This chapter describes the general graphical concepts that are used throughout the user interfaces of the Telelogic Tau tools. It also describes some common menu choices. This information will not be repeated in other chapters of the User's Manual.
You should have a basic understanding of the Telelogic Tau tools concepts and tool family before you read this chapter. Such information can be found in:
The Telelogic Tau tools family is designed to be available on workstations running UNIX and on PCs running Windows. Since the majority of the Telelogic Tau tools are graphical, it is assumed that the computer you are to run the Telelogic Tau tools on has the required graphical support.
Telelogic supports the following graphical environments:
Throughout the Telelogic Tau manuals, it is assumed that you are familiar with the graphical environment that is currently used. Otherwise, we recommend you to read the literature that describes that graphical environment. See for instance References.
For ORCA1 and SDT, the intention is to provide full compatibility between ORCA + SDT on PC's and ORCA + SDT on UNIX workstations, with respect to functionality and storage formats. However, since they are implemented on different graphical environments, there may be slight differences in the appearance of each tool. Also, we have tried to adopt the respective style guide for each environment as long as feasible, but have been forced to compromise in order to provide a uniform user interface between the UNIX workstation and PC environments.
The constraints that are imposed on the Telelogic Tau tools by the graphical environment are identified in Microsoft Windows System Factors, X Window System Factors (UNIX only) and OSF/Motif Factors (UNIX only).
All the Telelogic Tau tools have a main window with a common general appearance. The tools may also have sub windows that depend on the main window. Apart from these, there are also dialog windows, see Dialog Windows.
In ITEX in Windows, the windows will be displayed in the working area of the ITEX desktop.
A general main window of a Telelogic Tau tool in Windows and on UNIX, as well as the ITEX desktop in Windows, is depicted and explained below:
Figure 1 : A Telelogic Tau main window (in Windows)
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Figure 2 : A Telelogic Tau tool main window (on UNIX)
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Figure 3 : The ITEX desktop (in Windows)
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The title bar may identify the tool family, the tool and the opened document. In some tools, an asterisk signifies that the document is not saved since the last change.
The menu bar contains pull-down menus. The menu choices operate either on the whole document or file that is opened in the tool, or on any selected object(s). More information on menus and menu choices can be found in General Menus and General Menu Choices.
You can "preview" the functionality of a menu choice by pointing to it. In ORCA and SDT on UNIX you also have to press the mouse button. An explanation will appear in the status bar.
If a menu or menu choice is dimmed, it is not appropriate or meaningful in the current situation, or the associated tool license is temporarily lost.
If a menu or menu choice is hidden, you do not have a license for the associated tool, or the tool has a long/short menu concept which allows hiding of menu choices.
Most operations that the quick-buttons in the tool bar provide, have an exactly corresponding menu choice, but some quick-buttons have a slightly different functionality compared to their corresponding menu choice. See also General Quick-Buttons.
You can "preview" the functionality of a quick button by pointing to it. In ITEX on UNIX you also have to press the mouse button. An explanation will appear in the status bar, and as a tool tip just below the button (not available in ITEX on UNIX).
In ITEX in Windows, the tool bars are dockable on all sides of the desktop.
The information a tool handles is displayed and may possibly be edited in the drawing area. The drawing area may also give access to popup menus. See also The Drawing Area.
The working area of the desktop will display the ITEX windows that you open. For example, when you open a TTCN document, the Browser window will be displayed in the working area.
A tool frame, with a unique color for each tool, surrounds the drawing areas in ORCA and SDT. This makes it easier for you to identify a tool, without the need to see the whole drawing area or the title bar.
The status bar displays information about menu choices and quick-buttons, the progress or result of an invoked operation, and the name of a selected object or additional information about an object.
A sub window of a Telelogic Tau tool is a window that depends on the main window of the tool. A sub window is opened either automatically when the main window is opened or as a result of user interaction with the main window. All sub windows are automatically closed when the main window exits. However, to close a sub window does not affect the main window.
Some ITEX tools, for example the Analyzer, produce logs.
