The View Menu

The "View" menu enables rescaling and zooming of the displayed graph. Panning is handled by means of the scroll bars located at the bottom and right hand side of the screen or by other methods described in Panning Around the Network Zooming is handled via the zooming tools, the "Scale" menu command or one of the methods described in Re-scaling the Network Window . 

These menu commands, in conjunction with other mechanisms described in Creating the Network, control your view of the network through the window shown on the screen. They help you "change your view" of the network. 

This page contains the following topics:

Quick Data View

The Quick Data View provides one-click access to node and link data and results. When you click on a node or link the data for the table listed in the combo box will be shown. Data can be updated by editing the appropriate field. The fields displayed can be edited or updated using the same procedure as used for XP Tables.

The Table being displayed may be changed with the drop menu and the display for links or nodes may be changed by the tabs on the bottom of the panel.

The Quick Data View panel is dockable and movable. The default mode is docked. The mode may be toggled by double clicking on the header. When it is in the movable mode, the panel may be resized by Moving the cursor to an edge and grabbing when the double arrow appears.

If the selected link is a multi-link, the Quick Data View shows drop menus to select the link (or diversion) type and the link number.

Quick data View Settings may be adjusted by either selecting the View – Settings command or clicking on the Settings button in the Quick Data View panel.

Network Overview

Selecting the network overview brings up a thumbnail view of the entire network. Superimposed on this is a red rectangle which indicates the view currently selected in the main window. You can move around the network by dragging the red box around the overview window with the left mouse button held down.

You can change the scale of the main window by holding the right button down and moving the mouse to the left to make the box smaller and increase detail in the main window, or to the right to show the network at a larger scale.

Fit Window

Select "Fit" to automatically rescale the network display to fit within the current window. The extremities of the network elements (the network's "world") are defined by a thin grey outline which will be seen in full when a "Fit Window" is performed.

Redraw

Redraws the current screen. This command is useful for cleaning up a messy display following some object movements such as Pasting objects and when calculating areas and lengths using the polygon tool.

Save, Restore, and Remove Views

Save View. When you select this option you will be prompted for a name for the current view. The Restore View menu command will display a list of saved views.

Restore View. When you select this option a list of these Saved Views will be displayed. Select the appropriate view.

Previous. This command returns the display to the previous scale and location. It performs an "Undo" operation for viewing. This is a convenience method of toggling between a large-scale and small-scale view of the network.

Remove Stored Views. This command removes ALL saved views with the exception of the Previous view.

Regenerate View

This command is similar to the Redraw command except that all coordinates are re-generated.

Set Scale

Allows the user to input a new scale via a dialog box. The scale factor is a mapping or engineering form of scale with real-world units in metres (or feet). The default scale at which the network of a new database is initially created is 1:1000. This type of absolute zooming is done about the centre of the display window.

Zoom

A number of preset zoom factors can be selected using this menu option. 

Grid

The "Grid" command allows the user to specify a horizontal and vertical grid interval, the origin of the grid, whether objects should "snap" to the grid and whether the grid is visible.

The grid is shown as dashed lines and may be plotted using the "Export Graphics" menu command

Hide Objects

Hides any currently selected object. The object is only displayed as a dotted outline but may still be selected in the normal manner. This command is particularly useful for improving zooming and scrolling performance when background pictures are active, or for hiding the names of nodes in a crowded network or hiding nodes for which data has not yet been entered.

Use the <Ctrl> key to select a background picture you may wish to hide.

Show Objects

This command displays any currently selected object that may have been hidden using the "Hide Objects" command above. Use the Background Picture command to show or hide background images.

Find Objects

This command enables the user to find and directly go to any named object in the network. The user types in the name to search for and specifies whether it is a link, node, text or whether it is case sensitive or only part of a name.

When OK is clicked, the named object is searched for and, if found, it is highlighted and displayed in the centre of the screen at the currently selected scale. When the Multi-selection box is clicked, the found object is added to the current slection set.

When Next is clicked and the the Multi-selection box is unchecked, XPSWMM will go to the next object meeting the criteria, highlight it and deselect any other highlighted objects. When Next is clicked,and the Multi-selection box is checked, XPSWMM will go to the next object meeting the criteria, and add it to the current selection set.

Select Objects

Use this menu command, or the toolbar icons, to select all the nodes or all the links. This is particularly useful for copying and pasting a single item to all nodes or links.

Add Background Image

For information on importing background images please browse to the Background Images section.

TIN Surface

Use this command to add a Triangular Irregular Network data model (TIN). A TIN is an efficient way for representing surfaces as a series of linked triangles. Although both grids and tins can be created can be used for surface representations, tins are especially useful for representing surface elevation, subsurface elevation and terrain modeling especially when the surfaces are highly variable and contain discontinuities and break lines.

TIN files may be obtained from other sources or they may be generated from the ground surface elevations in the model.

When the command is executed, the Add Tin Surface dialog box appears. Navigate to the location of the TIN file and click OK.

Toolbar

The toolbar can be turned on or off by selecting this menu option. The toolbar can also be “torn off” the window and allowed to float or attached to one of the other window borders.

Status Bar

The status bar at the bottom of the main window can be set to visible or hidden selecting by this command. The check mark indicates that the status bar is visible.

The status bar has 7 boxes. From left to right, the information displayed are:

1. Progress bar (only displayed during selected operations) 
2. X, Y & Z coordinates of cursor (Z displayed if a TIN layer is active)
3. The active mode
4. The current scale
5. Status of the Caps Lock keyboard toggle
6. Status of the Num Lock keyboard toggle
7. Status of the Insert/Overlay keyboard toggle

Note that the status bar is completely displayed only when the window is utilizing the complete width of the monitor. Also, the status bar may be partially hidden when the Object Creation tools or the Network Viewing and Navigation tools palettes are dock to the right margin of the main window.

Split

Display multiple views of the network using this option. 

Log View

The Log View option allows you to view various information, error, and warnings recorded in the error.log when using the application or when the network is solved. 

Show/Hide

This commands allows you to show or hide the Log View window.

Toggle the Info, Warning, and Error buttons to view the corresponding messages.

Click a cell in the Log View table and the corresponding object will be highlighted in the network view.

Click the Clear button to clear the display.

Click the Save button to save the log as *.csv file to your local machine.

The following columns are available in the Log View:

• Level - Displays the level of the event (Info, Warning, or Error)
• Type - Displays the type of event  (Rnf, San, or Hdr)
• Name - Displays the object name where the event occurred
• Description - Describes the event

Log View Settings

These settings determine what events (modules) will be displayed in the Log View. By default, all modules will be displayed. To turn off a module, select OFF from the drop-down menu under the Value column.

Tidy Network

If this option is selected the existing network will be rearranged to minimize conduits crossing over one another. This option is useful; as nodes created by import are placed in an approximate grid and the network can become quite messy when the links connecting the nodes are created. The tidy up procedure works best with purely dendritic networks. The network connectivity and data is not changed by this tool, only the location of nodes is changed to create straight branches and create a reasonable flow schematic.