Scheduler Demo
"What to do"

The following is a list of things to try to do with the scheduler demo. In order to run the demo, run "java -jar /home/eliebowi/scheduler.jar" from any lab machine.

Please note that the user interface is not ideal. Most of this will be cleaned up in the coming weeks. However, the demo is operational and demonstrates much of the core functionality of our scheduling program.

Select "Databases-->Courses" from the free-floating menu bar. Select any of the already-existing courses, noting the information displayed on the right. Each information field corresponds to an entry in the "Add Course" dialogue. Try adding, removing, or editing courses as you like. These changes will be uploaded to a server, so whatever you create/destroy will persist when you next run the program.

Select "Databases-->Instructors" from the menu bar. Select any of the already-existing instructors, noting the information displayed on the right. Each information field corresponds to an entry in the "Add Instructor" dialogue. Try adding, removing, or editing instructors as you like.

Select "Databases-->Locations" from the menu bar. Select any of the already-existing locations, noting the information displayed on the right. Each information field corresponds to an entry in the "Add Location" dialogue. Try adding, removing, or editing locations as you like. A location's particular qualities (Smartroom, overhead, etc.) will affect which location and which courses the instructor is paired with during generation.

Select "Databases-->Preferences" from the menu bar. There will be three tabs to the right. Only the "Days" tab is implemented currently. Click the "Days" tab.

Make a preference by filling in each field and pressing the combination of days you want. When pleased with the fields click "Create" at the bottom left of the Days tab. If all fields were correct, the title of that preference should update in the "Existing Preferences" list on the left side of the window.

If interested, trying to create a preference with any invalid fields will provide an error message and the preference will not be made. Instead, the fields that were invalid will be highlighted red. Upon any change to a previously invalid field, the text will return to it's normal color.

Select "Schedule-->All-in-One" from the menu bar. In the window which pops up, select all the courses, instructors, and locations you wish to incorporate into a given schedule. Note that you must select at least one course. When you have selected all that you wish to, click the "Generate" button.

In the following window which pops up, browse through the list of scheduled courses. In the right pane, checking or unchecking any of the items under "Filters" or "Currently Viewing" will selectively filter out various aspects of the current schedule.

At the top right of the screen is a section titled "View Mode" and a section titled "View". Currently only the "List" and "Week" views are functional. The "Calendar" and "Day" views are still in development.

With the schedule now generated, you can select "View-->Fairness". This will display a window whereby a schedule can be "rated". In particular, "fairness" means how well each instructor's course and time preferences are respected in the current schedule. If you select an instructor and click "Additional Information" under the "Advanced (Individual)" title, you will be given a breakdown of why a given instructor received the fairness value he did.