Chapters 5 and 6 provide comprehensive information and procedures for using all parts of Tachyon. Often, however, all you need is a pointer in the right direction, and perhaps a comment about the procedure, to get started. The tables in this chapter will help you quickly get to the right menu command, dialog box, or control to accomplish your task.
You can use this chapter as an introduction to the Tachyon menus, shortcut keys, and GUI controls. Or you can refer to the tables later for a quick reference.
This section summarizes many of the Tachyon procedures and provides a
comprehensive menu overview.
Across the top there are five pull-down menus, a text area which displays the current filename and an options menu. The menus are titled:
| Menu Item | Accelerator | Comments |
| | | |
| New | <ctrl>+n | Clears the Tachyon canvas. |
| Load... | <ctrl>+o | Load a previously saved network from the drop-down list that appears |
| Save Network | <ctrl>+s | Saves the current network. If the network was not previously saved, the network will be saved to ``unnamed''. |
| Save As.. | <ctrl>+a | Opens the Save As dialog box, which prompts you for a filename. |
| Save Postscript | <ctrl>+p | This option allows you to save the network as a postscript file or to print directly to a printer. |
| Commit Changes | Signal process which spawned Tachyon to read in the network again and update. | |
| Inform parent process | Signal process which spawned Tachyon to stop waiting for Tachyon, and proceded, ignoring Tachyon's alterations. | |
| Exit | <ctrl>+x | Exits Tachyon. If the network has been modified, you will be prompted to save the network. |
| Menu Item | Accelerator | Comments |
| | | |
| Cut | x | Cuts the selected nodes and edges from the canvas and puts them into the clipboard. |
| Paste | <ctrl>+y | Restores the nodes and edges from the clipboard. The nodes and edges will be placed in their original locations. |
| Empty Clipboard | Erases the network currently on the clipboard. | |
| Collapse selected node(s) | H | Abstract selected subgraph with a hierarchical (parent) node. |
| <ctrl>+h | (Also paste subgraph into a new layer). | |
| Expand selected node | <Left-Dbl-click> | Replace a hierarchical (parent) node with the (child) nodes it represents. (And re-layout the network). |
| Menu Item | Accelerator | Comments |
| | | |
| Lock Current Values | Save Current Values for later restoration. | |
| Show Changes | Highlight changes between the current values and the last solve. | |
| Restore Locked Values | Replace current values with locked values. | |
| Solve Current Network | s | Check consistency and propagate values for current instantiation. |
| Diagnose Inconsistency | I | Highlight subgraph contributing to inconsistency in prior ``Solve Network''. |
| Diagnose Inconsistency in Subgraph | D | Highlight part of selected subgraph which makes the rest inconsistent. |
| First Network Solution | f | Scan through combinations of disjoint constraints until a consistent configuration is found or there are no more possibilities. |
| Next Network Solution | n | Continue disjoint solution search from where it was left off. Note: Each new solution is calculated from values set prior to the request for First Network Solution. |
The Format Menu simply allows selection of what the temporal format should be.
This determines how temporal information should be displayed and how it should
be read/written throughout the network.
| Menu Item | Type | Example |
| | | |
| (seconds) | 0 | 130 |
| (minutes) | 1 | 130 |
| (hours) | 2 | 130 |
| (days) | 3 | 130 |
| (hours:seconds) | 4 | 13:45 |
| (hours:minutes:seconds) | 5 | 13:45:59 |
| (days+hours:minutes:seconds) | 6 | 130+13:14:59 |
| (month/day/year) | 7 | 11/30/93 |
| daymonyear (10jul92) | 8 | 1Jan94 |
| Menu Item | Accellerator | Comments |
| | | |
| Center Page | Center current network on the canvas. | |
| Size to Fit | Change zoom factor to display the whole graph on one page. | |
| Normal Size | Return the zoom factor to the default. | |
| Open New Layer | o | Create a ``new'' palette for viewing a subgraph. |
| Toggle Previous Layer | p | Switch to the last-visited layer. |
| Next Layer | n | Switch palette to next in layer (cycle). |
When aligning nodes, all nodes are aligned relative to the first node selected.
| Menu Item | Comments |
| | |
| Align Left Edges | Align selected nodes so their left edges are linear. |
| Align Top Edges | Align selected nodes so their top edges are linear. |
| Layout Graph (Hierarchical) | Layout the graph on the canvas (Prefer org-chart type format) |
| Layout Graph (Circular) | Layout the graph on the canvas (Prefer evenly-spaced format) |
| Layout Graph (Semetric) | Layout the graph on the canvas (Prefer symmetric axes where found) |
| TimeLineTool | Display nodes on a timeline, similar to a Gantt chart. |
| Icon | Comments |
| | |
| Small Up, Down, Left, Right Arrows | Pan across canvas in the direction of the arrow. |
| Large Up Arrow | Zoom in. |
| Large Down Arrow | Zoom out. |
| Button | Mouse Position | Action |
| | | |
| Left | Node or Edge | Select toggle on closest node/edge. |
| Left | Canvas | Deselect all |
| Double-click Left | Node or Edge | Bring up edit panel on node/edge |
| Shift-Left | Canvas | Create a node (event) |
| Shift-Left-Drag | Node | Create an edge (constraint) between nodes |
| Meta-Left | Node or Edge | Peek at extended information on node/edge |
| Middle | Node | Move node while dragging |
| Right-Drag | Canvas | Select over area |
These are the additional accelerator keys which did not appear on the menu
selections described above. More will be added as functionality expands.
| Key | Bound to... |
| | |
| KP_Up | Pan upward |
| KP_Down | Pan downward |
| KP_Left | Pan left |
| KP_Right | Pan right |
| KP_Plus | Zoom in |
| KP_Minus | Zoom out |
| <ctrl>+p | Print (Output PostScript) |
| <ctrl>+q | Quit |
(c) 1996 General Electric Co.