The menu bar contains pull-down menus containing menu choices by which the user controls the editor.
The toolbar contains tool buttons that provide shortcuts to some of the menu choices available from the menus in the menu bar. The toolbar also contains a message menu. The message menu contains compilation error and warning messages. It is also possible for an application to write messages to the message menu and to clear the message menu. The message menu is implemented as a pull-down menu. It works as a stack where new messages are pushed on top of the stack and shown at the top of the menu. The toolbar can be removed and added using menu choices,
The palette is a five-tabbed pane containing the different language elements in JGrafchart. The user creates an application by drag-and-drop from the palette into a workspace. The five tabs are named: SFC (the default palette), VAR, IO, XML, and GUI. The SFC palette contains the basic JGrafchart language elements, e.g, steps, transitions, procedures, etc. The VAR palette contains JGrafchart variables and lists. The IO menu contains input and output objects. The XML palette contains objects for communication using XML. The objects in this menu assume the availability of the CCOM infrastructure. This is not available in all distributions. The GUI palette contains graphical objects, e.g., texts, rectangles, icons, etc. It also contains plotters, browsers, and buttons. In addition to the drag-and-droppable objects the GUI palette also contains two mode buttons: the line-mode button and the spline-mode button. By clicking on these buttons the mouse-behavior changes from the standard select-object mode to a line-drawing mode. The palette can be removed and added.
The workspace area is the area where the user application workspaces are shown. The workspaces are implemented as Swing internal frames. They can be maximized/minimized, iconized, deleted, scrolled, and panned using standard window operations.
The new menu choice is used to create a new top-level workspace. The new workspace receives a default name and automatically receives focus.
A saved application is opened. A file chooser menu is used to select the file to be opened.
The top-level workspace together with all its subworkspaces are saved on a file using XML-format. If the workspace has not been saved before a file chooser menu is obtained. Selecting Save for a subworkspace is equivalent to saving the top-level workspace that the subworkspace belongs to. It is not possible to save if the workspace is executing.
Equivalent to Save, but a file chooser menu is always shown. Using Save As it is possible to save a top-level workspace under a new file name.
Open a set of top-level workspaces that have been saved in a single XML file using SaveAll or SaveAllAs. This operation is currently error-prone and should be avoided.
Equivalent to Save, but saves all top-level workspaces currently in the editor as a single file. This operation is currently error-prone and should be avoided.
Equivalent to Save As, but saves all top-level workspaces currently in the editor as a single file. This operation is currently error-prone and should be avoided.
Prints the workspace cuurently in focus. The operation calls the Java printing facilities and its behavior is dependent on the print support available on the current execution platform.
Bring up a dialog that allows the user to change different properties related to the Grafchart execution thread associated with the current top-level workspace. Only accessible from top-level workspaces. The dialog is shown below.
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Workspace Name: The name of the top-level workspace.
Thread Sleep Interval: The period of the execution thread associated with the top-level workspace in milliseconds. Default value is 40.
Simulator Mode: In simulator mode the digital and analog input variables are disconnected from their associated digital and analog I/O. Instead the user may change their values from the editor. In non-simulator mode the digital and analog input variables are connected to the I/O. Simulator mode is the default.
Token Luminance & Dim interval: Token luminance is useful for animating the execution of a function chart at high execution speeds when the token indicating the currently active step(s) moves rapidly between steps. Token luminance creates a trail of outlined and shaded tokens that follows the normal token. The dim interval decides how many scan-cycles that the outlined token should be visible after the deactivation of a step. Token luminance is only supported for simple function charts containing steps, transitions, and macro steps.
Socket Host: The IP address of the TCP socket server connected to the top-level workspace, An IP address number or localhost. If the string is empty no socket reader thread is created for the top-level workspace.
Socket Port: The port number of the TCP socket server. Default value is -1, indicating that no socket communication is used for the current top-level workspace.
Locked: Determines if the workspace should be locked or not. Default mode is not locked.
Bring up a dialog that makes it possible to change different graphical properties of the workspace.
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Grid Size: Non-negative integers determining the width and height of the grid of the workspace.
Grid Style: Decides the style of the grid.
Snap On Move: Determines how moved objects should be related to the grid. No snap does not snap the object to the grid. Jump snaps to the grid continuously during the move. Afterwards does not perform the snap until the object is released.
Snap on Resize: Determines how resized objects should be related to the grid.
Horizontal Scrollbar: Determines if the workspace should have a horizontal scrollbar.
Vertical Scrollbar: Determines if the workspace should have a vertical scrollbar.
Paper Color: Makes it possible to change the background color of the workspace. Brings up a Java color choser menu.
Remove the palette from the editor. Can be useful during execution when the screen size is limiting.
Add the palette to the editor.
Remove the toolbar from the editor.
Add the toolbar to the editor.