On UNIX, the relevant tool dialog allows the log device to be set to Screen, File or None. If set to Screen, the log will be displayed in its own log window. If set to File, a directory dialog will be displayed where you can specify a file to save the log in.
In Windows, the Log Manager will display the logs, and tabs are used for viewing different logs. The contents of the window can be copied and saved. For more information, see Viewing Log Information.
You can change the scale of the drawing area of an ORCA or SDT window by selecting Set Scale in the View menu or by using quick buttons for zooming in and out. The scale is normally between 20% and 800%.
The following menus are generally available in a menu bar:
Some common menu choices in Telelogic Tau are described below and the descriptions will not be repeated elsewhere.
The most common menu choices in the File menu of the Telelogic Tau tools are only described in this section. If a tool provides additional menu choices in the File menu, they will be described in the corresponding chapter. If a common menu choice has a different functionality, it will also be described in its corresponding chapter but minor differences will be mentioned below.
When you select this menu choice, a new document, diagram or file will be created and displayed. In some tools, it will be given a default file name which you later may change, and in some tools you have to specify the name and the type of document/diagram in a dialog before it will be displayed.
When you select this menu choice, a file selection dialog will be issued, in which you select what file to open. For more information, see File Selection Dialog.
A default file filter, which depends on the tool, will be used. It corresponds to the default file extensions applied when a document or diagram is saved (see Save). The tools and the filters are listed in the table below.
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Note: No specific file extension on diagrams are imposed. If other file extensions than the ones suggested have been used when saving diagrams, a different filter than the given must be applied. |
When you select this menu choice, the current information in the document/diagram/window will be saved in a file.
When you save a document/diagram for the first time, a file selection dialog is opened. A default file name and file extension is suggested. You have to specify where the file is to be saved and you may also change the file name and extension. If you try to overwrite an existing file, you will be warned.
The Save Document menu choice only exists in the ITEX Browser and Table Editor on UNIX. When you select it, the TTCN document will be saved. See also Save.
Select this menu choice to save the current document/diagram in a new file. A default file name and file extension will be suggested, see Save. If you change the file name and extension and try to overwrite an existing file, you will be warned.
If the document/diagram was already connected in the Organizer, it will be reconnected to the newly created file.
This menu choice is available in ORCA and SDT editors. It saves a copy of the current document/diagram in a new file.
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Note: The window will hold the original file, not the newly saved copy. The document/diagram remains connected to the old file and the Organizer's structure is left unaffected by the operation. |
The name of the new file is to be specified in a file selection dialog and a default file name and extension will be suggested; see Save. If you try to overwrite an existing file, you will be warned.
This menu choice is available in ORCA and SDT editors. It saves all modified documents/diagrams that are opened. Except for that, it works as described in Save.
The different Print dialogs and how to print is described in Printing Documents and Diagrams.
When you select this menu choice, the current document/diagram (or in some cases the window) will be closed. In most documents, you will not have to confirm the closing.
This menu choice is available in ORCA and SDT editors. When you select it, the current diagram will be closed. If changes in the diagram has not been saved, a dialog will be issued where you can select to save or not before closing.
If the closed diagram was the last open diagram, the editor will exit. If there are more editor windows open, the window will be closed. If there is only one editor window, but more diagrams open, another diagram will be displayed in the window.
This menu choice is only available in the Help Viewer. When you select it, the current document will be closed. Another opened document will be displayed instead.
This menu choice is available in ORCA and SDT editors. When you select it, the current diagram will be re-loaded from the file system. This operation is useful if the file has changed in any way in the file system.
When you select this menu choice, the current tool will exit. If a document/diagram has been changed since last save, a dialog will be issued where you may select to save it, not save it or -- where applicable -- save all opened documents/diagrams or quit without saving anything.
ml_mfc.h, sdtmt.opt and env.c before exiting.A Tools menu is available in most Telelogic Tau tools. It contains various menu choices, but the following is included in almost all Tools menus:
This menu choice raises the parent Organizer main window, that is from where the tool was started.
