[kepler-users] kepler- user Query

[Matthew Jones]

Hi Hessah,

Thanks for resending your message.  Sometimes we miss a message or two 
that come through the list -- its good to be persistent.  See below for 
my comments on your questions.

Matt

Hessah Al-salamah wrote:
> Dear Mattew,
> 
>  
> 
> I did send the following message to kepler’s mailing list but 
> unfortunately I didn’t get any reply. I am not sure if my questions 
> aren’t clear or it was felt that I am too far from the main usage of Kepler.
> 
>  
> 
>  I would be very thankful if you can advise me and sorry for the 
> inconvenience.
> 
>  
> 
> Kind regards,
> 
> Hessah
> 
>  
> 
> My previous message:
> 
>  
> 
> I am trying to investigate the ability of using kepler to build a Health 
> Informatics system. All what I have is the material provided in Kepler’s 
> web site which didn’t really answer all my questions. I would be very 
> thankful if I can get answers for the following questions:
> 
>  
> 
> Does kepler support human decision? In other words, you ask the user a 
> question and then depending on the answer you route the workflow.
Yes, components can block on user input.  Some people have used the 
BrowserUI component to put up a web form and collect the results. 
Others write custom components that present a dialog box to give users 
choices.

> 
>  
> 
> Can I customize the code in any of the components? If I need to change a 
> little bit in the java code of any component is that possible. And if it 
> is not possible, can I build my own component.
Yes, you can add new components.  This of course requires Java 
programming skills.  It would be possible to modify the existing 
components but I think it would be better to clone them and modify the 
clone just to make it clear that the modifed component differs from the 
stock component shipped with Kepler.
> 
>  
> 
>  Does Kepler support different actors with different roles? Some parts 
> of the flow can be accessed be specific actors depending on their role 
> while others aren’t allowed.
I'm not clear on what you are asking here.  Some data and resources 
could have restricted access (enforced by an external system), and there 
is an AuthenticationManager that can help with authenticating users when 
an actor needs access to such resources.  Is this what you mean by roles?
> 
>  
> 
> Finally, I tried to do a simple database connection to Ms Access but it 
> didn’t work. What is the database path? Is it something like : 
> c:\\directoryname\databasename.mdb
> 
> Or  DRIVER=Microsoft Access Driver (*.mdb); DBQ=C:\\db1.mdb;PWD=mypass
> 
> Or what?
I haven't tried an MS Access connection.  However, it should work if you 
put an appropriate JDBC driver on the classpath and configure the 
OpenDBConnection actor properly.  Each JDBC driver uses a different 
syntax for its connection information.  For oracle, here's an example 
JDBC connection string:

jdbc:oracle:thin:@129.108.20.225:1521:PDB1

this gives host and port connection information, as well as the database 
name.  The information for the MS Access driver is likely a diffeent 
format, but I'm not sure what it would be -- check the JDBC 
documentation for details.  Efrat Frank at SDSC (who wrote this actor) 
might be able to give a more specific example for MS Access.
> 
>  
> 
> I am struggling a little bit and really need help. Thanks in advance.

I hope this helps out -- please feel free to write the list and we'll do 
our best to help out.

> 
>  
> 
> Hessah,
> 
>  
> 
> Research Student
> 
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-- 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Matthew B. Jones
jones at nceas.ucsb.edu                Ph: 541-888-2581 ext. 287
National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS)
UC Santa Barbara
http://www.nceas.ucsb.edu/ecoinformatics
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~