Displays a hierarchical tree view navigation window of the Windows "explorer" type. The tree view shows a snapshot of all the objects in the current workspace and its subworkspaces. By clicking with the left mouse button on a node in the tree, the node becomes selected in its corresponding workspace view. Clicking with the right mouse button on a tree node has the same effect as clicking on the corresponding object in the workspace view, e.g., an object-specific pop-up menu is shown. All hierarchical objects, e.g., workspace objects and macro steps, can be expanded and collapsed. It is possible to have multiple
tree display open at the same time. It is important to understand that the tree only displays a snapshot of the application with the state it was in when the menu choice was selected, i.e., it is not updated if something changes. An example of the tree navigation window is shown below.
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Exit JGrafchart. No saving of workspaces is performed. JGrafchart can also be exited using the delete button on the JGrafchart window. Before JGrafchart is closed down, the user must explicitly confirm the operation.
Cut the current selection to the clipboard.
Copy the current selection to the clipboard.
Paste the content of the clipboard to the workspace. The newly pasted objects will be automatically selected. The default position where the pasting takes place is the original location of the objects offset one grid-width to the right and one grid-height down. The pasting position can be changed by clicking on the workspace at the desired position before performing the paste.
Delete the current selection.
Delete the current top-level workspace. Before the workspace is deleted, the user must confirm the deletion.
Select all objects in the current workspace.
Group the objects in the current selection into a single object. Grouping is still quite error-prone.
Ungroup the currently selected previously grouped object.
Undo the last editor operation. Only operations that are of a graphical nature can be undone. Every workspace has its own undo history. The undo history is maximized to 30 past operations. Recording of undoable operations is turned off during execution. It is not possible to undo the deletion of an entire workspace. It is not possible to undo all operations.
Redo the last undone operation. It is not possible to redo all operations.
Move the currently selected objects in front of any other objects in the workspace.
Move the currently selected objects behind any other objects in the workspace.
Zoom in on the current workspace with 10%.
Zoom out on the current workspace with 10%.
Zoom back to the normal size.
Zoom in on a workspace so that all objects fit in the current workspace window.
Bring up a separate top-level window containing a miniature of the contents of the document showed by the current workspace. The overview window also contains an outlined rectangle showing the current position of the view of the document shown in the workspace. When the rectangle is moved the current workspace view is panned and scrolled accordingly.
Compile the current top-level workspace and all its subworkspaces. Applying the menu choice to a subworkspace is equivalent to applying it to the top-level workspace of the subworkspace. Compilation error and warnings are shown in the message menu.
Apply compile to all top-level workspaces in the system.
Start the execution of the current top-level workspace context. Applying the menu choice to a subworkspace is equivalent to applying it to the top-level workspace of the workspace. It is only possible to start execution of a top-level workspace if the top-level workspace has been previously compiled without any compilation errors. During execution it is not possible to drag-and-drop from the palette onto the workspace. During execution the undo history is switched off. During execution the top-level frame icon is changed to an arrow icon.
Stop the execution of the current top-level workspace context. Applying the menu choice to a subworkspace is equivalent to applying it to the top-level workspace of the workspace.
Stop the socket reader thread associated with the workspace and close the socket connection.
Connects to the CCOM server (Requires that the CCOM infrastructure is available).
Disconnects from the CCOM server (Requires that the CCOM infrastructure is available).
Brings up a dialog from which the CCOM server properties can be edited.
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CCOM Server IP address:
The IP address to the CCOM/xmlBlaster node.
CCOM Server Port:
The port of the CCOM server. (Default = 3412)
CCOM Login Name:
The login name to CCOM. (Default = JGrafchart)
Change the editor into slide show mode.
Change the editor into its normal mode.
Show the interactive help system browser.
A toggle menu choice that changes the editor mode into object-help mode. In object-help mode, specific help information is obtained by clicking on an object, a menu option, or a toolbar button.
Brings up the JGrafchart interactive on-line tutorial containing examples of how to use the different elements of JGrafchart. The tutorial is an ordinary JGrafchart application residing in the file ../grafchart/doc/tutorial/tutorial.xml. The tutorial can be changed and extended by the user.
Closes the onj-line tutorial.
The initial size of the JGrafchart window (default 1024x768)
Use the Windows look-and-feel UI rather than the standard Java look-and-feel.
The name of the JGrafchart application. This will also be the identifier used in CCOM communication. Default is JGrafchart.
The implementation class for the custom IO.
Make an automatic connect to the CCOM server.
The CCOM server IP address. Localhost is not a valid value.
The port number that the CCOM server listens to.
Enables incremental Java GC. This option should be given to the JVM and not to JGrafchart.
Loads the application named by file when JGrafchart has started. The file name should be an absolute reference.
Loads and compiles the application named by file when JGrafchart has started. The file name should be an absolute reference.
Loads, compiles, and, if the compilation was successful, starts the application named by file when JGrafchart has started. The file name should be an absolute reference.