How to Utilize New Software Features
We have released a new version of HUGnet software to the servers! Along with it come several useful tools that may take some getting used to. We've been working with this software on the test computer for a couple weeks and are quite pleased with it. Here's a rundown of the user interface advancements.
Zooming/Panning Graphs
Wanna get a better look at a peak in the data? Place your cursor over the spot in the HUGnet graph object to pinpoint the desired location for zooming. User your scroll tool: up to zoom in and vice versa. Double-clicking with the left mouse also zooms a small arbitrary distance.You can also click and drag the figure in any desired direction. Be sure to uncheck the 'update with new data' box if you want to stay in zoom mode. Once the data updates, it will reset the graph's sizing. Take note that as of now that is the only way I know how to reset the graph.
This feature also may pose a problem when trying to scroll down the page. Keep your cursor on the left to steer clear of unwanted zooming. We tried to put in a zoom lock feature, but will just have to wait for the next release. In any case, I think Ryan's the most excited person about this feature. He's been talking about it since last summer 
. If you're bored you can hold down your scroll tool and zoom out of time and space.
Multiple Axes
Comparing data side-by-side previously presented a problem if their numerical values were too spaced in magnitude. Slope-matching is tough when you want to see 14 W translate into 300°C. With gaps like that, the mountainous data peaks turn into gentle rolling hills, hindering the ability to compare the minute edges. We now have Secondary, Tertiary, Quaternary axes, and so forth to keep the correlations strong. It does get a bit sloppy looking with all the data displayed, but remember to cursor over the peak in question to tell you which line corresponds with what. Also don't forget the color key at the bottom.
UTC Time
This one isn't a whole lot of fun, but nonetheless useful. We changed our the displayed time to UTC to make it easier to convert for all audiences.
Please be patient with the software as it develops with large changes like this. Thanks everybody for your suggestions and changes in the process.
Comments
It's a major annoyance to have to select them every time the browser is closed or the page has been refreshed.
Once the channel configuration is stored into the page URL, this would also allow users to quickly bookmark events, groups of channels for monitoring different experiments separately, etc.
The autoscaling performs well for most data series with good dynamic behavior. However, you need a lower-bounds on the scaling range, so that the least-significa nt-bit of the data source cannot represent more than a reasonably small fraction of the screen, say 5-10% at the most. Right now, micro-volt range signals are showing up as though they were data, but really it's single-bit dither.
I second the suggestion to be able to have multiple y-axis ranges for multiple series with the same units. Think in terms of an oscilloscope: amplitude and vertical position adjustments for each channel, and then time scales identically for them all.
- Have an option to increase the graph width and maybe even the height.
- Have an option to add axes for different time series even if they share the same units. This would be useful for data with large differences in reported values (for example ambient temperature vs reactor temperature)
- Perhaps it might be an idea to be able to add more graphs in the same page to circumvent the above problem. The graphs would share the same data, so no more bandwidth wasted.
- It can be useful to have 15 seconds, 2 minute and 10 minute averages averages in addition to those in the list, although the best idea might be to have it user-selectable.
- The "window drag" pointer icon when hovering the chart doesn't look very precise, maybe it would be better to change it to something else (crosshair?).
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