Flash Plug-In
The Flash Plug-In must be installed in your browser. Flash is not yet available for 64-bit systems, therefore on such a system you will need to download a 32-bit browser and install the Flash Plug-In.
Browsers
The system runs best in FireFox on Windows. Supported browsers and platforms are Windows/FireFox, Windows/Internet Explorer, and Mac/FireFox. (Other platforms may be supported later on.) If you experience problems using these or other browsers/platforms please let us know.
JavaScript JavaScript must be enabled in your browser. If you are using FireFox with the Noscript add-on, you will need to allow scripts for this site.
Screen Resolution
The minimum supported screen resolution is 1024 pixels wide. We recommend using a higher resolution if your hardware supports it, so that you can view more information and avoid extra scrollbars. You can change the screen resolution in Windows at Start, Control Panel, Display, Settings (use the slider bar to adjust the resolution). Screen resolution is detected by this software when you sign in, so if you change it, please sign out and sign in again.
Window Size
Please maximize the size of the browser window to 100% or nearly so to provide all available screen space and avoid extra scrollbars.
At the lowest supported resolution of 1024 pixels wide, this is a requirement. If you shrink the browser window, the browser may add extra scrollbars and this is not a good thing.
If you wish to download digital documents and logs, you will need software to view the images. Adobe Acrobat Reader (available without charge from Adobe) is acceptable for PDF formats. A TIF reader will be required for TIF formats; IrfanView, Photoshop and Fireworks can read TIFs.
You can enlarge the contents of the screen by holding down the Control key and rotating the mouse wheel. By default, all open windows and tabs are enlarged. However, it is possible to configure FireFox to apply the zoom to a single window or tab only - for example, the pop-up Preview window. Here's how:
In the FireFox address bar, where you would usually type a url, type:
about:config
That should retrieve a page that lists many "preference names". Find the row that begins with "browser.zoom.siteSpecific". Double-click on this row. When you double-click, the value in the right-hand column should flip to "false". This will make the Control-mouse-wheel zoom apply only to the window or tab over which you are hovering the mouse. You may also have to click in that window to make it the target.
To view a Preview image (for a digital document) in a separate pop-up window, double-click on the Preview image. This is available only for a whole document, not for tiles.
To view a Tile (from a tiled log) in a separate pop-up window, click the button labeled "Pop-Up" next to the Tile.
If your mouse has a wheel, you may be able to enlarge the contents of your screen by holding down the Control key and rotating the mouse wheel. You can configure FireFox to enlarge only a single window or tab; click here for instructions.
After you purchase a document, be sure to save it on your local computer: downloading it may not save it. The exact behavior (e.g. "save automatically", "ask me what to do") depends on how you have configured your browser. If you neglect to save the document, you have 24 hours to "purchase" it (exactly the same format and tiles) again without additional charge: you will see the normal pop-up alert telling you the price, but your account will not be charged, and this will be verified by a notice that appears in the yellow screen where you will download the purchased file.
Pop-up windows must be enabled for this Website in order to utilize all its features.
JavaScript must not be disabled in your browser.
Most pop-up windows self-close if you double-click in the background.
Most form input fields can be cleared by double-clicking in the field.
In the Well Headers grid (search results on the Search Wells page in the topmost frame), you can sort on any column by clicking on the column header.
Some data is accompanied by button labeled "Excel". Clicking it will generate an Excel spreadsheet. (You may see a pop-up message about a missing yui.css file which you can safely ignore.)
Internet Explorer Issues
Several issues exist with Internet Explorer. We would like to know about any problems you encounter so that we can resolve them.
"A problem with internet explorer caused the website to refresh using compatibility mode". If you see this message when using Internet Explorer 8, you can still run the software. To avoid the message in the future, follow these steps, described in more detail under "Workaround" on this Microsoft Web page: Start Internet Explorer 8.
On the Tools menu, click Compatibility View Settings.
(If Compatibility View Settings is not available, the network administrator may have used a Group Policy setting to configure the options for you. Contact your administrator or the help desk.)
Click to select the Display all websites in Compatibility View check box, and then click Close.
Internet Explorer 6 contains a bug that generates a message about XML. The best solution is to upgrade to a newer version of Internet Explorer, or use Firefox.
64-bit machines running 64-bit Internet Explorer may display a red "X" instead of the list of wells returned from the Search Wells search. The list of wells is displayed in a technology based on Flash, for speed of display. Flash does not support 64-bit software (Adobe has promised future Flash support for 64-bit). If you have a 64-bit machine and can run 32-bit Internet Explorer with a Flash plug-in, you may be able to use the software with Internet Explorer. An alternate solution is to use FireFox.
Known Issues and Planned Development
The software is in development, and these known issues will be resolved eventually.
Some image purchased by the file in TIFF format were not legible in Petra. We believe we have solved this problem as of November 18, 2010
System memory is sometimes exhausted when stitching together tiles from logs that were scanned at 400 dpi resolution. Therefore a limit of 4 tiles has been imposed when stitching tiles from a 400 dpi scan.
IrfanView is a freeware graphic viewer for Windows systems that is useful for viewing TIFF images. You can download it here. (Windows Picture and Fax Viewer is known to have some difficulties in saving TIFF files.)
Digital documents are available for purchase in TIF or PDF format (if the original scan is a TIF), or in JPG format (if the scan is a JPG).
