Tseries Technical Documentation

Diana

Diana

Description:

Tseries is an open-source time-series viewer for meteorological purposes. Tseries is developed and implemented at the Norwegian Meteorological Institute met.no, as a part of the operational meteorological workstation. Tseries can be used standalone, or in interaction with the DIANA meteorological workstation. The Tseries package contains two programs:

tseries.bin is the timeseries viewer with a Graphical user interface

btseries is a batch version of Tseries, using the same graphical engine

The Goal of this Document is to explain the basic structure of Tseries setup- and stylefiles in order to adapt Tseries to a specific environment. The intended readership for this document is it-personnel and meteorologists, in charge of the operational setup of a local Tseries implementation. The description of the Tseries GUI is integrated in the applications help menu. The btseries user interface is described in the “btseries –help” option.

Command line parameters:

Most of the input in Tseries is given by the control file, but can be overridden by command line input:

-s [ setupfile ]	if the setup file is not directly defined or invalid, Tseries will try to find a valid setup file with the name tseries.ctl in the system. First looking in the current directory, then in $HOME/.tseries/ and at last in /etc/tseries. If no valid setupfile exists, Tseries will exit.
-S [site]	site is just a short string. The user can define elements in the setup-file that are only used by certain groups. By this, several groups of users can share one setup-file to simplify maintenance.
-l [lang]	The language for the GUI. Can be configured in the GUI itself. Available languages are English(default), Norwegian Nynorsk, Norwegian Bokmål, Swedish, German, French. New languages can be added by using the qt-linguist tool.
-T [title]	Changes the window title, useful if you are running several instances of Tseries at the same time.
-H [wdbhost]	Host for the WDB connection
-u [wdbuser]	User for the WDB connection
-d [section1:key1=token1 section2:key2=token2]	The user can override any entity in the setup file by this option. Example: Use a different Diagrams definition file, without changing the setup file, by the option -d files:Defs=./tsDiagrams.def

Datastreams:

There are several possibilities to add a Datastream to a Tseries Diagram:

HDF is the most common used datasource. In HDF all positions are predefined and named, Hdf input is defined in the base control file tseries.ctl. All HDF streams mentioned in tseries.ctl are indexed at startup. Streams from different HDF files can be combined in a single Diagram.

ASCII is implemented. But in an operational environment ASCII streams are space-consuming and ineffective. An example of usage of ASCII streams is presented in the appendix of this Document.

WDB the Weather and Water Database WDB is an open-source database system based on postgres. The system is developed at MET Norway. WDB is holding data as fields. Tseries retrieves interpolated timeseries from the database. As WDB interpolates data on-demand, WDB is more flexible, but slower than local HDF files. WDB is the dataengine for for the web-based, free weather service yr.no

KDVH is a MET Norway proprietary interface, based on URL. KDVH reads observations from the Norwegian climatic database. The Data are defined as Diagram entries in the control file (tseries.ctl) and can be implemented in any diagram.

Fimex Fimex is a library to process several datastream types (like NetCDF). Fimex Interpolates on demand from files. This is time-consuming, therefore fimexstreams are read for all positions on request. After that the Fimex stream is used from cache

Diagrams:

A Diagram in Tseries consist of one or more datastreams connected to a given style. There are several files needed to generate a diagram: To generate a new diagram, one have to proceed the following workflow:

Create a new folder.

Copy a tseries.ctl and a tsDiagrams file into the folder.

Edit tseries.ctl. If the new diagram implements a new style and not a new stream, then just change the definition for Defs to the tsDiagrams file in this folder.

Copy a stylefile into the folder (for instance meteogram.style) rename the stylefile.

Edit tsDiagrams. Compose the parameters and models for the new diagram. Connect the diagram to the stylefile in this folder.

Edit the stylefile in this folder.

Start tseries.bin in this folder, the local tseries.ctl will be the default.

Repeat 6. and 7. until you are happy with the result.

The Main Control file – tseries.ctl

The control file is split into several sections. All parameters given in the start of the file can be used as substitutes by $(parameter) anywhere later in the file. Unix Environment variables can be substituted by ${parameter}.

Single lines can be commented out by “#”

Keys, Sites and sections are “case-independent”

Sites:

Tseries.ctl is a multi-user setup-file. To avoid the administration of several setup-files within one company, the file can contain several different configurations. The file is processed top-down. If a variable is defined several times, the last definition is valid.

Elements within sites in Tseries are usually inactive, the parser will ignore them, unless the user starts Tseries with the flag that defines the specific site ( the -S flag). A site is defined by a colon separated list of strings in square brackets. A site section ends by another site or a set of empty brackets.

