== User Manual ==

=== How to start ===


    - Go to [[http://chinagis.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/chinagis the ChinaGIS-Portal]].
    - Select a "Main Function" within the left frame.
    - Select a "Sub-Function".

=== Main-Function "Data Entry" ===

    * Sub-Function "Table Administration"
      * Generate empty user tables.
      * Delete complete user tables.
      * Add/Drop attributes to/from user tables (selectable datatypes: date, integer, location, text and numeric).
        - Choose a name for the attribute.
        - Choose one of the five data types.
        - Press "Refresh" to list the existing attributes. 
    * Sub-Function "Data Upload"
      - Select an empty table from the list in the lower left frame. (If there is no table available yet, choose "Table Administration" and create a new empty table first.)
      - Browse through your files and choose the datafile.
          * The datafile should have the following format:
            * only one dataset per row
            * all attributes are separated by a simikolon: ';'
            * the number of data per row must correspond exactly to the number of columns (attributes) of the specific databasetable (defined in "Table Administration")
            * the type of data must correspond to the datatype chosen for the databasetable defined under "Table Administration" (if in doubt choose "text", as it excepts all strings)
      - Upload the datafile. 
          * You may check it in the text-window. 
          * Send the file to the database by clicking the "Load File" button.
          * If the content of your datafile is not shown (you may only see "{}"), please go back to the previous step und upload the datafile again.
      - The number of successfully loaded datasets will be shown. (If the number is "0.0", press the "Refresh"-button.)
      - To check the success of the upload, please go to Sub-Function "Edit Datasets" 
    * Sub-Function "Add Datasets"
      - Select a specific user table in the lower left frame and press "Add dataset".
      - Specify a new dataset by entering attributes in the main frame. 
      - Press "Add new dataset" to save and continue specifing the next dataset. 
      - To see or edit the datasets, go to sub-function "Edit Datasets". 
    * Sub-Function "Edit Datasets"
      - Select a specific user table from the list in the lower left frame and press "Show to alter".
      - Specify a dataset-range to show within the table and press "List sub-selected datasets".
      - Select a specific dataset and press "Show dataset" to edit.
      - Edit the values of the dataset and press "Save dataset" to save the the alterations.
      - Select the next dataset to edit.

=== Main-Function "Search and Mapping" - Table Query ===

    
**This function allows the user to select datasets from an user-table, to show the related locations in a map and to add further spatial objects.**

  - Select a database-schema from the list in the middle left frame. Each database-schema represents a folder, which may contain a number of tables. The ChinaGIS database consists of two schemas:
    * "User Tables" => user specified tables, which can be related to the "sys_id"-attribute of the geodata-layers in chgis
    * "China Historical GIS" (chgis) => original geodata-layers from [[http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~chgis/data/chgis/|the China Historical GIS]]
  - Select a table/layer from the lower left frame
  - Specify:
    * the attributes to be shown in the dataset-table
    * the query for at least one selected attribute and
    * the attribute, which will be used to relate to the "sys_id"-attribute of the geodata-layers in chgis.
  - "Run Query" presents the number of so far selected datasets. The range of datasets to show can be specified in the upper right part of the central frame.
  - The table shows the specified datasets.
    * Select the datasets you want to display and press the "Selected" button to generate the map. 
    * Alternatively press the "All" button to display all datasets.
  - The map will be generated. If the central screen remains empty, press the "Refresh"-button (the server is often slower than the browser).
    * The map area should now show a map with one or more red "markers". These markers are clickable and provide additional information about the location. If there are multiple datasets for one location, the marker-dot will increase and after clicking on it, the datas will be shown in "tabs".
    * The right "legend"-frame presents some additionally available geodata-layers, wich
      * can be included by specifying a reasonable time-range and hitting the "Load Layer"-button
      * can be excluded by specifying an "unreasonable" time-range (like from -9999/12/31 to -9999/12/31)

=== Main-Function "Spatial Query" ===

    * still empty 
=== Main-Function "Mapping" ===

    * Sub-Function "SQL-query":
      * Early test function to show the results of a SQL-query on geometry-layers in the map.
      * May be used, if regular SQL-queries are known.
      * !!!Errors are not caught!!!
    * Sub-Function "Coordinates"
      * Early test function to show a marker at specified coordinates on the map.