Preview is always free. Previews can be viewed in a separate pop-up window.
To purchase a document, click a Buy button. A pop-up alert will give you a chance to cancel or proceed. A link to download the file will appear in the yellow frame. The default filename includes identifying information about the well; you can change this when you save. After downloading the file you must save it to your local computer. (Exact browser behavior depends on your browser configuration which you may be able to modify in your browser's Options or Preferences.)
You have 24 hours to repeat a purchase without being charged again (but the format and tiles must be exactly the same).
To purchase selected tiles from a Well Log:
Click on Select Tiles. A Preview will be displayed in the yellow frame on the right. The tiles will be marked and numbered on the Preview.
Select the tiles you wish to purchase.
Click one of the 'Buy Tiles' buttons.
Confirm your intent to purchase in the pop-up dialog box that will appear. The tiles wll be concatenated and the new document will be made available for you to download and save on your local computer.
After clicking a PDF or TIF button, a pop-up dialog box will allow you to confirm your intent to purchase, or cancel. If you purchased the same document (same format and tiles) within the previous 24 hours your account will not be charged again.
You must define at least one search parameter to execute a search.
If the search returns too many wells, only the first #numberformat(maxrows)#
will be displayed. Please add additional search criteria to return fewer wells.
Double-click in an input field to clear it. The Reset button restores the form field values to the previous search. The Clear button clears all the form fields.
Wildcards can be added to the data you type in an alphanumeric input field (but not a numeric field such as Section or Depth).
How wildcards work:
The wildcard % will match any one or more characters. The wildcard _ will match any single character. They can be mixed freely and used anywhere in the string - beginning, end, or middle. Multiple wildcards can be used. This is a valid search string (though more complex than you would likely ever use):
%J_NES DRILL%CO%
In the Search Wells form, most alphanumeric input fields (like Operator) have an implied trailing wild card: If you search on JONES the software actually searches for JONES% .
Sorting the wells:
In the wells grid itself, you can sort on a single column by clicking the column header. Clicking on the column header for Spot Location will sort the data from left to right. To sort on Spot Location data from right to left (smallest to largest), click on the empty header in the narrow, empty column just to the right of the Spot Location column. If you want to sort on 2 fields, select from the two Sort fields in the Search Wells form before you click the Search button.
For the wells you retrieve with a search, you can view Digital Documents as thumbnails (and purchase them), view a simple list of the Digital Documents available, and view a list of the Paper Documents available (which currently must be ordered by phoning or visiting the Library). Choose what you want to see before performing the search by checking boxes beside the 'Show me' label in the Search Wells form. If you do not check any of these boxes the software will revert to the default.
Document Type: You can search for a specific Document Type (Drill Stem Test, Completion Card, etc.) and only retrieve the wells that have such a document. You can specify to search for the Document Type in the paper documents, the digital documents, or both, by checking the boxes beside the 'Search for Type in' label that materializes after you select a Document Type. If you do not check any of these boxes the software will revert to the default. In the display of documents in the blue frame, the Document Type you looked for will appear with a different-colored background so you can easily spot it.
Buttons: There are bottoms below the wells grid that allow you to hide the Search Wells form or the Wells grid. You might want to do this to allocate more screen space to the blue frame where you look at the documents available. The buttons labeled '-+form' and '-+wells' show/hide the Search Wells form and the Wells grid. The buttons labeled '-+form' show/hide both the Search Wells form and the Wells grid.
In the Search Wells form there are "Show me" checkboxes. Here you can choose which lists of documents are displayed: Paper (a list of documents in the Library's inventory that can be ordered by phoning or visiting the Library); Digital (Buy) (thumbnail images for Digital Documents accompanied by Preview and Buy buttons); and Digital (List) (a list of Digital Documents with Preview buttons, but no thumbnails and no Buy buttons) (Digital (List) has been eliminated). Check these boxes before you click Search.
In the Search Wells form, there is a field labeled "News since ___ days." If you enter a number here, the search will return only wells that have had new information in that time period: new, updated or deleted well headers, or new/updated/deleted digital or paper documents. (Images added before 7/1/10 were not timestamped so could not be identified by this feature.)
The results of your search of well headers will be displayed in a grid in the topmost frame, below the Search Wells form. Use the arrow keys to navigate through the rows. As you do, the available documents will be displayed in the lower-left, blue frame. Your selections for 'Doc. List' in the Search Wells form determine which of the groups is displayed: Digital Documents which can be browsed and purchased online, or Paper Documents which can be purchased by phoning the Library.
Preview images are 750 pixels wide and optimized for fast loading. Some users will be able to enlarge the Preview as follows. If your mouse has a wheel, you can hover the mouse over the image, hold down the Control key, and rotate the mouse wheel, to enlarge the image (though at the same quality). You can make the Control-mouse-wheel enlargement apply only to the tab or window you are hovering the mouse over; click here for instructions on how to do this. Preview is always free.
You can open up multiple Preview images simultaneously in separate pop-up windows. For a tiled image, click on the "Pop-Up" button next to the tile. For a complete image, double-click on the image. This pop-up window will stay open until you close it (and you can keep several of them open at once). If the pop-up seems to have disappeared, it may be layered underneath other windows; click inside it to return focus to the pop-up window.