User Defined Data Files in the
PEAC-WMD application
The last two months
(March and April 2005) we deviated some from our
previous examples of how information is displayed in the
PEAC-WMD application to demonstrate the use of the
Working Entries List, the Threat Matrix,
and access to separate Reference Sources
(specifically the CHRIS Manual, NIOSH Pocket Guide and
the Emergency Response Guidebook). This month
we’ll begin a discussion of how the PEAC-WMD application
provides access to user defined data files. The
feature is an important and powerful part of the
PEAC-WMD application. It will take more than one
article to properly describe how it works and how a user
can tailor their own information to meet their needs for
access inside the PEAC-WMD
application.
Background
The
PEAC developers have always recognized that a user’s
concept of necessary or required information doesn’t
always match up with the PEAC developer’s idea of what
is necessary or required. This doesn’t mean that
the First Responders don’t find the functionality of the
PEAC-WMD data, assessment algorithms and computations
useful for their needs; it’s actually a statement of the
fact that each user has specific needs and requirements
that no software developer is going to be able to
satisfy for all customers.
Since its conception and
offering as a COTS product in 1996, the PEAC developers
have been offered suggestions and sometimes requested by
customers to incorporate new and different types of data
into the PEAC application. The PEAC developers’
philosophy has been that if it’s information that many
can use and benefit from having the data in the PEAC
application then we’ll work to make it a new feature so
that all users can share in the benefit. The
majority of these suggestions/requests for new types of
data have been a benefit, not just to a single customer
but to all customers. This process has driven many
of the new features of the PEAC application.
Nevertheless, in a few instances, the information the
customer needed was specific to their needs and might
not be of benefit to other customers.
The
question then became, for those instances where users
needed access to information but it was not of a type
that all users would see the benefit and didn’t want to
be burdened with excess data files, how do you find a
happy medium? At the same time, the PEAC
developers recognized that the users wanted to be able
to access this new information when at the scene of an
incident and they wanted to do that within the framework
of the PEAC application.
With that thought in mind,
the recent PEAC-WMD version 5.0 incorporated a feature
called User Defined Data to provide the
flexibility such that a user could select the
information they wanted to access via the PEAC-WMD
application and its interface. The User Defined
Data feature is available in both the Pocket PC and
the Windows versions of the PEAC‑WMD
application.
The PEAC-WMD application
allows a user to create a text (txt), htm or html file
that contains the information they want to later access
and place (or import) the file in a specific location
(folder) such that the user can later display the
information from within the PEAC-WMD application.
There are some obvious benefits:
- the user can access their
defined data without having to jump to a different
application to display the pertinent information,
- the user can print the
information just as they would any other data display
screen,
- the information is
automatically indexed for later retrieval making it
easy to find, and
- the information is bundled
together with the existing PEAC-WMD data via an easy
to use and familiar interface.
Different Types of User Defined Data
A
quick discussion is required to allow the reader to
understand there are two types of User Defined
Data. The reason for two types of data is the
concept that there are two types of information a user
might want to access at any particular point in
time.
First, there is Global
Data, which is available regardless of which
hazardous material is highlighted in the PEAC-WMD
database. Types of information that fit into this
category are check-off lists, personnel contact
information, SOPs, report forms or any other information
that might be common for any type of incident.
Second, there is Indexed
Data, which is available (for display or printing)
only when a specific hazardous material is selected from
the PEAC-WMD database. The concept being that
information that is specific for many different
materials is not necessary for display when accessing
information on a different material, it only tends to
confuse or overload the user with unnecessary
information. Common types of Indexed Data
would be an MSDS or a decontamination procedure for a
specific material.
Accessing Global User Defined
Data
The
Global Information categories can be displayed
simply by clicking on the Data Selection Field as
shown in Figure 1. The PEAC-WMD application comes
with a few Global Data files already created for
the user. The first is an example of what a user
might create for a list of contacts for personnel or
organizations that a user might have need for depending
on the incident and other resources available. The
data file was created as a simple text file (named
Contact Info.txt) using the Windows
NotePad application. If this selection is
selected, by clicking on the Contact Info
selection in the drop-down list of selections, a
display similar to Figure 2 will be displayed. By
clicking on the Full Screen icon [
] a window similar that shown in Figure 3 will
be displayed. The user can scroll the Data
Display or print to the local printer the
information shown in the Data Display.
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Figure 1
– Accessing the Global Information in the Windows
version of PEAC-WMD
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Figure
2 – Displaying a text file
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Figure 3
– Displaying the information Full Screen and
Printing the information
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The user also has access to
the Placards selection which is taken from the
Table of Placards and Initial Response Guides to
Use On-Scene of the DOT Emergency Response
Guidebook. This table of placards gives basic
information if only placard types are displayed on a
hazardous material or its carrier and no other
identifying information is available.
The other type of
Global information provided is a category of
Forms that contains two different forms a user
can print and fill out or fill out on screen and then
printed out on the local printer, Figure
4.
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Figure
4 – Forms provided by
AristaTek
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The first form is the
CHEMTREC1
form provided from their web site for notifying CHEMTREC
of planned exercises or drills. As shown in Figure
5, the information can be filled out on screen and
printed for faxing to CHEMTREC.
The
same procedure can be performed with the CDC MMG
(Medical Management Guideline) Patient Follow-up Form
and provided to a patient before discharge from a
hospital or other medical facility.
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Figure
5 – Filling out the CHEMTREC Exercise Form
for
subsequent printing and
faxing |
Accessing
Indexed User Defined Data
The
Indexed Information categories can be displayed
simply by clicking on the Data Selection Field as
shown in Figure 6 after selecting the specific hazardous
material the user is interested in viewing. This
example is for Chlorine and the only indexed data file
currently provided by AristaTek is an MSDS for Chlorine
that was downloaded from the Cornell University web
site, Figure 7.
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Figure
6 – Selecting an Indexed Information category
(MSDS)
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Figure
7 – Viewing the Chlorine MSDS or printing the
MSDS
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In the remainder of this
month’s discussion, we’ll describe how to create, edit
and import a User Defined Indexed Data
File.
Creating
a User Defined Indexed Data File
The
user has some options for creating the User Defined
Data File. The following discussion will
describe how to create an Indexed Data File and
import the file into the proper location so the
application can access it. As explained earlier
there are three types of files automatically recognized
by the PEAC-WMD software for display in the Data
Display portion of the main PEAC-WMD application
window. These are text, htm and html file
formats. There are multiple methods of creating
and downloading and modifying these types of files for
incorporation into the PEAC-WMD application. These
won’t be dwelled on except to demonstrate some rather
common methods available. Most users have access
to the Microsoft® Windows NotePad and the
Microsoft Office Word applications. NotePad is a
very simple text editor that allows creation, editing
and saving of text documents. Word is a feature
rich text editing application that will handle text, htm
and html files.
The user simply needs to
create or download a text-based document to begin the
process. In the example below, an MSDS (for Boron
Tribromide) was downloaded from the Cornell University
(http://msds.ehs.cornell.edu/msdssrch.asp)
web site that contains a number of MSDS’s and saved to a
folder on a local PC, Figure
8.
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Figure 8
– Saving an htm file using Microsoft Internet
Explorer
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Once the Save As
selection is clicked, a window will appear asking
where to save the specific file and the option of naming
the file. In the example, a folder was created in
My Documents named MSDS and the new file
was given the default name Boron
Tribromide, Figure
9.
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Figure 9
– Completing the Save As operation to download the
htm file
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The file was opened with
Microsoft Word and edited to remove some graphic images
in the header and a table at the top of the document
with hyperlinks to different sections of the MSDS,
Figure 10.
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Figure 10
– Editing the downloaded htm file with Microsoft
Word |
The file can be saved
back to the PC’s hard drive as an htm file with the name
Boron Tribromide which is the name the htm
file will be indexed to inside the PEAC-WMD
application. The file could also be Saved As
to a new name and/or location, and in Figure 11 the
Save As option has been selected but the file
name and location have not been
changed.
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Figure 11
– Completing the edit of the htm file by saving
the file
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The PEAC-WMD application
provides an import feature to simplify the incorporation
of the newly created or modified text, htm or html file
into the proper location so it will be recognized and
made available the next time the PEAC-WMD application is
started. In the example, the user selects
Boron Tribromide as the hazardous material
to be displayed as shown in Figure 12 and selects the
Import Files selection from the File
menu. There are two options under the Import
Files, import an Indexed or a Global
type data. As shown in Figure 12, the selection is
Indexed and there is an option within this
category which is MSDS. If there are
multiple types of Indexed data files, these would
be shown as optional selections. The user selects
MSDS by clicking on the selection and a
standard Open window is displayed for the user to
select the location of the User Defined Indexed Data
File to be imported for Boron
Tribromide.
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Figure 12
– Selecting the category an Indexed data file is
to be imported to
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Figure 13 demonstrates how
the example MSDS is specified for importation into the
proper PEAC-WMD folder for later access by the
application.
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Figure
13 – Specifying the location of the file to be
imported
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As shown in Figure 14, the MSDS
for Boron Tribromide is now available for
access and display from within the PEAC-WMD
application.
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Figure 14
– Accessing the Boron Tribromide MSDS
from the PEAC-WMD application
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As the reader can see,
this facility provides the user with a powerful tool to
customize the PEAC-WMD application to meet their needs
and requirements. Next month we’ll continue the
discussion on how to work with the Global files that are
always available regardless of what hazardous material
is selected.
If our newsletter
readers, whether a customer or not, have specific
questions related to this topic or other topics, please
contact AristaTek via our toll free number
(877-912-2200) or email us at support@aristatek.com
and we’ll work to answer your
questions.
__________________________________________________________________________
1 CHEMTREC® was
established in 1971 by the chemical industry as a public
service hotline for fire fighters, law enforcement, and
other emergency responders to obtain information and
assistance for emergency incidents involving chemicals
and hazardous materials. CHEMTREC's 24-hour Emergency
Communications Center is located in Arlington, Virginia
(Washington, DC metropolitan area) and is an integral
part of the American Chemistry
Council.
