To enter the Loop Pad's Define dialog, use the hand tool to double-click anywhere within the confines of the page (except the title bar). Or, with an unpinned, active pad, choose Define Loop... from the Interface menu. The Loop Pad Define dialog is shown in Figure 6-7. Define dialog operations are described in the text which follows.
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Figure 6-7 |
Loading/Removing/Exchanging Variables: The two lists at the top of the dialog, along with the buttons between the lists, are used to load, remove, and exchange the variables to be displayed in the Loop Pad page. All stocks will appear in the Allowable list. Stocks to be displayed in the loop appear in the Selected list. When a variable has been loaded to the Selected list, it will appear gray in the Allowable list. Here's how to move variables between the two lists:
Loading Variables: To load a variable to the Selected list, double-click the variable name in the Allowable list. Or, select it, and click the >> button. To select multiple variables, simply drag-select, shift-click (for adjacent variables in the list), or control-click (Windows) or command-click (Macintosh) for noncontiguous variables.
Removing Variables: To remove a variable from the Selected list, double-click the variable name in the Selected list. Or, select it and click the << button between the two lists. To select multiple variables, simply drag-select, shift-click (for adjacent variables in the list), or control-click (Windows) or command-click (Macintosh) for noncontiguous variables.
Exchanging Variables: To exchange one or more variables in the Allowable list for one or more variables in the Selected list, select the desired variable(s) in each list. Then, click on the <-> button. The variables will be exchanged.
Choosing Loops: The "Variable (Loop Number)" list displays the number of loops which "pass through" the variables that are currently selected in the "Selected" list. When you select one of the loops in the "Variable (Loop Number)" list, the variables included within that loop are displayed to the right in the "Entities in Selected Loop" list.
Note: Once you have selected a loop and clicked OK, only the Stocks within the loop will be displayed. If you want to view all of the variables in the loop you'll need to check the "Display All" check box.
Note: If there are 2 or more variables in the Selected list, only the loops that pass through all of the variables are displayed.
Label Options: As shown in Figure 6-7, the Loop Pad dialog provides you with three radio button display options. None is selected by default. The other two options let you label the Loop as either a reinforcing or counteracting loop by displaying the letters "R" or "C" within the center of the loop. An example of the different labeling options is shown in Figure 6-8.
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Figure 6-8 |
Titling a Page: To title a specific page of the Loop Pad, select the text in the Title field of the Loop Pad dialog. Then, type the desired title. The title will appear in the title bar of unpinned Pads. It will appear at the top of pinned loops along with the Pad icon name and the page number.
Adding Pages: To the right of the Title Field is the apparatus for adding pages to a Loop Pad. Once you have loaded variables into the Selected list of the first page of the Pad, the up-arrow in the apparatus will become active. Click on the arrow (next to the word "New") to create a new page. You can add as many pages to a Pad as you'd like. You can click on the up- or down-arrows to move between pages from within the dialog. Or, you can click on the page-turn "buttons" (lower left corner) on the Loop Pad surface.