MySpace Explorer is the user interface for MySpace, Astrogrid's file system. In MySpace, files are stored across the Astrogrid network.
Each user is given a "home space" where his/her files are logically situated, although the actual physical location of each file can
be different. Physical location is taken care of by MySpace. Although users can have some control over this aspect, the idea is that
they should be able largely to ignore where files are held. Why is there a need for such a system? First and foremost a user needs
somewhere to keep files. These cover workflows, queries, configuration files for tasks, results and intermediate results of investigations,
and indeed anything users find useful in their work. As the underlying paradigm for Astrogrid is one of workflows which can be
conducted across the network and over a considerable period of time, a distributed and available file system is a necessity.
MySpace Explorer tries hard to present a usable file management interface somewhat similar to Explorer in Windows and Nautilus in
Linux. There are inevitable differences, some to do with the fact that it is browser based, some to do with the fact that the system
is not localized to the desktop.
MySpace Explorer comes in two guises. Firstly, a user needs a main interface where the focus of attention is exploraing and
maintaining their personal file space. This main interface is what we normally term the
MySpace Explorer. Secondly, a dialogue
is required that is similar but simpler than the main interface, and which is placed in the service of other Astrogrid components:
for example, when a user wishes to save a query in the Query Editor. The latter form of the Explorer is normally termed a microbrowser,
or the MySpace Microbrowser.
Throughout MySpace Explorer, we use the metaphors of file and folder, familiar to desktop users. Visually, there is a high degree
of consistency in the use of these terms. Colloqually, and in Astrogrid documentation, you will also find the term directory.
Directory and folder should be treated as synonymous terms.
MySpace Explorer uses two views, a tree view and a folder view. You should treat the latter as your main working interface. The tree view is purely there as an aid to help visualize your file structure, and is a good aid to navigation around that structure. However, the folder view contains a control area where you can manipulate file and folder structures. You can also navigate using the folder view, albeit somewhat more sedately than using the tree view. Please note that the border between the two views can be dragged for resizing.
The tree view only displays folders, not files.
When users first enter the Explorer and see the tree view, they are presented with
their "home space" displayed and any folders one level below the home folder. For a new user, only the home folder will be displayed,
until folders are subsequently created by the user within the home folder. When a user clicks on a folder icon, the Explorer will open
the folder and display any subfolders one level below. Hence by clicking on folders a user can open their whole tree of folders,
if that is desired.
As the Explorer is only an interface into MySpace, it may be that when a folder is clicked for opening, that the contained information
may need to be loaded from MySpace. If this is the case, a "loading..." message will be displayed immediately below the folder icon
until the information has been loaded. If the folder is a bottom leaf, the Explorer tries to give some indication of its contents,
again with a small message below the folder icon: "empty" if indeed the folder is completely empty, and "empty of folders" if it
contains some files but no sub-folders. It is possible to open your whole tree in this way. You can manipulate the display by also
closing a branch by clicking on the appropriate open folder; thus you can maintain a tree display of the relevant part of your
system rather than having the whole tree open in the view. The tree view is scrollable both vertically and horizontally.
You see no files within the tree view. But by clicking or highlighting the name of a folder, you direct the Explorer to open that
folder within the folder view, and there you can see files...
The folder view is the main working view of the Explorer. It is composed of two areas: a folder area and a control area.
The folder area fulfills a similar function as the tree view. It displays structural information about what a particular folder contains, but in this case both (sub-)folders and files, and enables the opening of contained folders, and the highlighting of files and of folders for further manipulation. Clicking on a sub-folder's icon will open that sub-folder in the Folder View replacing the current (i.e. parent folder) in the view. Thus you can drill down further through the tree, from folder to sub-folder to sub-sub-folder, and so on, until you reach a bottom leaf. This is an important alternative way of navigation to the Tree View. A file or folder can be highlighted by clicking on its name: in doing so you copy the path of the item into the Selected field contained within the Control Area.
The control area is the focus for manipulating MySpace files and folders. There are currently three parts to the control area:
The microbrowser version of the MySpace Explorer is always invoked in the service of another portal component. At present, the contexts are: