Work Space

The program's user interface conforms to MS-Windows standards. Here are some basic concepts.

• Main Window
  • Menu bar and commands
  • Commands and toolbars
  • Positioning and resizing toolbars
  • Tooltip and description
  • Shortcut menus
  • Using the MS-Windows environment shortcuts on the user interface fields
• How to enter commands

For further details on the user interface, see "Interface items and graphics interaction".

Main Window

The program uses a main window consisting of the following.

• A client area where think3 application documents are displayed. As the program is a Multiple Document Interface system, in that area you can open as many documents (models or drawings) as you like. Each document has its own document area: a Graphics Area in which the model or the drawings are displayed and a frame on the left used for the history.
• A gray area around the client area which gives you access to commands and displays program messages.
• An I/O window for loading and running graphic procedures, supplying commands in abbreviated form from the keyboard, etc.
• The menu bar consists of a set of "items" called menu items, each of which opens a "drop-down menu" containing general commands or opens other menu or dialog boxes. The default menu bar shows the File, Tools and Help menu items. A wider set of menu items is displayed when you open a new document.
• When you start the program, the standard toolbar, beneath the menu bar, illustrates the most frequently used functions, even if these appear in the drop-down menus of the menu bar.
• The banner in each document window contains the name of the file currently being used (the last file that you loaded or saved).
• All of the commands are ordered in logic groups, each of which has its own toolbar, which you can open as described below (see Commands and toolbars).
• Some commonly used command, such as, for example, the ones setting the main entity attributes, along with their current values, can be displayed in the statusbar, on the right-hand side of the band beneath the Graphics Area. 
  

Menu bar and commands

You can access the main commands directly from the menu bar drop-down menus or from the dialog boxes which they open. The groups presented normally have the following characteristics.

• File — Enables you to access the file management commands (load, save and delete, import, etc.) and working memory management commands
• Edit — Enables you to access the commands for general editing operations, such as cutting, copying and pasting, deleting, setting the Work Plane, geometric transformations and so on
• View — Enables you to access the display management commands
• Insert — Enables you to access the entity creation commands
• Modify — Enables you to access the commands for modifying entities
• Format — Enables you to access the property and style commands
• Tools — Enables you to access the utility tools, such as the spreadsheet and calculator, and information and analysis commands
• Window — Enables you to access the document window management commands
• Help — Allows you to access the contents of the on-line help

Commands and toolbars

The main command groups are called toolbars and you can open/close them by clicking the right mouse button when the cursor is over the standard toolbar (NOT over the Graphics Area or menu bar) and then clicking the mouse on the item corresponding to the bar that you want to open/close.

Positioning and resizing toolbars

When you open a toolbar, it is generally docked to one of the borders of the client area (see below, for example, the Curves toolbar). You can position anywhere on the screen, dragging it with the mouse select button. Release the button in the position you like. 

The toolbar is now in the floating state: that is to say, it is like a dialog box with a title and a close button.

You can also change the size of a toolbar: simply select one edge and drag it with the mouse until the bar is the desired size. When you do this, the buttons are redistributed in the optimum way within the new area which is to contain them.

Tooltip and description

When you position the cursor on a command button, after several seconds a tooltip, or text box opens just below the button, containing a brief description of the button. The strip disappears from the screen after a short time, or when you move the cursor or select the button. Also in some commands, the image of option is visualized at the tooltip. For example, cross section of the hole type.

A brief description, but longer than the one in the tooltip box appears on the left of the band of the main window located below the Graphics Area (on the left of the statusbar). The latter remains visible until you move the cursor or select the button.

Shortcut menus

When you right-click (that is, when you press and release the right-hand mouse button), the program displays a context-sensitive pop-up menu: the shortcut menu. The contents of the menu depends on the current context, such as the entity you right-clicked on, which will be highlighted (when you right-click on an entity, the entity is automatically selected), or active command.

When you right-click on an entity (or a set of preselected entities), the shortcut menu contains actions appropriate for that entity (or for that set).

For example, if you right-click on one face of a solid, the shortcut menu will show you only the commands you can execute on that face. In the Model Structure most commands are available in the shortcut menu.

Using the MS-Windows environment shortcuts on the user interface fields

As the program's user interface conforms to MS-Windows standards, the usual shortcuts of the MS-Windows environment can be used as a valuable aid to speed up operations.
A shortcut is a keyboard key or a combination of keys which can be used to execute a command.

• To copy the value of field:
  1. Select the field
  2. Hit CTRL+C (CTRL and C contemporarily)
• To cut the value of field:
  1. Select the field
  2. Hit CTRL+X (CTRL and X contemporarily)
• To paste a value you copied/cut from elsewhere into another field
  1. Position the cursor inside the field where you want to paste your value
  2. Hit CTRL+V (CTRL and V contemporarily)
• To undo an erroneous change in an input field:
  • Hit CTRL+Z (CTRL and Z contemporarily)

There are other shortcuts that can be used with the program.

How to enter commands: General Overview

Here are the ways you can enter a command. Just consider that not all these methods are available at the same time.

• By selecting a menu item in a context pop-up menu
• By clicking a toolbar button
• By selecting a menu item in one of the drop-down menus of the menu bar
• By using a keyboard shortcut