Title

hBrowse - Generic framework for hierarchical data visualization

Overview

The hBrowse framework is a new kind of generic, open source, monitoring application. It is used by many communities, including ATLAS, CMS and Ganga/Diane, as the user interface (UI) for their monitoring systems. It's a UI client that communicates with the server using ajax requests and expects JSON responses. It provides many options to visualize data including dynamic tables and charts. The hBrowse based application can be configured using just one settings file.

Description

The hBrowse framework was created out of the need for a generic UI that can be used on various monitoring systems. It is apparent that many monitoring systems share the same UI elements such as tables, charts and filters in very similar layouts. The only logical choice was to build a generic system that would be configurable enough to satisfy a range of requirements. The hBrowse framework is a client-side JavaScript application that can be adjusted and implemented according to each specific community's needs. It utilises the latest web technologies (e.g. jQuery framework, highcharts ploting library or datatables jQuery plugin) and capabilities that modern browsers expose to the user, and can be combined with any kind of server as long as it can send JSON formatted data via the HTTP protocol. Each part of this software (dynamic tables overlay, user selection etc.) is in fact a separate plugin which can be used separately from the main application. It was specifically designed to meet the requirements of Atlas and CMS users as well as for use as a generic Ganga task monitoring tool.

Impact

The hBrowse framework is used by many communities. Initially designed as a generic Ganga/Diane monitoring tool, hBrowse is now effectively utilised by any individual or community that submits tasks through the Ganga/Diane tools. Task-monitoring capabilities are exposed either by experiment-specific interfaces, or the generic gangamon.cern.ch frontend. The hBrowse framework has also been used as a UI for several ATLAS and CMS applications:

• Datasets Distribution
• Task Analysis
• Production Operators UI
• Interactive View

In every use case it was very easy and fast to implement and deploy.

Conclusions

The hBrowse framework turned out to be a very flexible tool, allowing rapid deployment of services for many communities. Because of it's separation from the server (i.e. data handling) component it is very easy to upgrade the existing applications with a new and modern user interface allowing users to visualize their data more effectively. By combining the latest technologies and javascript frameworks and plugins the hBrowse framework is a perfect solution for any hierarchical data monitoring application UI.

Track classification

Software services for users and communities

Comments

NONE

-- LukaszKokoszkiewicz - 18-Nov-2011