Cerius2 Modeling Environment

14       Customizing the Interface

You may want to rearrange the Cerius² decks of cards, specify that certain control panels be open or easily accessible when Cerius² starts, change the interface colors, or set various other environment-customization options.

This section explains

This section contains information on:

Interface configuration

Interface look and feel

You should already know...

The basics of starting Cerius² and using its interface are demonstrated in Introducing Cerius2 and described in The Cerius2 Interface.

Interface configuration

Finding information

This section includes information on:

Deck of cards menu configuration

Control panel management

Related information

Setting other Cerius² preferences and performing certain functions automatically are covered under Working with Cerius2 sessions and Controlling Cerius2 from scripts.

See the following section, Interface look and feel for information on changing control panel colors and some aspects of how Cerius² runs.

Deck of cards menu configuration

• Add cards to or remove cards from existing decks.

• Change the order of cards in existing decks.

• Create new decks and rename or remove others.

• Save your deck configuration for future Cerius² sessions.

Select the Utilities/Customize/Menu Deck... menu item in the main Visualizer control panel to access the Customize Menu Deck control panel.

All menu cards that are available at your site are listed in the Licensed Cards list box. Select one or more of the menu cards by clicking its name in this list. Selected card names become highlighted. (Deselect a card by clicking a highlighted name again.)

Creating and renaming card decks

To create a new card deck, click the ADD NEW DECK pushbutton in the Customize Menu Deck control panel.

To rename any card deck, choose the deck from the deck selector popup (above the list box toward the right side of the Customize Menu Deck control panel). Enter the new name in the Rename Deck entry box.

To delete a selected deck, click the DELETE DECK pushbutton. The cards that were in that deck are still available in the Licensed Cards list box for inclusion in other decks, if desired.

Editing deck contents

To change what cards are in a deck or the order in which they appear, choose the deck you want to edit from the deck selector popup (above the list box toward the right side of the Customize Menu Deck control panel). The menu cards currently included in this deck are shown in the list box below its name, in the (virtual) top-to-bottom order in which they appear in the deck when it is first opened in the Visualizer main control panel.

To add selected cards from the Licensed Cards list box to the current menu deck (up to a maximum of five in a deck) click the right-pointing arrow. The same card may appear in more than one deck.

To change the order of cards in the deck, click a card name in the right-hand list box and click the up- or down-pointing arrow.

To remove a card from the deck, click the card's name in the right-hand list box and click the REMOVE pushbutton. The card is still available in the Licensed Cards list box for inclusion in other decks, if desired.

Saving the new deck configuration

Any card deck configuration changes you make are immediately reflected in the deck-of-cards area of the main control panel. Your changes remain throughout the current Cerius² session.

To save your changes so that Cerius² always starts up with your custom configuration, click the SAVE CONFIGURATION pushbutton in the Customize Menu Deck control panel.

How it works

When you click the SAVE CONFIGURATION pushbutton, the current configuration of the deck of cards menus is saved to a file named decks in an .MSIguirc subdirectory in your home directory. This file is automatically read whenever you start Cerius².

To set up different deck of cards configurations for use when you run Cerius² for different purposes or projects, simply create separate directories and copy the ~/.MSIguirc subdirectory and its contents to the new directory. Then change the decks file as described in Saving the new deck configuration.

If Cerius² does not find an .MSIguirc subdirectory in the directory in which you start it, it looks for an .MSIguirc subdirectory in your home directory.

Additional information

Please see the on-screen help for details on the functioning of each control in the Customize Menu Deck control panel.

Control panel management

You can also specify that certain panels be displayed automatically whenever you start Cerius².

Accessing the tools

Select the Utilities/Panel Manager... menu item in the main Visualizer control panel to access the Panel Manager control panel.

All control panels that are currently open or were open at some time during the current Cerius² run are considered active. In addition, selected control panels can be marked so as to be considered active in subsequent Cerius² sessions (even without being manually opened first--see Saving control panel configuration). Their names appear in the Active Control Panels list box.

To perform one of the tasks listed here, select one or more of the active control panels by clicking its name in this list. Selected control panel names become highlighted. (Deselect a control panel by clicking a highlighted name again.)

Reopening control panels

To open or reopen selected active control panel(s), click the DISPLAY pushbutton in the Panel Manager control panel.

Closing control panels

To close all open control panels, click the HIDE pushbutton that is located in the All Visible Control Panels area of the Panel Manager control panel (near the top).

To close only selected open control panels, click the HIDE pushbutton that is located in the Selected Panels area of the Panel Manager control panel.

Alternatively, to close all open control panels, click the clear panels tool on the toolbar of the Visualizer main panel.

Deactivating control panels

To remove a selected control panel's name from the Active Control Panels list, click the REMOVE pushbutton. (This action does not hide the panel if it is open.)

To add a control panel's name to the Active Control Panels list, close it if it is open (by clicking that panel's close box ), and then open it by using the usual menu bar or card menu item.

Cascading control panels

To group all open control panels into an orderly cascade, click the CASCADE pushbutton in the Panel Manager control panel.

Alternatively, to cascade all open control panels, click the cascade panels tool on the toolbar of the Visualizer main panel.

Automatic panel display

If you commonly use the same control panels during a Cerius² session, you may find it useful to save the list of active control panels to a file that is read at startup time for subsequent sessions.

