Back to Home Page

Frameworks Prototype

Contents

• Frameworks Prototype
  • Contents
  • Instructions
    • User Levels
    • Link Management
    • Model Management
    • Zooming and Panning
  • Object Model
    • Frame
    • Node
    • Links
    • Line (link of association)
  • Feature Suggestions
  • Deployment
  • Dependencies

Instructions

You are the Thinker who would become Modeller. You will be constructing a ‘simple graphical model of your Thinking and/or Understanding’.

‘Frameworks’ modelling is rule-based.

In this Current Prototype Tool Version 3.0 - upon engaging with the tool, you are presented with the first two nodes of the Core Spinal Model in the Thinking & Modelling Space.

These are:

• Focus Node – which is highlighted – and identifies Your Focus and the focus of the model
• Context Node - identifies the context in which to consider the focus

New nodes can be added by either clicking on the workspace or selecting the Elaborate button. New nodes will become children of whichever node is selected as active (indicated by the red circle).

• Nodes can be selected as active by clicking on the circle.
• Clicking on the Text Label will follow the Link HREF of the Node.
• When a node is active, clicking on it again will open the dialog to allow you to edit the node.
• Nodes can also be moved by clicking and dragging on the circle.
• If a link is selected in the links menu then the contents of the link are used to populate the new node.

The elaboration allowed is determined by the user level assigned to the model as below. The user level can be changed by clicking on the New Model Button and changing the user level.

User Levels

Link Management

A list of available links for the user are provided in the left hand menu bar.

Within the main screen there are menu buttons to allow:

Model Management

Within the main screen there are menu buttons to allow:

Zooming and Panning

There are zooming and panning controls for moving around larger models. These buttons are located under the model construction and management buttons.

Object Model

The ‘Frameworks’ Tool: “The Intelligent Frame” is object-oriented consisting of:

• Frame; Thinking & Modelling Space
• Core Spinal Model; Focus Node, Context Node, Instances Node
• Nodes & Links of Association in a Simple Structural Model
• Stuff Box integral to Frame (to be completed)
• Elaborate Button integral to Frame

Frame

The Frame object manages the rendering and interactivity of the model within the SVG image on the HTML page. The frame is responsible for enforcing the constraints of the metamodel within the scope of the users'* expertise level. This includes:

• Requiring the user to name the Focus Node
• Requiring the user to name the Context Node
• Allowing elaboration of the model by adding nodes depending on the user level

Note: * - ”The “User” in ‘Frameworks’ is the “Thinker Modeller”

Methods are included for:

• Adding Nodes via Mouse Interaction
• Adding Nodes via Elaborate Button
• Downloading Frame SVG Data
• Starting a new model and selecting the user level for the new model
• Saving Frameworks Model to localStorage (within Browser)
• Loading Frameworks Model from localStorage

Node

The Node object contains the information related to each node in the model including:

• The Nodes Unique ID in the model
• The Nodes Name
• A description of the Node to be displayed when the mouse hovers over the node
• A hypertext link for a web page that the node links off to
• A list of all the child nodes of this node in the model

The Node also contains methods to allow the node to be rendered and interacted with via the SVG representation within the frame. These methods include:

• Node Creation
• Node Update via Dialog Box
• Node Move
• Node Deletion

Nodes can also be protected by the metamodel to prevent certain nodes from being deleted or moved (e.g. Focus and Context Nodes).

Links

Links are collections of HREFs with names and descriptions. When a link is selected in the link manager and a new node is added to the model, the links contents are used to populate the newly created node.

Line (link of association)

The line object provides methods for drawing and manipulating the lines connecting nodes in the SVG image within the frame. These include

• drawLine - to Draw the lines within the Frame.
• drawLineTo - to draw a line to a specific node.
• getLineGeometry - calculate the line geometry to align to node edges.

Feature Suggestions

1. Additional Managment Features
   1. Implemetation of "Projects" to group links and models together on related topics
   2. Additional "Folder" structure to support organising models and links
   3. Versioning of Models
2. User Interface Improvements
   1. Dynamic Scaling to different screen sizes and orientations
   2. Addition of touch friendly gestures for zoom/pan etc.
   3. Implementation of Drag and Drop for Links

Deployment

1. The current code base is deployed via a CICD Pipeline integrated to an Azure Static Web App.
2. A pull request to main will trigger a deployment to a test clone environment with a unique URL to test.
3. Merging the Pull Request will trigger a full re-deployment to the main environment.
4. The database for storing the models needs to be build manually via from the scripts in the SQL directory.
5. The connection to the database needs to then be added to the Azure Static Web App Environment Variables as SqlConnectionString.
6. The current deployment shares the production database with the test environments that are created by the CICD pipeline.

Dependencies

1. The code requires an Azure Static Web App which can be set up folling instuctions here.
2. The Azure function app will need a version 4.0 API Enabled following instructions here.
3. The code also requires a SQL Azure Database which can be set up following instructions here
4. The Framworks Schema should be created following documentation in the SQL Directory of the code repository.
5. The Connection string for the database needs to be supplied to the Azure Static Web App as a SQLConnectionString environment variable.
6. Re-implementation of the CIDC Pipeline can be accomplished by following the instructions here.