sPlan - Tips and hints and The Viewer

Tips and hints 

• You can always go back to the standard (arrow) mode, with the right mouse button (except the zoom mode)
• You can always disable the grid capture temporary with the CTRL-key. So you don't have to switch the grid on or off.
• You can always disable the angle capture while drawing lines or rotating elements temporary with the SHIFT-key.
• If you click on a selected element again, the sizer will change into arrows. Now you can rotate or shear the element with your mouse.
• If you have selected a line or a polygon, you can move single line-segments of the line or the polygon, while you keep the ALT-key pressed.
• If you press the SHIFT-key while rotating or mirroring, the text won't be rotated or mirrored. You may have to align the text new, but therefore the text is always readable.
• You can change the text positions of the identifier, value or contacts of a component directly in your diagram. Just click on the text element and move it (the component should not being selected before). There is no need to call he component editor for this.
• You can zoom with your mouse wheel, if you keep the CTRL-key pressed.
• If you want to create a circle with a dashed line, you can create with the special form function a regular polygon with enough edges (e.g. 32 ore more) as a line. After that, you can doubleclick on the "circle" and define a line style.
• You can easily sort your components in the library per drag&drop. Just click on a component in the library and move it to the new place in the library.
• You can adjust the width of the library with the mouse.
• You can add your own form sheets to your circuit diagram
• You can simply draw magnetic lines out of the rulers. To delete magnetic lines, just draw them back to the ruler.
• If you want to publish your circuit diagrams in the internet, you should export the diagram with a high resolution. After that you can shrink the picture with a graphic application. This will result in a very good quality, because most graphic applications use anti-aliasing to shrink pictures.As an alternative way, you can offer your *.SPL files for download, and refer your visitors to the free viewer application for sPlan.

User Interface

This chapter will provide the user with details of the ProTester user interface. First, the main GUI “look and feel” is presented. Then the functionality of each menu item is outlined. Following this is some detailed information about communication system definition, simulation and using the protocol parsers.

Toolbars Customization Serial Monitor Configuration

This page allows you to manage the toolbars used to access Serial Monitor commands.

There is a list of available application commands displayed in the Commands list. You can filter it by categories, selecting the required category in the Categories list. If you select the All Commands category, you will see the complete list of commands. Each command is displayed together among with the corresponding small image, so you can easily locate the command you want to customize.
When you select the command, its description is displayed to the right.
There is a list of currently configured toolbars. You can create new toolbars, delete existing ones and turn toolbars on/off. You can change the size of the buttons on the toolbar using the Large buttons option.
You can click any command in the list and drag it to the toolbar where you want it to be. To delete the button, click it on the toolbar and drag away from it. To move the button, click it and drag to the another position.
Press the Reset All button to revert to the original toolbar configuration.
When you press the New or Delete buttons or drag buttons, the configuration changes, to save it, press the Apply or OK button. If you press the Cancel button, the previous configuration (the one that existed before the dialog appeared) will be restored. If you press the Apply button and then press the Cancel button, the configuration will also be restored.

Note: You can also customize toolbars without ever displaying this dialog. Press and hold the Alt button and drag buttons on the toolbar to move or delete them.

Using the Serial Monitor

After the Serial Monitor is successfully installed, it can be launched from the Start menu. Upon launch, the Serial Monitor tries the following:

1. It first tries to open the SerMon.sys device driver.
2. If the previous attempt fails, it looks the Service Control Manager database for the driver and tries to start it. This attempt will fail if the current user is not the member of the Administrators group or isn't assigned the special privilege.

When Serial Monitor successfully receives the handle to the SerMon.sys device driver, it becomes ready to work. You can now create or open Monitoring Sessions and start to work.
When you close the Serial Monitor, the following happens:

1. The Serial Monitor closes the current monitoring session, allowing you to save its state.
2. The Serial Monitor closes the handle to the SerMon.sys device driver.
3. If the Serial Monitor security is set to default configuration, it stops the SerMon.sys device driver and unloads it. (See Security Settings for more information)

To temporary stop data processing:

1. Press thebutton on the toolbar or select Tools|Stop menu option.

To resume data processing:

1. Press the button on the toolbar or select the Tools|Start menu option.

When using Log Source, press the Skip button on the status bar to stop waiting for the next event and process it.

Common Settings Serial Monitor Configuration

Common Settings page is accessed via the Tools|Settings menu option. You have to select the General tab of the Settings property sheet. The following window will appear:

Display Splash Screen on startup

Select this option to show the Splash Screen every time you launch the Serial Monitor.

Display the New Session Wizard's introduction page

Select this option to display the introduction page every time you start the New Session Wizard.

Display the New Session Wizard's finish page

Select this option to display the finish page every time you finish the New Session Wizard.

Recent file list contains N sessions

This option allows you to control the number of the last recently used sessions to hold in the File menu.

Product Language

Select the desired product language. All messages, commands, interface items and help file will be displayed in selected language. We often release new language packs.

Security Settings Serial Monitor Configuration

Security Settings page is accessed via the Tools|Settings menu option. You have to select the Security tab of the Settings property sheet. See the screenshot below.
This page allows the system administrator to specify users who can launch the Serial Monitor and use its monitoring features.
Only local, domain administrator or a person with corresponding rights (write to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE registry keys, install and manage device drivers) will get full access to this page. Everyone else will get read-only access to this page.

First of all, this window allows two configurations: default and multi-user.

Format Appearance Settings Serial Monitor Configuration

This page is used to change the appearance of Data Visualizers. It consists of the following parts:

Category

This list contains all Data Visualizers whose appearance you can change. Select the desired category to modify it.

Element

This field contains the list of elements of the selected category. All elements are presented in the following field.

Preview (large text box in the middle)

Contains the preview for every element in the selected category. Consists of the element name and the element preview text. The selected element is highlighted. Element preview text is rendered exactly as it would in the real Data Visualizer. You can click on the preview text or the element name to change the selected element.

Font

This button displays the selected font for the element and allows you to change it. Press the button to change the current font.

Color (button with a color box in the middle)

This button displays the color box of the selected color for the current element. Press the button to change the color.

Reset Category

Press this button to reset the selected category to its original state.