Basics
ProTOp user interface

ProTOp's user interface follows more or less the standard guidelines for windows applications.

The main window is partitioned as follows.

• The main menu docked to the top contains the menus and commands that are always available.
• The command ribbons below the main menu contain the commands that start individual tool dialogs.
• The project panel docked to the left contains project-related information.
• The graphics panel docked to the right contains graphics-related information and partially editable graphics-related properties.
• The display panel positioned centrally is used to render the considered part and related graphical information.

Figure. Layout of the main window.

The project panel, command ribbons, and graphics panel can be individually hidden or restored by using the Project, Commands, and Graphics toggle buttons from the main menu.

Getting help on tools ...

The vast majority of tools is described in dedicated help forms, available for each individual tool. From each tool dialog the corresponding help can be accessed via the Help button, which is always located at the lower left corner of the tool dialog.

Figure. Dedicated help is available for each tool via the Help button.

In addition to help forms, a brief description of many commands can be seen after the mouse hover event, i.e., after the mouse pointer pauses on a command button for a short time interval.

Figure. Brief command description displayed after the mouse hover event.

Getting help on input fields ...

Input field parameters of a tool are described in its corresponding help form. In addition to this, a brief description of the expected input can be obtained by pressing the F1 key when the input field control has focus.

Figure. Required input description is displayed if the F1 key is pressed.

This kind of input tips is available for the following input controls:

• edit box,
• numeric up-down box,
• check box,
• combo box, and
• slider.

Using the data grid control ...

The data grid control enables displaying and editing of tabulated data. In ProTOp it typically displays a list of items, each of them being represented by a data row.

The related commands typically apply to one or more items, represented by the set of selected rows. A row can be selected by clicking either its header or any of its cells. Multiple rows can be selected either:

• by clicking several row headers while holding down the Ctrl key, or,
• by selecting one row header and pressing the Ctrl + A keys, or,
• by clicking the header of the column names row (upper-left corner of the data grid control).

The latter two commands select all data rows.

NOTE. Multiple row selection is possible only for some object types like, for example, for optimization load cases.

Figure. Data grid control with a toolbar; directly editable data are displayed in white-background cells.

The cells of a data grid can be classified into two groups: the input and the read-only cells. Input cells have white background and can be edited. The background of read-only cells is colored light-gray; their content can not be edited directly by typing within the cell.

The status column of the data grid displays a marker that indicates the state of the corresponding data row (item) as follows:

• - Edit state: the corresponding item is still missing the required data
• - OK state: the corresponding item contains complete and valid data
• - Suppress state: the corresponding item is suppressed and will not be processed
• - Warning state: the corresponding item contains data that might be erroneous
• - Error state: the corresponding item contains erroneous data

The suppress state is turned on or off by the Suppress selected items toggle button in the toolbar.

Using the data grid toolbar

The data grid control may host a toolbar control that may contain the following buttons:

• - Add new item: this command adds a new empty item.
• - Add copies of selected items: this command adds new items with data copied from the selected items.
• - Suppress selected items toggle: this command disables or enables the selected items.
• - Sort items toggle: this command enables or disables item sorting.
• - Delete selected items: this command deletes the selected items.
• - Set data in selected items: this command sets entered data in the desired column of selected items.
• - Copy all items to clipboard: this command copies the header row and all data rows to clipboard.
• - Paste from clipboard as new items: this command adds new items with data copied from the clipboard.

Note that not all toolbar buttons may be available for a particular data grid. Their availability depends on the underlying data object.

Copying to Clipboard

The textual content of all data rows, including the header row, can be copied to clipboard by using the Copy all items to clipboard toolbar button. The format is TAB separated text, which is appropriate for pasting into, for example, Microsoft Excel. Column headers are always included in form of a leading header row.

Pasting from Clipboard

Some object types like optimization load cases allow for pasting data rows into the data grid. If this is possible, the Paste from clipboard as new items button is available in the toolbar. When using this command, the clipboard data is used to populate new data rows that are added to the corresponding data table.

NOTE. Some object types like, for example, optimization load cases allow adding new data rows by pasting data from clipboard. See the corresponding dialog documentation on how to prepare adequate data for pasting.

The data to be pasted must be TAB separated text with one text line per item. The first text line must contain column headers. Subsequent text lines should contain data of the items to be pasted. Such data can be easily prepared in spreadsheet applications like Microsoft Excel, but simple text editors can also be used.

Note that the header line is obligatory, but columns can be skipped as desired.

For more detailed instructions on how to prepare adequate data for pasting, see the corresponding dialog documentation, available via the Help button of the tool dialog.

Preparing data for copying to and pasting from Clipboard

To prepare data to be copied to clipboard and pasted into the data grid control, any text editor may be used. However, by using a dedicated spreadsheet application like Microsoft Excel, this job can be done much easier.

In Microsoft Excel, for example, the data has to be prepared as shown in the table below.

If a text editor is used to prepare the data, make sure to:

• use one line of text for each load case and
• within each text line individual values are separated by TAB characters.

After such data is copied to clipboard, it can be used to define new additional optimization load cases by using the Paste as new rows from clipboard toolbar button.

Important notes

• The header line containing the column names is obligatory and must not be skipped.
• Some columns can be skipped if desired.
• A period must be used as the decimal delimiter symbol. Other delimiter symbols are not supported and may produce wrong results.

Using the mouse ...

The graphical display interface assumes the presence of a mouse or a similar pointing device. The following mouse buttons are used:

• LMB - left mouse button
• MMB - middle mouse button
• RMB - right mouse button
• Wheel - mouse wheel

Figure. Graphical display window and used mouse buttons

The table below lists the functions corresponding to particular key, mouse button, and action.