NetLinx Studio Work Area

The NetLinx Studio work area contains the elements of the NetLinx Studio user interface. Before jumping into a project, take a few moments to familiarize yourself with the main user interface elements (FIG. 2).

FIG. 2 NetLinx Studio Work Area

Note: Refer to the NetLinx Studio on-line help for descriptions of all menu and toolbar options.

Title Bar

Displays the name of the application, and the name of the currently active file. An asterisk (*) after the file name indicates that it contains unsaved changes (FIG. 3).

FIG. 3 Title Bar

Menu Bar

The Menu Bar is located along the top of the application window, between the title bar and the toolbars. Click on any of the main menu items to open the associated drop-down menu (FIG. 4).

FIG. 4 Menu Bar

NOTE: If you are running NetLinx Studio in Windows 2000, NT or XP, you may have to press the ALT key to view the menu item hotkeys.

The menus can be customized via options in the _Customize dialog (_refer to the

Customize Dialog - Menu Tab section on page 201

for details).

Toolbars

There are nine Toolbars in NetLinx Studio.

• Hover the mouse cursor over any toolbar button (for about one second) to display a" tooltip" describing the button.
• Choose View > Toolbars to open the Toolbars sub-menu to view or hide the toolbars:

Standard toolbar Debug Watch toolbar

Window Mgmt toolbar

Edit toolbar Diagnostics toolbar Project toolbar Terminal toolbar Build toolbar Macros toolbar

FIG. 5 Toolbars

You can customize the menus via options in the _Customize dialog (_refer to the

Customize Dialog - Toolbars Tab section on page 199

for details).

Workspace Bar

Use the Workspace Bar to manage Project files, System files and online devices. The Workspace Bar contains four tabs (FIG. 6).

FIG. 6 Workspace Bar

• Workspace tab - Displays all open Workspace files (containing Projects and their associated System files). See

Understanding Workspaces, Projects and Systems on page 19.

• Online Tree tab - Displays all devices currently on-line, in a tree structure. See

  Working with Online Devices on page 13

  4.

• IR Data tab - Displays a listing of all IR Files included in the currently active Project/System, and provides detailed File Properties and Channel/Function information on a selected IR File. See

  Working with IR Files on page 70

  .

• Zero-Conf ig tab - Displays a listing of all Masters on the LAN to which the PC running NetLinx Studio is connected. See

Zero-Config Networking on page 141.

NOTE: Click View > Workspace to toggle (show/hide) the Workspace Bar.

Editor Windows

Use the Editor windows to display, view and edit code files. You can have multiple files open at any time. Each code file opens in a separate Editor window (FIG. 7).

FIG. 7 Editor Windows

NOTE: NetLinx Studio features a Code Wizard that steps you through the process of generating several different types of code. See Using the Code Wizard on page 83 for more information.

Caution: Do not attempt to open .LIB or .SYC files for editing in the Editor windows. Doing so could cause program failure.

Output Bar

There are 6 tabs contained in the dockable Output Bar (FIG. 8).

FIG. 8 Output Bar

• Status tab - Displays build information pertaining to the last compilation of source code files, as well as port status information. Double-click on a line containing an compiler error message to open the file in an Editor window, with the cursor positioned at the beginning of the line containing the indicated error. The version number of the compiler is displayed in the Status tab, whenever source code is being compiled.

• Find In Files tab - Displays the results of a Tools > Find In Files search operation. Right-mouse click in the view to see the available options to save or copy the contents of this list. See

  Find In Files on page 185

  .

• Find IR Files tab - Displays the results of a Tools > Find IRL/IRV search operation. Double-click on a listed file to open it for viewing/editing in the IREdit utility program. See Find IRL/IRV Files on page 184.

• File Transfer Status tab - Displays the status on the list of files that are have been or are being transferred. See

  File Transfer

  Operations on page 146.

• Notif ications tab - Displays the asynchronous notification messages being received from the master controller. See NetLinx Device Notification Options on page 160.

• Diagnostics tab - Displays all the internal system diagnostic messages that are generated by a NetLinx master. See Enable NetLinx Internal Diagnostics Messages on page 164.

Right-click inside any of the Output Bar tabs to access the Output Bar context menu.

NOTE: Select View > Output to toggle (show/hide) the Output Bar.

Watch Bar

The Watch Bar is displayed when Start Debugging is selected from the Debug menu, or via the Debug toolbar (FIG. 9).

FIG. 9 Watch Bar

The Watch Bar is a dockable window in which you can view and edit the contents of variables within a compiled program. Also, you can control the execution through each pass of the mainline of a compiled program. Once you select Start Debugging, additional options in the Debug menu become available (see Master Controller Debug Options section on page 111).

Status Bar

The Status Bar displays general information, including communication status, a brief description of any option in the program, cursor location, last Push received, COM port currently being used, network IP address (NetLinx systems only), and current PC keyboard settings (FIG. 10).

FIG. 10 Status Bar

Click View > Status Bar to toggle (hide/show) the Status Bar. The elements of the Status Bar are described below: