visual filtering

[oliver-sanders]

awaiting sketch

A system for changing the appearance of task nodes based on properties of the task, e.g:

• Family
• Parameterisation
• (Re)Flow

This "visual filtering" is intended to make it easier for users to gain an at-a-glance overview of the higher-level-structure of a flow without needing to delve into deeper inspection.

Example use cases:

• Style components of systems differently.
• Mark critical components of a workflow.
• Group parameterisations.

Suggested groupings:

• Flow number (quite critical as this information is not presently visible in the UI).
• Family (i.e. top-level family name).
• Task "[meta]"data (user-defined fields).

Implementation:

• Visual filters are orthogonal:
  • You can only have one filter at a time.
  • Visual filtering local to a tab.
  • Turned off by default though can be automatically activated by events (e.g. user creates a new [re]flow).
• Use colour as the primary means to distinguish between nodes:
  • Since task-job separation nodes are now all grey.
  • Define a colourmap which doesn't conflict too much with the job status colours (preferably duller).
  • Accessibility Allow a user-definable colourmap for colour blind users.
• Use opacity as the secondary means to distinguish between nodes:
  • Users toggle the opacity of a group of tasks by (de)selecting them or by hovering over the options from the filter menu.
  • Accessibility This does not depend on colour at all.

[oliver-sanders]

This has risen up the priority ladder partly as a result of planned changes to cylc remove which would see it strip flow-numbers from tasks. This needs to be communicated through the UI to make sense.

[MetRonnie]

Proof of concept flow nums display added in https://github.com/MetRonnie/cylc-ui/tree/flow-nums