This page last changed on Aug 11, 2009 by kgomes.

This page documents how to configure SSDS to generate batch plots of various data that is tracked in the Shore Side Data System. The batch process runs every hour so keep that in mind as you configure your plots. It is on our plate to develop a nice web front end to this configuration, but for now, you will have to brute force it through the database itself. The information you will need to know ahead of time is:

  1. The SSDS ID of the instrument you want to create plots for.
  2. The variable names (exactly!) that you want plotted
  3. The length of times you want the plots to go back (this software gives you the option to choose the number of hours back and uses that to plot the data).
  4. The titles you want listed on your plot

Now, in order to get to the table in the database, you will need to be on the MBARI network and have access to the Enterprise Manager software from Microsoft. That is what is used to connect to the database where this configuration is kept. You will also need an account that you can use to connect to the database with that has permissions to edit the table (check with the SSDS guys for this). So, first start up Enterprise Manager in windows. Once you have started it, there should be a group called 'SQL Server Group'. If you right click on that, you can register a connection to a database server by selecting "New SQL Server Registration". A wizard will walk you through the registration process and you want to connect to the server solstice.shore.mbari.org using the name and password from the SSDS guys.

Once you have registered the server, you can open the 'plus' sign next to it to dive down to the database of interest: SOLSTICE.SHORE.MBARI.ORG->Databases->SSDS_Data->Tables and you should see something like this:

You are looking for the DeviceQCPlotConfig table and if you scroll down and right-click on it, then choose 'Open Table->Return all Rows' you will see the listing of all the configurations for creating plots (Figure 2).

Here is a list of the columns and what they mean:

  • DeviceID_FK: This is the SSDS ID of the instrument whose data you want to plot.
  • PacketSubType: This is the RecordType that contains the variable you want to plot. Some instruments have more than one type of data they produce. In order to differentiate those, all device data descriptions must specify a RecordType (usually it is a 1, but not always). You can consult the SSDS web interface (http://new-ssds.mbari.org) or the device XML to find what the RecordTypes are.
  • RecordVariable_Name: This is the short name of the variable you want to plot.
  • NumberOfHoursBack: This tells the software how far back (in hours) you want to go to grab the data to plot. It will grab data back that many hours until the current time and create a plot of that data.
  • Chart_Type:
  • X_Size:
  • Y_Size:
  • X_Axis_Label:
  • Y_Axis_Label:
  • Title:
  • Page_Title:
  • Page_URL_String:
  • Image_URL_String:
  • Data_Page_URL_String:
  • Y_Max:
  • Y_Min:
  • Y_Axis_One_Or_Two:
  • Use_Long_Variable_Name:
  • Gps_Show_Anchor:
  • Gps_Anchor_Latitude:
  • Gps_Show_Watch_Circle:
  • Gps_Watch_Circle_Diameter_Km:
  • Gps_Scale_Chart_To_Fit_Data:
  • GraphOn:

Figure 1.jpg (image/jpeg)
Figure 2.jpg (image/jpeg)
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