EGU21-6164
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu21-6164
EGU General Assembly 2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Inishell 2.0: Semantically driven automatic GUI generation for scientific models

Mathias Bavay1, Michael Reisecker2, Thomas Egger3, and Daniela Korhammer1
Mathias Bavay et al.
  • 1WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research, Davos Dorf, Switzerland (bavay@slf.ch)
  • 2Alpine Software Michael Reisecker, Schiliftstraße 504, 5753 Saalbach, Austria
  • 3Egger Consulting GmbH, Hohenstaufengasse 7, 1010 Wien, Austria

As numerical model developers, we have experienced first hand how most users struggle with the configuration of the models, leading to numerous support requests. Such issues are usually mitigated by offering a Graphical User Interface (GUI) that flattens the learning curve. This requires however a significant investment for the model developer as well as a specific skill set. Moreover, this does not fit with the daily duties of model developers. As a consequence, when a GUI has been created -- usually within a specific project and often relying on an intern -- the maintenance either constitutes a major burden or is not performed. This also tends to limit the evolution of the numerical models themselves, since the model developers try to avoid having to change the GUI.

To circumvent that problem, we have developed Inishell [1], a C++/Qt application based on an XML description of the inputs required by the numerical model that generates a GUI on the fly. This makes maintenance of the GUI very simple and enables users to easily get an up-to-date GUI for configuring the numerical model. The first version of this tool was written almost ten years ago and showed that the concept works very well for our own surface processes models. A full rewrite offering a more modern interface and extended capabilities is presented here.

 

[1] Bavay, M., Reisecker, M., Egger, T., and Korhammer, D., “Inishell 2.0: Semantically driven automatic GUI generation for scientific models”, Geosci. Model Dev. Discuss. [preprint], https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-2020-339, in review, 2020.

How to cite: Bavay, M., Reisecker, M., Egger, T., and Korhammer, D.: Inishell 2.0: Semantically driven automatic GUI generation for scientific models, EGU General Assembly 2021, online, 19–30 Apr 2021, EGU21-6164, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu21-6164, 2021.