User Tab

Overview

The User Tab is shown in Fig. 1.



[Fig 1] User Tab

It can be considered to be made up of three separate parts:

  • The "Users" pane showing which Users are logged into the beamlines, and which user is active.
  • The "Chat" pane which allows Users and Staff to send messages to each other.
  • The "Beamline Release" pane which allows Users to notify Staff they have finished their experiments.
Each of the panes is described below in more detail.

The Users Pane



[Fig 2] User Pane showing Currently Logged in Users

  • The Users Pane lists the user names, their status (active in red or passive) and their location (remote, beamline, or hutch) of all Blu-Ice instances open at the beamline.
  • There is also an option to display the actual name of each individual user with an open Blu-Ice session. To do this, create a file called nameList in the directory /home/$USER/.bluice . Enter the names of all the people using the account for data collection and, if desired, location or contact information (one name per line). For example:

    Jane Doe at lab (x 666)
    Jane Doe at home
    John Smith
    Other

The Chat Pane



[Fig 3] Chat Room Pane

You can enter a message in the white chat pane and it will be displayed in the Chat room pane of all Blu-Ice clients logged into the same beamline. This is a useful tool for communicating with the User Support Staff or with your collaborators. Clicking on Chat View will open a separate window. This allows you to see messages without having to change Tabs within Blu-Ice. This window will stay open even if you close the Blu-Ice window.

You can save the chat file to your data or home area using the Save File button.

Check the pause box if you want to stop new messages appearing on the window. Once unchecked, the latest messages will be displayed automatically. Clicking on the Clear All button will clear all text previously entered (you must be in active mode to do this), or you can pause the chat by clicking on the radio button next to pause

You can also change the color of the font used to display the message using the eight radio buttons to the right of the pane.

Since December 2011 the SPEAR3 status messages are logged to the Chat Pane

The Beamline Release Pane



[Fig 4] Beamline Release Pane

Click the Release Now button if you have finished your experiments and wish to release the beamline to SSRL staff. Enter any comments you wish to leave for SSRL staff in the Comments for Staff area.



[Fig 5] Confirm Release

You will be asked to confirm your entire group has finished using the beamline, by clicking the red I am sure our whole group is done using the beamline button within ten seconds. You may Cancel the request or let the request time out, if you wish to continue using the beamline. Otherwise, your last sample will be dismounted by the robot, and after a short delay your Blu-Ice session(s) will close.



[Fig 6] Release After Finishing Current Task

If you click the Release after Current Task button, the current data collection or screening task(s) will be allowed to finish, and after a further 15 minutes of inactivity, the beamline will be returned to SSRL staff. Again, you may Cancel the request if you wish to continue using the beamline.