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This section describes the basic handling of the graphical user interface (GUI): How to open, close, maximise, and move editors; how to create and delete elements in the application as processes or flows, and how to benefit from the drag & drop functionality that is quick and flexible, but perhaps uncommon.

Overall, the user interface itself is flexible; individual sections of forms can be minimised, saving space. This is explained more in detail in the following.

Working with the GUI

The openLCA user interface (GUI) uses the GUI from Eclipse; it provides therefore possibilities that are not known in other (typically Windows) applications. But besides these specialities, many features are straightforward and known from other applications as well. This section will explain both special and standard features of the user interface.

Overview

The application looks like this:

At the top of the window you see a menu bar...

...and in the file menu there are several menu items available, some for import, export and changing the application preferences.

The toolbar below gives you a quick access to object-depending actions like saving and exporting. Switching the editors will change the available icons so that only the relevant icons are on display.

Navigation view and category system

The navigation view shows the main category tree on the left side. In many operation systems, a text with a small triangle indicates a hidden subsection. Clicking on the triangle displays the section, clicking on it again hides the section. In other operation systems you will see a plus, or something similar.

You can add or remove empty categories with a right mouse click on the category. Also you can create new model components by selecting "Create a new [model component]".

Double clicking on an object will open an editor on the right side. In the editor you can see and edit details of the objects. If you change objects, it is marked with a * and you have to save it, sometimes close it and open it again, in order to let the changes take effect.

More than one editor can be open at the same time, but only one for each object, e.g. one specific process. This prevents you from editing the same object in different ways in parallel, which might create inconsistencies.

Category system

Categories are used to order and classify the objects. For any object, the category can be changed in the editor.

The main categories like Projects and Product systems are direct children of the root category (that is the one with the database name). Main categories can neither be added as new, nor can they be removed.

Views and editors

An editor is a special feature of the Eclipse user interface; it is something like a window in the Windows operation system. It can be opened and closed, maximised and minimised, and moved around by clicking on the tab bar, and holding the mouse while dragging it to another location. In openLCA, editors are the main way to display elements.

Double-clicking on an object will open its editor on the right side of the workbench. You can open various editors but only one for each object. Switch between them by clicking on the tabs at the top.

Maximise it or minimise it with the icons on their top-right.

You can also grab an editor with the mouse (hold the mouse-button pressed when it is over the tab of the editor page), and drag it to another location. The picture below shows the application with several editors in view, similar to a split window.

Each editor has sub pages. To switch between them use the tabs at the bottom of the editor.

All editors start with the information page, other pages may differ.

Object look-up (search) feature

Most objects are connected to other objects. For example, you assign an actor object to a process as an owner (objects or elements in the application are in detail explained here). The process editor only shows the actors name, to see detailed information about the owner you need to open the actor in its own editor by doubleclicking in the navigation view.

As you see on the screenshot below, the fields ‚owner’, ‚generator’, and ‚entry by’ are marked with an actor symbol on the left and a red cross on the right side. This is a solution that we have applied throughout openLCA: In all editors, the fields and tables which contain references to other objects in the application (as here, actors), are marked with an object symbol to how which kind of object may be assigned and a red cross to remove the assignment.

You can assign an object via drag and drop, or via a click on the object’s icon on the left side. When you hover over the symbol with your mouse, the icon changes to a search icon.

Clicking it will open a separate window with all existing objects of the respective type, to choose from. See the next picture below.

Creating elements

For creating new elements in the application, right-click on a category (a category of the type of model component you want to create) and select "Create a new [model component]".

You are then guided through the necessary (few) steps.

After the wizard is finalised, an editor with the new object will be opened; the new object is then stored in the database (already after finalising the wizard!).

Calculation of product systems

In openLCA, impacts can be calculated only for product systems (and projects as comparisons of product systems). Processes are used within product systems, and not in itself available for impact calculation. It is however possible to create a product system with only one process and calculate the impacts then for this system.

If you want to analyse the impacts of a product system, you first need to calculate the inventory. To do so, open the model of the product system by double-clicking or with a righ-click. Afterwards click on the calculation icon in the menu bar to open the calculation properties wizard, where you can define which calculation, allocation, and LCIA method and normalization/weighting set you want to use.

The LCI will be opened in a new editor.

After the calculation of the LCI you have access to the analysis function which calculates the impacts. Double-click on "Analysis" in the navigation tree and choose an impact assessment method you want to apply.

The analysis of the product system will be opened in the editor where you have access to different analysis tools (inventory contributions, contributions to characterization, diagram, and Sankey diagram).

The diagram

Under the tab "Diagram" you can look up the impacts of the supply chain of a process displayed in a pie chart. Therefore, select a flow or an impact category you want to consider. You can double-click on a pie slice (or it’s legend item) to zoom into a process and display his supply chain.

The Sankey diagram

openLCA draws a Sankey diagram of the product system. This diagram is a graphical illustration of the impacts of different flows in the product system.

By clicking on the left corner of the diagram or the menu item "Set sankey diagram options" you can edit the Sankey diagram. You can select a flow or/and an LCIA category to be displayed in the sankey diagram. The first layer is affecting the line width of the connections and the second layer is affecting the box colour of each process.

Drag and drop

"Drag and drop" is an easy to use and quick way for linking elements or objects in openLCA, for example for adding flows to a process.

Dropable fields are partly marked with an object icon on the left. To drag an object, click on it and hold the mouse button while dragging the object to the target destination. As you move over different "regions" of the user interface, a "no go" symbol (a circle that is striked through) appears indicating those areas where you cannot let the object drop; on other areas which expect the object to be dropped, the "no go" symbol disappears.

Evidently, the type of object that you drop needs to match the type of object the respective area can handle. The latter is usually indicated with the object icon. In the first example showed below, you can only drop flows, not actors, or processes. In the second one you can only drop actors.

In most cases you drag an object out of the navigation view into an editor field or table. Some other locations provide this as well.

For example, the search view also provides a drag source, as you can see below.

Settings

In openLCA, settings concerning language, locations, calculation settings, RAM settings, or parameters are summarised in a separate section "Preferences".

Parameter settings

Also regarding parameters you can make several settings in the menu.

Creating database parameters

Go to "File", click on "Preferences", and go to the menu item "Global parameters".

Select a database and click on the green plus symbol to add a new database parameter. Fill in a name, enter a formula or a value for the parameter (for input rules click here), and describe the parameter (optional). If you mark a parameter and click on the red cross you can delete it. Finally click on "Apply" to save the changes.

Determining the parameter hierarchy

If you define global and local parameters you have to determine a parameter hierarchy. Either you choose a top down direction (global parameters will overwrite local ones) or you choose a bottom up direction (local parameters will overwrite global ones). To do this go to "File", click on "Preferences", and click on "Global parameters". Here you can select a direction for each database. Finally click on "Apply" or "OK" to save the changes.

Creating new locations

If you want to create a new location for a database, go to "Locations" and click on the green plus symbol to add a new database location.

Calculation settings

You can also change some settings of a specific calculation method. Therefore go to "Settings for calculation methods", select a calculation method, and change the settings of it.

Information logging

The new logging system enables you to keep track of your logging information. The preference page allows defining which level of details you want to keep.