To cause certain control panels to be automatically opened whenever you start Cerius², open the desired control panel(s) if they are not in the Active Control Panels list in the Panel Manager control panel, select their name(s) in that list, click the Toggle startup flag action button so that an asterisk appears next to each desired name in the list, and then click the SAVE CONFIGURATION pushbutton (see How it works for additional information).

Cancelling automatic panel display

To specify that a control panel no longer be displayed automatically upon startup, select its name in the Active Control Panels list, click the Toggle startup flag action button so that the asterisk next to its name disappears, and click the SAVE CONFIGURATION pushbutton.

Saving control panel configuration

To save the current list of active control panels (along with the specifications as to which ones are and are not displayed automatically upon startup, see Automatic panel display), click the SAVE CONFIGURATION pushbutton in the Panel Manager control panel.

How it works

When you click the SAVE CONFIGURATION pushbutton, the list of active and automatically displayed control panels is saved to a file named panels in an .MSIguirc subdirectory in your home directory. This file is automatically read whenever you start Cerius².

To set up different lists of active and displayed control panels for use when you run Cerius² for different purposes or projects, simply create separate directories and copy the ~/.MSIguirc subdirectory and its contents to the new directory. Then change the panels file as described in Saving control panel configuration.

If Cerius² does not find an .MSIguirc subdirectory in the directory in which you start it, it looks for an .MSIguirc subdirectory in your home directory.

Additional information

Please see the on-screen help for details on the functioning of each control in the Panel Manager control panel.

Additional ways of setting Cerius² preferences and/or performing certain functions automatically are covered under Working with Cerius2 sessions and Controlling Cerius2 from scripts.

Interface look and feel

Finding information

This section includes information on:

Interface colors

Miscellaneous environment customizations

Related information

Please see Enhancing Model Display for customization of colors used for objects in the model and graph display windows.

Accessing the tools

Select the Utilities/Customize/GUI Colors... menu item in the main Visualizer control panel to access the Customize GUI Colors control panel.

Examining the color-coding system

The color codes listed in the Functional color groups list box each affect a certain type of item in the interface. To examine what items any color code affects, click its name in the Functional color groups list box in the Customize GUI Colors control panel and hold down the left mouse button over the Show Scope action button. All items affected by that color code are highlighted for as long as you hold down the mouse button.

Changing the interface colors

To color related groups of interface items according to your own color scheme, select the name of the color code you want to change from the Functional color groups list box. Then use the red, green, and blue sliders (or the entry boxes below them) to set the proportions of red, green, and blue in the final color.

You can reset all or selected color codes to default values by using the appropriate Reset action buttons in the control panel.

Color changes take place immediately and remain in force for the duration of the current Cerius² session.

Saving the interface colors

To save your customized color-coding of the graphical interface for use in future Cerius² sessions, click the SAVE CONFIGURATION pushbutton in the Customize GUI colors control panel.

How it works

When you click the SAVE CONFIGURATION pushbutton, the current interface colors are saved to a file named gui_colors in an .MSIguirc subdirectory in your home directory. This file is automatically read whenever you start Cerius².

If you create separate directories and copy the ~/.MSIguirc subdirectory and its contents to the new directory for other purposes (How it works, How it works), the copied gui_colors file should not be removed from this new directory. Although you would probably not want to change the gui_colors file for different projects, Cerius² does not look for another .MSIguirc subdirectory in your home directory if it finds an .MSIguirc subdirectory in the directory in which you start it.

Additional information

Please see the on-screen help for details on the functioning of each control in the Customize GUI Colors control panel.

Miscellaneous environment customizations

See Interface configuration for information on changing the content of deck of card menus.

Running Cerius² on one machine while displaying and interacting with its interface on another is discussed in the Cerius2 Installation and Administration Guide.

Accessing the tools

Select the Utilities/Customize/Environment... menu item in the main Visualizer control panel to access the Customize Environment control panel. This control panel is used in many of the tasks mentioned in this section.

Cerius² as a desktop icon

Most window managers allow frequently used applications to be configured as desktop or tool box icons or as popup menu items for easy launching.

If you want to use one of these methods, you need to configure the launch action so that the cerius2 script is invoked from a shell window. The startup shell window becomes the text window to which Cerius² sends certain information.

To learn the application-launching shortcuts supported by your window manager and how to configure them, please refer to that window manager's documentation.

Starting with no banner

You can suppress the display of the Cerius² startup banner (also called a splash screen) if you want, by using the nobanner option when you start Cerius², for example:

>	cerius2 -nobanner

Generally, Cerius² runs by default in either OpenGL or GL graphics mode, as appropriate to your machine. If your machine is capable of running in either mode and you want to force it to run in the nondefault mode, you can set the FORCEOPENGL or FORCEGL env to any value before starting Cerius². For example:

>	setenv FORCEOPENGL 1

>	setenv FORCEGL 1

Balloon help

To enable or disable display of small explanatory boxes whenever the cursor lingers over certain controls (for example, many of the tools in the Visualizer's main control panel), check or uncheck the Activate balloon help check box in the Customize Environment control panel.

Adjusting the beeper

You can adjust the pitch and volume of the beeper (bell) with the Tone and Volume controls (respectively) in the Customize Environment control panel.

Finding atom information

You can choose to have brief information on atom properties sent to the text window whenever you click an atom. To do this, check the Echo object reference on pick check box in the Customize Environment control panel. Uncheck the box to turn this feature off.

Additional information

Please see the on-screen help for details on the functioning of each control in the Customize Environment control panel.