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Table of Contents
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Page Properties
RequirementMenu Commands
Section3.2.4.3
JIRA Task

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Reviewed For
Date
Conventional spacing between sections2016-08-31

Introduction

Excerpt

This section describes the gadgets and other functionalities available on the Visual Dashboard Options Menu. The menu can be accessed from the Canvas (right mouse button) and Toolbar (first button on the left). The commands of the menu are divided into four groups, which are organized along functional lines. The commands in the first group manage the source data and canvases. The second group is responsible for the output of Canvas data (i.e., results) to different file formats and exporting source data. The third group of menu items allows the user to select and configure gadgets for the Dashboard, including StatCalc calculators and NutStat growth charts. The last group contains commands for showing the Canvas properties and data dictionary, rearranging gadgets, refreshing the source data, and resetting the dashboard as a whole.

 

Visual Dashboard Commands

The Options Menu is the master menu for Visual Dashboard, giving the user access to the majority of its functions. The items in the menu are organized into four groups on the basis of similarity, separated by horizontal lines.  From top to bottom, the groups–followed by the menu items–are: 

  1. management of data sources and dashboard canvases
    1. Set data source,
    2. Add related data source...,
    3. Open canvas...,
    4. Save canvas, and 
    5. Save canvas as... .
  2. management of canvas output and data export:
    1. Save output as HTML,
    2. Send output to:
      1. MS Word, and 
      2. MS Excel, and
    3. Export source data.
  3. adding analyzed data to the canvas:
    1. Add analysis gadget,
    2. Add StatCalc calculator,
    3. Add NutStat growth chart, and
    4. Add Report gadget.
  4. miscellaneous commands:
    1. Show data dictionary,
    2. Canvas properties,
    3. Auto-arrange gadgets,
    4. Refresh data source, and
    5. Reset dashboard.

To summarize, the first two items in menu Section 1 load source data into the system for analysis by the tools in Section 3.  These tools populate the canvas with "gadgets" (a term used generically that will also include calculators and charts for brevity).  The remaining items in Section 1, items c through e, manage gadgets as a group by loading and saving canvas files. This enables the user to re-execute the analyses on a new or updated data set without needing to choose, configure, and position the gadgets again.   To accomplish the analogous task in Classic Analysis, a series of commands would be collected in the Program Editor and then saved, reloaded, and re-executed.  The workflow is similar in each case. The primary advantage of Visual Dashboard is its live connection to the database, eliminating the need to manually reload the data source to update the statistics.  A simple click of the "Refresh" button is sufficient to update the entire dashboard.


The Options menu shall enable the user to:

  1. set the data source on which the dashboard will operate.

  2. RELATE a new data source to the data currently in memory.

  3. open a Dashboard Canvas from file.

  4. save the current Canvas.

  5. save the current Canvas to a new filename.

  6. save the Canvas data ("output") in HTML format

  7. sent output of the Dashboard gadgets to:

    1. MS Word and

    2. MS Excel.

  8. export source data by field to:

    1. a new table or append to or replace data in an existing table in a database in the following formats:

      1. MS SQL Server,

      2. PostgreSQL, and 

      3. MySQL, as well as to

    2. create, append to, or replace files in the following formats:

      1. Epi Info 7 Project (.prj),

      2. MS Access 2002-2003 (.mdb), 

      3. MS Access 2007 (.accdb), 

      4. MS Excel 1997-2003 (.xls) workbook,

      5. MS Excel 2007 (.xlsx) workbook, and

      6. CSV text files.

  9. add analysis gadgets to the canvas; refer to the gadgets that appear in the Visual Dashboard Command column of the following tables:

    1. Classic Analysis and Visual Dashboard Analysis Commands, and

    2. Advanced Analysis.

  10. add the StatCalc calculators as they appear in StatCalc Functional Requirements.

  11. add NutStat growth charts:

    1. CDC 2000 Growth Reference (for children 2 years of age and older):
      1. BMI for age,
      2. height for age,
      3. head circumference for age,
      4. length for age,
      5. weight for age,
      6. weight for height, and
      7. weight for length.
    2. WHO Child Growth Standards (for children 0 to 2 years of age):
      1. BMI for age,
      2. height for age,
      3. head circumference for age,
      4. arm circumference for age,
      5. length for age,
      6. weight for age,
      7. weight for height, and
      8. weight for length.
    3. WHO 2007 Growth Reference :
      1. BMI for age,
      2. height for age, and
      3. weight for age.
    4. CDC/WHO 1978 Growth Reference:
      1. height for age,
      2. length for age,
      3. weight for age,
      4. weight for height, and
      5. weight for length.

  12. add the following Report Gadgets:

    1. Text, which displays text that is manually entered or pasted in by the user, and

    2. Image, which displays a graphic loaded from a file.

  13. display a data dictionary containing information on the variables in the current data set.

  14. set canvas properties rendered when output is dumped in HTML format, including:

    1. Data Source: 

      1. Epi Info™ 7 project,

      2. form name, and
      3. related data sources.

    2. Display:

      1. HTML Output Settings:

      2. Title,

      3. Summary,

      4. Conclusion,

      5. toggle Show gadget setting,

      6. toggle Show gadget headings,

      7. toggle Show canvas summary,

      8. toggle Use alternating colors in tables, and

      9. toggle Display gadgets in top-to-bottom format.

    3. Chart Settings:

      1. Default width (pixels) and

      2. Default height (pixels).

    4. Information (shows values, read only):

      1. Number of unfiltered rows,

      2. Number of columns,

      3. Date/Time of last data cache, and

      4. Epi Info™ version,

  15. auto-arrange gadgets in single column,

  16. refresh data source (reload current project data), and

  17. reset canvas (remove data source and all gadgets associated with the canvas).

Functional requirements 1 through 10, listed immediately below, describe functions similar or identical to those described in Classic Analysis and StatCalc (Section 3.2.6). Requirement 9 covers commands that Classic Analysis groups under Statistics and Advanced Statistics; the requirement refers the reader to a pair of tables in Section 3.2.3.3, Statistical Analysis.  The tables lists Classic Analysis commands and Visual Dashboard gadgets, identifying equivalences where they exist. The two modules share about three-fifths (10 out of 17) of their statistical tools, overall.  This represents half (5 out of 10) of the “Statistics” commands and five-sevenths (5 out of 7) of those in “Advanced Statistics”.


Future Development

The Options Menu needs some organizational work.  It could become the universal menu, eliminating the need for the Toolbar entirely.  To accomplish this, the following steps are recommended:

  1. Add  menu items for Defined Variables and Data Filters to the Options Menu, e.g.,
    1. make the Options Menu the primary (exclusive?) method for accessing those tools, and/or
    2. eliminate their auto-collapse "feature"; use the menu items to toggle the tools in and out
  2. Move the "canvas mode" menu options from the Toolbar to the Options Menu, e.g.,
    1. create a "canvas mode" menu item at the top level of the menu with "Analysis", "Data", and "Variables" as second-level menu items, and/or
    2. display the current mode next to "canvas mode" on the top menu level (e.g., "Canvas Mode: [Advanced]") and on the status bar
  3. Put the "Show data dictionary" item in the same group as the "gadgets" 
    1. because, like them, it adds a gadget to the canvas, or
    2. eliminate it altogether since it is redundant with the "Variables" canvas mode.