WINGRIDDS Update and Plans for 2006
Posted: Mon Dec 26, 2005 9:11 pm
All,
Here is a quick update on WINGRIDDS and a list of planns for 2006. Below is a snapshot of what development has been done so far twards WINGRIDDS.
(if you do not see an image here, I'm sorry & still new at pasting images in this forum)
As you can see, it is similar to PCGRIDDS32...but different. I'm trying to keep the Menu selections close to PCGRIDDS32 but there will be differences. Below the Menu line is a space which is balnk for now. This will be a Tool Bar where buttons will go. These buttons will be for frequent operations (Open a file, Change a file, Print Screen, etc.) as well as operations which need to be reprroduced from PCGRIDDS32 but would not work from a Menu (Loop control, Animation control, etc.). Remember, for operations, PCGRIDDS32 is keyboard-based where WINGRIDDS is mainly mouse-based so things will have to change. Below the Tool bar area is the Command Line. From here, you will still be able to enter command just like PCGRIDDS32. One big change form PCGRIDDS32 is in the administration of the all the configuration and .DAT files which defined how PCGRIDDS32 worked. Within WINGRIDDS, it will be consolidated within a Configuration dialog display selected from the File menu. This will work in a similar way to how other Windows programs have a 'Preference' or 'Options' selection which defines how the program operates.
I'm currently reading the book "GUI Bloopers - Do's and Dont's" in hopes of creating a program GUI which is easy to use but yet will do everything it is supposed to. At this point, the GUI design is still in flux and is subject to change without notice but the basic layout is as you see above. If anyone has a good suggestion tward how to make operations easier, feel free to let me know. We can throw ideas back & forth & if your's has merrit & I can integrate it, then it will probably get included in. Remember, this is my first go at something like this and I'm always open to ideas.
I'm also wanting to integrate the GRIB ingest utilities into WINGRIDDS to get away from the batch file menus PCGRIDDS32 uses. NGRB2PCG32 and GRIB2PCG32 would still be separate utilities for automation operations but they could be used from within WINGRIDDS as well.
However...(don't you just love those)...due to recent developments, WINGRIDDS development will have to be put on temporary hold. The development is NCEP GRIB2 deployment. GRIB2 is the upcomming standard for data packing and distribution. They are currently using GRIB1 standard and GRIB2 has quite a few change and these will require updates to the PCGRIDDS32 GRIB ingest utilities NGRB2PCG32 and GRIB2PCG32. Two big differences from GRIB1 to GRIB2 is that 1) GRIB2 will be using JPEG file compression to reduce the file size. This requires special software be used from within the GRIB ingest utility which is written in the C programming language but everything within PCGRIDDS32 is written in Fortran...and I don't know C nor how to integrate the two languages to compile and work together. It can be done, I am just at the early learning stages and it is slow going. 2) GRIB2 will be able to incorporate multiple data sections within one GRIB message. The GRIB1 standard has one data section for each GRIB message and as you watch NGRB2PCG32 ingest the data and a new data parameter is added to the list (HGHT, TEMP, RELH, etc.) that is one GRIB message being processed. With GRIB2, you can have multiple data sections from within one message which greatly complicated the way the utilities operate and this needs to be accounted for.
From all indications, GRIB2 is going to be officially incorporated into the model data products this spring 2006 and, probably by sometime in summer, GRIB1 will be no more so incorporating GRIB2 operations into PCGRIDDS32 is very important and I need to get moving. There are already some GRIB2 products available in parallel to GRIB1 for developers (like me) to work with.
I trust the vast majority of operational bugs have been worked out of PCGRIDDS32 and is providing reliable operations for you. I hope everyone is having a great holiday season and will have a happy new year. There is alot coming for PCGRIDDS32 & WINGRIDDS and I hope everyone will be happy with the programs in development. Once WINGRIDDS is stable and running (hopefully later this year), then the system improvements can continue. Thanks for all your support and continue to spread the word about PCGRIDDS32!!
