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CHAPTER 2. CONCEPTS
2.4. DATA QUALITY INDICATION
selected display as a help page. Figure 2.4 shows part of the online help generated for an MCS display
(by the menu command Help → Data Quality Indicators for Display). This is helpful in two scenarios:
• For administrators defining DQI configurations.
• For operators wanting to see the meaning of DQI output such as colors and flags in a running
display.
Figure 2.4 DQI help table for an MCS display
DQI settings are defined in style files. These are XML configuration files and can be changed with
any editor. For example, the file etc/mcs_dqistyle.xml is the configuration for displays in the MCS
environment. The file etc/pws_dqistyle.xml defines the DQI styles for the PWS displays (onboard
Columbus). If you want to define your own DQI styles, it is helpful to understand how USS looks for
an applicable style when the value of a data field needs to be updated. The process is as follows:
1. Determine the target of the current display (say ‘MCS’). The target of a display is a simple string
that can be defined in the editor. It defines the target environment where the display is designed
to run. Current targets are PWS, PCS, MCS, and CGS. It is assumed that all displays with the same
target should have the same look and feel.
2. Search and read the DQI style file for the target (say mcs_dqistyle.xml). A ‘target-to-style-file’
mapping is defined in etc/uss.properties.
3. Look-up the DQI entry for the combination of acquisition status, monitoring status, and delta
monitoring status of the current parameter value.
4. Render the data field with the colors and flags found in the previous step.
As a last example, Figure 2.5 shows part of the DQI settings for a PWS display. Compare this with
Figure 2.4 and you can see that the same parameter status values can lead to very different output. This
flexibility allows to use USS in different operational environments with different demands on visualization and user feedback.
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