Edit Mode

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Edit Mode

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Edit Mode allows changes to be made to a project without stopping communication with the instruments or interrupting data logging.

This is useful for making changes to a running system without losing any data.

 

Instruments can start communicating and logging data as soon as they are put out onto the GDW.

 

The features that continue to receive live values while in Edit Mode are selected using the Online Features menu:

 

OnlineFeaturesMenu01

 

All features are fully functional.

 

Individual features can be disabled. For example, while setting the start and end location of animated objects, Position Dynamics must be disabled.

 

 

Selecting Objects:

To multi-select objects on the screen hold the SHIFT key or the CTRL key when clicking.

 

Moving Objects:

Cursor keys can be used to nudge objects, or multiple selected objects or groups of objects on a screen (GDW) by one pixel, this is very useful when aligning objects by eye.

 

Dragging an object on the screen using the mouse, or using SHIFT-cursor keys on the keyboard, will make the object jump by one grid increment, whichever grid size is active at the time. The position of the object relative to the grid will be preserved.

 

To align an object with the grid use Object->Align->Realign To Grid.

To nudge an object by one pixel regardless of the grid, use the cursor keys on the keyboard (without the SHIFT key).

 

Copying and Pasting of Objects:

Objects on a screen (GDW) can be copied & pasted or cut & pasted without losing their associations with parameters or variables or Dynamic/Color Attributes, but in Edit Mode will only work if enabled from the Online Features menu.

 

Copy and paste can be done using the Edit menu, or by using CTRL-C CTRL-V to copy & paste or CTRL-X CTRL-V to cut and paste.

 

To make a clone of an object on the screen hold both the SHIFT and CTRL keys when clicking. Clones of objects will retain their associations with parameters/variables and Dynamic/Color Attributes.

 

Show Screen Size Guide, Set Screen Guide Size, Screen Size Guide Line Color and Screen Size Guide Font:

These are used to display the outline of the portion of the screen that would be seen if the GDW were displayed onto a screen of that resolution.

This is particularly useful when creating a GDW for Remote access from a lower resolution screen to ensure that the items on a GDW are positioned appropriately.

 

The maximum dimensions of the grid shown in SpecView's Edit mode is: 3837 x 2117.

 

Grid Size and Grid Lines:

The Grid Size menu item on the View menu allows 3 grid settings to be specified. The defaults are: 5, 10 and 20 pixels.

The dashed grid-lines are drawn at 10 times the actual grid-size, so a grid of 5 will have dashed lines every 50 pixels, etc.

 

The Toggle Grid Lines menu item (Ctrl-G) on the View menu, cycles round the 3 grid-size settings. The forth setting is zero to disable the grid.

 

 

There are subtle differences to operation in Edit Mode. For example, single clicking a button will select it, double clicking a button will open the Button Attributes box and right-clicking pops up a menu to allow the specified action to be performed.

 

 

Auto save & recovery of screens (GDWs) will save changes for later recovery in the event of failure. In this case, a list of saved items will be displayed so the items to be recovered can be selected:

 

ProjectRecovery

 

 

Note: When editing a project, if a button or menu item isn't enabled then a possible reason is that Online Features are enabled.

For example, in the Variables List's Variable Properties box the Delete button will be disabled (grayed out) if Online Features are enabled.