geWorkbench is an open-source bioinformatics platform that offers a comprehensive and extendible collection of tools for the management, analysis, visualization and annotation of biomedical data. It provides biomedical researchers with a user-friendly software application that automates analysis of disparate data types.
Some key geWorkbench features include:
Support for a variety of genomic data including microarrays, sequences, pathways, networks, alignments and phenotypes.
。 Data loading from both local and remote sources.
。 Access to remote servers and clusters for the performance of computationally intensive calculations.
。 Integration of analyses with biological annotations from the National Cancer Institute.
The application Graphical User Interface (GUI) window is divided into four areas:
1. Project Area – management of loaded data and analysis results.
2. Selection Area – grouping of markers/microarrays (these groupings control the amount of data displayed in the Visual Area).
3. Visual Area – visualization and annotation of loaded data.
4. Analysis Area – filtering, normalizer and analysis tools.
These areas are described in more detail in the applicable topic section of online help.
About areas and components
Each of the four GUI areas contains one or more components. The following describes how areas and components can be manipulated:
。 To resize an area continuously, click on an edge of that area's frame and drag the mouse left/right or up/down.
。 To resize an area discretely (maximize/minimize), click on the triangular-shaped wedges located within the separators between panels. Maximizing a panel fills the entire window vertically or horizontally, and minimizes the adjacent panel.
。 Within an area, individual components can gain focus by selecting their corresponding tab. Alternatively, click on F12 to bring up the Keyboard Navigation window; typing the first few letters of a component name in the Search box. Double click on the highlighted component name and the application will display the component selected within its host GUI area.
。 To scroll the across folder tabs, click on the triangular wedges at the right of the folder tabs.
。 Each component within an area is resizable and detachable. Resizing can be either continuous or discrete (maximizing/minimizing). Panel Control Buttons: The top of each panels includes the following:
1. The Undock button is an arrow pointing up and to the right. Clicking on the Undock icon detaches the component. In the detached component, the Dock icon is a left -downward arrow. Clicking on the Dock icon reattaches the panel within its GUI area.
2. The Minimize button is a minus sign. Clicking on it hides the component and replaces it with an icon at the bottom of the screen. Clicking on the icon restores the component to its docked/undocked position.
3. The Close button is an X. Clicking on the X closes the component. The component can be restored by restating the application.
4. Window Control Buttons: On the right of the Title Bar, buttons control window functions (Minimize, Maximize/Restore, and Close).