A Help menu is available in most main and sub windows of the Telelogic Tau tools. However, the menu choices in this menu are not the same in each tool or on each platform, but they work in the same way: When you select a menu choice in the Help menu, the Telelogic Tau Help Viewer, the Netscape Web browser, or the Internet Explorer Web browser -- depending on the preferences set -- will be opened with a text that describes the corresponding tool or topic.
The following Help menu choices, that may need an explanation, are described below:
Opens the About message box for the tool that the menu choice was invoked from, which gives information on the current tool version, copyright, etc.
Opens the Web browser with a page on the World Wide Web from Telelogic's Help Desk ( http://www.telelogic.com/usersupp/usersupp.asp). This menu choice is only available in the Organizer.
Opens the Help Viewer with an index of all entries in the Telelogic Tau documentation. This menu choice is only available in the Organizer.
Opens a dialog with license information for all tools in Telelogic Tau. For more information on this dialog, see License Information. This menu choice is available in the Organizer.
On UNIX, this menu choice opens a dialog with additional license information on the ITEX tools. For more information, see License Info. In Windows, the dialog lists the Telelogic Tau licenses currently in use as well as the number of licenses available for each tool.
This menu choice is available in the ITEX Table Editor on UNIX. It displays the TTCN BNF syntax applicable for the relevant field.
Opens a text describing the ITEX tool that the menu choice was invoked from. This menu choice is only available in ITEX on UNIX.
Starts a textual search across all help files. This menu choice is available in the Organizer and all ORCA and SDT tools.
Opens the web browser with Telelogic's home page on the World Wide Web ( http://www.telelogic.com). This menu choice is only available in the Organizer.
The graphical ORCA and SDT tools allow you to define additional menus and menu items that execute external commands or send PostMaster messages. Separate user-defined menus can be defined and added to each graphical tool. However, the pre-defined menus in each tool can not be removed or changed.
User-defined menus are described by menu definition files that are read by the tools when they start up.
It is sometimes more useful to add user-defined menus to the tools after they have been started; this can be accomplished if you use the Telelogic Tau Public Interface. For more information see Menu Manipulation Services.
Menu definition files must have fixed names that indicate which tool the menus are intended for.
The following tools allow addition of user-defined menus, and also offer the possibility of letting the menu commands access the internal state information of the tool. This is accomplished if you use format codes that are documented separately for each tool in the Public Interface.
| Tool | Menu definition file name |
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Organizer |
org-menus.ini |
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MSC Editor |
msce-menus.ini |
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SDL Editor |
sdle-menus.ini |
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OM/SC/HMSC Editor |
ome-menus.ini |
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Text Editor |
te-menus.ini |
The following tools allow addition of user-defined menus, but do not offer the possibility of accessing the internal state of the tool.
| Tool | Menu definition file name |
|---|---|
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Preference Manager |
pref-menus.ini |
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Type Viewer |
typ-menus.ini |
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Coverage Viewer |
cover-menus.ini |
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Index Viewer |
xref-menus.ini |
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Tree Viewer |
tree-menus.ini |
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Help Viewer |
hv-menus.ini |
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Simulator/Validator UI 1 |
simui-menus.ini |
On start-up, each tool that supports menu-definition files will search for a menu definition file with the given pre-defined name in up to three locations:
HOME environment variable will be searched. If a file with the expected name is found, it will be used. $telelogic/, and in Windows the top installation directory, by default C:\tau35).If no file is found, no user-defined menus will be added on start-up.
A menu definition file is a line-oriented text file separated into sections by lines containing special section markers. Each section contains lines formatted in the same way, containing an option/value pair. Each section describes either a menu or a menu item.
The first line of a menu definition file is a format tag that identifies the file as menu definition file:
SDT-DYNAMICMENUS-3.5
Each section is started by adding a line with a section name between brackets "[ ]". Valid sections in a menu definition file are:
[MENU] [MENUITEM] [MENUEND]
The menu section starts a new menu. Subsequent [MENUITEM] sections will add a menu item to this menu until a [MENUEND] section is encountered. A [MENU] section should be the first line after the initial tag or follow directly after a [MENUEND] section.
