The toolbar contains buttons that perform various operations in the visualization window. Some of these buttons also show window state. There are three sections of the toolbar, as seen above in The toolbar : The Collapse/Expand button, the Mode buttons, the Reset view button, the Lock button, and the Activate button. If you put your mouse over a button and leave it there for a moment, a small window, or "tooltip", appears, describing the function of that button.
This section gives a quick description of each toolbar item. More detailed descriptions follow this section.
This button makes the toolbar "slide" into the window, hiding the other buttons. Pressing it again expands the toolbar.
These buttons show the window's current mode, and switch the window to the given mode when you click on them.
This button allows you to "collapse" the toolbar into a tiny space as seen in Collapsed toolbar . This allows easy access to the toolbar without it taking up much screen space. Pressing the button again makes the toolbar expand.
These buttons correspond to window modes, as described in Window modes . A "pushed-in" button indicates the mode that the window is currently in. For example, as illustrated in The toolbar , the "pushed-in" compass rose indicates that the window is in Navigate mode.
The buttons, from left to right, are: Navigate mode, Zoom mode, Lineout mode, Pick Mode, and Slice pick mode.
Selecting one of these buttons switches the window to that mode. If a particular mode is not applicable (e.g. Lineout for a 3D window), the button will be grayed out and you will not be able to push it.
These buttons are equivalent to entering the CLI commands: " winmode zoom ", " winmode navigate ", " winmode lineout ", " winmode pick ", and " winmode slicepick ", respectively.
This button resets the viewpoint and zoom level back to that seen when the dataset was first displayed in a window. You might use this when the view is confusing, and you wish to go back to where you started.
Pushing this button is equivalent to entering the CLI command " reset win ".
This button toggles the window's "lock view" state. If the window view is unlocked (the default), the button appears as an unlocked padlock. If the window's view is locked, the button appears as a locked padlock with a small eye to the upper left. All, some, or no windows may have their view locked at any time. See
The lock button
to see how this button can appear.
When a window has its view locked, its view attributes (See View from ) are "tied" to other windows that have their view locked. Thus, if you change the view (through a rotation or pan, for example) of a window whose view is locked, all other windows that are locked by view will reflect the effects of your manipulation. This keeps multiple windows in sync, allowing you to focus on the same part of a dataset.
To lock a window's view, push the lock button. To unlock a window's view, push the button again. The lock button thus acts as a toggle.
When you lock a window's view, the window replaces its view with that from the other windows that are locked by view. For example, when windows 1 and 2 are already locked, locking window 3's view copies the view from windows 1 and 2 to window 3.
Pressing this button is equivalent to entering the CLI command " lock view num " and " unlock view num ", where num is the window's number.
This button displays a window's "active" status. Only one window may be active at any time. It is called the "active window". The active window's Activate button appears as a lit light bulb. All other windows have unlit light bulbs for their Activate button. See
The Activate button
to see how this button can appear.
Clicking on an unlit light bulb causes that window to become the active window. The previously active window becomes inactive. Clicking a lit light bulb has no effect.
When running MeshTV from the CLI, these buttons provide a quick visual indication of which window is currently active. The button is even more useful when MeshTV is run with the GUI. While the GUI has a menu for changing the active window, this button provides a faster way of doing so. For example, if you want to quickly see all of the plots in the four windows you currently have open, you can click on each window's Activate button. As soon as each window becomes active, the GUI updates with that window's information.
Pressing this button is equivalent to entering the CLI command " winset num ", where num is the window's number.