Rather than an actual site map, which would be very complex, this page describes the underlying principles of the system.
Simple web applications typically have two stages: a query form and a results page. Some MyHits queries are as easy as that.
However, you may sometimes wish to further explore your results in an alternate format, or using a specialized tool. MyHits lets you select among a choice of viewers. The choice is made on an special page which we call a hub (see below).
You may wonder why the viewers are not directly accessible from the results page. The idea is that there is a hub for each basic data type (protein, motif). Any query that produces results of a given type links its results page to the corresponding hub. This means that two or more different query forms can lead to the same hub. Sometimes the results of a query can be fed into another query (e.g., a protein query produces a list of motifs, which can in turn be passed to the motif query). This is also done via the hub. Finally, the hub itself can serve as an entry point, if all you need to do is to view the data (i.e., no querying). The image below should give you an idea of the structure.
Simple web applications typically have two stages: a query form and a results page. Some MyHits queries are as easy as that.
However, you may sometimes wish to further explore your results in an alternate format, or using a specialized tool. MyHits lets you select among a choice of viewers. The choice is made on an special page which we call a hub (see below).
You may wonder why the viewers are not directly accessible from the results page. The idea is that there is a hub for each basic data type (protein, motif). Any query that produces results of a given type links its results page to the corresponding hub. This means that two or more different query forms can lead to the same hub. Sometimes the results of a query can be fed into another query (e.g., a protein query produces a list of motifs, which can in turn be passed to the motif query). This is also done via the hub. Finally, the hub itself can serve as an entry point, if all you need to do is to view the data (i.e., no querying). The image below should give you an idea of the structure.
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| MyHits is certainly somewhat complex, but we feel its flexibility more than compensates for its complexity. |
| Query | Intermediate results | ||
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The user can fill the form, select the options and run the query. Possible Hubs are linked. |
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This page displays the intermediate results with links to possible Hubs. |
| Hub | Results | ||
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The hub form is either filled by the user or automatically by a previous page. The user can select options and go on to next step.
Possible Hubs, Querys and Viewers are linked. |
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This page displays the final results or the Viewer window. |