The Design page contains the design canvas and an associated
Palette view, where you can visually edit a format definition. You
can also customize the display options for the Design page.
Design canvas
The design canvas
provides the space for customizing a format definition. Use the scroll
bars to view the entire visual editing space.
The pop-up menu also
provides the available design and filter options and edit options.
To
add an item to the canvas, click the item icon on the Palette and
click the cursor at the canvas location that you want. You can also
drag the item onto the canvas.
When you select an item in the
design canvas, that item is highlighted in the Outline view, and
property value information is shown in the Properties view.
Edit options and keyboard shortcuts
Table 1 lists the edit options
and the corresponding keyboard combinations. These options are also
available from the
pop-up menu.
Table 1. Design canvas edit options| Option |
Keyboard shortcut |
| Undo |
Ctrl+Z |
| Redo |
Ctrl+Y |
| Cut |
Ctrl+X |
| Copy |
Ctrl+C |
| Paste |
Ctrl+V |
| Delete |
Delete |
| Save |
Ctrl+S |
| Print |
Ctrl+P |
Important: The Undo and Redo operations
apply to operations performed in either the Outline view or the design
canvas. For example, if you cut a field in the design canvas, the Undo
Cut option is enabled in the Outline view pop-up menu.
Selecting and moving items
To select
and move items on the Design canvas, use the Palette view
Select tool
from
the Default drawer. Click on the item and press the mouse button
while dragging. While dragging an item, a pop-up display shows location
information. For a field, the row and column value within the page
are shown, along with the field width.
To select multiple items
in sequence, use the Select tool in the Design
canvas, and press the Ctrl key while clicking the items to be selected. You
can then click one highlighted item and move the entire group of selected
items.
To draw a box around the items that you want in the Design
canvas, press the Shift key while you use the Select tool.
To
draw a box around the items in the Design canvas and have only nodes
selected, use the Marquee tool. Then use
the Select tool to create a cursor for moving
the items.
Display options
Use the following
display options to customize the design canvas.
- Terminal Size
- This selector enables you to create format definitions for several
screen sizes.
- 12 × 80
- 24 × 80 (default)
- 32 × 80
- 43 × 80
- 24 × 80
- 27 × 132
- Toggle Gridlines
- This option hides or shows the grid lines in the design canvas.
- Toggle Samples Values
- This option shows the type of data allowable in a field and the
size of the field. For example, a numeric field of 4 units will show
a sample value of 9999. An alphanumeric field
shows XXXX.
- Toggle Black and White Mode
- This mode enables you to view devices and fields in a high-contrast
canvas.
- Zoom Level
- This option controls the zoom level of the design canvas.
- Filters
- This option enables you to view and prioritize a subset of the
devices in the design canvas.
By default, all devices are shown.
You create new filters to
display customized groupings of devices. You can also change the ordering
of devices in the list.
Printing
To print the design canvas,
click from the menu toolbar. You can also use the Ctrl+P
key combination or select Print from the pop-up
menu.
Bidirectional options
If
you have
enabled
bidirectional support, a
Toggle Bidirectional Mode button
is displayed on the Design page toolbar.
The following toggle options
are available:
- Visual Data
Toggles between visual ordering
of text and the default logical ordering.
- RTL Mapset
Toggles the orientation of
the screen and the horizontal ruler between left-to-right to right-to-left.
- Symmetric Swapping
Resets swappable characters.
For example, in a right-to-left string, the open parenthesis ( and
close parenthesis ) will be reversed.
- Numeric Swapping
Sets an inversion of
the screen, which causes Hindi numerals to be replaced by their Arabic
counterparts and the Arabic numerals to be replaced by their Hindi
counterparts.