**The objective of this task is to prevent any unintended test messages
to disseminate to the public (**A note presented to UIGW on April 6^th^,
2005**)**

The Test Mode programs discussed here is only part of an over all
"Errant Message" task.

[Requirements of the Test/Practice Mode programs:]{.underline}

1.  To place a typical AWIPS workstation (e.g. lx and xt) in TEST (Comms
    Live) or PRACTICE (IN House) mode and of course back to the
    Operational mode without interfering with other operational
    workstations.

2.  To clearly display a small banner on all the monitors associated
    with the testing workstations (lx and xt).

3.  The Test Mode Control GUI program can only be launched from the
    Graphic workstation via the appLauncher program. And must be the
    SAME user logon to the graphic and text workstations. (Master-Slave
    or the 2 workstations work as a pair)

4.  To co-ordinate with those critical AWIPS applications such as
    WarnGen, WWA, RiverPro and GHG etc. by providing them the current
    mode designated by the user.

5.  More importantly, alert the forecasters to prevent these AWIPS
    applications from running during mode changes. In other words, all
    these AWIPS applications must be stopped (pre-conditions) before
    transition to another mode.

6.  The Test Mode Control programs can still work in a graphical
    workstation alone if the text workstation is not present (return
    from a system call of "ping") or being shutdown.

The Test Mode Control programs contain 3 components. The major one is
the Test Mode Control program (GUI). The second one is a showBanner
program (GUI) and the last one is a getTestMode process which acts as an
API for the AWIPS applications.

[The Test Mode Control program:]{.underline}

1.  TMCP (GUI) that allows the user to switch between modes:

    a.  Operational to Test

    b.  Operational to Practice

    c.  Test to Operational

    d.  Practice to Operational

    e.  Note that - no paths between Test to Practice or vice versa

2.  The GUI components is very simple

    a.  It has a label on the top indicates the current mode status

    b.  It has a scroll text in the middle which communicates with the
        forecaster(s) via text message.

    c.  There are 4 buttons in the bottom, namely Test Mode (Comms
        Live), Practice Mode (In House), Operational Mode and Cancel.
        Cancel implies exit the program. Notice that once the Test Mode
        is active, both the Test and Practice buttons are insensitive
        and not available for selection. User can only select "Cancel"
        or "Operational mode". Also once the Test/Practice mode is
        selected and all the pre-conditions checking are satisfied, the
        TMCP GUI will exit momentarily and the showBanner program will
        take over.

    d.  If user decides to logoff from both the Graphic and Text
        workstations completely, this is equivalently to turning back to
        Operational mode for the workstations.

[The showBanner program:]{.underline}

This program is nothing more than a label widget that indicates which
mode is currently active. There are 2 short-lived (3 seconds or more)
showBanner programs running on each of the graphic and text workstations
and they will display the banner(s) on ALL the monitors associated with
the workstation (e.g. one in xt and 3 in lx machines). The locations of
the banner can be configured and font can also be changed.

The modes and colors are:

1.  Test (Comms Live) Mode -- with "Black" for background and with a
    "White" foreground to be consistent with other AWIPS applications.

2.  Practice (In House) Mode -- with an "Orange" background.

3.  Panic Mode -- with a "Red" color message of "Problem in the test or
    practice mode has been detected and please close all applications
    and exit"

Panic mode is caused by some of the anomaly conditions such as if user
is logoff from one of the Graphic or Text workstation OR the Test Mode
programs encounter a problem. A red banner will be displayed in the
remaining running workstation. In this case, user should launch the TMCP
(GUI) program in the Graphic station to set the mode back to
operational.

The getTestMode program:

Since it is not a Graphical Interface component, it will not be
discussed in this UIWG meeting.