Selection Input
The Selection Input () is a form object for a selection input of some geometric entities in an application. The selection input object is similar to the selection settings in COMSOL Multiphysics models. Users can activate selections, and you can copy and paste selections into the list of selected entities, for example.
You can also add a selection as the source for a Graphics object so that users can select geometric entities directly in that Graphics object without a selection input component. In that case, the Graphics object should be used for input only, and users do not need to activate the selection.
Enter the name of the selection input object in the Name field.
The Settings window contains the following sections.
Source
In this section, you define the selection to use as the source. The section contains a tree with a filtered view of the tree in the Model Builder window. The nodes either represent some sort of data or have children that do. For a selection input, the tree contains Explicit selection nodes from the model, which you can choose as the source for the selection. The selection is then available for the application to use and contains updated selections made by the user. When you select a node that represents data, the Use as Source toolbar button () below the tree becomes enabled. You can click it or, alternatively, press Enter, double-click, or right-click the node and choose Use as Source to add it as the selected source. Click the Edit Node toolbar button () below the tree to move to the corresponding node. If necessary, the program switches to the Model Builder.
After selecting a node as the source, it will appear as the selected source under Selected source.
If you try to use the same data source in several form objects, you may encounter some strange side effects. The initial value for the source may not be what you expect. You may also experience serious errors if the initial value of one form object is invalid for one of the other form objects.
Graphics to Use When Active
When users of the application set the activation switch to ON, you can connect the selections to a Graphics object where the selected geometric entities are highlighted. Select a Graphics object from the tree and click the Use Graphics button to add it under Selected graphics. Users can also make selections directly in the Graphics object. If the Graphics object is set up to include the standard plot toolbar, that toolbar also includes the Zoom to Selection (), Select Box ( in 3D), and Deselect Box () buttons. If multiple selection input objects are connected to the same Graphics object, only one of the selections can be active at a time. If a user sets the activation switch to OFF, the associated graphics form object (in apps) shows the geometry without the selection. In Settings forms, the graphics behaves like it does for any other Settings window when deactivating a selection.
Position and Size
This section contains all layout settings for a selection input object in the grid of the parent form.
In the grid mode, you can control the horizontal and vertical alignment of the selection input form object using the following lists:
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From the Horizontal alignment list, choose Left, Center, Right, or Fill, which automatically expands the form object to fill the cell in the horizontal or vertical direction (where applicable).
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From the Vertical alignment list, choose Middle, Top, Bottom, or Fill, which automatically expands the form object to fill the cell in the horizontal or vertical direction (where applicable).
The need to specify the alignment is most obvious when working in the grid mode, as it controls how the form object is aligned in its grid cell. Aligning the form object can be useful in the sketch mode too. You can then use the alignment tools on the Arrange menu in the Form toolbar’s Sketch section. When running the application in any client other than the Windows client, the form objects may not be positioned exactly as seen in the form windows. This is because the form objects may have a different size in other clients, giving them a slightly different positioning. Specifying the alignment ensures that the form objects are aligned as you want them to be in all clients.
You can also specify the width of the selection input. Enter a width (in points) in the Width field. If you have chosen Fill from the Horizontal alignment list, you can instead specify a Minimum width. Choose Automatic to compute the minimum width automatically (typically, this means a minimum size of 0) or choose Manual to specify a minimum width in the text field underneath. The Height field is unavailable because the height of the input field is determined by the software.
Additionally, in the sketch mode, you can specify the absolute position of the selection input using the Position x and Position y fields. In the grid mode, you can position the object in the grid and see the grid position as the Row, Column, Row span, and Column span values.
The form windows update these size and positioning settings through the draw operations performed there, such as resizing and moving the object.
