OpenCDSS / cdss-app-tstool-training-user

CDSS TSTool training materials for users

cdss-app-tstool-training-user

This repository contains the training presentations and examples for Colorado's Decision Support Systems (CDSS) TSTool software. This repository, which is separate from software and documentation repositories, is used due to the potentially large size of content, and to allow non-programmers to contribute to documentation. PowerPoint and corresponding PDF files are saved to the repository; however, video mp4 files are not saved to the repository.

See the following online resources:

• Latest CDSS / TSTool documentation
• Colorado's Decision Support Systems (CDSS)
• OpenCDSS website
• OpenCDSS TSTool web page
• TSTool software main repository

See the following sections on this page:

• Repository Contents
• Development Environment
• Editing and Viewing Content
• Deploying the Training Materials
• Style Guide
• License
• Contributing
• Maintainers

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Repository Contents

The repository contains the following:

.github/              Files specific to GitHub such as issue template.
.gitattributes        Typical Git configuration file for repository attributes.
.gitignore            Typical Git configuration file for ignored file list.
README.md             This file.
build-util/           Useful scripts to view, build, and deploy training materials.
training/             Main folder for training lessons.
  NN-title/           Training lessons generally organizized in presentation order.
    files...          Files for each training lesson.
training-agendas/     Agendas for specific virtual meetings, etc.

The repository can be cloned into the recommended standard CDSS development folder structure shown below.

C:\Users\user\                            Windows:  User's files.
/home/user/                               Linux:  User's files.
/cygdrive/C/Users/user/                   Cygwin:  User's files.
  cdss-dev/                               Main development location for CDSS products.
    TSTool/                               TSTool software development files.
      git-repos/                          Git repositories for TSTool software.
================ folders above this line are recommended, below is required ================
        cdss-app-tstool-doc/              Legacy user and developer documentation,
                                          primarily in Word/PDF, and training materials.
        cdss-app-tstool-doc-user/         User documentation using Markdown/MkDocs.
        cdss-app-tstool-training-user/    This repository.
        ... other repositories ...

Development Environment

The development environment for contributing to these training lessons requires installing TSTool and PowerPoint. PowerPoint presentations are converted to videos by using software such as GoToMeeting to record the presentation and convert to MP4 format for publishing.

Editing and Viewing Content

Each training lesson exists in a folder and has a corresponding PowerPoint presentation.

1. Edit each training PowerPoint:
   • use consistent filenames for related files
   • an images folder is used for screen shots
   • can copy images from the user documentation
2. Save as a PDF for distribution with the TSTool software in doc/training folder.
3. Optionally, also use video recording software such as GoToMeeting to create a video:
   1. create a narration script file that matches the PowerPoint file name with -video-script.md
   2. copy the mp4 file into the same folder as the PowerPoint and PDF file using a similar name
   3. create a file with info extension, which is used by the upload tool to create the training index.html file
4. Publish the PDF and training video to the OpenCDSS website for internet viewing, using the build-util/copy-to-co-dnr-gcp.sh script

Deploying the Training Materials

The training PowerPoint PDFs and supporting examples are deployed with the TSTool software in the normal build process.

The following script will copy the pdf and mp4 files to the OpenCDSS website in the tstool/latest/training folder and create an index.html file. Run with the -h option to see the script usage.

build-util/copy-to-co-dnr-gcp.bash

The above script copies the to the State of Colorado's Google Cloud Platform OpenCDSS storage bucket. This requires installing the Google Cloud Platform gcloud command line tool and being authenticated.

Style Guide

• As much as possible, follow the user documentation style guide.
• Use State of Colorado PowerPoint template, with upates that facilitate creating training documentation.

License

This documentation is copyrighted by the Colorado Department of Natural Resources.

This TSTool training documentation is licensed using the Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0 (CC BY 4.0) license.

The TSTool software is licensed using the GPL 3 license. See the TSTool software repository.

Contributing

Contribute to the documentation as follows:

1. Use GitHub repository issues to report minor issues. Fill out the template issue.
2. Use GitHub pull requests.
3. A member of the core development team will follow up to issues and pull requests.

Maintainers

This repository is maintained by the OpenCDSS team.