Workflows in TeSS

Workflows in TeSS#

What are workflows in TeSS?#

Training workflows in TeSS are visual, step-by-step protocols that allow users to navigate materials in TeSS in topic- or task-related ways. For example, they may encapsulate typical stages of particular kinds of data analysis (protein sequence analysis, structure analysis, etc.), where each stage/node in the workflow represents a given analysis step and links to the corresponding training resources. Workflows are visible to the public by default.

Examples of workflows can be seen on the following instances of TeSS:

Creating workflows#

Steps to create a workflow:

  1. On the ‘Workflows’ tab, click the ‘Create workflow’ button at the top-right.

  2. Give the workflow a title (required), description. Click to expand the ‘Extra metadata’ box if you wish to give DOI, scientific topics, keywords, target audience, difficulty level, licence, authors or contributors.

  3. Child nodes will be shown by default. Ticking the ‘Hide child nodes’ box will hide child nodes from the diagram until their parent node is clicked.

  4. The workflow will be public by default. Un-ticking the ‘Public’ box will hide this workflow from anyone who isn’t the creator or a collaborator.

  5. To add a node to the workflow, click in the ‘Add node’ button and click on the diagram to select where you wish to add the node. Give the node a title, description, terms and colour. Add associations from the choice of training material, event, tool or policy: each association has a title and a URL. When you have finished, click the ‘Done’ button.

  6. Repeat step 5 to add multiple nodes for this workflow.

  7. You can move the nodes in the diagram area.

  8. When you have finished, click the ‘Create workflow’ button.

Forking a workflow#

Alternatively, you can ‘fork’ an existing workflow; in other words, take a copy and modify it to appear as a new, distinct workflow that you own.

  1. Navigate to the page for the original workflow.

  2. Click the ‘Fork’ button at the top-right of the page.

  3. Make your changes then click the ‘Save workflow’ button at the bottom.

Managing collaborators#

Collaborators are TeSS users who can edit a workflow after it has been created. Only the workflow owner can add and remove collaborators. To add a collaborator:

  1. Navigate to the page for that workflow.

  2. Click the ‘Collaborators’ button at the top-right of the page.

  3. Start to type the name or username of the collaborator you wish to add and select them. The collaborator needs to be a registered user of TeSS.

  4. Repeat for any additional collaborators.

  5. When you have finished, click the ‘Done’ button.

Updating workflows#

To update a workflow, you need to be the owner or a collaborator:

  1. Navigate to the page for that workflow.

  2. Click the ‘Edit’ button at the top-right of the page.

  3. Make your changes then click the ‘Update workflow’ button at the bottom.

  4. If you wish to delete the workflow, use the ‘Delete’ button next to the ‘Edit’ button on the page for that item.

Viewing workflows#

Workflows can be browsed and searched in TeSS. They are organised by scientific topic, target audience, keyword, licence, difficulty level, author and contributor.

  1. To view the workflows, click ‘Workflows’ in the main menu. (Tip: To view a workflow you do not need to be logged in to TeSS.)

  2. Click to view a workflow. Read the summary box on the right. The details of the included nodes appear in the main area; click each item to open it.

  3. To create a personal collection of your favourite workflows, click the star icon at the top of each workflow to add them to a list. You can view your starred resources later by clicking the user icon at the top-right of the screen then ‘My stars’. To use the star feature you need to be a registered TeSS user.

  4. To embed the workflow in your website, click the ‘Embed’ button at the top-left. Copy the the snippet and paste it into your HTML/markdown. The width and height of the embedded workflow can be adjusted by changing the parameters on the iframe element.

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