EDIT MENU

5 EDIT MENU

The Edit menubar functions are used to make changes to all of the currently selected blocks. The blocks may be selected with the Edit Select menubar functions, the Select pointer operation, or with the View Blocks dialog. Also, when a new block is created, it is automatically selected.

The selected blocks are displayed in the edit area of the main window.

Undo	Undo the last model update. The undo function is a general n-level edit undo stack.
Cut	The selected blocks are deleted from the model. The deleted blocks are temporarily saved in a buffer which can be pasted back into the model. A second cut will overwrite the first buffer.
Copy	The selected blocks are copied into the paste buffer. The model itself is not changed until an Edit Paste operation is performed.
Paste	The pointer is loaded with the contents of the paste buffer. The next button press in the drawing area of any viewport will paste the contents of the buffer into the model at that point.
Move	The selected blocks are deleted and placed into the paste buffer, and the pointer is loaded with the contents of the buffer. This operation is a combined cut and paste.
Modify	Select an editing operation from the modify cascade menu.
Update	The selected blocks are updated with the changes made to the block displayed in the edit area. Changes made in the values of in the edit area prior to the Edit Update operation are propagated to all the selected blocks. The edit area Replace button should not be used prior to the Edit Update operation. This is because Edit Update determines the values to be changed by comparing the saved values of the active block to the values displayed in the edit area. Also, care should be taken when changing the block coordinates (center, size, min, and max). Because these fields are linked, several may change when one of the fields is updated.
Mesh...	Convert geometry blocks into meshed form.
Name...	Selectively change block names matching a pattern.
Transform...	Scale, rotate, or translate the selected blocks.

5.1 EDIT MODIFY MENU

Top of Stack

Move the selected blocks to the top of the stacking order (highest precedence).

Bottom of Stack

Move the selected blocks to the bottom of the stacking order (lowest precedence).

Raise One Step

Move the selected blocks up one step (above the next higher priority block) in the stacking order.

Lower One Step

Move the selected blocks down one step (below the next lower priority block) in the stacking order.

Make Visible

The selected blocks are all made visible

Make Invisible

The selected blocks are all made invisible.

Make Enabled

The selected blocks are all enabled.

Make Disabled

The selected blocks are all disabled.

Snap to Grid

The coordinates of the block bounding box are rounded to align the block with the minor grid spacing, and the block rotation is cleared.

5.2 EDIT CLIP DIALOG

The Edit Clip dialog reduces a model to the clipping region. Blocks completely outside of the clipping region are deleted, and blocks partially outside the clipping region are cut at the boundary. Blocks completely inside of the clipping region are not modified.

X Minimum X Maximum Y Minimum Y Maximum Z Minimum Z Maximum	The bounds of the clipping region. If Clip To Active Block is selected, then these fields are filled in with the bounds of the active block. Otherwise, they must be manually entered.
Clip To Active Block	When enabled, the clipping region bounds are set to the selected block displayed in the main window editing area. The values can be manually modified as well. If not enabled, then the values must be manually entered.
Clip Selected Blocks Only	If not enabled, all blocks of the model are clipped to the bounds of the clipping region. This default behavior is different than other editing operations which only modify the selected blocks. Enable this toggle to clip only the selected blocks, similar to other editing operations.

5.3 EDIT MESH DIALOG

This dialog divides the selected blocks into blocks of the given cell width, similar to the cells created during the simulation mesh generation. This editing operation is useful if a custom shape is desired, since the resulting blocks can be edited to create a stepped-edge approximation of an arbitrary shape.

3D Cells

Divide the selected blocks into cubes.

2D Cells

Divide the selected blocks into two dimensional faces. While creating many more blocks, this option provides the most flexibility in creating custom shapes.

5.4 EDIT NAME DIALOG

Using the Edit Name dialog you can change a substring within the name of the currently selected blocks to a new string. The Search For string is a pattern to match within the old name, and Replace With is the string which replaces the matched characters. For example, if the selected block name was "volt(p1)" and the search pattern was "p1" and the replacement string was "trace", then the new block name would be "volt(trace)". Names which do not match the search pattern are not changed.

The search pattern can contain a few simple vi-like wildcard characters (these are sometimes called regular expression, or regex patterns).

Table 2 Name Matching Wildcard Characters

.	A period matches any single character.
^	A caret at the beginning of the pattern forces the match to occur at the beginning of the name only. For example, "^bb" matches names which begin with "bb".
$	A dollar sign at the end of the pattern forces the match to occur at the end of the string only. For example, "top$" matches names which end with "top".
\	A backslash removes the normal meaning of any wildcard character immediately following (including backslash itself). For example, "\^bb" matches the string "^bb" anywhere within a name.

5.5 EDIT TRANSFORM DIALOG

The Edit Transform dialog can be used to rotate, translate, and scale the selected blocks. Each time an Apply button is pressed, the given transformation is performed.

5.5.1 SCALE FRAME

A scale factor can be applied to resize the selected blocks.

If a block is scaled about its center, then the minimum and maximum coordinates of the block bounding box are modified while the center coordinates remain unchanged.

If a block is scaled about a fixed point, then the block coordinates are modified while the distance to the fixed point is unchanged.

Scale Along X Axis, Y Axis, Z Axis	Select in which dimensions the blocks will be scaled. The default is to scale equally in all three dimensions.
Scale Factor	This scale factor will be multiplied times the block coordinates to compute the scaled coordinates. Choose a value greater than one to scale the block up, and a value less than one to scale it down.
About Center of Block	Scale each block from its center point.
About A Point	Scale each block from a fixed point.
Point	The (X,Y,Z) coordinates of a point about which to scale the blocks.

5.5.2 ROTATE FRAME

Blocks can be rotated in multiples of 90 degree increments using this frame. The relative orientation of sources, loads, probes, and ports are maintained by this update. Thus, a +X directed source rotated 90 degrees in the Z-plane becomes a +Y directed source.

For geometry blocks, arbitrary angle rotations are allowed using the Plane Rotation fields in the main window block editing area.

Rotate In X Plane Rotate In Y Plane Rotate In Z Plane	Select one axis about which to rotate the block.
Angle	Enter the angle of rotation, in degrees. Do not use an angle which is not a multiple of 90 degrees, since those angles will result in a block which is not aligned to the coordinate axes
About Center of Block	Rotate each block about its center point.
About A Point	Rotate each block about a fixed point.
Point	The (X,Y,Z) coordinates of a point about which to rotate the blocks.

5.5.3 TRANSLATE FRAME

Blocks can be moved a given distance with this transformation.

X Offset
Y Offset
Z Offset

Enter the relative offset to be added to the block coordinates. A blank field will be taken as zero, which will not change the corresponding coordinate.

Top of Stack	Move the selected blocks to the top of the stacking order (highest precedence).
Bottom of Stack	Move the selected blocks to the bottom of the stacking order (lowest precedence).
Raise One Step	Move the selected blocks up one step (above the next higher priority block) in the stacking order.
Lower One Step	Move the selected blocks down one step (below the next lower priority block) in the stacking order.
Make Visible	The selected blocks are all made visible
Make Invisible	The selected blocks are all made invisible.
Make Enabled	The selected blocks are all enabled.
Make Disabled	The selected blocks are all disabled.
Snap to Grid	The coordinates of the block bounding box are rounded to align the block with the minor grid spacing, and the block rotation is cleared.