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Configuration Data Class
The class ConfigData provides global application data which are stored
in static (shared) variables.
Overview
Programming Language
-
Microsoft Visual Basic .Net.
Availability
Constructors
Since all data and functions of this class are meant to be global, they
are all declared static (=shared). Hence, no constructor is available.
Interfaces
The class does not implement any interfaces.
Enumerations
The class does not provide enumerations.
Properties
Public Shared Property ActiveGroup as ActiveGroup
Gets or sets the presently selected group or subgroup of patients in the
CyDAS application.
Property Value
-
the presently selected group or subgroup of patients
Remarks
-
The value is set from the CyDAS application when a group is opened or closed.
-
Any CyDAS window may access this group through the ConfigData class.
Public Shared ReadOnly Property ActiveGroupTableName
as String
Gets the name of the database table for the ActiveGroup for this session.
Property Value
-
the name of the database table for the ActiveGroup.
Remarks
-
The name of the database table for the ActiveGroup is valid for a whole
session. A temporary table is created on the database for each session
in order to allow for a simultaneous multi-user access.
-
The table name is created in the private function createTableForActiveGroup().
It has the following structure: After the initial characters "AG" follows
the date, an "N", and a digit. Generally, this table is removed when the
CyDAS application is closed via the removeActiveGroupTableFromDB()
function.
Public Shared Property FilterAnalysis as Hashtable
Gets or sets the general paramters for data analysis.
Property Value
-
the general paramters for data analysis.
Remarks
-
The value is set from the CyDAS main window.
-
Any CyDAS analysis window receives its default paramters through this property.
If the parameters are changed inside an analysis window, a new hashtable
is created there, thus not influencing other windows.
Public Shared Property FilterMining as Hashtable
Gets or sets the general parameters for data mining.
Property Value
-
the general paramters for data mining.
Remarks
-
The value is set from the CyDAS main window.
-
Any CyDAS mining window receives its default paramters through this property.
If the parameters are changed inside a mining window, a new hashtable is
created there, thus not influencing other windows.
Public Shared Property Icon as Icon
Gets or sets the default icon for the windows of the CyDAS application.
Property Value
-
the default icon of the CyDAS application
Remarks
-
The value is set during the instantiation of the CyDAS main window (Form1).
-
Other windows get it from this position during their instantiation process.
Methods
When accessing any of the functions below, a call to the private function
init(see
also start()) is made in order to ensure the correct
initialisation of all values.
Public Shared Sub closeAllForms()
Closes all forms pertaining to the presently active group.
Return Value
Parameters
Remarks
-
The forms to be closed are added to an internal collection of dependent
forms with the handleForm() function.
-
If a dependent form is closed from its menu or via this function, it is
removed from that collection in the DependentForm_Closing
function.
Private Shared Sub DependentForm_Closing(ByVal
sender As Object, ByVal e As System.ComponentModel.CancelEventArgs)
This function handles the Form_Closing event of dependent forms. It removes
the closing form from the collection of dependent forms.
Return Value
Parameters
-
sender, e: as passed from the Form_Closing event.
Remarks
-
In the handleForm() function, the Form_Closing
event handler was set to this function.
Public Shared Function formatDate(ByRef InputDate
As Date) As String
Formats a date into a string in "YYYYMMDD" format.
Return Value
-
a date string in "YYYYMMDD" format.
Parameters
Remarks
-
Different databases require different date formats. Hence, all dates are
transformed into an eight-character string of format "YYYYMMDD".
-
This function is the reversal of the other formatDate()
function.
Public Shared Function formatDate(ByVal InputDate
As String) As Date
Instantiates a date object from a string representation of the date.
Return Value
Parameters
-
InputDate: a textual description of the date in "YYYYMMDD" format.
Remarks
-
Different databases require different date formats. Hence, all dates are
transformed into an eight-character string of format "YYYYMMDD".
-
This function is the reversal of the other formatDate()
function.
Public Shared Function getColorFromDialog(ByRef
DefaultColor As Color) As Color
Opens a standard windows color
dialog and retrieves the user selection from it.
Return Value
-
the user selected color.
