Corporate Information & Computing Services. Customising Facility CMIS Cell Styles and Timetable Views Training Course

Transcription

1 Corporate Information & Computing Services Glossop Rd Sheffield S10 2HB Cliff Alcock Tel: (0114) Fax: (0114) Customising Facility CMIS Cell Styles and Timetable Views 2011 Training Course

2 Introduction The purpose of this course is to introduce you to the ways in which data held with Facility CMIS may be displayed both on screen. The course is a combination of demonstration and hands-on exercises to familiarise you with some of the tools and techniques available within Facility CMIS. At the end of the course you should be able to: 1. Create a new cell style Select items to display Change fonts and colours in cells Combine data to display Use conditional colouring 2. Create a new timetable style Choose the type of timetable Choose the cells to use Set the timetable scope Change colours in timetables Group cells together 3. Create and name a new timetable on your menu 4. Create specialist cells Create colour coded cells Clash reason cell Time constraint cell 5. Create a Master timetable 6. Set up Clash Colouring Please feel free to ask questions as we go along. At the end of the formal training sessions there will be some time to try it out for yourself, with help at hand. Local settings for CMIS are stored on your hard disk. You will not therefore be able to access your local settings during this training session, nor will any changes you have made to your settings be available to you on your return to your office. Ask us if there is any work you would like to transfer to your local machine. Facility CMIS Training 2 March 2011

3 The machines we use in the Training Room are used for many different training courses therefore, what you see may not be the same as the screen shots in this manual. Background A timetable is a collection of different University resources for example, staff, rooms, & modules which are brought together to create teaching events. Facility CMIS allows the user to develop customised screen (timetable) views with which to display this data most effectively. This means that you are able to use different colours and fonts in each different timetable view that you use and to display data in a way which most suits the way that you wish to use CMIS. Data held in CMIS may be displayed in an almost infinite number of ways, according to the needs of the User or their Department; that data is displayed by using a combination of Cell Styles and Timetable Styles used in Timetable Views. These Views may be saved by the user so that each time they are used they display the same data consistently whichever resource is being viewed. A timetable style determines which days and times are to be displayed and a timetable uses cell styles. A cell style displays individual items of data, and may be configured to use different fonts, colours and backgrounds. The timetable also displays a list view which similarly may be configured to show different data in different columns this list may also be filtered and sorted within the timetable view. Finally a timetable contains a clash view which may use a different cell style to that in the main part of the window. Some examples Open Facility CMIS Choose File Open Open the file named configuration.mis Choose Timetable From the final section of the menu choose Module Right-click in the graphical area of the timetable On the Basic tab choose your Department Facility CMIS Training 3 March 2011

4 In this timetable view the cell style, in the main graphical part of the window, shows: Lecturer initials in bold print and underlined Room in green print with a grey background Weeks in purple print and prefixed by Wks: The module is contained in the filter of the timetable and is displayed along the top of the window Day and time are displayed on the axes of the timetable window The timetable has a white background and lines to divide each day and hour In the list view we can see: Day, Start time, Finish time and duration Module code Source Size Requested room and requested room type Weeks The clash view shows: Facility CMIS Training 4 March 2011

5 Where a clash would be caused were the highlighted event to be moved The reasons for the clash e.g. Unit, Staff, Room Creating Cell Styles The cell style displays different items of data held in the timetable in different formats to give you a quick visual guide to what is going on within your timetable. It would probably help at this point for you to think about how you want to display your timetable data for your own Department; you may event want to have different display styles for different timetables. So a basic display might for example show: A Module timetable with cells showing Lecturer, Room and Weeks A Lecturer timetable with cells showing Module, Room and Weeks A Room timetable with cells showing Module and Weeks A Course timetable with cells showing Module, Room, Lecturer and Weeks These are simply suggestions for some basic timetable views you may want to show different information for your Department. Often the simplest method of creating a new cell style will be to use an exising style and edit it to meet your requirements, but you can also create a new style from scratch. New Cell Styles To create a new cell styles, go to: Options Cell Styles Click New Enter a Name for the new cell style TheEdit timetable cell style window is opened Facility CMIS Training 5 March 2011

6 To create the items to display in the cell: Place you cursor in the pane labelled Items in Style Alt Click Select New Item A grey box is opened Move and resize this box so that it sits within the dashed lines There are two methods of displaying data for each item; using the Expression button on the right of the window and using the Data tree by pressing the F9 key. The Expression button gives you a list of the most commonly used data items and is the quickest/easiest method of displaying the data you need. The F9 key opens the data tress which provides a much longer list of data items and includes items not found under the Expression button; it helps when using the data tree if you know which field data is held in. For example, Staff names are held in the field Staff Name whereas Staff initials are held in the field Staff Linkcode. Using the Expression button To display data in the item, with the box highlighted: Select the item you wish to edit (in the Items in style pane) Place your cursor in the pane labelled Item details Text Click the Expression button The Expression component window is displayed Facility CMIS Training 6 March 2011

7 Select the Type of data you wish to display e.g. Unit The Item drop-down allows you to select either Code or Name The Format drop-down allows you to display single item or list of items List vs Single item to display If you have multiple resources in an event e.g. two or more Lecturers or Modules, then choosing to display a list of items will show all. Choosing to display a single item will show only the first item in the event. Note: the Item and Format drop-downs will change according to the Type of data selected for display The Formatting options at the bottom of the window allow you to: Choose the starting point for display e.g. to omit a prefix Limit the length of the data displayed e.g. to omit a suffix To display alternate information where the field is empty e.g. to display TBA where a Lecturer has yet to be allocated Using the Data Tree Create a second item to display and resize it so that it sits below the first. To display data in the item, with the box highlighted: Select the item you wish to edit (in the Items in style pane) Place your cursor in the pane labelled Item details Text Press the F9 key The Select data value window is displayed Facility CMIS Training 7 March 2011

8 The yellow boxes next to some items indicate that there is a sub-branch of data the data to display will be without a yellow box. Scroll down the list until you find Units Double click on Units Double click on Return a List Double click on Module type Double click on Code Note that the Text box now displays fn Event.Mod.List.Modtype.Linkcode This will display the Module type e.g. Lecture, Seminar, Practical, but this data is not available from the list obtained from the Expression button. Facility CMIS Training 8 March 2011

9 Changing the format of the data displayed Here we will show how we can use different fonts, colours, backgrounds and borders to items displayed within the cell and to the cell itself. Fonts and colours To display different fonts and colours Select the item you wish to edit (in the Items in style pane) Click the Item font button The Font window is opened You can see that different fonts, font styles and font sizes may be selected. You can also select different font colours from the drop-down in the bottom left of the window. Whatever you select in this window will only apply to the item selected in the timetable cell style. Facility CMIS Training 9 March 2011

10 Item Border & Background colour To display borders around items Select the item you wish to edit (in the Items in style pane) Click the Item border button The Box window is opened You can see that different line styles are available by using the drop-down, with different thicknesses and different colours, by using the Colour button. You can also choose to draw a complete box around the item or simply use dividing lines e.g. top or bottom, by ticking the appropriate boxes in the centre of the window. At the bottom of this window you can see that it is possible to select a Background colour for the item: Click the Colour button The Colour window is opened Select the colour you wish to use as a background Tick the Fill colour box You can also vary the colour and shade by using the Define Custom Colours button at the bottom Facility CMIS Training 10 March 2011

11 Cell colours and borders The above examples show how to apply different fonts, borders and colours to individual items in the timetable cell, it is also possible to do this for the whole cell. Click on the Borders button You will see four options here: Style Fixed events Locked events Grouped events The Style option sets the default values for the cell style, whilst the others apply a different style to those events which are Fixed, Locked or Grouped (if these are used in the timetable). Select the Style option, the Box window is opened. Just as with individual items you can define a border with different line styles and colours, and can define a background colour for the cell. Any modifications you make here will apply to the entire cell rather than to an individual item within the cell. Facility CMIS Training 11 March 2011

12 Displaying two items of data in the same cell It is possible to display multiple items of data in a single cell either by choosing two different items from the Expression button or by using the CONCAT (Concatenate) command. Using the Expression button the Text box will look like this: {pubstart} {pubfinish} This is the published start and finish times for the event. We are going to display the start and finish times in a single cell using the CONCAT command. Create a new item to display in the cell Place your cursor in the Item details Text box Press the F9 key Double click on Start time Double click on Time format The Text box will now show: fn Event.Start.Time Place your cursor in the Text box so that this command can be modified. You will need to change the text to read: fn concat (Event.Start.Time,' - ',Event.Finish.Time) The fn command indicates that the data tree has been used. The concat command means that the data items listed will be grouped together. The different data items must be separated by a comma, but here we ve added a space and hyphen to make the display neater. The whole command must be entered in brackets. Facility CMIS Training 12 March 2011

13 Conditional colouring Items in cells can also be displayed in different colours by using condition commands. For example, you may want to show different module types in different colours so that Lectures show in red, Seminars in green, Tutorials in blue etc. This can be very useful as it can give you a quick visual reference to show how the timetable is balanced across the week. Highlight the item in the cell which shows the Module type - created above Double click in the Item details Text box The Expression window is opened We need to edit this expression to read as follows: Fn if(event.mod.single.modtype.code= LECT,,true, Event.Mod.Single.Modtype.Code) Before closing the window, highlight and copy this command. Click OK This command says that, if the Modtype is a Lecture then it should be displayed, if not then a blank will be displayed Facility CMIS Training 13 March 2011

14 Notes: The command uses Single and not List from the data tree (List will show no data) The Modtype must match exactly the code value held in the database The Modtype (LECT) must be enclosed in single quotation marks Before the word true in the command line, there are two single quotation marks (not a double quotation mark) On the Edit timetable cell style window Tick the Hide if empty box Click on the Item border button Select a fill colour for the item This means that when the event is a Lecture, the item in the cell will have a pink background and if it is not a Lecture then the item will be hidden and display nothing. Create another item to display in the cell Place and resize the item on top of the LECT item In the Text box, paste the command copied from the LECT item In the command change the word LECT to SEM Tick the Hide if empty box Click on the Item border button Select a (different) fill colour for the item e.g. green Facility CMIS Training 14 March 2011

15 Creating Timetable styles The timetable style determines the layout of the window within which the timetable will be displayed including such things as the days and times, which cell styles to use, background colours and grouped items. To create a new style go to Options Timetable styles Click New The timetable configuration window is opened You can see there are a number of tabs which control different aspects of the timetable display. Type tab Determines whether time will be displayed horizontally or vertically and whether the timetable will show a single resource or a Master timetable (showing multiple resources see below). Facility CMIS Training 15 March 2011

16 Cells tab Determines which cell style is to be used in the main grid and in the clash window. Also allows cells to be sorted e.g. in week order Scope tab Determines the days and times to display. Also allows multiple weeks to display in a single timetable view. Facility CMIS Training 16 March 2011

17 Options tab Determines how cells will display e.g. common row size, single or multiple cells. Also allows timetable background colours and clash colour schemes to be used (see below). Axes Determines the line style, thickness and colour of lines of the timetable axes. Facility CMIS Training 17 March 2011

18 Ticks Determines how wide each hour will display on the timetable and how dividing lines (for times) will display and how start and end times will display. Major ticks/minor ticks Determines how labels for times will display as well as colour and style of dividing lines (for times). Major ticks usually equates to hours and minor ticks to half-hours (though this can be determined by the user according to different needs e.g. if teaching starts at 8:30). Facility CMIS Training 18 March 2011

19 Days Determines how labels for days will display as well as colour and style of dividing lines. Items Determines how labels for items will display as well as colour and style of dividing lines (used in Master timetables only). Facility CMIS Training 19 March 2011

20 Master Determines display of items in Master timetables. Grouping Grouping controls how multiple events e.g. with different Lecturers in different weeks, will display as a single event on the timetable. Facility CMIS Training 20 March 2011

21 The Expression..., box here contains the expression: concat(event.day.name,event.mod.list.mod.code,event.start.time) This will group those events into a single event where they have the same Day, Start time and Module code. Once you have set the parameters for your timetable view Click OK Clash colouring In a standard format, a timetable will show potential clashes as red blocks. To show clashes as colours, in a timetable: Alt click in the timetable window Select Options Select Automatically display clashing items Now when you select an event in the timetable, any possible clashes will display as coloured blocks on screen Clash colouring allows you to specify that different types (or number) of clashes will display with different colours. To create a clash colouring scheme go to: Options Clash colouring schemes Click New the clash colouring scheme window is opened Facility CMIS Training 21 March 2011

22 Here you can pick different colours according to whether the potential clash is: Variable if a variable time constraint (e.g. lunch break) would be broken Out of bounds where the event would be outside of the times permitted by an event specification Time constraints where a resourse is unavailable Limited links where a link would be broken You can also grade clash colours according to the number of clashes possibly created. Facility CMIS Training 22 March 2011

23 In the example shown here, where there is one potential clash a pale pink colour is displayed, 2-5 clashes show in red, and 6 or more show in dark red. This might indicate to the user that a move to a pale pink slot would be preferable since there would only be one clash to resolve (assuming there were no clash-free slots). To use clash colours you need to go to the timetable configuration Alt click Configuration Edit timetable Select the Options tab Choose the clash colour scheme at the bottom of the screen A warning on colours If you have chosen to Automatically display clashing items, and/or have set up a clash colouring scheme, then the screen refresh rate will slow considerably, so although useful you may find that it is not practicable. Because it is possible to use different font colours, item colours, cell colours, timetable backgrounds and clash colour schemes, it is quite possible to create a timetable view that makes the user feel quite ill and having many colours in use can make the timetable harder to read. Also having many colours on screen does not display well on paper timetables you may want to choose a simpler black and white style for printouts. Creating a new timetable view Once you have created a suitable cell style and timetable style you can create your timetable view. Go to: Timetable New timetable This will open a blank (default) timetable view - it may have no days/times depending on whether the default timetable style has been modified. It will also show no timetable data as we have not yet filtered our view. In the graphical part of the timetable Right-click (Alt-click) Choose Configuration Select timetable style Choose the timetable style you have just created Facility CMIS Training 23 March 2011

24 The timetable should still be blank. Right-click (Alt-click) Choose Filter Filter your timetable as normal i.e. select a Module, Room etc. You should now see data displayed according to the timetable and cell style you have created and selected. Once you have created a timetable view, it is useful to save this so that you can come back to it later. Go to Timetable You will see in the bottom section of the menu that opens, a timetable view called Timetable has been added. Each time you use the New timetable routine a new view will be added to this list Choose Edit timetable views Highlight the view at the bottom of this list (your new timetable) Click twice slowly on the name You can now rename this view to something more useful (e.g. Module) You can also use the Up/Down buttons in this window to change the position of the timetable in the menu list thus you can have the most frequently used timetable views at the top of your own list. Note: Although we have named this view Module, this is only the name of the style. If you filter to a different type of resource e.g. Lecturer, then the style will be unchanged. Simply by calling the timetable style Module, it does not mean that a module timetable will display that is only achieved through the timetable filter. Facility CMIS Training 24 March 2011

25 Automatically changing the timetable style It is possible to set up CMIS so that if you change your filter in a timetable view, then the style automatically changes to the appropriate resource type i.e. when filtered to a Module timetable the Module style is used, but when you change to another resource then the style automatically changes. In the timetable view, point your cursor at the frame of the window. Right click Choose Resource specific styles Choose the appropriate style for each resource type Facility CMIS Training 25 March 2011

26 Special cell styles In some circumstances it is useful to use different, special, cell styles for example in the Clashing window or when setting up Time constraints. Clash reason The clash reason cell style is used in the Clashing window to show a summary of the reasons for potential clashes. Go to Options Cell styles Click New to create a new cell style Name the style Clash reason Create a single item in the cell Resize the item & cell Place your cursor in the Text box Click the Expression button Select Clash reason from the Type Select Code from the Item Select Explanation from the Format Click OK The Cell style window should look something like this Facility CMIS Training 26 March 2011

27 Click the Borders button Choose the Style option Choose a Fill colour for the cell You are now ready to use the clash reason cell in the clash section of the timetable window. Facility CMIS Training 27 March 2011

28 Time Constraint This is a cell style used when creating time constraints e.g. when staff are unavailable. Go to Options Cell styles Click New to create a new cell style Name the style Time constraint Create the first item in the cell Resize the item & cell Place your cursor in the Text box Click the Expression button Select Time slot type from the Type Select Type from the Item Create a second item in the cell Resize the item & cell below the first Place your cursor in the Text box Click the Expression button Select Weeks from the Type Select Range from the Item Select No-spaces from the Format Facility CMIS Training 28 March 2011

29 This will create a cell style which shows the type of Time constraints (Unavailable, Restricted or Variable) and displays the weeks that this constraint applies (it is possible to have different constraints at different times in the academic year). To use the cell style Go to Data Constraints Time constraints This opens the Time constraints window. In the timetable view at the bottom of the window: Right click (Alt-click) Choose Configuration Edit timetable On the Cells tab, select the Time constraint cell style Facility CMIS Training 29 March 2011

30 Master timetables Master timetables allow you to display multiple resources in a single view. For example, you may wish to look at a group of lecture theatres together to see where there is a free slot. In the example below we are looking at all of the Arts Tower lecture theatres in a single screen with day and time combined along the horizontal axis. To create a Master timetable, select Master on the Type tab in Timetable configuration. On the Items tab a Grid line has been added to divide the different rooms from each other. Facility CMIS Training 30 March 2011

31 Filtering Master timetables Filtering Master timetables is slightly different to that for single timetables. To apply a filter we will need to use the Query tab. Right click (Alt-click) Select the Query tab In the Master orientation drop-down, select the type of timetable you are going to display You must also select which items to display in the Master timetable. Click on the Fixed data button The Select data items window is opened Click on the Select button Select the type of resource you wish to display e.g. Rooms Facility CMIS Training 31 March 2011

32 From the list of displayed resources, select those to display (using the Ctrl and Shift keys) The list of selected items is displayed. Click OK Note: You can select different types of item to display e.g. Room and Staff, within a single Master timetable. The timetable filter now shows that Fixed data has been selected. Facility CMIS Training 32 March 2011

33 Useful Cell styles To combine Module Code, Module Type and Group Number fn concat(event.mod.list.mod.linkcode,' - ',Event.Mod.List.Modtype.Linkcode,' - ',Event.Mod.List.Subgroup.Code) To colour code different event types The examples shown below will give a different background colour to the Module Name item on a timetable, according to the type of module activity being delivered. fn if(event.mod.single.modtype.linkcode='lect','',true, Event.Mod.List.Mod.Name) fn if(event.mod.single.modtype.linkcode='prac','',true, Event.Mod.List.Mod.Name) fn if(event.mod.single.modtype.linkcode='wk','',true, Event.Mod.List.Mod.Name) fn if(event.mod.single.modtype.linkcode='tut','',true, Event.Mod.List.Mod.Name) Remember to change the module type for each item you want to display. Also remember to tick the Hide if Empty box and choose a different background colour for each item. Useful filters for Timetable views To filter out cancelled events Event.Status!= 3 Facility CMIS Training 33 March 2011