Example:
server=meat.com
[FRUIT]
server=banana.com
[VEGETABLES:OTHERS]
server=potato.com
[]

Basically the server is defined as “meat.com”, if one wants to use the “banana.com” server, one have to start Tseries by: tseries -S FRUIT

To use potato.com in this example, one can start Tseries either with “ -S VEGETABLES” or “-S OTHERS”. This server is valid for for both flags.

Sections

Sections are defined by chevrons like “<Path>”. A section is valid until the next section starts. Anything in tseries.ctl is organised in sections from the beginning of the first section. Entities written before the first section starts are pushed into a hash table and can be used freely as substitutes through the entire setup file.

Token	Description
nowTime	this special token can be used to generate a formatted string from the clock like nowTime=%d-%m

SECTION: <Path>

Token	Description
Etc	Path to find basic configurations
Images	Path to find images used in diagrams, like weather symbols
Lang	Path to find language files, Tseries looks for tseries_XX.qm files in this directory, where XX is the country code. .qm files are generated by the the Qt linguist tool.

SECTION: <Files>

Token	Description
Defs	The diagram definition file
Configure	Autogenerated File to store configuration (like window size, language etc) from the GUI.
WeatherSymbols	The weather symbol definition file
stdImage	Image to send to diana to show positions on the map
finImage	Image to display in diana when the “find” button is triggered
iconImage	The Tseries icon
baseFilter	A filter file. By using the filter, Tseries will only display positions defined in the filter. The filter can be altered and saved locally by the user.
wdbBookmarks	In WDB mode one can store local bookmarks (positions) into this file
fimexBookmarks	In FIMEX mode one can store local bookmarks (positions) into this file
commonBookmarks	A file with common bookmarks, valid for all users

SECTION: <fimex>

Token	Description
FimexStreamTypes	List of streamtypes that willbe read by Fimex , seperated by colon netcdf : ncml

SECTION: <Server>

The server section is used to define the connection to diana via coserver

Token	Description
Client	Name of the Client (Diana)
Name	Name that is sendt to the Client
Command	Command to start coserver

SECTION: <Streams>

The streams section is parsed by an older system, the pets graphical engine, on which Tseries is build. All data input from HDF files and Fimex streams is defined here, always the same way.

A new model starts with a collection name, this is kept for backwards-compatibility, these values are not used by Tseries

CollectionName=ECMeteogrammer
PreferredDiagram=Meteogram
InitialOpen=0

In a collection, any hdf/fimex file has to be registered the following way

A HDF/ASCII stream

Token	Description
DataFile	The HDF file
DataDescription	The data description. A hdf file can contain several streams. You have to find the exact stream name in the file (when in doubt use vshow). The data description is used to define values in the diagram definition. (tsDiagrams.def)
DataType	HDF or ASCII
Contents	What parameter are defined in the file, x means any. The string is separated into four sections: Parameter,level,stream,runtime x,x,ECMWF,12 – means: All parameters from ECMWF, 12 x,x,ECMWF,x - All parameters from ECMWF, all times

A FIMEX stream

Token	Description
DataFile	The datafile or URL (opendap) - use of glob is possible
DataDescription	The data description. Just a string to connect this stream to the diagram definition. (tsDiagrams.def)
DataType	[ type : tag ] type has to be defined in fimexStreamTypes, tag is optional. if no tag is given, tag=type. Tag is used to connect the parameterdescription to this stream
Contents	Not really used in Fimexstreams
DataConfig	Connect a Fimex config file (xml) to this stream

The Diagram definition file – tsDiagrams.def

The Diagram definition file ties the streams to the actual diagram styles. One model input can appear in several diagrams, as well as several different models can use the same diagram type (like a meteogram). It is also possible to use one parameter from a defined stream into a certain diagram that is used by another stream. An example is the use of wind speed from an atmospheric model into a wave-diagram. Tseries builds its User interface based on this file. A stream appears first in the menus when it is defined here. If you want to remove a streams from Tseries, you have to remove it from this file as well. Otherwise it will appear as an empty entry in the menus.

The [models] section

Any model have to be defined in the models section, it also allows to change the display name of the model in the diagrams. The key has to be equal the stream name from tseries.ctl like

ECMWF=Ecmwf

ECMWF is the DataDescription from tseries.ctl, Ecmwf will be displayed in the menus

The Diagrams

Each diagram definition connects some parameters from some models to a style. A style can be used several times in different contexts. For instance is the S-meteogram (symbol meteogram) a diagram that uses the meteogram style, but it has also the weather parameter (WW) as input. Each diagram defintion starts with the [DIAGRAM] keyword and ends with the [ADD] keyword.

