Show overview of models of a certain device type. Each device type has its own set of key features, so the overview differs from one device type to another. A few features are common to all device types, namely:
The "Model" feature is a link to the physical devices of this model. Clicking the link redirects the user to the physical device overview.
For each model, HWS determines the number of physical devices of the
model recorded in the database. This is indicated by the "Qty" column
in the overview. Next to the "Qty" column is a "duplicate"
icon (). This icon can be
used to define a new physical device of the corresponding model. The
user will be redirected to a page to edit the device.
Below the model overview are 3 buttons. The "New Model" button enables the user to define a new model (of the current device type), and at the same time define a physical device of that model. In order to support bulk input of (physical) devices, the button "Import Devices" can be used. Refer to Import Devices for details. Button "Export Devices" is the opposite operation of importing devices. Exporting devices copies definitions of (physical) devices stored in the HWS database to file. See Export Devices for details.
This page presents a form for entering the key features of a new (physical) device or modifying the key features of an existing (physical) device. As the key features are highly dependent on the device type, the layout of the form differs for each device type. There are however a number of features common to all device types, and these features are:
The features of a device type are defined in a device type definition file (DTD-file). In addition, the file also determines which features are required and what kind of units are accepted in the input, if any.
The default unit of a feature is written in parenthesis after the feature name. When entering a value for such a feature, one can enter a scaling factor to override the default unit. HWS translates the value to the default unit before storing it in the database. The following units and scaling factors are accepted (units are case-insensitive):
Once the necessary features of the new or existing (physical) device are entered, the "Save" button can be used to commit the data to the database. Changing features of an existing (physical) device may cause the creation of a new model. This happens automatically and a new entry for the model will appear in the model overview. Afterwards, the user returns to the model overview. The "Cancel" button discards any changes to the form and returns to the model overview. And finally the "Undo" button. Selecting this button restores all values in the form to their initial value (i.e., the value upon entering the page).
This option allows the user to load definitions for one or more (physical) devices from a file into the database. The format of the file is CSV (comma-separated-values) and the definitions in the file all apply to one specific type of device models. Therefore the user must choose a hardware group and a device type before importing can begin.
Since not all key features of a (physical) device definition are required, the import function must know which columns in the CSV-file represent which feature. To this end, the first entry in the CSV-file holds the feature names for these columns. Refer to the DTD-files or sourcecode documentation for the correct name of the feature columns.
The CSV-file is selected by means of a file selector. To start the import, click the "Import" button. After the import is complete, the user is redirected to a page summarizing the result of the operation (see Import Results).
Show summary of device import. The page shows how many (physical) devices have been processed. The number of successfully imported devices and the number of devices that failed importing are also shown. Devices already present in the database are automatically skipped.
After the device import has finished, the user clicks the "OK" button to return to the corresponding device model overview.
The "Export Devices" option allows the user to store the (physical) devices of a certain device type, in a CSV-file. After selecting a hardware group and a device type, the user starts the export by clicking the "Export" button. HWS prepares a CSV-file holding the (physical) devices; the first entry in the CSV-file contains the feature names for the columns. A "Save document" dialog box is presented which enables the user to transfer the CSV-file to his machine. In case the dialog box is cancelled, the prepared file will be removed from the server.
After exporting has finished, the user is always redirected to a summary page (see Export Results).
Show summary of device export. This page shows the number of (physical) devices HWS has processed while preparing the CSV-file. In addition, the number of devices that have actually been written to the file are listed as well as the number of devices that, for some reason, could not be written to the CSV-file.
Clicking the "OK" button redirects the user to the device model overview.