How to handle units in MIMARKS template for Opal integration?

lukenoaa commented 7 months ago

Current idea is:

recommend default units for columns
if no units are provided, Opal will assume that default units were used
if units are provided (concatenated after value), those units will be used
Opal could perform internal conversion to standardize units

@Zenith2198 @ksilnoaa

ksilnoaa commented 7 months ago

I like this strategy, as it allows flexibility in how users use the template. Bullet point 3 could be done with regex or something similar in Opal.

Zenith2198 commented 7 months ago

Where would the recommended units be listed? Potentially can be in a separate info page, but I wouldn't want to flood our UI with it where you'd normally go to upload.

I think converting to a standardized unit is a solid choice. I will definitely need more information on what unit we want to use for each field, and (potentially) how to convert certain unique units.

Also, verifying that the given units are valid will be a nightmare if we allow users to use arbitrary units. Not impossible, just will either have to be hardcoded or utilize some library.

NOAA-Omics / noaa-omics-templates

How to handle units in MIMARKS template for Opal integration? #5