ViRBO features: das2

Jeremy Faden, Cottage Systems

2. hi there

• 0.5 w/U of Iowa in Don Gurnett’s Plasma Wave Group, ~0.5 bda “Cottage Systems” independently with Reiner Friedel, Mel Goldstein, Jan Merka, Craig Kletzing, Jack Scudder, others, and of course on virbo w/ Bob Weigel.

• Role in virbo is to provide data visualization tools to virbo.

3. goals

• Provide graphics and analysis software using virbo data services (“middleware”)

• Provide trivial method for getting quick looks at data in virbo

• Promote buy-in by proving high-quality anaylsis software for your data that you’ve provided to virbo

4. path to here--papco

• Started with papco as virbo graphics provider.– Papco is IDL-based, open source software

(Reiner and I maintain).– IDL “Runtime VM” allows IDL applications to

run license-free.– Too much installation and configuration– Relies on additional apps for click-and-install

functionality.

5. path to here--others

• Javascript or interactive svg– Would provide installation-less software, runs

“on top of” web browser platform– Too complex, unproven technology– lots of new software to build data rendering

capabilities

6. path to here--das2

• das2 is java-based software for interactive data plotting and analysis– Open-source code developed mostly at U.

Iowa Plasma Wave group. (I’m project lead)– Java available for just about every platform,

often pre-installed– Java Web Start installs and maintains

releases– Most of the work is done: rendering,

interactivity model, data model.

7. Introduction to das2

• In development since 2002, PW group production use since 2003.

• Goal was to deliver graphical science products to clients with no installation– Time-series spectrograms and line plots

• Pure-java plotting software delivered to client along with the data.

• Highly-interactive applications provided scanning, zooming, and slicing.

8. das2—design goals• Installation-less. Click (wait once) and

play

• Highly-interactive– Asynchronous– Graphical configuration (e.g. mouse to zoom)– Slicing, run-my-analysis-here

• workflow centered– modularily allows new data sources – Output to various formats: pdf, svg, png, ascii.

9. das2 application example

• http://www-pw.physics.uiowa.edu/das2/apps/vg1pwsSpec.beta.jnlp

• Video: http://www.cottagesystems.com/virbo/video/das2FirstLook.html

10. das2 design goals

• Use modular components and science abstractions to encourage reuse and to develop a culture around the functionality– Spectrogram rendering algorithm well-known

and understood. – Reiner’s “LvT” algorithm (from papco) for

folding Flux(Time) into Flux(L-Shell,Time)

• Modular components->applications are assembled, not coded.

11. das2 and virbo

• das2 is a flexible framework for building applications

• Does it plot X? Answer is generally no, but it can be extended to so do easily.

• What can it do for virbo as of now?

12. data input

• ASCII tables• ISTP-compliant CDFs (not pure java)

• netCdf

• Excel (just for fun…)• DODS (OpenDAP)

• das2Streams

• New plug-ins implemented in java.

13. output

• Graphics– Pdf, svg vector formats– Png raster format– Soon eps– Soon copy-n-paste to powerpoint, etc.

• Digital Data– Dump this data to das2Stream, (an ascii table

with xml metadata)

14. das2 cdf demo

• http://www.cottagesystems.com/virbo/apps/cdfDemo/• Video: http://www.cottagesystems.com/virbo/video/das2inputOutput.html

15. Integration into virbo

• collect data into data basket• Das2 runs on server to provide pdf, eps and png

formats for zero-install, zero-download quick-look. (analogous to webmail)

• Das2 runs on client to allow for interactive use of data. (Self-installing, initial download)

• Scripting language allows easy definition and control of applications.

• Virbo used to publish applications to collegues

16. summary

• My goal is to provide you with excellent tools that will simplify your life, delivering services, not software

• As your data is delivered into virbo, please give the tools a try, and let me know how they can be improved.

• Feedback always greatly appreciated

17. Questions and demos