JWST ETC Sharing Workbooks

Sharing workbooks within the JWST Exposure Time Calculator (ETC) allows for effective collaboration between multiple users. 

On this page

       Video Tutorial:  ETC Workbooks

Words in bold are GUI menus/
panels or data software packages; 
bold italics are buttons in GUI
tools or package parameters.

Once a user has created a workbook with a set of calculations for a proposal, it is possible to easily share the workbook(s) with collaborators. Multiple users with "write" access can modify the same workbook simultaneously. Below is a page layout to help guide and familiarize users with the process of sharing workbooks. 


Be aware that an inherent risk of allowing multiple users to edit workbooks simultaneously is "clobbering." If another user is editing the same workbook, and they change something in any editable field, it will overwrite any edits that are in process in that same field by another user. Thus, collaborators are strongly encouraged to communicate and coordinate their work. To reduce this risk, only Read permissions are set by default when sharing workbooks, and we recommend that users should always coordinate when granting write access. Collaborators can always copy a workbook that has been shared, make changes and then share their copy of the workbook with the person who created the original workbook and other collaborators.


Page layout

Figure 1. The layout of the Available Workbooks page

Click on the figure for a larger view.


Start sharing

You can only share a workbook with users who have already logged into the ETC with their user account at least once. To obtain an account, users must register with MyST accounts.

(1) In the Available Workbooks pane, highlight the saved workbook to share.

If there are no workbooks in the Available Workbooks pane, a sample workbook can be obtained from the Sample Workbooks dropdown, an Example Science Program workbook can be obtained from the Example Science Program Workbooks dropdown, or the Create New Workbook button can be used to create a new, blank workbook.

Folders cannot be shared with other users and as such cannot be highlighted like workbooks.

(2) In the User Access Permissions pane, enter the email of the collaborator you wish to share the workbook with then click the Add User by Email button. Sharing is verified once the user's name is populated in the pane. Now your collaborator will be able to see the shared workbook under their Available Workbooks when they login. When a workbook has been shared with multiple users, the names will appear in alphabetical order by first name (see Figure 1). 

A workbook can be shared with only one user at a time. Attempts to input multiple email addresses at the same time will result in an error message.

Warning

Sharing workbooks while logged in as an anonymous user is not allowed.

Permissions

In the User Access Permissions pane, each individual with whom users share a workbook can be given the permissions to Read, Write, and Grant or Revoke access. Multiple users can have different permissions for a given workbook. When a workbook is shared, initially the new user only has Read access by default. The permission for Write access can be granted by the collaborators who have the Grant access. The numbered list below describes the allowed permissions for workbooks. 

  1. Read: allows to view the workbook and not re-run the calculation or change any parameters.
  2. Write: allows to re-run the calculation and alter the saved parameters. 
  3. Grant: allows to share the workbook with others and grant them read and write permissions. 
  4. Revoke: allows to revoke access to the workbook by other users.

Stop Sharing

To stop sharing a workbook with a given user, uncheck all permissions for that user.


References

Go to the online JWST Exposure Time Calculator Tool

Pontoppidan, K. M., Pickering, T. E.,  Laidler, V. G.  et al., 2016, Proc. SPIE 9910, Observatory Operations: Strategies, Processes, and Systems VI, 991016
Pandeia: a multi-mission exposure time calculator for JWST and WFIRST



Notable updates
  •  
    Video link added.

  •  
    Updated text to suggest copying a workbook and then making changes when working with collaborators. Also updated text about sharing a workbook when ETC version changes.
Originally published