Table of Contents Previous Section

This section briefly describes some distinctions between D2D's Windows, Menus, and Dialog Boxes. Understanding the distinctions between these components of the interface can help you become more comfortable navigating the D2D interface.

The primary means of navigating D2D is through menus with the pointer. The majority of D2D menus are pull-down menus with a tear-away option. They are opened by clicking on the menu buttons in the Menu Bar and remain attached to the parent menu. However, with the tear-away option, the menu can be detached from its parent menu to become its own window.

In addition, there are options menus which behave like pull-down menus but display the chosen option in the menu button. Option menus are denoted with a small rectangle on the right side of the menu button.

Dialog boxes are, to the system, small windows that are typically opened from a menu option containing an ellipsis (three dots after the menu item). They can be moved in front of other windows (popped) or behind other windows (pushed). This means that it is possible (either intentionally or accidentally) to pop or push a dialog box relative to the D2D Window. In the latter case, the dialog box will seem to have disappeared. Should this happen, simply go to the parent menu and reselect the item that has "disappeared," click on its icon on the Panel, or click with Button 3 on the D2D Title Bar to push D2D back, revealing the dialog boxes.

Pop-up menus are built into the D2D user interface. Strictly speaking, these are system menus that are not visible in the default state. They are activated by pressing and holding Mouse Button 3 in a specific area on the screen, such as the Title Bar of a window or a dialog box or on a product legend.

A few general comments about the D2D Menus are also needed.

• When the mouse pointer is over the display window or a dialog box, the window's title bar is highlighted.

• If the text of a menu item appears raised from the plane of the menu, that item is highlighted. A highlighted menu item is surrounded by a light gray box. An item can be highlighted, but it still needs to be selected, by clicking on it, to initiate the action or to display the product.

• If the text of an item appears dimmed, it means that the item is not available on the selected scale. (Refer to Section 2.1.6 The Menu Bar, or Module 2 Working With a Single Graphic Product, for more information about product availability on each scale.)

• Some menus have small square-shaped buttons to the left of the items in the menu. These are on-off check buttons; that is, they start or stop the indicated action. If an action is on, the button turns yellow. To turn the action off, click the button. The button returns to the same color as the menu and the action is stopped.

• All data-selection menus have valid times ("green times") to the right of the product name. These times indicate the date and time of the most currently available version of the product. The format is dd.hhmm. When data are not available, not updating, or the system has not been notified that new data are available, dashes (--.----) appear in place of the date and time.

Tooltips

Moving the mouse pointer over the items in the Toolbar displays "Tooltips," which are helpful identifiers. Exhibit 2.1.4-1 illustrates a Tooltip.

If you do not want "Tooltips" to appear, they can be toggled off by using the Show Tooltips Check Button in the Help pull-down menu.

Pull-Down Menus

The majority of the menus in D2D are pull-down menus. Pull-down menus are opened by selecting a menu button in the Menu Bar. Exhibit 2.1.4-2 illustrates an opened pull-down menu.

When you select the menu button, the pull-down menu is displayed, but still attached to (and generally below), the parent menu (the original menu button). If you click on the menu button, the pull-down menus are displayed.

• By default, the first item in the menu is highlighted. To choose this item, click on it. The action executes, and the menu immediately closes.

• To choose an item other than the first item, click once on that item.

• To close the menu without selecting anything from it, click anywhere outside the menu.

You can save mouse clicks by pressing and holding Mouse Button 1 over the menu button, dragging the pointer through the menu until the desired item is highlighted, and then releasing the button. The requested action is initiated and the menu closes immediately.

Cascading Menus

Some pull-down menus lead you to other pull-down menus. These are called cascading menus and are indicated by a right-pointing arrowhead located to the right of a menu item.

To access the next stage of a cascading menu, move the pointer over the item, then press and hold Mouse Button 1 and pause long enough for the menu item to highlight and for the second menu to appear. Refer to Exhibit 2.1.4-3.

The cascading menu always appears to the right of the parent menu, unless there is not enough room on the display for it to fit. In that case, it butts up to the right edge of the display. If the parent menu is already displayed, press and hold Mouse Button 1 and highlight the menu item until the second menu appears.

Tear-away Menus

The pull-down and cascading menus in the D2D display can also be detached from their parent menu (as well as from their original menu button). Menus with this option are called Tear-away Menus. These menus are indicated by the presence of a dashed line, or "perforation" at the top of the menu.

Menus can be torn away by clicking on the dashed line. The system responds by making the menu into a separate window. The tear-away menu can be moved, resized, and closed. A tear-away menu is illustrated in Exhibit 2.1.4-4.

To move a tear-away menu, simply position the mouse pointer on the Title Bar of the tear-away menu, press and hold mouse button 1, and drag the menu to the new position. To close a tear-away menu, click on the "X" in the upper right corner.

The system does not allow you to make multiple tear-aways of the same menu. Option Menus Option menus are similar to pull-down menus but are denoted with a small rectangle in the menu button. The menu button displays the selected option. Exhibit 2.1.4-5 depicts an option menu.

Exhibit 2.1.4-5. An Option Menu

Dialog Boxes

Dialog boxes are windows that are independent of the main D2D window. They enable you to interact with the interface in a specialized way. Although they cannot be resized, dialog boxes can be moved, iconified, and closed in the same way as menus and windows. Exhibit 2.1.4-6 shows a dialog box.

• Moving Dialog Boxes: Dialog boxes are moved to new locations on the screen in the same way as windows are moved, that is, by positioning the pointer in the Title Bar and dragging the dialog box to the new position.

• Minimizing Dialog Boxes: As with windows, all dialog boxes can be minimized. To minimize a dialog box, click on the small square with the underscore in the upper-right corner of the Title Bar (the leftmost of the three boxes; see Exhibit 2.1.4-6). The dialog box "vanishes," but can be restored by clicking on its icon in the panel on the left side of the screen. (The icon in the panel is identified with the first two or three characters of the dialog's name, and is shown dimmed with its name in square brackets when minimized. In the example here, it would read "[Lo...]")

• Resizing Dialog Boxes: You can change the size of some dialog boxes by positioning the pointer on an edge of the dialog box and dragging to the desired new size. The information contained within may adjust to the new size.

• Closing Dialog Boxes: Some Dialog Boxes have a Close, Exit, or Cancel button in the lower portion of the box. Click on the button to close the dialog box. When a Close, Exit, or Cancel button is present, it should always be used to close the Dialog Box.

Some Dialog Boxes have a menu bar. When a menu bar is present, the "close or exit" option is under the File menu and should always be used to close the Dialog Box.

On a Dialog Box without a menu bar or a Close, Exit, or Cancel button, a click with Button 1 on the window close button (the small square with an X in the upper-right corner of the window) may be used to close the box.

Pop-up Menus

Pop-up menus contain options that are specific to a certain area of the D2D workspace (large display pane, small display panes, four-panel layout, and legends) and specific to the type of product being displayed (graphic plot, contoured graphic, image). A pop-up menu provides no visual cue of its presence but simply pops up when you perform a particular action. All pop-up menus in D2D are opened by pressing and holding Mouse Button 3. Refer to Section 2.4 for details about D2D Pop-up Menus.

Table of Contents Next Section