Diana User Guide: Edit tools |  Previous: Profet Drawing Tools |  Next: Time Control |  Index

Edit icon Edit tools

The edit dialogue is used during production of weather charts such as analyses and sigmaps. It contains tools for editing scalar fields and drawing tools for fronts, areas and symbols.
Completed charts can be sent directly to a database for distribution to other regional offices. Weather charts (possibly covering different regions) may be combined in to a master product with special tools in this dialogue. See the setup-file for details in defining products.


Start a new product:

New product New combine

Define start objects/fields for editing:
Objects from Fields from
Clicking the Objects button in the New product dialogue will display the Pick objects for editing dialogue.

Clicking the field buttons in the New product dialogue displays the Pick fields for editing dialogue.


Normal Editing:


During normal editing you can choose between the tabs Field and Objects in the editing dialogue.

You can at any time save changes you have done by clicking the Save button (or ctrl-s).

The Send button is used to send the analysis to the database for distribution to all regions, and to mark the analysis as approved and ready for sending to the weather service offices etc. By clicking "Approve product" here, the distribution will happen automatically within a short period.

Send

Status of saving, sending and approving can be found at the top of the editing dialogue under the product indicator. If a local save has been done, it will show: Saved 'date time'. If the last changes also have been sent to the database Saved will be shown in green. If the analysis is approved the text and approved will be added in green. Finally if the product has been saved and/or distributed without being approved after approval: approved is shown in red.

Save state

By selecting Comments, a window where you can enter comments related to the analysis is shown. These will also be saved, and will be read in if you start a new analysis by adding old objects. End ends the editing. If you have not saved/sent your last changes you will be asked whether you want to.

Product starts production of a new product.

While editing the time of the observations can be altered. This is done with shift-left arrow and shift-right arrow. The time step can be altered with Obs. time step in the dialogue.


LM = Left Mouse button
RM = Right Mouse button
MM = Middle Mouse button
Editing scalar dialogue Editing scalar fields

Select the type you wish to use for the area of influence (circle, ellipse, etc.). Use the RM on the map to change the size of this area. If you select ellipse, you can choose the eccentricity of the ellipse with the slider under elliptical shape.

Then choose the type of activity in the list:

  • Edit value is used to increase/decrease the depth of the field - hold the LM down and move the mouse up/down.
  • Move is used to move an area. Hold the LM down and move.
  • Alter gradient is used to increase/decrease the gradient in the field i.e. the density of lines (For MSLP this works like adding a wind vector and then correcting the field geostrophically) - hold the LM down and move the mouse.
  • Line w/o smoothing is used to redraw a single isoline. Influence on the field is shown as a circle while the line is drawn. Hold the LM down and move the mouse.
  • Line w/smoothing is the same as the above option, but also adds smoothing of field and isoline. Hold the LM down and draw the isoline.
  • Line, limited, w/o smoothing is used to redraw a single isoline. Influence on the field is shown as a circle while the line is drawn, but is also restricted by the closest isolines. Hold the LM down and draw the isoline.
  • Line, limited, w/smoothing is the same as the above option, but also adds smoothing of field and isoline. Hold the LM down and draw the isoline.
  • Smooth will smooth the field in the area of influence. Hold the LM down while moving around. Only the area shown when the LM is released remains smoothed.
Use the Undo button (or ctrl-z) to undo edits. You can use Redo (ctrl-y) to redo what you have undone.

Drawing objects

Here you will find tools for drawing graphical elements on the map. Select main category in the top list (fronts are default) and sub category in the list under.

All graphical elements consist of a lot of single points. To mark a point for editing, move the mouse pointer on top it (without clicking any of the mouse buttons), so that it lights up.
The points (the "handles") are displayed as triangles for symbols, square for fronts and circles for areas. The points are shown in a weak grey colour when the mouse pointer is close to an object, to make it easier to find the "handle" and mark the object.
Normally only one object can be marked at a time (first symbols are checked, then fronts and finally areas). To mark multiple objects, hold the mouse pointer over an object so that one or more points are marked and push m. Move on to the next object and mark this in the same way.
To clear the marks on all objects push c. To temporarily hide all marking of objects (e.g. to read observations) push g. Push g again to redisplay the objects. Use the Undo button (or ctrl-z) to undo edits. You can use Redo (ctrl-y) to redo what you have undone.

Drawing objects dialogue Fronts - select type of front from the list
Fronts are drawn by clicking the LM to mark where the front starts and repeat to mark where it continues. The points are marked as squares. Push p or RM to stop drawing the front.
  • Deleting a whole front - mark the whole front (move the mouse pointer over the front until all the points light up), and push the delete key.
  • Deleting one point of a front - mark the point and push the delete key.
  • Moving a point - mark the point, hold your LM down and move.
  • Moving the whole front - mark the whole front, hold your LM down and move
  • Rotate/move front - mark one point, hold the MM down and move (one or both end-points will not move)
  • Flip front - mark the whole front, push the v button.
  • Change front type - mark the whole front and push t/shift-t to change type.
  • New front of the same type - push the n button (new), and follow the instructions above for drawing.
  • New front of a different type - choose a new type in the list and start drawing.
  • Adding a node point in the middle of a front - hold the mouse pointer on the line segment where a new point is wanted and push the f button (for this to work, the whole front needs to be marked).
  • Continue drawing a front - hold the mouse pointer over an end point, so that only this is marked and push the f button. New points can now be added by using the LM.
  • Splitting a front - hold the mouse pointer on the line segment where you want to split the front and push k (for this to work, the whole front needs to be marked).
  • Joining two fronts of the same type - move the fronts so that the end points are close to each other, mark one or both and push the e button.
  • Copying and pasting fronts - To copy one or more fronts, mark the front and push ctrl-c. Paste the front on the map by placing the mouse pointer where you want the front and press ctrl-v.

