Action Authors

An Action Author is someone who write an Action for ObveRsive so that other, non-expert users, can handle some specific task more easily. An example of what an Action Author might do is implement a nice interface to the lm function. This would involve writing an Action Interface XML file which describes an interface for asking the user questions about their data and the type of linear model they want. The Action Author then writes an Action Template which takes the information from the Action Interface and generates a piece of R code. ObveRsive then allows the target user to do the following:

1. Run the action. This is where the Action Interface is presented to the user.
2. Answer the required questions. When the user is done, they "submit" the action for processing.
3. Obversive then takes the information the user put into the Action Interface and loads the Action Template. The Template is given all the information the user indicated in the Action Interface, which it uses to produce runnable R code.
4. ObveRsive then passes this R code (called the R Script) to the RBackend for processing. When the R Script finishes, ObveRsive loads the output for the user and lets them browser the results.