First be sure you are in Graphlet create mode, that is the top button on the left hand side is depressed.
To create a component, lick anywhere in the canvas area. This brings up the create component dialog. In the text window, enter the name of the component. IMPORTANT NOTE: Graphlet and ACME Server both allow you to create names that have blanks imbedded in them. The ACMELib parser however cannot handle blanks, therefore your ACME description will give a parse error if you try to load it with names that have blanks. Use "_" to separate names.
There is also a type selection box. If the ACME Family has a set of types for components, these will be shown here. Select the appropriate type by clicking on it, or select None. Then press OK. This will bring up the Port entry box. If you selected a type for the component, the default ports that are added automatically will be shown. To add additional ports, enter them in the text entry box and separate each name with a blank. Then hit OK The new component is now added to the diagram.
A Connector simply a line between between two components.Move the mouse over the first component and press and hold the left mouse button. Now drag the mouse over the second component and release the left button. You should see the create new connector dialog. Like its component cousin, simply enter the connector name, select its type (or None) and press OK.
This action brings up the attachment dialog. If you selected None for the connector type, enter the first role in the text dialog and click on the appropriate port name of the first component. Do the same for the second role. If there was a connector type selected, the role names will already be filled in.
VisEd allows the viewing of system, component or connector properties.
To view the System properties, ensure no connectors or components are highlighted and press the right mouse button in a clear area of the canvas. This brings up the Graphlet/VisEd context menu. Move the mouse down until ACME Properties is highlighted (Next to last menu item). Select this item by releasing the left mouse button. The system properties dialog should appear. This will give all the system properties and show what basic family type the system is.
The same procedure is used for components and connectors except you must first click on the desired element so it is outlined and then use the context menu to view the properties. In addition to the properties and type information, a list of the ports and roles is also shown for components and connectors.
At any time, you may wish to view the current state of the ACME Text Description. To do this, simply use the MORALE pull down menu to select View ACME Text... This will bring up the ACME File dialog with the current ACME description shown. When you are done viewing this description, press the Quit button.
An important ability built-in to the underlying Graphlet software is its graph layout capabilities. The Layout pull-down menu gives several options for attempting to get the desired "look" for the current ACME layout.
Often however, the auto-layout doesn't quite look right and needs to be "tweeked." This is accomplished by placing Graphlet into Layout mode. To do this, ensure the layout button (second button from the top in the left vertical column of buttons [the arrow]) is pressed.
In this mode, you can now drag around components on the screen to get a better looking layout. To do this, move the mouse over the component you wish to adjust and hold down the left mouse button. Now drag the mouse while holding down the button until the component is in the location you want. Then release the button. All the connector lines will remain attached to component during the move.
You can also use graphlet's ability to interactively change the parameters for layout by using the Options pull-down menu. The Graph submenu allows you to change from directed to undirected graphs, remove bends in connectors etc. The Layout submenu allows you to select a layout algorithm and adjust the various parameters so that the layout is adjusted. For instance, weighting of lines in the spring-based algorithms can be adjusted as can miminum line lengths.
Once the representation looks as you desire, it is necessary to save it. By using the File pull-down menu and selecting Save or Save As, a gml file is created describing the current layout. VisEd makes a layout property for the current system and sets it to the gml file created. This allows importation of the saved layout into other graphics tools that support the gml format.
Each component in a system may actually be a composite of several other components and connectors. If a component is actually a subsystem, it will be filled with yellow. This means it has an underlying ACME representation which can be viewing from within Graphlet.
There are actually two options provided for you to view the underlying ACME representation. Both are accessed by the context menu (right mouse click). Expand in new view creates a new Graphlet editor window and displays the subsystem in a separate window. Expand in place replaces the highlighted component with all its subcomponents.
First click on the component you desire to expand. Then right click over the component and select which expansion option you wish to use. If you use expand in place, you can return to the original top-level components by using the Morale pull-down menu and selecting Revert/Update System. This causes the server to re-populate the graph with the top level system. If other applications are working on the same ACME description, and have added or removed components, you will see those changes reflected in your display.
If you have expanded in a new view, there will be some components which are filled with red. These represent the ACME Bindings and are actually components in the top level view. Their purpose is to provide context between the subsystem view and the top-level system view.
The ACME description you have been editing is resident on the server, but those changes will not be committed until you save your representation. IMPORTANT: If you exit without saving your changes, NO changes will be saved!
To save the ACME description, use the Morale pull-down menu to select Save ACME ... In the file dialog select the existing file or type in a new filename to save the ACME description under.
To Exit VisEd when you are done with your work, first use the Morale pull-down menu and select Disconnect. This disconnects your application from acmeserver and allows the server to remove your description from memory. Then use the File pull-down menu to select Exit.
If you have multiple editor windows open and wish to close only the current editor and not all editors use the Close option from the File menu.
IMPORTANT: USING FILE->EXIT CLOSES ALL GRAPHLET/VisEd WINDOWS AND CLOSES YOUR SERVER CONNECTION. DON'T USE IT UNLESS YOU HAVE SAVED YOUR WORK!
Extending VisEd to add your own functionality is the same as extending Graphlet. The Graphlet web page contains the graphscript programming manual which details how to extend Graphlet by using Tcl/Tk and Graphscript commands.