Jeff Krob
PCGRIDDS32 System Developer
Here is a quick update on WINGRIDDS and a list of planns for 2006. Below is a snapshot of what development has been done so far twards WINGRIDDS.
(if you do not see an image here, I'm sorry & still new at pasting images in this forum)
As you can see, it is similar to PCGRIDDS32...but different. I'm trying to keep the Menu selections close to PCGRIDDS32 but there will be differences. Below the Menu line is a space which is balnk for now. This will be a Tool Bar where buttons will go. These buttons will be for frequent operations (Open a file, Change a file, Print Screen, etc.) as well as operations which need to be reprroduced from PCGRIDDS32 but would not work from a Menu (Loop control, Animation control, etc.). Remember, for operations, PCGRIDDS32 is keyboard-based where WINGRIDDS is mainly mouse-based so things will have to change. Below the Tool bar area is the Command Line. From here, you will still be able to enter command just like PCGRIDDS32. One big change form PCGRIDDS32 is in the administration of the all the configuration and .DAT files which defined how PCGRIDDS32 worked. Within WINGRIDDS, it will be consolidated within a Configuration dialog display selected from the File menu. This will work in a similar way to how other Windows programs have a 'Preference' or 'Options' selection which defines how the program operates.
I'm currently reading the book "GUI Bloopers - Do's and Dont's" in hopes of creating a program GUI which is easy to use but yet will do everything it is supposed to. At this point, the GUI design is still in flux and is subject to change without notice but the basic layout is as you see above. If anyone has a good suggestion tward how to make operations easier, feel free to let me know. We can throw ideas back & forth & if your's has merrit & I can integrate it, then it will probably get included in. Remember, this is my first go at something like this and I'm always open to ideas.
I'm also wanting to integrate the GRIB ingest utilities into WINGRIDDS to get away from the batch file menus PCGRIDDS32 uses. NGRB2PCG32 and GRIB2PCG32 would still be separate utilities for automation operations but they could be used from within WINGRIDDS as well.
However...(don't you just love those)...due to recent developments, WINGRIDDS development will have to be put on temporary hold. The development is NCEP GRIB2 deployment. GRIB2 is the upcomming standard for data packing and distribution. They are currently using GRIB1 standard and GRIB2 has quite a few change and these will require updates to the PCGRIDDS32 GRIB ingest utilities NGRB2PCG32 and GRIB2PCG32. Two big differences from GRIB1 to GRIB2 is that 1) GRIB2 will be using JPEG file compression to reduce the file size. This requires special software be used from within the GRIB ingest utility which is written in the C programming language but everything within PCGRIDDS32 is written in Fortran...and I don't know C nor how to integrate the two languages to compile and work together. It can be done, I am just at the early learning stages and it is slow going. 2) GRIB2 will be able to incorporate multiple data sections within one GRIB message. The GRIB1 standard has one data section for each GRIB message and as you watch NGRB2PCG32 ingest the data and a new data parameter is added to the list (HGHT, TEMP, RELH, etc.) that is one GRIB message being processed. With GRIB2, you can have multiple data sections from within one message which greatly complicated the way the utilities operate and this needs to be accounted for.
From all indications, GRIB2 is going to be officially incorporated into the model data products this spring 2006 and, probably by sometime in summer, GRIB1 will be no more so incorporating GRIB2 operations into PCGRIDDS32 is very important and I need to get moving. There are already some GRIB2 products available in parallel to GRIB1 for developers (like me) to work with.
I trust the vast majority of operational bugs have been worked out of PCGRIDDS32 and is providing reliable operations for you. I hope everyone is having a great holiday season and will have a happy new year. There is alot coming for PCGRIDDS32 & WINGRIDDS and I hope everyone will be happy with the programs in development. Once WINGRIDDS is stable and running (hopefully later this year), then the system improvements can continue. Thanks for all your support and continue to spread the word about PCGRIDDS32!!
Jeff Krob
PCGRIDDS32 System Developer
