Using Toolbars


The Mira user interface contains two types of toolbars: Top-level Toolbars and Window toolbars. These two types of toolbar operate commands at different levels of the user interface:

Top-level Toolbars

Top-level Toolbars work with view windows such as an Image Window. The toolbar applies its functionality only to the top-most window. If a toolbar button is not associated with the type of data in the top-most view window, then the button is disabled. For example, if a Plot Window is made top-most, then most of the buttons the Top-level Toolbars will disable because their command does not work with a Plot Window. Those buttons will enable when an Image Window is made top-most.

All of the main toolbars, as well as the main menu, can be moved to different borders of the Mira application window. They can also be floated free of all borders. The picture below shows all of Mira's top-level toolbars displayed in vertical format along the left application border. In this example, all toolbar buttons are enabled (not grayed), meaning that they either operate a function for the image window shown, or they operate a global command that does not use an image window. If, for example, a Plot Window were the top-most view window, then most of these buttons would be disabled as they apply to commands for Image Windows. Also, some of these button commands only work for an Image Set. If an image set were not displayed in the top-most window, the button would be disabled.

Top-level Toolbars

Main Toolbar

The Mira Tools toolbar is the main toolbar, with commands that work outside of view windows (e.g., Image Windows). These commands work even when no view window is displayed. For example, the Open command BTNOPENDROPARROW.GIF opens files no matter what type of window is top-most.

Image Tools

The Image Tools toolbar has commands that operate on images in Image Windows, such as Rotate .

Plot Tools

The Image Plots toolbar has commands that generate plots (graphs) from data displayed in an image window.

Cursor Tools

The Cursor Tools toolbar has commands that work with theImage Cursor. These include commands for measuring, etc.

Calibration Tools

The Calibration Tools toolbar has commands that perform various types of image intensity calibration. These commands create master calibration frames, apply calibration frames, and repair image defects and artefacts.

Docking Panes

The Docking Panes Toolbar controls all of the docking pane tools belonging to Image Windows.

 

Buttons in a top-level toolbar operate several kinds of commands which have a user interface as described in the table below. These interfaces include simple button commands, docking panes, Window-level toolbars, drop-menus, and regular button commands. In general, it is not clear beforehand which kind of interface is associated with the button, but Mira provides guidance in a status message which appears when you hover the mouse over the toolbar button. Hovering over the button causes a short description of the button's command to appear in the status bar at the bottom of Mira's main window. Buttons that open docking panes have their own hint, as described in the following table:

Command Interfaces opened from a Top-level Toolbar Button

Window Toolbars

Many complex or multi-step commands are organized into packages using their own toolbar which opens inside a particular window. An example of a window toolbar is Labeling an image, in which case the Image Labeling toolbar opens by clicking the button on the top-level Image Tools toolbar.

Clicking a top-level toolbar button opens the window toolbar in the top-most view window. If the command toolbar is already open in the target window, the button closes it.

Docking Panes

All buttons that open a docking pane indicate that they are associated with a docking pane by showing a red border above or to the right of the toolbar button icon. An example is the

To open the docking pane, click the button. The pane will dock along ht border of the top-most Image Window. If the pane is already open in the target window, clicking the toolbar button closes it.

Drop Menus

Commands that have a drop menu show a command button icon plus a black down-arrow. Click the button to execute the standard function of its type. The drop-menu contains other related functions; to open the drop menu, mouse down on the arrow. Release the mouse on the selected menu command.

Toolbar Configuration

The Toolbar Configuration button appears at the end of every top-level toolbar. Click this arrow to add or remove buttons from the toolbar or configure other aspects of the user interface.

Button

A button that does not use the features described above is connected to a single command. Simply click the button to execute the command.

Adjusting Top-level Toolbars

The configuration of the Toolbar interface can be adjusted in many ways:

Window Toolbars

Window Toolbars operate complex procedures, or "packages", that apply to a specific window. For example, the Aperture Photometry Toolbar is an example of a window toolbar which operates the aperture photometry package for a specific Image Window. Therefore, they dock to the border of the specific window rather than to the main application window. Packages operate by window toolbars are independent and localized to the specific window for which there are opened; for example, 5 image windows may be open but 3 of them each have an aperture photometry toolbar, indicating those 3 have an open Aperture Photometry Toolbar. The screenshot below shows the same view as above, but after the button on the Image Tools Toolbar was clicked to open the Aperture Photometry Toolbar for the top-most (in this case, only) Image Window. Notice that the aperture photometry button is highlighted on its top-level toolbar, indicating that its package is opened in the top-most Image Window. If a different Image Window that did not have aperture photometry active were to become top-most, the button would remove its highlighting.

Related Topics

Image Bar, Animation Bar, Plot Toolbar