Basic engineers view-only diagnostic GUI

[hamishmb]

This is a new thread to discuss the design of the basic software interface Penri requested at viewtopic.php?f=13&t=219

Here is my idea:

This would access the database on the NAS box, and simply dump the data into an HTML table, with a little styling and a way of selecting which table to view (perhaps a choice box). It could also automatically refresh the page, say, every minute, to keep the data current. The simplest way to do this is probably just to have it run using PHP on the NAS box itself, seeing as it won't need to integrate with the Visitor & Staff GUIs and will probably be temporary.

Penri, how does this sound to you? I'm happy to make you a mock-up to help you visualise it.

[TerryJC]

This would utilise the webserver that's built in to the NAS Box?

[hamishmb]

That's the idea It uses very old components, but for something basic like this it should be fine.

[Penri]

Happy to critique a mock up, thank you.

Penri

[hamishmb]

Okay, so after the brief discussion with Penri I have a better idea of what we want. I'll just note the key points here so we don't forget:

• This is basically just a temporary GUI so we have something before the Visitor/Staff GUI is created - no need to make it fancy.
• This will be deployed along with the NAS box - there's no need/pressure to try and deploy something sooner than that.
• This will be a basic view-only interface designed to work on a phone (specifically an iPhone).
• We need to show:
  • Site and device ID (probably all in one column).
  • Reading value from the device/probe.
• I'll have some way of selecting which site to view (probably a choice box and submit button).
• We want the data to be current, so I'll make it auto-refresh regularly (maybe configurable?).
• This will run on the NAS box's basic built-in web server to keep it simple and easy to deploy.

Next steps:

• I'll make a quick mock-up for Penri.
• I should also be able to deploy something on this webserver with some sample data for Penri to test.
• Not expecting this to take very long at all to make , but no promises because of health and time and stuff getting in the way.

Did I miss anything Penri?

[Penri]

Hamish

Sound just about perfect.


Penri

[hamishmb]

Penri,

I have made a basic wireframe for you at:https://wmtprojectsforum.altervista.org ... %20v01.pdf.

The UI elements are a bit dated, but the idea is there at least. Seem good?

[Penri]

Hamish

I think that would do very nicely, thank you.


Stay safe

Penri

[hamishmb]

I've implemented this now, I think. I have tested it on an iPhone and it seems to work as expected.

I'll now deploy it to this webserver so you can test it Penri (may take me 20ish minutes as the NAS box uses an ancient version of PHP not fully compatible with the one on this webserver).

[hamishmb]

Okay, all deployed. If you browse to: https://wmtprojectsforum.altervista.org ... stemStatus you should see it and be able to interact with it. The source code is up at https://gitlab.com/wmtprojectsteam/engineer-gui.

NOTE: The readings tables display nicely on mobile, but the others do need a bit of horizontal scrolling to see everything. I'm assuming this isn't really a problem seeing as displaying other tables is an extra feature anyway.

I did do a few extra things:

• It auto-refreshes every 30 seconds.
• If you display in landscape mode or on a bigger screen, more readings data is visible.
• It can also display the System Status and Event Log tables.

I'd like to do a little bit more work on it too:

• Display the control tables.
• Limit the results to, say, 50 records (in case there are thousands).

Neither of those things are at all difficult to do, and they do add value, so I figure I might as well do them. Let me know if anything is displaying strangely or is not as you expected. Do note that I don't have data for all the tables, and they're not all in the dropdown yet.