Add Geoserver URL swapping as a scenario editing option

[lambdatronic]

@fvilla When a user presses the + button next to a model/storyline in the ARIES web interface, display a panel with all of the input data layers being used in this model/storyline shown in miniature. When a user clicks on one of these layers, bring up a web form with the fields used in defining its kbox Observation in read-only mode. Present an Edit Layer Definition button, which when pressed, enables the fields to be modified by the user. When in this editing mode, replace the Edit Layer Definition button with two buttons, labeled Save Changes and Discard Changes, which do what their names say. Below is a suggestion for the types of input elements that should be used for the Observation fields.

• Observation type: dropdown box (measurement, ranking, numeric coding, binary coding, categorization)
• Observable: read-only textbox (obviously, they can't change this)
• Protocol: dropdown box (WCS, WFS)
• Service URL: textbox
• Layer ID: textbox (use Javascript to validate this URL with a getCapabilities request to the Service URL or present a dropdown box of all layers available on that server)
• NoData Value: textbox

Use a getCapabilities request to the Service URL when they press Save Changes to collect the XRangeMax, YRangeMax, LatLowerBound, LonLowerBound, LatUpperBound, LonUpperBound, and CoordinateReferenceSystem.

Then add the concept and observation mapping to your local ariesdata database, and attach a super-high Priority to this new Observation (e.g. -20).

With all that done, you should be ready to re-run the model with this new layer overriding the base layer in our Geoserver.

Voila!

[fvilla]

This kind of workflow is doable but hardly simpler than a full-fledged scenario editor. Thinklab goes VERY long ways to express modeling problems in a consistent and modular way - which is why it can do things as complex as ARIES, but also why "swapping layers" is the equivalent of swapping the cabbage in a cooked and blended soup. So I am closing this one, and will be working on the scenario editor we have with the goal of having it working (for selected users only) by June or so.