Team:Calgary Software/Project/Graphical User Interface

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Latest revision as of 03:41, 30 October 2008

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Evolutionary Algorithm	Data Retrieval	Modeling	Graphical User Interface

The Graphical User Interface

Initial GUI screen to specify desired products for the system

Programs are only useful if the user is able to understand how to use them. Working through a terminal or command prompt may be easy and simple for some, but for the majority of people, it is not something that they can easily do. As a result, we created a Graphical User Interface (GUI) to allow anyone to use EvoGEM. Since the intent of EvoGEM is to help anyone dealing with synthetic biology, this GUI is essential.

When first faced with the GUI, the user is asked to enter his or her desired products and their relative quantities; that is, in essence the only input the system needs. Everything else is pre-configured for the system and the user can run the software to produce the circuits that fulfill his or her needs.

Users that are more familiar with the system or with the principles of Evolutionary Strategies can edit the initial settings according to the specific needs of the problem. This gives much more flexibility in terms of search methods and allows more advanced users to take advantage of their knowledge for this specific problem.

Advanced users can re-configure initial settings

Settings can be re-configured here as well

The interface goes even further in allowing users to harness previous knowledge for any specific bio-circuit they wish to design. Users may specify an "embryo" circuit for the system to start its optimization from. This circuit will be used as the base template for the evolution an could save some time and effort for the system, and also for the user.

Users can choose the parts they wish to include in the "embryo" circuit from a list that reflects the results obtained from the registry query by Perl. For every part, there is also the option to inspect its characteristics such as: sequence, different base constituency, melting temperature and more.

Users can aid the system's search algorithm by giving it some previous knowledge they hold

The parts are chosen from a graphical list that represents the registry

Each part's characteristics can be viewed on demand

Navigation

Evolutionary Algorithm	Data Retrieval	Modeling	Graphical User Interface

Home	The Team	The Project	Notebook

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 !align="center"|[[Team:Calgary_Software/Team|The Team]]
 !align="center"|[[Team:Calgary_Software/Project|The Project]]
-!align="center"|[[Team:Calgary_Software/Modeling|Modeling]]
 !align="center"|[[Team:Calgary_Software/Notebook|Notebook]]
 |}
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 == The Graphical User Interface ==
-How effective would EvoGEM be if its users had to be familiar with programming languages?  This is why we need a user-friendly interface, which will make this program easy-to-use, even for those with no programming experience.
-The graphical user interface allows the user to enter the name of a target compound by entering one of the following:
+<div align=justify>
+[[Image:GUIPic1.jpg‎|thumb|left|200px|Initial GUI screen to specify desired products for the system]]
+Programs are only useful if the user is able to understand how to use them. Working through a terminal or command prompt may be easy and simple for some, but for the majority of people, it is not something that they can easily do. As a result, we created a Graphical User Interface (GUI) to allow anyone to use EvoGEM. Since the intent of EvoGEM is to help anyone dealing with synthetic biology, this GUI is essential.
-* Common name
-* InChI
-* Amino acid sequence
-<div align=justify>The user can further change various parameters, such as the mutation percentage or number of generations. Users can also choose specific Biobrick parts that the want to include in the circuit. However, sometimes the user may just want to have the program run without specifying anything specific besides the input. All the other features besides the input have default values. So in general, EvoGEM can be set up as general or personalized as the user may want. In this way, the user has more control over how the evolutionary paradigm functions. With this GUI in place, this makes the program easy for use.</div>
+When first faced with the GUI, the user is asked to enter his or her desired products and their relative quantities; that is, in essence the only input the system needs. Everything else is pre-configured for the system and the user can run the software to produce the circuits that fulfill his or her needs.
+Users that are more familiar with the system or with the principles of Evolutionary Strategies can edit the initial settings according to the specific needs of the problem. This gives much more flexibility in terms of search methods and allows more advanced users to take advantage of their knowledge for this specific problem.
+<gallery widths="435px" hieghts="300px" perrow="10">
+Image:GUIPic2.jpg‎|Advanced users can re-configure initial settings
+Image:GUIPic3.jpg‎|Settings can be re-configured here as well
+</gallery>
+The interface goes even further in allowing users to harness previous knowledge for any specific bio-circuit they wish to design. Users may specify an "embryo" circuit for the system to start its optimization from. This circuit will be used as the base template for the evolution an could save some time and effort for the system, and also for the user.
+Users can choose the parts they wish to include in the "embryo" circuit from a list that reflects the results obtained from the registry query by Perl. For every part, there is also the option to inspect its characteristics such as: sequence, different base constituency, melting temperature and more.
+<gallery widths="275px" hieghts="300px" perrow="10">
+Image:GUIPic4.jpg‎|Users can aid the system's search algorithm by giving it some previous knowledge they hold
+Image:GUIPic5.jpg‎|The parts are chosen from a graphical list that represents the registry
+Image:GUIPic6.jpg‎|Each part's characteristics can be viewed on demand
+</gallery>
+</div>
 == Navigation ==
@@ Line 43: / Line 66: @@
 !align="center"|[[Team:Calgary_Software/Team|The Team]]
 !align="center"|[[Team:Calgary_Software/Project|The Project]]
-!align="center"|[[Team:Calgary_Software/Modeling|Modeling]]
 !align="center"|[[Team:Calgary_Software/Notebook|Notebook]]
 |}