by William G. Beazley, PhDInformation Assets, Inc.
Introduction
Project websites are fast becoming a new tool in reducing delays in getting data and communicating with other team members. Driven by the Internet’s low cost and other features, engineers will integrate World Wide Web (WWW)access and distribution of project data into almost every task. The result will be that data delays, the time spent waiting for the correct data to arrive, will become almost negligible and design cycles will speed up accordingly.
WWW Beneficial Characteristics
The characteristics of the WWW itself are driving the changes:
Universal Addressing - The WWW provides a way to identify the location of any data file of any server connected to the Internet. The address is called the Universal Resource Locator (URL) and is easy to understand.
Common Interface - The widespread availability of browsers descendent from the original MOSIAC design, means that users finally have a consistent interface to data.
Browsing Access Paradigm (Hyperlinks) - The point-and-click interaction is common to all text, image, and other formats that are supported on the WWW. The paradigm hides the details of hyperlink addresses and processing. This means that even new or occasional users can begin browsing from document to document.
Commodity Software (i.e., Netscape, Internet Explorer) - The browsing software and optional enhancements are widely available and low in cost.
Platform Independence (PC, MAC, DEC & SGI) - As long as a browser is available for a particular hardware and software platform, the hyperlinked files are accessed in the same way. This frees content providers (they put the data on the servers) from worrying about which platforms might be requesting files.
Broad Constituency (Mass Market) - This means that the price for Web access and supporting software will be kept low by vendors vying for the 40-60 million users and the 13 million servers currently in use.
Broadly Supported Standard Formats and Protocols – Because there are many standard data formats and protocols that are in widespread use on the internet, they are broadly supported in engineering and business tools, making it easy to publish to the WWW.
What this means is that many of today’s obstacles to data access will be eliminated by the WWW’s low cost technology. Engineers can finally imagine projects where data delays are near zero.
For projects, engineering websites greatly improve the access to data and, with proper design, support other modes of collaboration as well.
A Quick Example
We will now produce a quick example in Microsoft Access ‘97.
Step 1 - Define the Database
Open a new database and give it a name, i.e., “ MyDwgList”. In the Table page, click “New” and choose “Design View”. Enter three fields as follows:
Field NameData TypeDescription
Dwg NumberTextDrawing Number
DescriptionTextDescription
URLTextURL
Click to the right of Dwg Number to select it and holding down the right mouse button, select “Primary Key”. Now click the upper right “X” to close the design view. Click yes to save the design for this table and give it a name (i.e., Dwg List)
Step 2 - Populate the Database
We will now add a few entries to populate the database. In the table view, open the database. Add a few entries, i.e.
Dwg NumberDescriptionURL
WGB-001Specs./WGB_001.pdf
WGB-002Plan./WGB_002.dwg
WGB-003Elevation./WGB_003.gif
Don’t worry now if these files listed in the URLs don’t exist yet. We are only demonstrating how easy it is to generate a home page. Click the “X” in the upper right hand corner and save the changes to your table.
Step 3 - Report the Database as a Homepage
Click the “Reports” tab to get to the reports page. Select Design View, choose your table as the source and click “OK”. You should see the design view.
We have to reset the page margins so that they will not be printed out. Pull down the File menu and click page setup. Select the margins tab and set all four to zero. Select the report window alone by clicking in the top section of the report design window. Right click properties and set width to 8” (this will allow some room for the output not to wrap in the file).
With the mouse, pull down the View menu and click on “View Report Header”. You should see a Report Header and Footer in the design. Do this again and click on “View Page Header”. The page header and footer should disappear. Click the “label” from the Toolbox (the item with the “Aa”) and place it in the Report Header and type these lines using a <ctrl><Enter> to end each line rather that a <Enter> alone:
<HTML>
<HEAD>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
<CENTER><P>My Project Page</P></CENTER>
Right click on the control and choose properties. Click on the “All” tab to see all the properties at once. Change the properties as follows:
Left – 0
Top – 0
Select the label control and holding the left mouse button down, stretch the control until the text looks right on the header (with the small width, the text wraps down the page.).
Click to select the Detail Section. Click on the “Text Box” control (the item with the “ab|”)and place it on the Detail Section. Right click on the control and choose properties. Click on the “All” table to see all the properties at once. Change the properties as follows:
Can Grow – YES
Can Shrink – YES
Left – 0
Top – 0
Control Source -=’<P><A HREF=”’ & TRIM( [URL] )&’”>’&TRIM( [Dwg Number] )&’ - ‘ & TRIM( [Description] ) & ‘</A></P>’
Click the “label” from the Toolbox (the item with the “Aa”) and place it in the Report Footer and type these lines using a <ctrl><Enter> to end each line rather that a <Enter> alone:
</BODY>
</HTML>
Right click on the control and choose properties. Click on the “All” tab to see all the properties at once. Change the properties as follows:
Left – 0
Top – 0
We have to size the three controls so that they will all print properly. Selecting each one individually, right click and choose “Size”, and “To Fit”. This will insure that all the lines will print out.
Click the “X” to leave, save the report as, say, “Project HomePage” and click “OK”. If you can wait until you are ready to print to file, click on “preview” to see your html code.
Step 4 - Set up a ASCII printer
In Window 95, Select “Start”, “Settings”, “Printers”. Double click “Add Printer” in the window. Click next, select “Local Printer” and click “Next”. Scroll down to “Generic” and choose “FILE:” as the port. Click “Next”. DO NOT choose it as your default printer. Click next and skip printing a test page.
Step 5 - Print your home page.
In Access, pull down the file menu and click “Print”. Change the printer to “Generic / Text Only”, then click “OK”. Enter a file name, i.e., “HomePage.html”, that ends in “html” or “htm”. Choose a good directory path and click “OK”.
Step 6 - Browse your home page.
Using any standard Internet Browser, open the file on your computer. You have now created your first project homepage! (A working copy of this MS Access database of this example can be downloaded from IAI’s website: www.infoassets.com/ and go to “Resources”)
What tools are available
Project Website Tools
All of the common website building tools can be used to build project websites. In building the site, consider adding a common menu for navigating quickly to other major sections of the site, and to Home, Search, What’s New, etc.
Framework Technologies Corporation (FTC) has developed ActiveProject Builder® and ActiveProject Server® tools to develop engineering web sites:
ActiveProject Builder® lets users construct web sites for engineering design and project team collaboration. Users enter models of their data that represent how their information is organized, link the project’s documents to the model and publish the project as a web site.
ActiveProject Server® uses the same data model to organize project updates and changes over the WWW. More than just accessing copies, users now check out data to work on from the web site and check it back in when finished.
For more information, consult, www.frametech.com.
Product Data Servers
Vendors have always desired that their products be major product data repositories. As awareness of the potential for web accessed and shared data increased, software vendors began to re-organize their products as servers. Servers handle requests for product data from other applications, called clients.
The applications of product data servers to engineering are increasing. Examples include:
Specialized Product Data Servers. Many CAD vendors are recasting the product data authoring environment to serve up product data. At least two approaches have emerged;
Periodically publish the product data off-line for server delivery. This is basically the approach taken by CADCENTRE’s HyperPlant® product. Consult: www.cadcentre.com/.
Generate the appropriate data as requested from a single model. This is the approach taken by Bentley in their ModelServer Publisher® product. Bentley affiliate WorkPlace System Solutions, Inc., has introduced ProjectWise® which extends ModelServer Publisher® to host a broader range of design and engineering files
Special Format Servers. Increasingly, servers are being offered that store specialized representations. For example, Adaptive Media’s Envision 3D® server stores a specialized 3D representation that allows 3D models to be streamed across the Internet efficiently. Streaming the model improves the reality of a 3D model by allowing interactive navigation. Other solutions, such as VRML, require the whole model be downloaded before interacting with it. Consult: www.adaptivemedia.com/.
Thin Clients. Thin clients refer to a central application (server) exchanging data with a local application (client) with no local data storage (thin). One example of how thin clients can be used to share data is the Department of Defense Internet based Electronic Mall, known as EMall (consult: www.emall.dla.mil/ index2.htm). The Emall’s search engine queries a <Part.Net> thin client resident on the supplier’s server, distributed free to DoD suppliers. EMall and Part.Net illustrate how industrial databases can be integrated in the future, with very little modification of existing data resources. (consult: http://www.part.net/)
CE Site Hosting Services
Project hosting services simplify the process of setting up a collaboration site on the WWW. Project hosting services provide servers and site management, including access control, backup and support. In most cases, hosting services also supply proprietary software for using their site. Examples of hosting services, include:
ProjectNet®, Blue Line/On-Line - www.bluelineonline.com/
e-Builder®, MP Interactive Corporation - www.mpinteractive.com/
Project Hole®, ThePigeonHole - www.thepigeonhole.com/
The future
Are project websites and web based collaboration realistic concepts in today’s infrastructure? We are already seeing a rapid expansion of the WWW in engineering, production, distribution operations and maintenance. The tools that engineers use, such as CAD, CAM, CAE, word processing, document management, groupware, and other software applications have or will have built-in capabilities to utilize files, databases and simulations spread across the Web. Design teams will communicate with each other by voice, video, blackboards as naturally as they do by telephone today, at negligible cost. Team members will be able to work from different cities, job sites, countries, airplanes, their homes. Teams will be chosen on their ability to integrate with and contribute to product and process data shared by users throughout the design lifecycle. These and other changes make it more critical than ever that engineers plan carefully for the new possibilities enabled by WWW technology.
For more information, contact: William G. Beazley, PhD, President, Information Assets, Inc., 5700 Northwest Central Dr., Suite 160, Houston, TX 77092, TEL: 713-690-7644, FAX 713-690-7645, email: wbeazley@infoassets.com. www.infoassets.com/
Biography
William G. Beazley, Ph.D., President, Information Assets, Inc., has over 20 years experience in consulting and publishing, with emphasis in analysis, planning, implementation and review of advanced automation systems. An outgrowth of his many consulting assignments, Dr. Beazley is widely known as the Editor of the E-x Report, a newsletter devoted exclusively to Electronic Business Practices such as E-Commerce, E-Business and Collaborative Engineering (CE). He also is Editor of the PSM/RMP Report, a newsletter covering OSHA’s rules for Process Safety Management (PSM) and EPA’s Risk Management Planning (RMP) programs. He consults, publishes, and lectures extensively on computer applications in engineering design. His many clients include the US Army, US Air Force.
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