Examples:
# Standard meteogram
[DIAGRAM]
# The name of the diagram as it appears in the menu
NAME=Meteogram
# The connected style file
STYLEFILE=/usr/share/tseries/5.3/style/style.meteogram
# The streams connected to this diagram
[LEGALMODELS]
MODEL=ECMWF
MODEL=HARMONIE_2.5km
# modelindependent means, that these parameters will be taken from # all models, if available
[MODELINDEPENDENT]
PARAM=UU,x,x,x
PARAM=VV,x,x,x
PARAM=FF,x,x,x
PARAM=DD,x,x,x
[END]
# modelspecific means that these parameters are only used if they # come from the specified model.
# modflspecifi values are not necessary part of the legalmodels.
# If they are not defined there, they will not occur in the menu
[MODELSPECIFIC]
MODEL=HARMONIE_2.5km
PARAM=TT_U,x,x,x
[END]
[MODELSPECIFIC]
MODEL=OBS
PARAM=TT,x,x,x
[END]
[ADD]

Styles Styles are defined in stylefiles. These are connected to data by tsDiagrams.def. By altering the stylesfiles you can control colors, line and object types in the diagram. There are hundreds of different types in a stylefile. You have to start with an existing stylefile and reduce that given stylefile until it fits your purpose. A style starts with the definition of the standard values: like default patterns, background color for the diagram etc.

#

# # Global settings # #

bgColor= WHITE topMargin= 50 bottomMargin= 50 leftMargin= 150 rightMargin= 150

# -------------------------------- # default values

type= DUM_PRIMITIVE parameter= x,x,x,x mother= DIAGRAM plotAll= FALSE enabled= TRUE

color= RED color2= YELLOW font= NORMAL linePattern= FULL fillPattern= SOLID align= LEFT spacing= MEDIUM intSpacing= SMALL label= TRUE patternInColour= FALSE lineWidth= 1.0 axisWidth= 2.0 tickWidth= 1.0 minRange= 0 interval= 1 delta= 2 minMargin= 0 maxIsSet= FALSE minIsSet= FALSE minValue= 100000 maxValue= -100000 yaid= 0 centerVector= FALSE numTickMajor= 10 numTickMinor= 2 labelSpace= 120 quantized= FALSE quantum= 1.0 gridxonly= FALSE axisgrid= FALSE gridwidth= 1 gridcolor= GREY25 gridstyle= DOTTED

[DEFAULT]

Then you have to define axes

first at least one x-axis # -------------------------------- # utc-time [NEW] type= UTC order= 8 height= 25 spacing= SMALL font= NORMAL color= BLUE minSkipX= 15 [ADD]

And then several y-axes. A curve in the diagram is connected to an axis. If you want to display, for instance several temperatures, you have to create a temperature axis. Then you have to connect the curves to that axis. By that it is guaranteed that the curves are scaled correctly to each other. Each axis has an unique identifier (y-axis-id/yaid). Yaid is used to connect parameters to the axis.

# ---------------------------- # Yaxis (T2m)

[NEW] type= YAXIS_STATIC yaid= 0 delta= 1.0 interval= 0.5 minMargin= 0.25 minRange= 5.0 minIsSet= FALSE maxIsSet= FALSE text= align= LEFT axis= LEFTLEFT color= RED lineWidth= 2 linePattern= FULL patternInColour=TRUE [ADD]

With axis in place, you have to define a parameter and connect it to it. In this case, the curve is presented in 2 different colors, one for -100 to 0 degrees and one for 0-100 degrees.

[NEW] type= LINE yaid= 0 parameter= TT,0,x,x text= T2m [°C] lineWidth= 2 linePattern= FULL patternInColour= FALSE colorbyvalue= TRUE datalimits= -100,0,100 colorlist= BLUE,RED patternInColour= FALSE [ADD]

Valid types: There are several types in Tseries that can be used by the different elements. Colors: BLACK BLUE GREEN CYAN RED MAGENTA YELLOW WHITE GREY25 GREY40 GREY45 GREY50 GREY55 GREY60 GREY65 GREY70 GREY75 GREY80 GREY85 GREY90 GREY95 MIST_RED MIST_GREEN MIST_BLUE DARK_GREEN BROWN ORANGE PURPLE LIGHT_BLUE DARK_YELLOW DARK_RED DARK_BLUE DARK_CYAN DARK_MAGENTA MIDNIGHT_BLUE DNMI_GREEN DNMI_BLUE RUST_RED DAWN_RED SUN_YELLOW SPRING_GREEN IRR_GREEN MOSS_GREEN GRASS_GREEN THUNDER_GREY SEA_BLUE SKY_BLUE ICE_BLUE GLACIER_WHITE RAIN_GREY IVORY DARK_IVORY BLUEGREY GREYBROWN OLIVE MUDDYGREEN GREYBLUE DARK_BLUEGREY DARKOLIVE RED_YELLOW YELLOW_RED

Fillpatterns DIAGRIGHT DIAGLEFT DIAGCROSS HORIZONTAL VERTICAL SHORIZONTAL SVERTICAL SQUARE SOLID Linestyle DASHED DASHDOTTED DASHDASHDOTTED DOTTED