Depth Linking


Within the Model Manager there is now the facility to link or join tables at depth. A key example would be to reference the geology bandings within the Sample Information table at changes in depth.

There are already pre-configured depth link grids established within the model manager which allows for ease of use to get started. You can link any grid that is depth enabled but it is important to note that you can only make changes to depth link tables outside of a project.

The first thing you may want to do is get familiar with how the current depth link table (Stratum Details) is set up before making changes or adding new ones. To begin select Configuration Packs from the System Ribbon and click on Manage Model after selecting the chosen Configuration Pack.

Scroll down till you find the Field Geological Descriptions group and click the Edit button. You will notice a field currently greyed out called Depth Link Header, this field is used to join a table to a depth link table, as the Stratum Details table is configured out of the box to be a depth link you cannot set a depth link header which is why this field is currently greyed out.

Depth Link Header fields will be explained about in more details later on.

For now, click on the Depth Link tab where a new dialog will be displayed. You will notice that there are drop-down columns for Top Depth and Base Depth with a checkbox for enabling the Depth Link grid.

As you can see this grid has been configured to be a depth link grid already, so no further changes are required. However, the principle is the same for setting up other grids to be depth link aware as long as they have a depth top and depth base established. If you wish to turn off a Depth Link table, simply uncheck the Enabled check box and press Save.

Managing Grids and Depth Linking

As the Field Geological Descriptions grid has been configured to be a Depth Link table you are now able to join this with other tables by depth. As mentioned briefly above a good example of this is joining Geology to the Sample table. Out of the box Sample Information is already linked to the Geology table to review how to link tables to Geology go to the Model Manager and navigate to the Sample Information Group, then click Edit.

Notice that the Depth Link Header field is active and shows Depth Top already configured. This means that the geology records will now be linked to the top depth of the Samples, when the top depth changes so will the geology bandings based on its changes in top depth. This will be illustrated later on.

Note that it is possible to change the Depth Link Header to join based on a different depth field for example Depth Base. To change this all that is required is choosing the new header from the drop-down and pressing save.

For the present time leave the Depth Link Header as Depth Top and Close the Group Edit dialog window. Now, we are able to link these grids together which is explained below.

Back on the main Groups page within the Model Manager, you will notice the button for Manage Grids.

Press this to display the Grid Manager for this group.

This Grid Manager has a straightforward interface:

If you select the group drop-down, you will see a list of the grids which have been linked and are now ready for use. For this example, note that the location Details and Project grids are available along with the linked Geology Table. The reason for this is because Location is the parent of Samples and Project is the Parent of Location, the Grid Manager respects the project hierarchy.

Select Field Geological Descriptions and a list of columns available will be displayed.

Here you can highlight what column you wish to add to the sample grid and click on the right arrow to move it across, (conversely you may wish to remove unwanted columns from the sample grid or ones previously transferred across from other grids by highlighting the relevant column and pressing the left arrow button).

In the above illustration you will see that Depth Top, Depth Base, Geology Code and Legend Code have been allocated to the Sample table. The Grid order can be configured however you wish by using the up and down arrow keys to move the column one place in either direction. The double up and down arrows will move the selected column to the very top or bottom of the column list.

Click save once finished allocating columns to commit your selection.

Close out of the Model Manager and open a project, now open the Sample Grid from the Project Explorer.

You will now see the Geology columns you selected in the Grid Manager being displayed in the Sample Grid in the order previously chosen. These columns appear in italics and are highlighted blue to identify they are joined columns.

If you look at the grid you will see that the depth top of the location sample fits in the bandings of the depth top and base for the geology and that the geology code and legend code are now displayed. When the depth top of a locations sample crosses over in the next geology banding you will see the geology change. This mean you can now identify what geology was discovered where a sample was taken at that depth.

This can now be reported on by either a CSV Export or if you use the Excel Extension it will show the Geology Table within the Sample Table without the need to report on two separate tables.

You May wish to experiment with what tables you wish to Join. It is important to note that once the Sample Grid is linked to Geology a Grid that is a child of Sample Information can also be linked to Geology without the need to set up a Depth Link Header.

To illustrate this point, you are able to add Columns from the Geology Table to Environmental Containment Testing because its parent group is Sample Information which has already by linked by depth to Geology.

When you go to the Grid Manager you will see both Sample Information and Geology Groups available for selection but note that the Depth Link Header for Environmental Containment Testing was not selected.

Data Editing within the Grids

The data contained within the columns can be updated dynamically. For example, if you were to change a Geology Banding between certain depths then when the Sample grid is refreshed the geology columns where these changes were made will be updated here.

The below example shows that for Location BH127 at a depth top of 0 and depth base of 0.75 the Legend Code and Geology code has been altered.

After committing the changes go to the Sample Grid and press reload data tab.

The updates are now displayed.

The same principle applies if you change the depths associated with the Geology bands.