Lesson 3 - User Interface

In this lesson the CADEMIA user interface and its fundamental handling is introduced.

3.1 Main application window

3.1.1 Start a command

In order to start a command you can utilize

the Menubar: Click on a menu entry (e.g. Add -> Line),
the Toolbar: Click on a toolbar button (e.g. ),
the Command line:Typ the command name (e.g. addline) and press Return
or the Mouse strokes: Draw a prefined symbol (or gesture) in a Geometry window. You need to click the right mouse button or drag this button along a path, e.g.

click 2 times or drag along the Z letter .

A Mouse stroke is completed by clicking the left mouse button.

3.1.2 Command handling

While the Geometry windows present the graphical view of the drawing components the Info area is used for CADEMIA system output. The Command line menu changes according to a specific command state and offers respective input possibilities.

Command line prompt: The prompt text describes which input is expected (e.g. a point, a number).

Command line textfield: In the textfield the user can enter alpha-numeric characters for defining command names or command arguments. In case of numerical input values CADEMIA offers simple calculator functionalities (e.g. enter "(1 + 2) * 3" in order get 9.0).

Command line menu: The menu contains a number of buttons:

Cancel: Aborts the currently running command. Press the button or enter #cancel() in the command line textfield.
Interrupt: Interrupts the currently running command in order to execute a new command. Press the button or enter #interrupt() in the command line textfield.
Choices: Command dependent buttons used to change settings (e.g. construction method) or display predefined input values (e.g. Yes or No). Press these buttons or enter #menu("text on button") in the command line textfield.

3.2 Loading existing drawings

In order to load an existing drawing run the command Load via the Menubar (File -> Open), the Toolbar load icon or enter the command load in the Command line. After selecting a drawing file (e.g. pumpenhausDimensioned.cademia) via a file dialog, the drawing is presented in the Geometry window.

3.3 Window layouts and zooming

3.3.1 Window layouts

There are different predefined Geometry window layouts. You can choose between 1 window and 2, 3 or 4 windows that are horizontally or vertically layouted. In order to set the window layout run the command SetLayout via the Menubar (Window -> Set window layout), the Toolbar or enter the command setlayout in the Command line. The appearing Command line menu and the respective layout schemes are shown below. To set the new layout just press a button in the Command line menu.

3.3.2 Zooming

Zooming functionality is usually used in order to view drawing details (zoom in) or get an overview of the whole drawing (zoom out). CADEMIA offers several zooming commands.

Command name	Menu	Mouse stroke	Description
WinMoveByMouseDrag		Pressing and dragging middle mouse button.	Paning or rather dragging the drawing by having the middle mouse button pressed.
WinScaleByMouseWheel		Scrolling the mouse wheel.	Zooming in and out the drawing by scrolling the mouse wheel.
WinFit	Window -> Fit window		Zooms that the whole drawing fits in the specified window.
WinZoom	Window -> Zoom window		Zooms according to a specified rectangular area.
WinScale	Window -> Scale window		Zooms according to a specified scale factor (in: < 0, out: > 0).
WinMove	Window -> Move window		Moves the visible drawing part (view port) left, right, up or down in a window.

3.4 Exercise

Download the example drawing PumpenhausDimensioned.cademia from the CADEMIA website (http://www.cademia.org).
Start CADEMIA and load the downloaded drawing.
Set the Geometry window layout to 3 windows.
Zoom in and zoom out the drawing in order to view the drawing details. Try to use the Menubar, the Toolbar, the Command line as well as the Mouse strokes.