After the [MENU] section tag follows the option below, using the syntax:
Name=NameOfMenu
A [MENUITEM] section must occur between a [MENU] and a [MENUEND] section.
Following the [MENUITEM] section tag is a number of options and their values, using the syntax:
Option=Value
This section adds a menu choice to the specified menu. The menu choice could either perform an OS command or issue a PostMaster notification when selected. The OS command to perform or the message to broadcast could be sensitive on a selected symbol.
The exact interpretation of two of these options (ProprietaryKey and AttributeKey, described below) will depend on which tool the menu will be installed in. In particular, the ProprietaryKey option will only have significance in the Organizer and the graphical editors. The AttributeKey option will only have significance in the graphical editors. If not used these options should be set to 0.
For tools supporting access to internal state information, format codes can be used in the command string or as message parameter, providing additional context-sensitive information.
For more information on options and format codes, see Add Item to Menu.
| Option | Explanation/Value |
|---|---|
ItemName |
A string that contains the menu item text that appears in the menu item. Ampersand syntax is supported, as for menu names. Make sure that different letters are selected for each menu item in the menu; otherwise keyboard activation of the menu item may not work. |
Separator |
A boolean value (0 or 1) that indicates whether a separator (a thin line) should precede the menu item in the menu. |
StatusbarText |
A string that should be displayed in the tool's status bar while the menu item is selected to hint you about the function of the menu choice. |
ProprietaryKey |
An integer whose interpretation depends on the tool; the Organizer interprets this parameter as For the Organizer, you can use either an integer or a symbolic string as the value. If not used, simply set to 0. |
AttributeKey |
An integer whose interpretation depends on the tool; the graphical editors interpret this parameter as If not used, simply set to 0. |
Scope |
An enumerated value that indicates when the menu item should be dimmed. For the valid values, see scope. You can use either an integer or a symbolic string as the value. If not used, simply set to 0. |
ConfirmText |
A text string that contains a dialog box text. If not empty, this will issue a two button dialog with OK and Cancel buttons and an editable text field containing the command to be performed. You can alter the command text before pressing OK. |
ActionInterpretation |
An integer value indicating the desired action when a menu item is activated:
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BlockCommand |
Only significant if A boolean value (0 or 1) indicating whether the Organizer should wait for the execution of the command to complete (1), or allow you to perform other operations while the command executes (0). |
FormattedCommand |
Only significant if The OS command to perform. Some tools evaluate specific context sensitive format codes. |
MessageNumber |
Only significant if Indicates the number of the PostMaster message to send. |
FormattedMessage |
Only significant if The parameters to the PostMaster message. Some tools evaluate specific context sensitive format codes. |
The [MENUEND] section indicates that a menu definition has come to an end and that no more [MENUITEM] sections should appear until a new [MENU] section is encountered. This section has no options.
An example of a typical menu-definition file could be:
SDT-DYNAMICMENUS-3.5 [MENU] Name=&RCS [MENUITEM] ItemName=Check &Out Separator=0 StatusbarText=Check out the selected object ProprietaryKey=1 AttributeKey=0 Scope=SELECTED_OBJECT_NOT_IN_EDITOR ConfirmText= ActionInterpretation=OS_COMMAND BlockCommand=1 FormattedCommand=co %f [MENUEND]
If you hear a beep when you click a quick-button, then the operation is currently not available.
The following quick-buttons can be considered as standard buttons that are available in many Telelogic Tau tools:
You invoke a popup menu with the right mouse button. A menu choice in a popup menu generally have the same name and work in the same way as a corresponding menu choice in the menu bar.
There are two types of popup menus: context sensitive popup menus and the background popup menu.
Objects visible in the drawing area may have associated popup menus, whose contents may vary with the type of the object.
