Introduction

The Edge application is built using Canopy Data, a framework for graphical applications. This means Edge inherits some useful features which are worth expanding on here.

Welcome tab

A Welcome tab is displayed when the application is started, providing quick access to several tools constituting the Edge data management suite. This tab can be re-opened via the Help menu if closed.

Data manager

The Edge application is organized around the Data manager pane, where the user can create, edit or save data. When the application is started, all data models, import records, search filters and data tables are loaded from the connected database, and sorted by data models in a hierarchical table.

Interacting with data

Double clicking an item in the Data manager opens the relevant tool to view or edit it. When an item has been edited, a ● symbol appears next to it, indicating the changes to this item have not been saved yet. Saving can be done by selecting items to save and hit the Save button, or using a right-click menu action.

New items can be created using either the + button at the bottom of the pane, or the right-click New menu.

Searching entities

The Data manager pane also features a search bar to allow quick retrieval of entities. Currently, a query retrieves all entities having at least one fact whose value starts with the given string. As a consequence, only the string valued facts are considered during a search. Please note that this search is case sensitive.

Typing a string in the search bar and hitting enter or the search button starts the search. Retrieved entities are sorted by data models, and showed in place of the data pane. They can be edited or viewed in more details in the Entity creator by double clicking them (see Editing Data). Any interaction with an entity in the search results appends it to the Data manager pane, so it persists even if the search is cleared.

Clearing the results can be easily done by hitting the clear button which appeared after a search has been made. This will restore the data pane.

Window Management

Reorganising Panes

Windows in Edge can be re-organized by clicking on the title bar and dragging them.

Dragging the File Upload pane to a new location.

Any draggable window can also be completely separated from the main application window. If a draggable window (other than the main one) gets closed, it can be re-opened via the View menu.

Windows without a title bar (e.g. the tabs on the left hand side) can also be moved by right clicking the area containing the tabs and creating a new pane, then dragging the tab into the newly created pane.

Viewing two entities side-by-side by splitting tabs

Application Layout on Startup

After closing, the application will store the current layout and attempt to restore it on re-opening. There are some caveats to this though, as it will unfortunately not restore previously open tabs, or panes which only contain tabs.