VisualCommander Glossary

Definition of Terms:

Border
A solid color drawn around a display.

Command
A single input to a Session.

Data Center
Data Centers host Sessions. Each Data Center runs as a daemon process on the hosted computer. Each instance of VisualCommander insures that there is a Data Center with the name Local running on the same computer.

Data Source
A type of external system that provides data to a VisualCommander system, and may also be able to receive and handle commands from VisualCommander.

Data Source Plugin
A type of plugin to a VisualCommander system that allows VisualCommander to connect to a Data Source to get data and send commands.

Data Hierarchy
Tree structured organization of all available inputs and outputs. Shown in the Data window.

Data Tree
See Data Hierarchy

Data Processor
An instance of a Processor Plugin added to an Interface which generates one or more Data Points in the Data Hierarchy. A Data Processor can also have Data Points as inputs, possibly using their data as the basis for the generated outputs.

Display
An instance of a Display Plugin that has been added to a Page and provides visualization for data. Multiple Displays can be created from a single type of Display Plugin.

Display Plugin
Plugin for visually representing data and receiving command data from users. Examples of display plugins include the Plot 2D and Model Viewer plugins.

DSim
The object-oriented simulation framework bundled with VisualCommander. Simulation components are loaded from libraries and are fully re-usable. Simulations are described in setup files (also known as DSS files as they use the .dss extension.) VisualCommander provides a built-in Data Source to run and command DSim simulations.

Interface
A document containing a customized user interface for viewing data and sending commands. Interfaces include Windows, Pages and Data Consumers.

Inspector
A utility panel, associated with an Interface, that shows all of the elements of the Interface and provides a way to edit their properties. The Inspector also allows for the management of Sessions used by the Interface. Detailed documentation is available for the Inspector.

Padding
The space between a Display's content and its border.

Page
A layer within a window, analogous to a canvas upon which Data Displays "draw" their visual representations. Each Window in an interface will have one or more Pages. Only a single Page of a Window is visible at any time.

Plugin
An add-on piece of software which can be developed by third parties to add new functionality to VisualCommander without modifying the original software. There are four types of plugins that VisualCommander supports: Data Sources, Data Source Configurators, Displays and Processors.

Point
A single output from a Session. A Point has associated metadata, such as the number of rows and columns and the type of the data. It also has a set of all of the historical values that have been assigned to that point at various times by the Session.

Processor Plugin
A Plugin for generating new Data Points in the Data Hierarchy, often by processing data from existing Data Points. Processor plugins run inside a VisualCommander client and their outputs are limited to that client.

Session
A running Data Source plugin. Sessions run within a Data Center, and are somewhat similar to a computer daemon process (i.e., a faceless background process). Each session has a unique name, provides Data Points and Commands, and can be in various states that the user is able to control using a Session Manager. A Session's hierarchy of data points and commands will appear in the overall Data Hierarchy contained within a top-level Volume of the same name as the Session.

Session Manager
VisualCommander uses Session Managers to provide the means to create, control, observe, and control sessions. When attached to an interface, these items maintain a recipe for a Session, so they can create the necessary Session on demand as required. Session Managers provide a visible interface for a Session in the Inspection Panel's Session View.

Volume
Part of the hierarchy of metadata that describes the data available from a session. A Volume does not have data in and of itself, but it can contain Points and Commands. A Volume can also contain other Volumes; there are no limits on the depth of such nested hierarchies.

Window
An onscreen window, the highest level component in an Interface, containing one or more layers referred to as Pages. A single interface may contain more than one window.