CIFER®-MATLAB Interfaces: Development and ... - Cal Poly

The third screen is used to match which input and output pairs the program will operate on.
Originally these pairs were selected through an asterisk, as shown in Figure A3. The new
interface, Figure A8, is toggle button-based, and more features have been added to allow an entire
row or column to be selected by clicking on the heading button. Similarly, toggle buttons were
used for screen 4 as shown in Figure A4 and Figure A9.
The last screen in the original code offers three choices to exit, save and exit, or save and run the
batch job. If a batch job is run, the output information is displayed to screen, shown in Figure A5,
but users can press a key to continue using CIFER ® , which will remove the information from the
screen. Once the batch job is completed, additional information is displayed which can disrupt
work if one has moved on while the batch job was running.
The final screen in the new interface, Figure A10, has the three options from the original code as
well as several new features. There is now a dedicated window to display the output from the
batch job, ensuring that the information will not be lost. Additionally, an option to view the
output log file has been added. The log file contains a summary of the information from
processing the case and is very useful for debugging a case that generated errors.
3.2.3 Problems Encountered and Solutions
The most challenging aspect of the GUI development was creating a layout that the largest
number of engineers were comfortable with. It was ultimately made a requirement for the new
layout to mimic the old interface as closely as possible. Before this requirement was set, several
layouts were considered that would have been a significant change to the old look and feel. The
driving factor was to keep the interface similar so longtime users would not have to make major
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