In ORCA and SDT, a context sensitive popup menu can be displayed in two slightly different ways:
In ITEX, the popup menu always applies to the object the mouse pointer is placed on, but the current selection does not change. If you right-click on the background of the drawing area, outside of any visible object, the background popup menu is displayed, regardless of any current selection.
In ORCA and SDT, the background popup menu is displayed if you right-click on the drawing area background, and there is no current selection in the drawing area. This popup menu contains some of the most important and/or commonly performed menu choices from the menu bar. The popup menu choices operate on the whole file, document or drawing area, in the same way as the corresponding menu choices from the menu bar do.
In ITEX, the background popup menu is always displayed if you right-click on the drawing area background, regardless of any selected objects.
Many Telelogic Tau tools can present a hierarchical structure in two ways; as a list structure and as a tree structure. The example below is from the Organizer.
Figure 4 : List and tree structures
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It may be possible to switch between the two structures if you select an Option menu choice on the View menu. It is also possible to collapse and expand nodes in a hierarchical structure with the Expand and Collapse commands in the View menu. A collapsed node is indicated by a small triangle below the node:
Figure 5 : Collapsed nodes in list structure
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In ITEX on UNIX there is a difference between selection and input focus. Selection is a marked item or text string. You select items with the left mouse button. The input focus is set when you point to an item and click with the middle mouse button. The input focus is indicated by a rectangular border surrounding the relevant item.
Figure 6 : Selection and input focus in ITEX on UNIX
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There are two types of dialogs, modeless and modal. A modeless dialog does not prevent you from using other parts of the application while the dialog is visible. A modal dialog does prevent this, that is, the dialog must be dealt with before any work can continue.
A modeless dialog can be considered as an extension to the main window. It contains an Apply button which executes the functionality of the dialog but does not close it. The button is often renamed to indicate the functionality, for example Search. The Close button closes the dialog but does not apply any functionality.
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Note: There is no button with the functionality of an OK button, i.e. execute the functionality and close down the dialog. |
A modal dialog is used for operations that must be confirmed or that affect the view or the information used in the tool. A typical example is an Open dialog. The OK button in a modal dialog both executes the functionality and closes the dialog. The Cancel button closes the dialog but the settings you may have changed in the dialog are ignored.
Wherever you are supposed to input a file or directory name as text in a text field in a dialog, you can take advantage of file name completion. To do this, you type the beginning of an absolute file name or a directory and then press <Space>. This will add characters at the end of the text field. If there are several matches, the initial characters of the matching names will be added. Then you have to press <Space> again to get the alternatives one by one. And after the final alternative, you will get a space character.
File name completion is not provided in ITEX.
Suppose you have the files /home/lat/hello.txt and /home/lat/henderson.txt.
/home/l, and then press <Space>. /home/lat/. h, and then press <Space> again. /home/lat/he. <Space> again. /home/lat/hello.txt. <Space> again. /home/lat/henderson.txt. <Space> again. /home/lat/he (with a space character at the end).When the name of a file or directory is to be specified in a dialog, a combination of a text field and a folder button is often used. You can type the name directly in the text field, or press the folder button to open a file or directory selection dialog (see the following subsections).
Figure 7 : Folder buttons for selecting files and directories (Windows and UNIX)
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When you are going to save or open (or something similar) a file, a file selection dialog will be issued. The dialog will also be opened if you click on the folder button associated with a file name field in a dialog.
In Windows, the file selection dialog looks and behaves exactly like the normal file selection dialog used in Microsoft Windows.
In ORCA and SDT on UNIX, the file selection dialog looks and behaves like described below. The ITEX version on UNIX is described in ITEX File and Directory Dialog (on UNIX).
Figure 8 : A file selection dialog (on UNIX)
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<Return> or clicking the default button when no file name is present in the File text field.~/ or ~user/). <Return> or the default button is pressed, it is the file in this text field that is operated on. If the field is empty and no file is selected in the Files list, this is the same as pressing the Filter button.A directory selection dialog is opened when you select menu choices dealing with directories. The dialog will also be opened if you click on the folder button associated with a directory name field in a dialog.
