Menu Editor

The DesignGuide Studio Menu Editor is a powerful tool that allows users to dynamically create menus with a large variety of actions to accompany any ADS window. Using user-created content, the menu editor can provide convenient access to a variety of tools and functions, making the design process much easier.

Menu Controls

The menu controls are used to display the current menu name and type, as well as provide means to create and delete menus.

Menu Types

There are three menu types within a studio project:

• Main. Appears in the DesignGuide menu cascade in the ADS main window.
• Schematic . Appears in the DesignGuide menu cascade in a project schematic window
• Layout. Appears in the DesignGuide menu cascade in a project layout window

Initially, a newly created studio project has a Schematic menu with one default menu item. The default menu (and any additional user-created menus) are automatically compiled when the studio project is built, and automatically placed in their respective windows when ADS is opened.

Creating and Deleting Menus

To delete a menu:

1. Select the menu to delete from the Menu Window Type drop down list.
2. Choose the Delete Menu button.
3. Choose OK in the dialog box. Once deleted, that menu will no longer appear in the DesignGuide cascade in ADS after the studio project is rebuilt.

   Note If no menus are desired, all of the main menus can be deleted. In this case, all of the menu item dialog items are turned off until a new menu is created.

Creating a New Menu

There are three type of menus:

• Schematic menu
• Layout Menu
• Main Menu
  Select the appropriate button for the type of menu you want to create.

  Note Replacing a previously deleted default menu by choosing the Create Menu button does not replace any of the menu information that was contained in the default menu prior to deletion.

Menu Names

The Menu Name text area contains the name of the selected menu, which defaults to the studio name chosen in the Content Editor. This is the name that will appear in the DesignGuide cascade in each ADS window. To change the name, type in a new name and the menu editor will store it with the other menu information.

Menu Item Controls

The Menu Item Controls, as shown here, allow you to control the number, name, and format of menu items within a menu.

Adding Menu Items

Each default menu starts with just one menu item. To add additional menu items:

1. Select the menu item that's immediately above and at the same indentation level of the desired location of the new menu item.
2. Choose the Insert Menu Item button. The menu item will be added below the selection location, at the same depth level. If no menu item is selected, the new item is added at the bottom.

   Note For convenience, the new menu items are automatically configured to the action and the group of the currently selected menu item. This makes it easier to create several menu items in a row that perform the same action.

Deleting Menu Items

To delete a menu item:

1. Select the unwanted menu item.
2. Choose the Delete Menu Item button.
   In the case where the deleted menu item had sub-menus attached to it, all the sub-menu items are automatically shifted over to become sub-menus to the menu item directly above the deleted one. In a case where a menu item was deleted mistakenly, the Undo button can be pushed to undo the delete.

   Note Menu items that are the only one remaining in a menu cannot be deleted using the Delete Menu Item button. To remove the menu, the Delete Menu button must be used.

Changing Names of Menu Items

There are two ways to change the name of a menu item:

• Type in the new name in the Menu Item Caption text box in the upper right of the Menu Editor.
• Double-click on a menu item and type in the new name in the dialog box.

  Note Menu names can consist of any combination of characters and spaces, although it must not be empty. Leading and trailing white space will be removed once the new name has been entered. Menu names need not be unique within a menu, although to avoid confusion when the menu is used, unique names are preferable.

Menu Separators

Menu separators, while not a vital component to a menu, can be added to allow users to visually differentiate between different sections of a menu. There are two methods to add a separator:

• Type in a `-' character into the Caption text box.
• Double-click on a menu item and enter a `-' character into the dialog box.
  The separator will appear as `------------------' in the Layout window. Menu separators cannot have actions or objects associated with them. Nor can they have sub-menus below them.

Creating Sub-Menus

Creating sub-menus is an important part of menu creation. Using the arrow buttons on the right side of the Menu Editor, menu items can be moved left or right. Following are some important points about creating a menu hierarchy:

• Concurrent menu items at the same level will be in the same cascade menu.
• A menu item one level to the right of the one immediately above it is part of a sub-menu; the menu items that will appear when the parent menu item is selected.
• Parent menu items cannot have actions or objects associated with them. If an action or object has been assigned to a menu item previously, and the menu item later becomes the parent of a sub-menu, the action and object will be cleared.
• Menu separators can also be moved left and right, with the restriction that separators can never have sub-menus on their own. If a menu item immediately below a separator is moved to the right, an error message will occur. Likewise, a separator moving to the left with menu items directly below it will bring the same error message.
• Menu items within a sub-menu can have sub-menus of their own. There is no limit to the number of sub-levels within a menu, although having more than three levels of menu items can be difficult and inconvenient to you.

Moving Items Up and Down

The up and down arrows on the right side of the Menu Editor allow menu items to be moved up and down among menu items of the same depth. For instance, given the menu in the example shown here, moving G up would exchange places with E, rather than F, as G and E are at the same depth. By the same token, moving A down would switch places with F, since they are at the same level, while D would be unable to move up or down, without first moving to the left.

Note As before, menu separators cannot have sub-menus associated with them, so while separators can be moved up and down as with any menu item, moves that result in separators having sub-menus will not be allowed by the Menu Editor.

Undo

The Menu Editor keeps a backup of the last five changes made to the current menu. The Undo button can be used up to five times in succession to return the current menu to its previous state. These changes include the creation and deletion of menus, as well as any changes in the number or format of menu items.

Note The backup menus are reset any time a new menu is selected by choosing the Menu Window Type list. This is to prevent any accidental changes to a previously selected menu while another menu is on the screen. If changes need to be undone that are more than five steps away, or before the current menu was selected, the Content Editor's version control system will need to be used to bring back a previous version of the studio project.