Connecting fronts.
When "Connecting fronts" is selected in the editing dialogue, fronts with end points close to each other will automatically connect. The end point of one of the fronts is moved so that it shares a point with the other front.
This is checked every time a front is moved, rotated, split or when a point is added or removed from a front. If the "connecting fronts" function is turned off, the fronts can be connected by selecting one of the fronts and pushing j.
When two fronts of the same type are connected, these will be connected as one front.
To connect the end points of a front to a arbitrary point on another front: Move the front so that the end point is close to the other front, select the front and push j.
The connection points will be shown as filled rectangles.
When the "connecting fronts" function is activated connected fronts will behave as one front, meaning that if a front is selected by moving the mouse pointer over it, connected fronts will be selected as well and will for example be moved if one of the fronts is moved.
To disconnect a front, select the front and push q, or turn off the "connecting fronts" function and move the front away from the

Editing symbols Symbols - choose wanted symbol from the list
  • Drawing symbol - LM.
  • Changing symbol size - select the symbol and use the +/- buttons. The selected size will be the new default and new symbols will have this size.
    To make the size of a symbol the default size, select the symbol and push b. To set the default-size on all symbols, push shift-b.
  • Changing symbol type - Select the symbol and push t/shift-t to change type.
  • Moving, deleting and drawing new symbols (e.g. for fronts).
  • You can write texts on the map by choosing symbol type texts from the menu. A text editing box will appear where text can be entered and colour selected:
    Editing texts
    Click OK, then place the text as many places as wanted with LM. The text can later be edited by moving the mouse pointer over the text and marking it (as with fronts, symbols, etc) and push ctrl-e. The text editing box appears and the text can be altered. The previously written text is default, i.e. if you select texts in the menu again, you will not get the text editing box, unless you double-click this selection in the menu. The texts can also be moved, deleted, etc. in the same way as with symbols.
Areas - choose type of area in the list.

Drawing sigmaps.
Sigmap
If product type sigmap has been selected, in addition to drawing fronts, areas and symbols, symbols for significant weather maps can be drawn. Select main type of sigmap in the top menu in the editing dialogue and select the desired symbol in the submenu. Some of these symbols are made up of different types of symbols and texts, where the texts can be edited.
During sigmap editing a black frame will show what map section the sigmap is valid for. The symbol
Sigsymbol
is for giving the altitude of significant weather. When it is selected, a text editing box is shown for entering the two values:
Sig text editing box

There are also symbols for entering one or two lines of text, e.g.:

Text symbol

the text editing box looks like this:
Text editing box for symbol

Symbols with both altitude and text can look like this:

Symbol for altitude and text
There are four fields in the text editing box, two for altitude and two for text:
Text editing box for altitude and text

Tip: The easiest way to move from field to field when entering text is by using the TAB-button.


Combining analyses

Combining in new product

To enter the Connecting tab, select Combine in New product. Analysis for the selected time (The products validity time) and for the product id's which are to be combined, are read. What analysis to apply where is selected through borderline and data source.

  • Alter boundaries - For setting the boundary lines between the different analyses. The lines can be moved and rotated, and points can be removed in the same way as for fronts. The width of the overlap is altered with the + and - buttons.
  • Set data source - The data sources can be set from the product id's available for the selected time and which belongs to the given combination product (i.e. VA, VV, VNN). These are set in the same way as symbols and can be moved, added and resized and type can be changed in the same way.
  • As the borderline and data sources are altered, the resulting analysis will be shown. (While there is at least one data source in each area).
  • To display an original region-analysis (fields and objects), push 1,2,3 etc. The numbering corresponds to the list of data sources in the dialogue (e.g. 1 = show VA-analysis, 2 = show VV-analysis, 3 = VNN-analysis). The combined analyses are redisplayed by pushing the same button again. This also works during later editing. While combining analyses, borders/areas can be altered while only one region analyses is shown.
  • Close connection - Combining is ended and fields and objects in the analysis can be edited as normal.
  • After combining is ended the borderlines will be shown. They can be hidden by pushing l.


Comments.

Here you can add comments to the product. These will be saved along with the objects in the database or on file and will be read when editing is done on previous objects or when the object is viewed in the object dialogue.
Product id, product type and date is set automatically when you start comments (e.g. "DNMI round analysis1 2001-08-16 06:00:00").
Comment dialogue 1
To view previous comments, select Show previous comments.


Editing form.

For some products e.g. SWImaps, it is possible to define a form, where values can be entered;
To write the form: Move the mouse pointer over the form. The places where you can edit will be marked in blue text (The first time this will be three dots "..."). When the mouse pointer is directly above where you can edit, the text will turn red. Push ctrl-e to alter the text. A dialogue will appear for entering the text, as you type the text on the map will also change. Click "End" in the text window or push the "End" button when finished. To change multiple texts in the form successively: Place the mouse pointer over a text (e.g. "..." in front of "position") and push ctrl-e as above. Finish writing the text and push the "Page Down" button to go to the next form. "Page Up" takes you back to the previous form. Push the "End" button when you are finished writing. Note, as long as entering text in forms, other Diana commands will not work.


Form

 Diana User Guide: Edit tools |  Previous: Profet Drawing Tools |  Next: Time Control |  Index