[thredds] TDS's OPeNDAP Form problem and a suggestion

• To: thredds@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
• Subject: [thredds] TDS's OPeNDAP Form problem and a suggestion
• From: "Pan, Jerry Yun" <pany@xxxxxxxx>
• Date: Thu, 27 Sep 2007 09:59:25 -0400

Hi, 
 
        I don't know if anyone has noticed, on the OPeNDAP Access Form
page, the links to help documents are all broken (click on Action,
DataURL, Global Attributes, Variables, I would get a 404 error).  I am
using the current TDS release (v. 3.16).  I checked the same links on
the form page from a Hyrax server, they work and the urls are slightly
different from what TDS has.  Looks like the opendap.org has changed
some files' location and TDS has not updated its links.
 
The bigger question I have is how we can easily customize the GUI
interface for TDS. For example, how can I repair the broken links
without modifying Java code? how do I alter the look and feel of the
access form - such as expand and shrink the variable list?  The same
questions also applies to the Catalog pages, such as custom images,
color, CSS, layout, etc.  My assumption is that not every end user will
use a client side tool to access TDS/OPeNDAP, and some will use the web
GUI exclusively, so the data providers may want to change the GUI to
better meet their needs.
 
A suggestion: use JSPs to render all GUI components.  With that, the GUI
can be changed easily, and a bad link like above can be fixed without
waiting for the next release. Another benefit of using JSP is it would
make the app internationalization ready and easy to localize.
 
Thanks
=================
Jerry Pan
DAAC Staff
Oak Ridge National Lab
 
 
 
 
 
 

• Follow-Ups:
  • Re: [thredds] TDS's OPeNDAP Form problem and a suggestion
    • From: Ethan Davis