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Home » Overview » MADCAT Tour » MADCAT user interface

Explorer window

Tue, 07/20/2010 - 14:55 by zagot  

The explorer is composed of 3 elements :

  • Button bars placed on the top of the window
  • A tree
  • A display area



The explorer is attached to one database (one XML file defined by a model). It is the only window used to navigate in your project and perform actions on it.
Users can open several explorers at a time. Different explorers can be attached to the same database.



MADCAT doesn't save the layout of the child windows. Every time MADCAT is started, the main window is empty and you have to open the explorer windows manually. But the position and the size of each window is saved. So when you open a window, it will always be displayed like you left it before.


Button bars

The explorer has its own button bar which contains a button for each major action :

  • Go to parent item
  • Print current selection
  • Edit current item
  • Delete selection
  • Copy/Cut/Paste
  • Find an item
  • View item's history (when baselines are active)
  • Find where an item is linked
  • Follow a link
  • Create items


It has also a button bar for the renderers. Each renderer has a drop down button. The button shows the different display modes of its renderer. User can change the renderer or the display mode by clicking on these buttons.
Renderers may also add their own buttons in this bar. Each button is used to control specific functions of the renderer. Their behaviour won't be explained here as it is totally dependent of the renderer.

Tree

The tree shows the major items of the database (the ones which have children items). You navigate in your database by clicking on the nodes of the tree. The tree controls the content of the display area.
Users can also perform drag'n'drop on the tree.



Display area

The display area is the area controlled by the active renderer. Its content may be different from one workspace to another.
By default, MADCAT has one renderer which supports 4 different rendering modes. See chapter "Default renderer" for more informations.
The area is used for the selection. It can be a single item or a group of items.
Users can also perform drag'n'drop on this area.



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