-
the DefaultColor, if the user cancelled the selection from the
dialog.
Parameters
-
DefaultColor: the color to start the selection.
Remarks
-
If the user cancels the selection from the standard dialog, he will be
asked in a message box if he wants to set the color to transparent or if
he really wants cancel; thus, also Color.Transparent
can be selected.
Public Shared Function getDatabaseConnection()
As IDbConnection
Establishes a new database connection and returns it.
Return Value
-
a connection to the CyDAS database.
Parameters
Remarks
-
The return type is IDbConnection
instead of a specific type (i.e. OleDbConnection
for MS Access, SqlConnection
for MS SQL-Server, OdbcConnection
for MySQL; originally, objects of these types are instantiated but returned
as IDbConnection) in order to render the handling easy.
-
Other database engines were not yet tested with CyDAS; they might be accessible
with the OdbcConnection
section used with MySQL.
Public Shared Function getDatabaseEngine()
As String
Returns the name of the database engine as stated in the CyDAS.ini
file.
Return Value
-
the name of the database engine.
Parameters
Remarks
-
It is not checked if the name of the database engine is useful.
Public Shared Function getDeletionWildCard()
As String
Returns the wild card character to be used in an SQL DELETE statement.
Return Value
-
"*", for MS Access databases.
-
empty string, for other databses.
Parameters
Remarks
-
The type of wild card is determined during the start up procedure in the
private function readIniFile.
Public Shared Function getGeneralWildCard()
As String
Returns the wild card character to be used in an SQL LIKE statement for
a non-defined number of characters.
Return Value
-
"*", for MS Access and SQL server databases.
-
"%", for MySQL databases.
Parameters
Remarks
-
The type of wild card is determined during the start up procedure in the
private function readIniFile.
Public Shared Function getImportFilter(ByVal
Name As String) As ImportFilterData
Returns an ImportFilterData object representing the import filter given
by Name.
Return Value
Parameters
Remarks
-
The import filters are read during the start up process in the private
function readInputFilter.
-
A file with the Name of the filter and the extension ".cif" (= CyDAS Import
Filter) must be present in the CyDAS directory.
Public Shared Function getImportFilterNames()
As String()
Returns a string array with the names of all available import filters.
Return Value
-
a string array with the names of all available import filters.
Parameters
Remarks
Public Shared Function getNextInsertID(ByVal
Table As String) As Integer
CyDAS database tables use an integer number as an internal data row identifier;
it is always named "ID". With this function, the next higher value for
such an ID can be retrieved.
Return Value
-
the next higher value for the ID value in a given CyDAS database table.
Parameters
-
Table: the name of the database table.
Remarks
-
Though some database engines provide special parameters for querying the
next insert id, a generic statement is used: "Select Max(ID) From <Table>",
thereafter 1 is added.
Public Shared Function getQuotes() As String
Returns the quotation marks to be used with the current database engine.
Return Value
-
""", for MS Access and SQL server databases.
-
"'", for MySQL and SQL server databases.
Parameters
Remarks
-
The type of quotation marks is determined during the start up procedure
in the private function readIniFile.
Public Shared Sub getSharedDatabaseConnection(ByRef
con As IDbConnection)
Returns a reference to the database connection which is established during
start up.
Return Value
Parameters
-
a reference to a database connection.
Remarks
-
This special database connection is established already during the start
up of CyDAS and re-used for many queries. This is intended to speed up
performance since the creation and establishment of a connection takes
some resources.
-
The connection is also passed by reference to ensure highest performance.
Known Problems
-
If an exception occurs while data are read via this connection, the IDbReader
associated with it is not closed and hence the connection is blocked. A
restart of CyDAS may be required. Visual Basic .NET does not offer a possibility
to query the connection if an open reader is associated with it, so that
a new connection could be established in such a case.
Public Shared Function getSystemGroupNewName()
As String
Returns the name of the system group "New".
Return Value
Parameters
Remarks
-
Upto now, the name for the system group "New" cannot be changed and is
hard coded.
Public Shared Function getSystemGroupNewID()
As Integer
Returns the internal number of the system group "New".
