You are here: Reference for User Interface Elements > Processing Workspace Interface and Dialog Boxes > Control Systems > Workspace Controls

User Interface Reference

Workspace Controls

How to Access
  1. Click the Processing tab to open the Processing Workspace.
  2. On the Processing Workspace Toolbar, click the Control Systems drop down menu then select Control Page Designer. In the window that opens, the workspace controls appear at the bottom right of the window:
Purpose

Provides the following controls and information for the currently selected control page:

  • Zoom the page layout workspace in or out, making the page elements larger or smaller.
  • Set the workspace zoom so that the set of elements on the page fit in the current page layout workspace display area.
  • Reset the workspace zoom and scrolling to their default values.
  • Copy and Paste page elements.
  • Align, resize, or evenly space elements on the page.
User Interface Elements

UI Element Purpose
Zoom controls

The zoom controls allow you to change the appearance of the page elements in the page layout workspace, making them appear larger as you zoom in or smaller as you zoom out.

The purpose of zooming is to make it easier for you to make changes to the control page layout.

The minus icon zooms the workspace out, making the page elements appear smaller.

The plus icon zooms the workspace in, making the page elements appear larger.

The slider allows you to continually adjust the workspace zoom between the minimum and maximum values.
Fit button Adjusts the workspace zoom value so that all page elements fit into the current size of the page layout workspace display area. Of course the maximum and minimum zoom values can limit this for very large or very small layouts.

Reset button

 Resets the workspace zoom value to its default of 100% and the scroll bar position so that the workspace is at the top-left of the display area.

Copy / Paste Page Elements

These buttons allow you to copy a set of selected elements on the current page and paste them to the same or a different control page.

note: Copy and paste always maintains previously established links on the copied controls. To copy controls yet create a new set of controls to link to, copy the entire control page using the button at the bottom of the Pages tab in the Control Page Designer palette.

Icon Description

Copy selected page elements to the clipboard.

tip: You can also copy one or more selected page elements using the right-click context menu, selecting Copy. To do this, first select the page elements you wish to copy, then right-click on one of the elements and choose Copy in the context menu that appears:

Paste page elements on the clipboard to the current page at (or near) the same locations.

note: Halogen only enables the Paste icon if it is able to paste at least one of the elements on the clipboard. For example, a control can only be on a particular page once. If you copy a control, Paste will not enable until you change to a page that doesn't include the control.

tip: You can also paste to a page using the right-click context menu, selecting Paste. To do this right-click one a blank spot in the control page workspace, at the location that you want to paste the elements. In the context menu that appears, choose Paste:

Align Page Elements

The alignment buttons allow you to align a set of selected page elements.

The Control Page Designer uses an anchor element as the reference for alignment operations. This is the first element that you select in the set of elements that you wish to align. It's easy to identify the anchor element: it has a darker border color than the other selected elements:

In the following alignment operations, Halogen does not change the position of the anchor element, but moves all of the other selected elements to satisfy the alignment choice. For example, clicking on (align left) for the selection shown above results in the following: All elements are aligned relative to the anchor element, Toggle (7).

note: Select multiple elements by holding down shift while selecting individual elements or by clicking on a blank area of the layout workspace and dragging a selection rectangle around the elements you want to select.

Icon Description

Align the top sides of all selected elements to the anchor element.

Align left sides of all selected elements to the anchor element.

Align right sides of all selected elements to the anchor element.

Align bottoms of all selected elements to the anchor element.

Align horizontal centers of all selected elements to the anchor element.
Align vertical centers of all selected elements to the anchor element.
Make Page Elements Same Width / Height

These buttons allow you to make a set of selected page elements the same height or width.

As with the alignment operations above, the Control Pages Designer uses the anchor element as the reference, changing all other selected element to the same width or height.

Icon Description

Make all selected elements the same width as the anchor element.

Make all selected elements the same height as the anchor element.
Space Page Elements Evenly

These buttons allow you to space a set of selected page elements evenly, either horizontally or vertically.

Icon Description

Evenly space all selected elements horizontally.

note: The Control Page Designer only enables this icon if you have selected three or more page elements.

If there is sufficient space for all of the selected elements, Halogen does not move the left-most and right-most of the selected elements and evenly spaces the other elements in between them.

If there is not enough space to do this without overlapping any element, Halogen simply spaces the selected elements relative to the left-most element, adding 20 pixels between each.

Evenly space all selected elements vertically.

note: The Control Page Designer only enables this icon if you have selected three or more page elements.

If there is sufficient space for all of the selected elements, Halogen does not move the top-most and bottom-most of the selected elements and evenly spaces the other elements in between them.

If there is not enough space to do this without overlapping any element, Halogen simply spaces the selected elements relative to the top-most element, adding 20 pixels between each.
See Also