Cell Margin
Under Cell margin (in grid mode only), you can control the margins around the form object. By default, the margins are taken from the parent form. From the Cell margin list, choose:
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None, for no margin around the form object
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From parent form (the default), to use the margins set for the parent form
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Custom, to specify the margins for the form object in the Horizontal and Vertical text fields
Hover selection is not supported in the web client. Instead, a preselection appears, which shows what will be selected when you click the mouse. This preselection disappears when you move the mouse. To select underlying objects, use the mouse wheel. In contrast to hover selection, the top layer is also included as the first layer. To make it easier to choose the closest object, the top layer object under the mouse pointer is selected if there is no preselection, which means that an object other than the preselected one might be selected if you move the mouse before you click.
Appearance
In this section, you can control the appearance of the background and the text in the selection input.
From the Text color list, select Inherit (the default) to inherit the text color from the setting in the Form node, or select one of the predefined colors, such as Black. Select Custom to choose a custom text color from the color palette.
From the Background color list, select a color to use as the background in the selection input: Transparent (the default), any of the predefined basic colors, or Custom, which makes it possible to select a custom color from a color palette.
The font and the font size for the text in the array input fields use the font settings from the Forms node by default. Select a font from the Font list: Default font or any of the available fonts. If needed, choose or enter a font size (in points) in the Font size combo box. The default is to use the Default size for the font.
You can also select the Bold check box to use a boldface font or the Italic check box to use italics (an italic font).
Under State, you can control the initial state of the selection input when users run the application. By default, the selection input is visible and enabled. Clear the Visible or Enabled check box if you want to make the initial state so that the selection input is hidden or unavailable. You can then make it visible or enable it using a method. In the Form Editor, the state of the form object is indicated by a change in its appearance. Objects that are hidden become visible when selected in the Form Editor.
Events
You can specify a method or command sequence to run when the selection, which the selection input is connected to, changes. The On data change list contains None (the default) and any available methods or command sequence. You can also specify a method or command sequence to run when a selection input is activated. The On activate list contains None (the default) and any available methods or command sequence.
You can add the following types of events by choosing from the Create Global Method menu () to the right of the On data change and On activate lists:
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Choose Create Global Method () to create a global method. Type the name of the global method in the Name field of the Create Global Method dialog box that opens and then click OK. The global method is then added under Methods, and its Method Editor window opens.
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Choose Create Form Method () to create a form method. Type the name of the form method in the Name field of the Create Form Method dialog box that opens and then click OK. The form method is then added under the Methods node under the Form node, and its Method Editor window opens.
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Choose Create Local Method () to create a local method. Its Method Editor window opens.
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Choose Create Command Sequence () to create a command sequence using the Create Command Sequence dialog box that opens. There you can choose commands from the available Forms, GUI Commands, Declarations, Form Declarations, Methods, Form Methods, Libraries, and Model folders. To add a command, right-click the desired command node and choose the command to use (Run, for example). The command then appears in the list of commands below. You can edit that command sequence using the toolbar buttons for moving and deleting commands below the table. Click the Convert to Method button () and choose Convert to Method or Convert to Form Method to convert the command sequence to a method. Click the Go to Method button () below the table to select the method in the Application Builder tree and open the method in a Method Editor window. For commands that include arguments, click the Edit Argument button () to choose an argument in the Edit Argument dialog box that opens.
There can only be one local method and one command sequence so if you add one or both of them, the menu will instead contain Remove Local Method () and Remove Command Sequence (), respectively. Click one of them to delete the local method or command sequence.
The selected method in the On data change and On activate lists then changes to the created method or command sequence. You can also Ctrl+Alt-click the selection input object or right-click it to create a local method or (by choosing Edit Method or Edit Local Method) to open the method associated with the command. To open the selected method or command sequence, click the Go to Source button (). The focus then moves to the method’s editor window or the Command Sequence dialog box, respectively.
For events triggered by data change, the event is triggered after the new data value is stored in the data source.
If you select more than one form object and they all support the On data change event, you can specify a method to, for example, make them inform users that plots and outputs are invalid.