Modsak Manual v3.16 - 1.3. The GUI
When you start Modsak the main window is displayed.
At the top of the window are the usual menu bar and tool bar.
On the left side of the window there is a side panel showing a list of pages. When you select an item in this list, the page is displayed in the main panel on the right side of the window.
At the bottom of the window is a status bar, which is used to display error and information messages.
The pages listed in the side panel are in four groups:
Settings: These options are described in the Settings section.
Registers: These options are described in the Registers section.
File Registers: These options are described in the File Registers section.
Commands: These options are described in the Commands section.
Entries in the list of pages are colour-coded to indicate the state of the corresponding page:
Blue/grey: The page is selected (i.e. displayed in the main panel).
Yellow: The page has unapplied changes. The changes themselves are also highlighted in yellow within the page.
Red: The page has an error message in its status bar.
Each page that may be displayed in the main panel has buttons for various actions. These typically include an Apply button (which saves the changes you have made), a Reset button (which restores the settings to their last saved state), and a Help button (which provides help on the page - you can also get help by pressing the F1 key).
Each page also has a status bar below its buttons, which is used to display error and information messages that are specific to the page.
At the bottom of the main window is a "status bar", which is used to display error and information messages. Each page displayed in the main panel also has its own status bar, which is used to display messages that are specific to that page.
Many of the error messages displayed in the status bars have an Error Help button, which provides help on the error message (you can also get this help by pressing the F4 key).
Most of the messages that are displayed in the status bars are removed automatically when they are no longer applicable. This is not possible for some messages, and a Clear button is provided for these so that they can be manually removed.
You can select a data field in which to enter data either by clicking on it with the mouse or by moving to it using the Tab or Shift-Tab key.
When you select a field, all the text within the field is initially selected, so what you type will replace the original value. If you want to edit the value, rather than replace it, click on the value again or press the right-arrow or left-arrow key.
If you place the mouse cursor over a data field (or its label), a tooltip is displayed, which provides a brief description of the field's purpose. You can also display the tooltip of the currently selected data field by typing Ctrl-F1. The display of tooltips can be disabled or enabled using the → menu option or by typing Shift-F1. For a more detailed description of a field's purpose, click the Help button or by press the F1 key.
If you start entering or editing a field value and change your mind, you can restore the original value by pressing the Esc key. To restore the values of all the fields in a page, click the Reset button.
When you have finished entering or editing a field value, you can click on another field or a button, or press Tab or Enter to move to the next field.
Some of the pages have a "mirror" field, situated below the buttons and above the status bar, which can be used for easier viewing and editing of long values. When a data field is selected, its value is displayed in the mirror field and the label of the mirror field is changed to indicate which field is being mirrored. You can enter or edit the field value as usual, or you can click on the mirror field and enter/edit the value there. The F2 key can also be used to switch between the normal field and the mirror field.