Here is what the 'Design explorer' view looks
like:
The '
Design explorer' view displays
a tree structure.
- The first level is constituted of the location. A location can be compared
to a Database. It the location is opened, its name is preceded by the
icon.
If the location is closed, its name is preceded by the
icon.
- If the location is opened (to open it, right-click on it and select Open in
the popup menu), you can expand it and see the entity level. The number of
instances already existing in the location is displayed next to the entity.
- The third level is constituted of the instances, if any. To see instances
here, you must have:
- Created new instances directly in the 'Design explorer'
view.
- Imported, into the current location, a file containing a set of instances
(via the Import choice of the contextual menu of the
'Design explorer' view).
- Exported instances from the 'Pacbase explorer' view
('Pacbase explorer' perspective) to the current location,
provided this perspective is available.
To see the physical distribution of the instances into projects and packages,
you must click the 'Navigator' view, located next to
the 'Design explorer' view, in the 'Design'
perspective.
If you click on an opened location, an entity or an instance and right-click,
you can see a popup menu which enables you to:
- Create a location ().
- Create instances (, or , ... or any other entity available).
- Copy and paste instances,
or delete instances or locations.
- Import/export a set of instances,
grouped in a file.
- Refresh the display after updates.
- Rebuild your environment, to make sure that your Design perspective
is consistent. All the files and projects contained in your workspace are
opened and if the files contain instances, they are parsed and repaired (the
existence of the instances, their references, links to keywords... are checked
and updated if necessary).
More choices are available, from the instance level only:
- Open the selected instance.
- Open the selected instance with... various
editors.
- The first editor is the flat editor, which displays the instance in an
xml format. You can modify the instance in this editor but it is not recommended.
It is much better to modify it in its dedicated formatted editor.
- Three other editors are also available; text editor, system editor and
in-place editor. You can also add other editors via your preferences specified
via .
- Refactor the selected instance. You can:
- Rename the selected instance. The new name is automatically
propagated to all the instance's links (references, keywords, instance calls,
lists...). Renaming an instance this way avoids consistency errors.
- Move one or more selected instances (you can select
multiple instances in the 'Design explorer' list) to
another existing project and/or package, while keeping all their links (references,
keywords, instance calls...).
- Search for the selected instance's References.
You can search for its super references, i.e the instances
in which it is called, or its sub-references, i.e.
the instances it calls. Selecting one of these choices makes you switch to
the References view, where the search results are displayed.
One choice is available only if you click on a Data Structure.
This choice is . It enables you
to generate the error messages of the Data Structure and constituting Segments
into a text file, which will have to be integrated into the error messages
file used by the applications.
Like other views in the Workbench, the
'
Design explorer' view has its own toolbar, which enables
you to:
- Go back (
icon). This command navigates to the most recently-displayed
state of the view with a different element at the top level. This button becomes
available once you double-click on an entity line and consequently see its
instances alone in the Design explorer view. Clicking this button then returns
the view to the same hierarchy from which you double-clicked on the entity
line. The hover help for this button tells you where it will take you.
- Go forward (
icon). This command navigates
to the state of the view with a different element at the top level that was
displayed immediately after the current state. For example, if you have just
selected the back command, then selecting the forward command
in the resulting display returns the view to the same hierarchy from which
you activated the back command. The hover help for
this button tells you where it will take you. This command is similar to the
'Forward' button in a web browser
- Go up (
icon). This command navigates
to the location level. The hover help for this button tells you where it will
take you.
- Expand all (
icon). This command expands
all the tree nodes in the 'Design explorer' view
- Collapse All (
icon). This command collapses
all the tree nodes in the 'Design explorer' view
- Link with Editor (
icon). This command
links the active editor to its corresponding instance in the 'Design
explorer' view list (if this button is not clicked, changing the
active editor will not update the selection, in the Design view list, to the
instance being edited).
- Change the sort and display of instances in the Design view list. Click
the white upside-down triangle icon and select:
- Sort to specify a new sort criterion: by name,
package or project.
- Display to specify a new display criterion: by
package, project or label.
This new setting will then automatically be saved and associated with
the 'Design explorer' view, until you change it again.