Designer ribbon
Recent version of Excel have a top ribbon/menu that displays most buttons and functionalities in several tabs. Outbreaktools files (setup, designer and linelists) each have an extra tab in this menu containing OutbreakTools functionalities.
Manage the designer
Clear entries
Clear all fields from user-entered data.
Language of the designer
Use the dropdown menu to change the language of the designer interface. Available languages: English, French, Arabic, Spanish and Portuguese.
Imports
Import translations
If the user wishes to modify the linelist interface translations, it is possible to ask for the config file to EpiDS/Yves Amevoin, tweak it and import it with this button.
Import passwords
The designer is loaded with a password table, with private and public keys to protect exports (when some exports are configured to be password protected). However, the designer is on Github, in a public repo, so if you compile a linelist that needs a password protection, it is best to ask for the config file to EpiDS/Yves Amevoin and import it using the “Import password” button.
Import styles
The designer comes with two default styles for linelist themes. It is possible to personalise it. To do that, ask for the config file to EpiDS/Yves Amevoin, tweak it and import it with this button.
Linelist generation
Open a linelist
This button is used as a shortcut to opening a linelist.
Open the generation report
The generation report is a log of the linelist generation. It lists the details of the generation run:
- Run details: the date, time and the setup file used
- Build steps: each sheet that was built, with its sections
- Analysis output: Analysis tables and charts built
- Messages: Info, Note, success, warnings and errors
- Final Outcome: The number of sheets built, the number of variables written and the total time taken
Click on this button to access the generation report once the linelist has been generated. Alternatively the report can also be found in the folder where the generated linelist has been saved.
Linelist generation options.
The designer ribbon also contains three check boxes that control how the generation runs:
Ignore optional warnings: Warnings may appear during generation to alert you to a possible problem. Some of them are not serious and do not affect the outcome. When this box is checked, these optional warnings are ignored.
Include and instruction sheet: This adds an instructions sheet and it is the first sheet of the generated linelist. It explains how to use the linelist: how to enter data, explore data, export data, send data to the dashboard, and download the geobases.
Show progress bar: When this box is checked, a progress bar is displayed in the Designer to show how the generation is progressing. On the Main sheet of the Designer workbook, the progress bar appears at the bottom. On the Generate multiple sheet, it appears at the top.
Multiple linelists
The “Multiple linelists” section in the Designer ribbon brings together the tools you need to generate several linelists in one go. This section contains buttons that work on the table in the Generate multiple sheet, where each row corresponds to one linelist. Note that these buttons are visible across the Designer, but they are only functional when the user is on the Generate Multiple sheet.
Load multiple file/folders
This is used to load files into the “setups”, “geobases” and “output” columns. Before clicking the button, ensure the cursor is inside the data table area or else you will get an error message.
How this button works, place the cursor in a column (for example, “Setup”) and select your files. One line is filled for each file selected, starting from the cursor. To select several files at once, they must be in the same folder. If you select a single cell and choose only one file, only that cell is filled.
Also note that loading multiple files replaces any lines that are already filled. To keep existing lines and add new ones, click the add line buttons first, then load your files.
Duplicate
You can duplicate a filled row and modify it according to what your interests are.
Add Rows
Clicking this button will add more rows.
Resize
Click on the “Resize” button to remove any empty rows at the end or in the middle of the worksheet.
Import/Export
These buttons provide a way to import/export the content of the table from one Designer to another, which avoids the effort of having to re-enter all the data.
To do this, use the Export button to export everything in the table, and the Import button to bring it into the other Designer.
Ribbon
This is used to load a ribbon template file in the designer. That file is necessary to generate a linelist with its own OBT menu, and is part of the .zip archive that you can download from Github if you want to build an OBT linelist.
Generate
Once you have populated the sheet with all the required information, click the “Generate” button to start the generation process.