Weave Administrative Console ( “AdminConsole”)

I. General:

The password-protected administrative console allows the user to create new visualization pages,

import data sets and shapefiles and maintain existing data and database connections. The following

screenshot shows the first page in the AdminConsole:

As highlighted in the magnified portion of this screenshot, a log-in, set by the administrator, is

required to open the AdminConsole.

II. Data Import:

II.a Once logged in, the administrator gets a view of the various functions available in the

AdminConsole. Using the “Import SQL data” button, the administrator can import an existing

SQL table through the Weave server. This function does not create a new table in the database,

it simply makes the table accessible through the AdminConsole.

Clicking on the “Import SQL data” button opens the following window:

Here, the administrator is asked to specify the following: the SQL schema within the database

connected to the AdminConsole, the data table within that schema, and the key column in that

table. An SQL Schema refers to a folder in the SQL database. A data table is one data set in the

database, and a key column is the column that links the dataset with the geometry collection

(an identifier).

The following step will define a display name for the selected table which will appear in the

AdminConsole, and a geometry collection with which the data table is associated (e.g. the table

“obesity by state” will be linked with the geometry collection “U.S. states”:

Once all these requirements are fulfilled, the administrator will receive a confirmation after

clicking on the button “Finish”.

II.b By using the “Import CSV data” button, the administrator can import a .csv data file (csv =

comma separated values).

The following window will appear after clicking the “Import CSV data” button:

Use the “Upload File” button when the data file is located on a local disk. Use the “Choose File

on Server” button to access data in a.csv file located on a server. After clicking on the “Upload

File” button, the administrator is required to specify the location of the .csv file:

Once the .csv file is selected, the administrator will specify the destination SQL schema in which

the file will be located, the name of the table to be used to store it in the database, and the key

column which will be used to link the schema and data table to the geometry collection. In the

next step, the administrator has the option of selecting a “Null replacement value” (this allows

the user to assign specific values in place of null values) and a display name for the data table.

The user then chooses either a geometry collection or a key type to be associated with the

table. As explained in the previous section (Import SQL data), the geometry collection is the name

given when shape data are imported into Weave. For example, when importing the shape files of the

U.S. counties into Weave using the AdminConsole (as explained in the next section), the name “U.S.

counties” can be assigned to the geometry collection.This makes it easier to refer to the shapes later.

In the next step in this process, the administrator is required to enter basic metadata

information about the imported data table:

After clicking Finish, if the import is successful, the user will see a confirmation at the bottom

of the AdminConsole screen. After the confirmation is received, the user can close the Import

CSV data to Weave window.

II.c Importing geometry collections (“Shape data”):

Geometry collections are groups of shapes that define boundaries that will be used to display

geographic data (such as states, counties or municipalities) in Weave. The geometry collections

are imported into Weave in the same way that csv data is imported. Use the “Upload File”

button when the geometry file is located on a local disk. Use the “Choose File on Server”

button to access geometry files that are located on a server. After clicking “Import Shape

Data”, the administrator will be required to specify the location of the geometry collection files

on the local disk. The geometry collection consists, minimally, of the following files: shape-file

(.shp), (.shx) file and (.dbf) file. Other files such as projection files (.prj) may also be included.

The following example shows the files included in importing a geometry collection of “states”

in the U.S.:

Once selected, the files will be uploaded and confirmation will appear on the panel (circled in

red, below). The administrator is then required to specify the key column which will link the

collection with data tables (i.e. an identical column in the shape data and the data table), the

schema in which the collection will be located, and the display name for the collection.

Once the key column has been selected, the administrator has the option of specifying a value

to replace “Null” values in the .dbf file, a name for the geometry collection (auto-filled from the

‘SQL Table Prefix’ field from the previous step), and a “key type” which should carry the same

name in this case.

On the second page of the wizard that pops up after clicking “Import Shape Data,” there is a

label and textbox specifying "Projection SRS" along with a "Validate" button. The textbox

defaults to EPSG:4326, the standard lat/long projection. The Validate button creates a popup

telling the user whether the projection is a valid code for Weave.

III. Database connections:

Databases connected to the AdminConsole can be viewed/edited under the “Database

connections” tab. Additionally, the administrator can add database connections and export the

SQL configuration file in .xml:

IV. Geometry Collections:

The AdminConsole allows the administrator to view and modify detail in the geometry

collections that have been uploaded into the connected database. As the two following

screenshots demonstrate, geometry collections are searchable (left panel) and modifiable

through the following attributes:

• Name of the collection

• Connection to the database

• Key Type for the collection which is used to link it with data tables

• Table Prefix which shows the display name of the collection within a visualization

session

• Projection SRS code which defines the projection of the geometry collection1

• Import Notes presenting a summary of the collection’s attributes in string

1 See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geographic_coordinate_system

V. Data Tables:

All the data sets that are imported into Weave are stored in the database and collectively

referred to as data tables. Data tables can be viewed/modified by the administrator from

within the AdminConsole under the “Data Tables” tab.

Here, each column in the data table is listed. Each cell can be edited. To save the modifications,

the administrator must click on the “Apply Changes” button. Columns in the data table are

viewed in the AdminConsole as rows, whereas the columns represent defining attributes of the

actual data column (i.e. in the actual .csv data table). The defining attributes are:

• Name of the column

• Connection to the database

• Data table containing the name of the table

• Data Type (e.g. string)

• Geometry Collection linked with the data table

• ID referring to the value in the key columns linking the data table with the geometry

collection

• Max value in the column

• Min value in the column

• SQL Query issued by the AdminConsole to pull the column from the connected database

• Year of the data column, in case the data table is longitudinal

The administrator can view these attributes in “Table View” as shown in the screenshot above,

or in “Text View” as shown in the screenshot below, in which the different attributes are

separated by a comma (instead of column separators):

Finally, under the metadata tab, the administrator can add descriptions and documentation

pertaining to a specific data table:

Once a data table is highlighted in the left panel under the “Data Tables” tab, switching

between different views can be done by selecting the view from the tabs on the right (on top

of the data table):

VI. Client Configurations:

Under this tab, the administrator can view, search, create, delete, or modify existing

visualization sessions in Weave as .xml files (listed in the left panel). Here the user can create a

new Weave session by naming the session in the highlighted box below and clicking on the

“Create” button:

In the example below, the Weave session titled “States Test” is created:

After clicking on the “Create” button, the administrator will get a confirmation in the Admin

Activity box and a pop-up window will show up with an empty Weave session.2

The empty Weave session in the pop-up window looks like this:

2 Pop-ups must be enabled to get this window.

All data tables and geometry collections are available to be used in this session, and since the

session is opened from the AdminConsole, it is editable (i.e. assigned administrator privileges).

Here, the administrator can populate the session with tools in Weave and save it. Once saved,

the Weave visualizations can be accessed again from the AdminConsole by double-clicking on

the filename in the left panel under the Client Configurations tab: