Mid Morning Discussion Introduction to the IBIS-Q Front-End System ("Module" Emphasis)

1. Mid Morning DiscussionIntroduction to the IBIS-Q Front-End System ("Module" Emphasis) • What is the front end • Where does the front end fit in • What is a Module and where does it fit in • How to build a Module (or two)

4. IBIS Query System Request Sequence Diagram

6. System Documentation Overview • Query System Diagram Review • Query Front End Components • How the Front End Works • Query Front End UI File Types • Query Module File • Introduction to XML • Review Sample Query Module XML This Morning's Road Map

7. IBIS Query Documentation Packet • Diagrams • Overall High Level System Architecture • Query System Architecture • Query System Request Sequences • Query Module Set Request • Query Module Request • Query Submit Request • Query Get Results Request • Query User Interface XML Types Overview • Query Module XML Element Dictionary

8. Documentation Packet Cont. Other IBIS Query Documents • IBISQ Application Parameters Dictionary • Xinclude Overview • IBISQ Backend File Definitions • IBIS-IRV Query Front End File Definitions Other Files of Interest • PopMain.xml – Example Module XML • Module FAQs and Troubleshooting.doc

10. IBIS-Q Front-End – Components • Tomcat Application Server • Java Servlet Controller (named Query) • XML Data Files (which includes Modules) • XSLT XML to HTML Transformation Templates • Typical Static Web Content like javascript files, gif images, cascading style sheets.

12. IBIS-Q Front-End – Basic Workings • Tomcat/Query servlet receives a request from a user/browser • Query servlet invokes a certain set of business rule code based on the user's request • Query servlet opens the associated request's page template file (think of it as a mail merge) • Query servlet opens the appropriate data file and merges content into the template • Returns the merged data page to the user/browser which made the request • User's browser then displays the page

13. Query Front End UI File Types • Three Basic Types of User Interface Data Files • HTML Content. Provides basic text information - home or entry page, overview type pages, help type pages • Module Set Definitions. Provides a way for the user to navigate to and select a module and measure • Module Definitions. Provides a way for the user to define and submit the query to the backend query system. • See the "Q XML File Overviews.doc" for a more detailed discussion on the different file/data types

14. Query Front End Module Overview • Root Container Element named "QUERY" • Basic Structure Diagram • See the "Q Module Elements.doc" file for a more detailed description of the file's structure and all of it's elements.

15. Query Front End Module Main XML Elements • Root Container Element named "QUERY" • Three Main Types of Data Elements contained within the QUERY Element • Module Definition (MODULE). Used to produce the user's HTML module selection page. Data in this element includes: Overviews, Measure definitions, CGI App control parameters, Step/Question/Answer definitions, and Dimension definitions. • Parameters (PARAMETERS). This element contains the user's selections made on the Module page. • IBISQ Query Result (IBISQ_QUERY_RESULT). Contains the query results data returned from the IBISQ app.

16. Module's MODULE Element

17. Main MODULE Elements • NAME. Name of the module. This should match the filename sans the ".xml" and path. • TITLE. Shown as the browser's page title and is also shown at the top of the page. • DESCRIPTION. Optional text which is used for the HTML meta data "description" tag. • KEYWORDS. Optional text which is used for the HTML meta data "keywords" tag.

18. IBISQ_APPLICATION_PARAMETERS Element • IBISQ_APPLICATION_PARAMETERS. Contains common IBISQ configuration and control element parameters. These are items that the user doesn't need to specify but are needed by IBISQ to function (like: configuration filenames, testing and debugging flags, SAS control flags etc). • Each PARAMETER element contains two elements. • NAME. Name of the parameter that will be passed to the IBISQ system. • VALUE. The value of the parameter.

19. MEASURE Definition Element A module/dataset can contain different types of dependant values. Each different type of value is called a measure. Examples of a measure are count, age adjusted rate, percentage etc.

20. OVERVIEW Element • The OVERVIEW element contains the text shown at the top of the module page giving the user a basic introduction to what this module is about. Each overview contains sections. Each section can contain a title for that section and the actual paragraph of text.

21. DIMENSION Element Definition • The DIMENSION elements define the available ways the IBISQ system can group or summarize the queried data values by (examples are year, age group, gender, county, etc).

22. STEP Element Definition • The STEPS/STEP element contains all the data to define that step's Questions and Answers.

23. QUESTION Element Definition • The QUESTION element contains all the data to define a step's Question (and contains that question's answers).

24. ANSWERS Element Definition • The ANSWERS element contains the data to define a question's answers.

25. ANSWER Element Definition • The ANSWER element contains the data needed to define a question's answer.