Menu Function Controls

The Menu Function Controls allow you to assign actions and objects to menu items, as well as control other areas such as quick help and user accessibility.

Actions and Objects

Menu items would be fairly useless without accompanying actions. An Action is the event performed by ADS when the menu item is selected. This can be displaying a specific design, opening a smart component or running a block of AEL code. The following actions are supported by the Menu Editor:

• Open (Schematic/Layout)/Display . Opens both a .dsn file and the accompanying display file ( .dds ) for the given object name to the ADS Schematic or Layout window.
• Open (Schematic/Layout) . Opens a . dsn file to the ADS Schematic or Layout window.
• Open Display . Opens a .dds display file.
• Open Tab Dialog. Opens a Tab Dialog object, created using the Tab Dialog Editor.
• Open Help File . Opens either a quick help window or an HTML documentation file. The Quick Help Editor is used to develop Quick Help dialogs and the System Help Editor is used to map HTML documentation content.
• Place Subnetwork . Opens a Subnetwork .dsn file for immediate placement on the ADS Schematic or Layout window.
• Place Template. Opens a Template . dsn file for immediate placement on the ADS Schematic or Layout window.
• Show Palette. Displays a user-created palette, created using the Palette Editor.
• Execute AEL Function. Executes a user-defined block of AEL code.
• Toggle Quick Help. Toggles all the quick help files in the menu on and off.
  All ten actions can be performed within a Schematic or Layout window, although the Main window menu is limited to opening or toggling help files or executing AEL functions.

To assign an action:

1. Highlight the desired menu item.
2. Open the Action drop-down list and choose an action.

Selecting an Object

To assign an object to a menu item:

1. Assign an action to the menu item.
2. Choose an Object Group from the Group drop-down list (not necessary for some actions).
3. Open the Object drop-down list box. The list of object corresponding to the selected action and group will be displayed.
4. Select an object from the list.
   Certain actions have different methods of obtaining objects, and do not require a group to be selected:

• Place Component. When this action is selected, the Object list becomes a text area where you can enter in the component name, without having to choose a group.
• Execute AEL Function. When this action is selected, a dialog box opens to allow you to type in a block of AEL code to be executed when the menu item is activated.
• Open Help File. Instead of choosing a group, the Group list contains two options for help files, Quick Help, or Help System. Both options get the list of possible objects from the Quick Help Editor and Help System Editor respectively.
• Toggle Quick Help . This action requires no group or object, thus the lists will be deactivated when this action is selected.

Editing AEL Code

When the Execute AEL Function action is selected and AEL code is inserted as the object , the code can then be edited by choosing the Edit AEL Code button. This brings up the AEL code dialog box again, allowing you to change the AEL code.

Note The AEL dialog box checks to see that the AEL code put in by you is syntactically correct. However, it is your responsibility to make sure that function and variable names are spelled correctly and that AEL code performs the desired function. Any errors in code may not be obvious until after the menu is built and executed, in which case the menu will have to be re-edited and rebuilt.

Other Menu Attributes

Following are descriptions of some additional menu attributes.

Quick Help

In addition to assigning quick help files as objects, additional quick help files can be assigned to menu items to be displayed along with the results of other actions. To assign a quick help file to a menu item, select a file name from the Quick Help file list, which will show all the quick files currently in the studio project. When assigned, the quick help file will appear on the screen when the menu item is activated along with the normal results of the menu item action.

Analog/DSP

This element of the Menu Editor only applies to Schematic menus. The Menu Editor has the capability of controlling the sensitivity of menu items based on the mode of the Schematic window. If the Analog/DSP list item is set to both (the default value), then that menu item will be sensitive, regardless of what mode the Schematic window is in. Selecting Analog RF, or DSP, however, designates that only in that specific Schematic window mode will the menu item be sensitive. The Analog/DSP settings have no effect in Main, Layout, or Custom windows.

Locking

The Locking check box allows the action and object associated with this menu item to be locked, or unable to be activated unless you have the appropriate license number. When checked, the menu item will call a special check_License function to check whether the code number, shown in the Content Editor, is an appropriate license. If the license test does not succeed, the action is not performed.

Menu Editor Control Buttons

• OK. Saves the current menu in the current studio project and exits the Menu Editor.
• Cancel. Exits the Menu Editor without saving the current menu
• Test. Opens a test window. See section below on Menu Testing.
• Help. Opens this help documentation.

Miscellaneous Information

Following are details on miscellaneous features.

Menu Testing

The Menu Editor provides a testing function to examine the menu structure and the attached actions and objects without having to build the entire studio project. At any time in the design process, the Test button at the bottom of the Menu Editor can be pushed to bring up a test window. The test window contains a text area and a menu bar. The menu bar contains all the currently created menus with the submenus properly structured. When chosen each test menu item prints to the text area a list of the associated action, group, and object, along with quick menu, analog, and lock information. This feature provides an easy way to look over the designed menu and make some immediate changes without having to build the entire project to look at the menus within ADS.

Menu Summary

A complete and printable summary of all the menus and menu items, along with their associated action, objects, and other attributes can be created by calling the menu summary from the Content Editor's menu bar. This will display a summary, in spreadsheet format, of all the relevant information associated with that studio project's menus.

Problem Summary

As part of the problem summary, the menu editor provides a list of menu items (without submenus) that have no action or object associated with them. This is designed to help developers quickly recognize which parts of the menu are incomplete, or need fixing without having to go through each menu item individually. The Problem Summary is called through the Content Editor's menu bar.