In Windows, the directory selection dialog looks and behaves exactly like the normal directory selection dialog used in Microsoft Windows.
In ORCA and SDT on UNIX, the directory selection dialog looks and behaves like described below. The ITEX version on UNIX is described in ITEX File and Directory Dialog (on UNIX).
Figure 9 : A directory selection dialog (on UNIX)
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<Return> or the OK button is pressed, it is the directory in this text field that is chosen, if it is specified.Many ITEX dialogs on UNIX require the specification of directory paths and file names. A special dialog is used for this purpose.
The example used in the description of the dialog below is taken from a Log file dialog, but the principle is the same for all file/directory oriented dialogs.
Figure 10 : ITEX file and directory dialog (on UNIX)
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/.) and the parent directory (a path ending in /..). To change to another directory in the dialog, select the required directory path and double-click (see also the Filter command).For compatibility reasons, file names on UNIX platforms must not contain colon characters. For an overview on file compatibility issues, see Windows and UNIX File Compatibility.
In ORCA and SDT, this restriction is checked whenever the you change a file or directory specification that is stored in the system file (see System File for more information). If they are not followed, the following error dialog is shown and you are returned to the dialog where the file was specified:
Figure 11 : Not allowed character in filename
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If you use ITEX, this restriction affects you only when you choose a name for the system file in the Organizer.
In some special circumstances, a message dialog may be opened, stating that a tool is "busy." This is not an indication of a system error. The dialog is opened when a tool is busy performing an operation that you have not finished. A typical example is when you select Show Organizer from another tool, and you have not closed a modal dialog in the Organizer, for example the Print dialog.
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The remedy for a situation like this is to close the message dialog and finish the operation that caused the busy message.
When a Telelogic Tau tool is started on a heavily loaded computer system, it may fail to start and respond within a certain time limit. When this happens, a timeout warning dialog is opened:
Figure 13 : The timeout warning
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The time limit is specified, in seconds, by the environment variable STARTTIMEOUT. The default time limit is 60 seconds. If timeout problems occur, this variable should be adjusted to a higher value to match the typical response times for the computer system where the Telelogic Tau tool is running. For the changed time limit to take effect, the Telelogic Tau tools must be restarted.
It is possible to reach and invoke all commands, menu choices and selections by using the keyboard. This section describes the general keyboard operations available.
The name of each menu in the menu bar contains an underlined character, as in the menu name File. To display, or pull down, the menu, press <Meta> (on UNIX) or <Alt> (in Windows) and the corresponding key, for example <Meta+F> or <Alt+F>.
One character in each menu choice is also underlined. To invoke a menu choice when the menu is displayed, simply press the corresponding key.
The arrow keys can also be used to move between the menu choices and the adjacent pull-down menus.
To invoke a selected menu choice, press <Return> or <Space>. To cancel the menu traversal and bring down the menu, press <Esc>.
You can invoke most common menu choices by using an accelerator. An accelerator is a key combination of the form Ctrl+X. An accelerator is always case insensitive.
An accelerator always invokes the same kind of command in all ORCA and SDT tools where it is available. The standard accelerators in ORCA and SDT are:
By using some special keys, you may perform an operation without holding down any modifier key at the same time.
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Note: All keys are not present on all keyboards. |
More information on keyboard accelerators and key bindings in ITEX can be found in:
[1] Valerie Quercia and Tim O'Reilly:
The Definitive Guides to the X Window System
Volume 3: X Window System User's Guide
OSF/Motif Edition
O'Reilly & Associates, Inc. 1991
ISBN 0-937175-61-7
[2] Open Software Foundation:
OSF/Motif Style Guide Revision 1.2
Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey 1992
ISBN 0-13-640616-5
[3]
Microsoft Corporation:
Introducing Microsoft Windows 95
ISBN: 1-55615-860-2
http://www.microsoft.com/products/prodref/books/267_ov.htm
[4] Microsoft Corporation:
Microsoft Windows NT Workstation: Start Here, Basics and Installation