding the toolbar allowing for a larger viewing area. Only commands that can be used at a certain time are enabled. For example just after starting the program only the arrows on the far left are grayed-out indicating the inability to use them. The following is a brief description of each of the commands in the toolbar.

• Directional Arrows let you pan the map in the direction indicated by the arrow pressed. The center button will recenter the map at the starting position.
• Zoom In/Zoom Out will allow the map to zoom in and out on the current center point.
• Mouse Mode will let you choose the behavior of the mouse within the viewing area. (See Using Mouse Modes for more information).
• Zoom Stack Arrows allow you to go back and forth between previous views of the viewing area.

Menus

Currently there are six menus that are found in a menu bar along the top of the application. The following is a brief description of each of the commands in the six menus:

• File
  • Save As lets you save the map as a jpeg or a gif. Only available when run as an application on a local machine.
  • Quit lets you exit the program.
• Control
  • Mouse Mode will let you choose the behavior of the mouse within the viewing area. (See Using Mouse Modes for more information).
  • Mesh Menu will let you choose the grid shown within the viewing area.
  • Set Background Colour lets you set the colour on the background in the viewing area.
  • Hide/Display Tool Panel will either hide or display the toolbar that goes across the top of the viewing window.
  • Hide/Display WebTide Panel will either hide or display the button bar that is found to the right of the viewing window.
• Navigate
  • Go to ... lets you set coordinates for the center of the viewing window.
  • Zoom In will allow you to zoom in on the center point.
  • Zoom Out will allow you to zoom out on the center point.
  • Projection will allow you to change the maps projection to another in the list.
• Layers
  • Depth Legend will let you turn on/off the layer that contains the legend for theh contour lines. (On by default).
  • Drogues will let you turn on/off the layer that contains the DrogueMarkers if any are present. (On by default).
  • Drogue Paths will let you turn on/off the layer that contains the Drogue Paths if any are present. (On by default).
  • Graticule will let you turn on/off the layer that contains the Graticule lines (grid). (On by default).
  • Bathymetry Contours will let you turn on/off the layer that contains the bathymetry and detailed coastline. (On by default).
  • Crude Map of the World will let you turn on/off the layer that contains a crude world map (best for zoomed out views). Not avaliable for web based version.(Off by default).
• WebDrogue
  • See WebDrogue Commands
• Help
  • WebDrogue brings up this help file.
  • About brings up a dialog window giving detailed version information

Using Mouse Modes

There are four mouse modes available to the WebTide Program. Each mouse mode affects how the program responds to mouse input.

• Select lets you select tide markers by clicking on them. Only one tide marker can be selected at one time; being selected allows for certain commands to be performed only on the particular tide marker. If you click and hold the mouse button down you can move a tide marker to a new location by dragging the tide marker, as you drag it a gray path will follow the mouse pointer around the viewing area. Upon releasing the mouse button the tide marker will move to the new location.

• Corner Zoom will allow you to make zoom boxes used to zoom in on a certain area. The zoom box will start in the first place you press the button and grow as you move the mouse with the button still held. Where you release the mouse button will be the opposite corner of the zoom box. The shape of the zoom box is limited by the shape of the viewing area. If you just press the mouse button without holding it down the map will be re-centred on the point that you just pressed. Also if you move the mouse cursor in the viewing window the coordinates of the pointer will appear in the Status bar at the bottom.

• Centre Zoom will allow you to make zoom boxes used to zoom in on a certain area. The zoom box will have its center at the first place you press the button and grow in all directions as you move the mouse with the button still held. Where you release the mouse button will be half the distance of the total box from the start. The shape of the zoom box is limited by the shape of the viewing area. If you just press the mouse button without holding it down, the map will be re-centered on the point that you just pressed. Also if you move the mouse cursor in the viewing window the coordinates of the pointer will appear in the Status bar at the bottom.

• Distance will allow you to measure distances in km on the map. If you press and release the mouse button once, then start to move the mouse you will see a circle appear on the screen with a radius line. At the bottom of the screen in the status bar the distance from the starting point in km and the angle that the line makes is displayed. If you press the mouse button once more your first line will be anchored and a new line will start from this new point. The distance in the status bar is the cumulative of all the lines currently displayed. To stop measuring distances double click the mouse button, this also removes all lines drawn on the screen.

Getting and Saving Results

WebDrogue will only hold one set of path results at a time. Therefore it is important that you save your data before making new predictions. Once a prediction is complete, the Get Drogue Prediction button will be enabled. If you press this button a web browser will open and the data for all the drogue path will be in the displayed web page. If you go to the browser's File menu you will be able to choose to save the current web page with the Save As menu item.

If you would like to save the map with the paths that are displayed, you can use the File-->Save As menu command to save either .jpeg or .gif images. Please note that you will not be able to save the maps in this fashion if you are using the web-based version (try using an image capture program); you will however, still be able to save the results in the manner noted above.

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