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The SDL Editor User Interface and Basic Operations
The SDL Editor User Interface
The SDL Editor consists of a main window and three auxiliary windows:
- The Grammar Help window where SDL textual grammar support helps you entering correct textual expressions.
- The Signal Dictionary window which gives you access to signals already defined in the SDL hierarchy.
- The Entity Dictionary Window which provides you a name reuse facility as well as information for link endpoints.
The SDL Editor also contains the symbol menu, where you select the symbols (objects) that are to be inserted into the page, and the text window, where you may edit textual objects.
The general user interface is described in User Interface and Basic Operations.
Drawing Area
The drawing area (see Figure 365) is the part of the window that displays the symbols, lines and text that constitute an SDL page (an SDL diagram can contain multiple pages). Most of the graphical notation that is used in the SDL Editor is inherited from the Z.100 definition. In addition, some tool specific notations have been added to facilitate the work with the SDL Suite tool set in general, and the SDL Editor in particular.
The Drawing Area Boundaries
The drawing area is delimited by its boundaries, which correspond to the size of the SDL page. Within a diagram, each page has an individual size. No objects are allowed to be placed outside these boundaries. The drawing area uses a light background color, while the area outside the drawing area uses a grey pattern.
The Frame
You can select and resize the frame. All objects, except the package reference symbol, gates and printout page number must reside entirely within the frame.
The Kernel Heading
The kernel heading identifies the diagram type and its name. Alternatively, an SDL qualifier expression can be used. You can edit but not move the kernel heading. The SDL Editor performs a textual syntax check based on the grammar used in this heading.
The SDL Suite supports the following syntaxes for the kernel heading:
For an explanation and reference to the notation used in the table above, see the Z.100 recommendation.
The kernel heading is repeated trough all pages contained in an SDL diagram.
The Page Name
The page name identifies the name of the SDL page and, within parentheses, the total number of SDL pages contained in the current SDL diagram.
The contents of the page name are assigned by the tool. You can not select, move, or edit the page name.
Printout Page Number
This object is created by the SDL Editor to inform you about the physical page numbering that will be the result of an SDL page which is larger than the paper format that is defined. You can neither select nor edit it. Page numbering follows a "down first, then right" fashion.
Grids
The SDL Editor uses two grids for an easy positioning of symbols, lines and textual elements.
- The symbol grid, that can be set by an SDL Editor preference, has a minimum resolution of 5 * 5 mm. All symbols adhere to the symbol grid.
- The line and text grid has a resolution of 2.5 * 2.5 mm, i.e. half the symbol grid. All lines and textual objects adhere to the line grid.
Default Size of Symbols
The symbols are assigned default sizes when added to the drawing area:
- For interaction pages, the predefined size of a symbol is by default 30 * 20 mm.
- For flow pages, the predefined size of a symbol is by default 20 * 10 mm. The width / size relationship is always 2:1.
You can change the default symbol size in the SDL Editor preferences.
The size of a class symbol is automatically calculated by the SDL Editor, and may thus differ from the default size.
Color on Symbols
For each symbol type there is a preference for setting the color of the symbol. It is only the graphical part of the symbol and not the associated text(s) that will use the color setting. On UNIX, the setting is only valid on screen and all symbols will use the black color when printed on paper. In Windows, when using MSW Print the colors will be sent to the printer as well. For more information, see The SDL Suite Specific Preferences.
Keyboard Accelerators
In addition to the standard keyboard accelerators, described in Keyboard Accelerators, the SDL Editor features the following:
Opens the next page in the diagram, similar to <Page Name>
Opens the previous page in the diagram, similar to <Page Name>
Clear (i.e. remove, delete)
Quick-Buttons
In addition to the generic quick-buttons described in General Quick-Buttons, the SDL Editor tool bar contains the following quick-buttons:
Text window on / off Toggle the text window between visible and hidden, as described in Window Options.
Symbol menu on / off Toggle the symbol menu between visible and hidden, as described in Window Options.
Reference page Open the page where this diagram is referenced, similar to Edit Reference Page.
Log Window Previous page Open the previous page in the diagram, similar to <Page Name>.
Next page Open the next page in the diagram, similar to <Page Name>.
Toggle scale Toggle the scale between a scale to show the complete page in the window and a scale of 100%.
Scrolling and Scaling
You can scroll the view vertically and horizontally by using the scrollbars. The view may also be scrolled automatically when you move the cursor beyond the current view, for example when you move an object or add a symbol.
If you move the cursor close to the edge of the current view, the automatic scrolling is slow. If you move it further beyond, the scrolling is quicker.
You can scale the view by specifying a scale or by zooming in and out.
Moving Selection with Arrow Keys
You can move the selection using arrow keys in the SDL editor if there is one single symbol or line selected. (In this context, we regard a flow symbol together with its attached flow lines to be one symbol.)
Note that you can only move the selection when in symbol editing mode. In text editing mode, the arrow keys will move the cursor position within the text. To get into symbol editing mode, click on the symbol outside of a text area. If you are in text editing mode, you can go to symbol editing mode by pressing the escape key. If you are in symbol editing mode, you can go to text editing mode by pressing the tab key. Pressing the tab key immediately after that will either select another text for the same symbol to edit or go back to symbol editing mode.
You can move to the next page by moving forward from the last symbol on the current page. You can move to the previous page by moving backward from the first symbol on the current page.
Two shortcuts are available for fast-forward moving to colored symbols (symbols not using black as a border color and white as a background color) on pages in the current diagram:
- Shift+arrow key to move to the next/previous colored symbol.
- Shift+alt+arrow key to move to the next/previous colored symbol on another page than the current page.
Symbol Menu
The symbol menu contains the SDL symbols that you can place into the drawing area.
On UNIX, the symbol menu is a fixed-sized, non-moveable auxiliary window, associated with the drawing area and placed to the right of it. Each editor window has its own symbol menu.
In Windows, the symbol menu is a fixed-sized, moveable window that can be placed anywhere on the screen, not necessary within the limits of the editor window. A single symbol menu is shared by all instances of the editor currently running.
The symbol menu can be made invisible and visible again with a menu choice, Window Options, or a quick-button In Windows: When visible, the symbol menu will always be placed on top of the editor window.
Basically, when you select a symbol in the symbol menu and click it into the drawing area it is added to the diagram. How to work with symbols is described in Working with Symbols.
The contents of the symbol menu depends upon the type of diagram that is displayed in the SDL Editor window and the settings of the SDL Editor preferences depends upon whether the symbols should be used or not.
- For process, process type, procedure, macro definition and operator diagrams (the flow diagrams), the default symbol menu looks like the left picture in Figure 367.
- For interaction diagrams (system, block, substructure, service, package, system type, block type and service type), the default symbol menu looks like the right picture in Figure 367.
For a reference to these symbols, see Symbols on Interaction Pages and Symbols on Flow Pages.
Syntax Checking on SDL Symbols
If layout syntax checking is enabled, some of the symbols displayed in the symbol menu may be dimmed. This indicates that those symbols are not valid within the current context, and that you cannot select them.
- When layout syntax checking is disabled, you can select all symbols.
- When layout syntax checking is enabled, the following rules apply:
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