User Interface Overview

The user interface provides a fully interactive environment for designing, configuring and managing components and the links between them that together define the underlying control system.

User Interface Components

The user interface consists of four core components. The content of each compoent changes dynamically to support the activity you are undertaking:

User interface overview

Looking at each component in more detail:

Component	Description
Navigation Bar	The ‘navigation bar’ at the top of the screen provides the ability to move through the currently open Design, selecting design elements at increasingly deep levels of implementation beginning at your selected Root Block. In doing so it provides a breadcrumb-like map of where you currently are within the Design.
Left-hand Panel	The ‘left-hand panel’ provides general information about the Parent Block currently forming the central focus of interest within the user interface.
Central Panel	The ‘central panel’ displays information about an Attribute selected from the Parent Block presented in the ‘left-hand panel’. If Layout is selected from a Parent Block then the Layout View is displayed. In Attribute View a plot or table of Attribute value data against time is displayed.
Right-hand Panel	The ‘right-hand panel’ provides detailed information about the Block, Attribute or Link currently in focus. For example, if the ‘left-hand panel’ represents a block the ‘right-hand panel’ reflects an attribute within that Block or a link associated with it. If the ‘left-hand panel’represents the Parent Block then the ‘right-hand panel’ may contain details of an Attribute associated with that block or a Child Block contained in the Parent Block’s Design.

Principle User Interface views

To support design, configuration and management activies the user interface provides two principle views into the underlying control system:

View	Content
Layout View	Provides an interactive environment for designing and configuring your control system through block, attribute and link specification. The resulting flowgraph provides a visual representation of the formal design.
Attribute View	Provides details of a single Attribute, including the ability to view graphical representation of the Attribute’s value within the control system over time.

Tip

Remember that the location of information, and its nature, will depend on the context in which you are viewing it. In summary:

• A Block is always displayed in the left-hand panel. This may represent a Parent Block or a Child Block.
• Attribute meta-data is always displayed in the right-hand panel.
• Link information is always displayed in the right-hand panel.

Layout View

The Layout View is used to create, modify and manage the overall Design of your control system.

The Layout View is accessed via the ‘View’ or ‘Edit’ button associated with the ‘Layout’ Attribute on a Parent Block.

Once the layout is displayed individual blocks within it can moved around the screen by clicking and dragging them to your desired location. Any links will be dynamically re-routed to accommodate the new location. Note there is also the ability to automatically optimise the Layout via the ‘Auto Layout’ button within the ‘central panel’.

A typical example of the view you may expect to see is shown below.

Example layout

In this example we see:

• Summary information about the ‘PANDA’ system displayed in the ‘left-hand panel’.
• The Design of the ‘PANDA’ presented in the central layout panel. Note the ‘CLOCKS’ block is highlighted.
• Detailed information about the ‘CLOCKS’ Block in the ‘right-hand’ panel, including all of its pre-defined attributes.
• The ‘navigation bar’ denoting that we are viewing the ‘CLOCKS’ Block via the layout of the ‘PANDA’ System.

Attribute View

The user interface automatically transitions to Attribute View when an Attribute is selected from either the ‘left-hand panel’ or ‘right-hand panel’.

• If the Attribute is selected from the ‘left-hand panel’ more detailed information about that Attribute is displayed in the ‘right-hand panel’.
• If the Attribute is selected from the ‘right-hand panel’ the Block represented in the ‘right-hand panel’ is transferred to the ‘left-hand panel’ as the new focus of interest, with more detailed information about the selected Attribute now presented on the right.

In both cases the ‘central panel’ presents a view of the Attribute’s value against time. This may represent a constantly changing value, for example a calculated data value updated every 2ms, or a periodically changing boolean on/off status indicator that only changes every 10h. Two representations of the Attribute value are available and can be selected by choosing the appropriate option at the bottom of the ‘central panel’ thus:

• Plot - presents the Attribute Value as a line chart, displaying value against time. This graphical view is interactive and as a user you have the ability to undertake basic activities within the chart including panning, zooming and exporting for offline use. See Monitoring Attribute Values for further information.
• Table - presents the Attribute Value as a series of rows in a table. Each row represents the value at a different time point.

For example, viewing the plot associated with the ‘Val’ Attribute of the ‘PANDA Input Encoder’ Block:

Example plot showing continuously recorded data

Note

Since we are now in ‘Attribute View’ the left-hand panel contains details of the ‘Input Encoder 1’ Block not the ‘PANDA’ Parent Block.

Panel Popping

Under normal use the ‘left-hand panel’ contains summary information about the current block in focus and the ‘right-hand panel’ detailed information relating to an attribute or method associated with that Block. In complex systems it may be desireable to display information about a number of connected Blocks to track how each updates as data moves through the system they represent. This can be achieved by ‘popping’ the Block Information Panel via the icon in the top left-hand corner of the panel. This causes the Block Information Panel to open in its own independent window. Multiple panels can be opened in the same way.

Connectivity to the underlying system is maintained meaning each independent window is updated in response to activity within the control system. Similarly, manual updates to any Attribute within an independent Information Panel is reflected back to the control system in the same way as occurs when the Information Panel is integrated with the main user interface. For example:

Example of multiple Block Information Panels popped into an independent display

In this image, which spans two monitor screens, we see three Child Blocks (‘CLOCKS’, ‘COUNTER1’ and ‘BITS’) associated with the ‘PANDA’ Parent Block popped into individual windows and displayed alongside the overall ‘PANDA’ Layout.