Return Value
Parameters
Remarks
-
Upto now, the number for the system group "New" cannot be changed and is
hard coded.
Public Shared Sub handleException(ByRef exc
As Exception)
This function is generally used to handle exceptions caught by a Try ...
Catch() clause in the CyDAS application. It displays the descriptions of
the exception (Exception.Message)
followed by the Stack Trace (Exception.StackTrace)
in a message box to the user. If an Inner
Exception is present, these items of information are also displayed
for the inner exception(s) recursively.
Return Value
Parameters
-
exc: the exception which occured somewhere in the CyDAS application.
Remarks
-
Generally, all event handler functions are equipped with the necessary
Try ... Catch() blocks.
To do
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Provide the user with some functionality to save this information and email
it to the CyDAS developer team.
Public Shared Sub handleForm(ByRef DependentForm
As Form)
When the acxtive group is changed or closed, all analysis and mining windows
associated with the previously active group must be closed. This function
stores all those windows in a collection and adds appropriate event handlers
to them.
Return Value
Parameters
-
DependentForm: a reference to a window to be controlled in the manner described
above.
Remarks
Public Shared Function quoteString(ByVal input
As String) As String
Replaces quotation marks by a neutral character.
When data containing quotes have to be stored in the database, these
quotation marks would destroy the SQL query. Hence they are replaced by
a neutral character (upto now hard-coded: "|").
Return Value
-
a string with the quotation marks replaced by a replacement character ("|").
Parameters
-
input: a string whose quotation marks have to be replaced.
Remarks
Public Shared Function unquoteString(ByVal
input As String) As String
Re-introduces quotation marks into a string whose quotation marks had been
replaced by a replacement character.
When data containing quotes have to be stored in the database, these
quotation marks would destroy the SQL query. Hence they are replaced by
a neutral character (upto now hard-coded: "|").
Return Value
-
a string containing quotation marks in position of a previous replacement
character.
Parameters
-
input: a string whose quotation marks had previously been replaced.
Remarks
Public Shared Sub removeActiveGroupTableFromDB()
Removes the temporary table for the ActiveGroup from the database.
Return Value
Parameters
Remarks
-
The function is normally called when the CyDAS application is being closed.
Public Shared Sub saveImage(ByRef BitmapImage As
Bitmap)
The function saves a bitmap into a disk file. A standard windows "save
as" dialog is used for determining the file name.
Return Value
Parameters
-
BitmapImage: a reference to a bitmap to be saved to disk.
Remarks
-
The following file types are supported:
-
portable networks graphics (png)
-
joint picture experts group (jpg)
-
graphics interchange format (gif)
-
btimap (bmp)
-
tagged image file (tif)
-
If the extension does not correspond to the format or is absent, the extensions
shown above in brackets are added.
Public Shared Sub start()
Causes the initialisation of the variables of the class.
The initialisation is delegated to the private function init(). It checks
if initialisation has already been performed. Then it sets up the collections
for the import filters and the dependent forms, and reads the configuration
file and the import filters. There after, the shared
database connection is established and opened.
Return Value
Parameters
Remarks
-
Internally, the work is done bythe private function init() which is called
from start().
Friend Shared Function translateBooleanToString(ByVal
InputValue As Boolean) As String
Translates a boolean value into a string ("Y" / "N").
Return Value
-
"Y" if InputValue is true.
-
"N" if InputValue is false.
Parameters
-
InputValue: a boolean value to be translated.
Remarks
-
Not all database engines support the boolean datatype. Hence, boolean data
are translated into a string of length 1.
-
The function is reversed by translateStringToBoolean().
Friend Shared Function translateStringToBoolean(ByVal
InputValue As String) As Boolean
Translates a string ("Y" / "N") into a boolean value.
Return Value
-
true, if InputValue is "Y" or "y".
-
false, otherwise.
Parameters
-
InputValue: a string to be translated into a boolean value.
Remarks
-
The InputValue is not case sensitive.
-
Any values different from "Y" / "y" are simply translated
into false instead of raising an error for nonsense input.
-
This function is the reversal of translateBooleanToString()
which is required because not all database engines support the boolean
datatype and hence boolean data are translated into a string of length
1.