Customizing the User Interface

Configuring GeoMedia
for the Way You Work

GeoMedia has been designed to be flexible, allowing you to configure it to fit the way you work. Customizing your user interfaces to GeoMedia allows you to fine-tune your work environment. You can set options in GeoMedia that affect the way other commands work. The Options dialog allows you to specify default settings that control various aspects of presentation in the application window.

You can customize existing toolbars or add new toolbars that facilitate the tasks most common to your workflow. Along similar lines, you can improve your workflow efficiency by customizing the menus on the title bar, adding new menus, or installing new applications. This section explores the customization options you have and ways they are implemented in the software.

The Various "Options" in Options

The Options dialog breaks down two ways. The first breakdown is by functional area. The seven tabs in the Options dialog represent the grouping of defaults into the following services: General, Map Display, Units and Formats, SmartLocate, File Locations, Query, and Layout. All of the tabs in this dialog relate to the way you are presented with attribute data, graphics, or prompts. As you will see, the majority of the options relate to map window operations.

The second way Options breaks down has to do with where each default setting is stored. Option defaults are stored in either the GeoWorkspace file or in the system registry. The defaults written to the workspace apply to that particular workspace only. They are referred to as GeoWorkspace preferences, and include the options available through the Map Display, Precision Coordinates, and a portion of the Measurement dialogs.

In contrast, the defaults you define on the General, SmartLocate, File Location, Measurement, and Query tabs are stored in the registry in \HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Intergraph\GeoMedia(or GeoMedia Professional)\0204.00\PreferenceSet, and are therefore applied to all GeoWorkspaces. They can be viewed from the Windows Start button. Click on Run and type in regedit.

 figure hgm10_1.gif

This is referred to as an "on-the-fly" change, but note that the setting is not volatile. Changes you make during the course of executing other tasks become the new default settings. When you access Options via any other dialog, you are restricted to the tab relevant to the task you are running. Therefore, when you select the Options button from the New Query dialog, you can make changes only on the Query tab. The other tabs are dimmed and unavailable via the New Query dialog.

Before exploring the Options dialog (shown in the illustration at left) in detail, review the way tabs are designed in general. An application that can be broken down into a variety of distinct functional areas will often be designed as a tabbed dialog. The area you are interested in can be accessed by simply clicking on its tab, which brings it to the front and makes it the active dialog.

 hgm10_2.gif

The selections on each tab are generally divided into two or more subsections. These sections are indicated by outline boxes. Most of the time, when a list of choices appears in a section with radio buttons, you are restricted to one selection from the listing. Clicking a radio button selects it and deselects all others. Checkboxes usually indicate that one, none, or all entries in a section can be selected. Checkboxes are simply toggles that switch to the opposite status when clicked. If an item associated with a checkbox is a heading for other selections and is toggled off, the subheadings are made unavailable.

When a field is provided with a drop-down list of choices, it is often the case that those are the only valid selections for the parameter. Sometimes you may want to type in a selection that is not on the drop-down list.

General Tab

The defaults you set on the General tab, shown in the illustration at left, apply to all GeoWorkspaces. They fall into two categories. Under General options you have the choice of whether or not you want to be prompted to confirm deletions. When turned on, the prompt will appear in many different parts of your GeoMedia workflows. When deciding if you want this option enabled or not, consider the fact that the Undo functionality in GeoMedia is available only in the active data window. Deleted map objects cannot be recovered with an Undo in GeoMedia, although Undo capabilities have been provided for Pro.

 See Pro section for more info.

 graphic  hgm10_3.gif

The second setting, Display status bar, is a tiered selection. First decide if you want the status bar to display or not. The status bar appears at the bottom of the application window. It consists of five information panels that variously describe the state of your GeoMedia workflow. The content of each panel depends on the task you are performing. Panel 1, at the far left, displays a variety of information. When you pause the mouse on either a drop-down menu entry or a toolbar button, Panel 1 displays a description of the item’s function.

When you are performing an interactive task, such as digitizing, Panel 1 contains processing messages such as prompts and tips. Panel 2 displays ESC if the command currently running can be terminated by pressing the Escape key. When Panel 2 is blank, the command cannot be stopped. Panel 3 contains a progress bar for the tasks that use a progress bar. Panel 4 is currently not used. Panel 5 displays with the zoom scale or the view extents, depending on which is selected on the General tab.

If "Zoom scale" is selected, the scale of the current map window is displayed. When "View extents" is selected, the dimensions of the map window are displayed in the distance units specified on the Units and Formats tab. If you opt to turn the status bar display off, the scale and extents selections are disabled. The Status bar is alternatively toggled on and off from the pop-up menu produced by a right mouse click in the Toolbar area of the GeoMedia application window.

The third selection in the General options panel Adding connection prefixes to feature names applies to feature selection controls such as those in the query building dialog, legend entry properties, and PickQuick. The warehouse connection name is appended to the feature class in the format connection_name.feature_class. On the Entries tab of the Legend Properties dialog the connection name is displayed in the Source field. See Chapter 11 for more information. Likewise, the tooltip feature name displayed in the PickQuick dialog, discussed in Chapter 15, will be prefixed with the warehouse connection.

This will prove to be a valuable tool for users whose workflows require named queries based on features stored in a variety of warehouses.

Query maintenance and tracking via the Tools > Queries dialog is made much easier with the "documentation" provided by this option. Whenever you edit, delete, or run a query from this dialog, you know not only the feature class involved butbut also the warehouse in which the feature class resides. You will probably find that enabling this option is a requirement in cases where duplicate feature names are contained in more than one warehouse.

The final setting in General options is Do not load data when opening GeoWorkspace. When this option is selected a saved workspace will open with all legend entries and data window contents in the ‘unloaded’ state. That is, the legend will contain entries for all the feature classes that were added in the map window and the data window will contain a pointer to the feature class that was displayed when the workspace was saved, but neither the map nor the data window will contain any actual data. This option allows you to quickly open GeoWorkspaces that might contain displays of large feature classes without having to wait for all the displays to be created. When the workspace is open you can manually turn selective data displays on by selecting the Load Data option on the right click pop-up menu in the legend or the data window. Everything can be reloaded by clicking on View > Update All. The unloaded state and loading data topics are discussed in Chapter 11 "The Legend – Controlling How Features Are Displayed" and Chapter 9 "The Data Window and Attribute Data".

Both selections in the second panel of the General tab are productivity tools that, when selected, eliminate some steps from your workflow. Match GeoWorkspace and Warehouse coordinate systems When making first connection will automatically copy the coordinate system of the first non-vicinity warehouse connection to your workspace. This allows you to skip the step of manually configuring the GeoWorkspace coordinate system. This functionality is discussed in greater depth in Chapter 3 "GeoWorkspaces". The When creating a new warehouse option automatically applies the workspace coordinate system to any new Access warehouses you create in your workflows. Remember, when this option is not selected, a new warehouse coordinate system will default to the projection defined in the template you use to create it. If that is not the coordinate system you require, you must configure the appropriate projection before you add any feature classes to the new warehouse. See Chapter 4 for more information on new warehouses.

The final selection on this tab is used to define which connection you want to use as the Vicinity connection. This selection defaults to None while the drop-down menu contains the names of all your warehouse connections. The warehouse designated as the Vicinity connection is intended to be used for the creation of a Locator map. The features in the warehouse chosen as a vicinity connection are handled differently than those in non-vicinity connections. They are exempted from filtering by any applied spatial filters. The projection of this warehouse is ignored when the option to match warehouse and coordinate systems is selected.

All the control settings on this tab are User Preferences that are stored in the registry and apply to all your GeoWorkspaces with one exception. The Vicinity connection designation is stored in the workspace and apply only to that workspace.

Map Display Tab

 hgm10_4.gif

The first section on the Map Display tab, shown in the illustration at left, is used to control the behavior of map objects when the map window is resized. You have a choice of either allowing the map to be resized to fit the map window (in which case the area displayed remains constant but the scale varies) or of maintaining the map scale regardless of the map window size (in which case the scale is preserved and the amount of geometry displayed varies).

The resizing options in this dialog can be overridden by the options available in the Map Window Properties dialog.

In the second section, you can change the colors used to display select sets (see Chapter 15), the handles used to graphically manipulate map objects, the highlight color that indicates which map object lies under the cursor, and the map window background color.

 The Units and Formats Tab

 hgm10-_2.gif

A wide range of GeoMedia commands use the parameters you set on the Units and Formats tab, shown in the illustration at the left.

Note: Those familiar with earlier releases of GeoMedia and GeoMedia Pro should note that this tab combines the options that were previously part of the Measurement and the Precision Coordinates tabs.

The "Default units and precision" panel of the dialog allows you to set default values for all the measurement and to control the way your Precision Coordinate display behaves. The units, precision, and measurement methods specified here are used to calculate distance with the Measure Distance tool. They are the units in which area and length are displayed on the General tab of Select Set Properties. They are the units in which the map window dimensions are expressed when the "View extents" option is selected for the Status Bar. The ground units for measuring distance and area, and the precision for both are used as defaults for processes such as buffer zone distances and the scale bar.

As you learned in Chapter 8, the Precision Coordinate Display is a dockable window that is turned on or off from the View menu or from a right mouse click in the toolbar portion of the application window. The Units and Formats tab allows you to specify how both projected and geographic coordinate readouts are presented when the display window is open. Coordinate settings are stored in the GeoWorkspace.
 
 

In the first panel you select the linear, areal, or angular measurement to define from the Type drop-down. For each type you can select a factor for its measurement from the Unit drop-down, and the number of decimal places from the Precision drop-down. The units available to you are dependent on the Type of unit you are defining. The Types available include Angle, Area, Azimuth, Distance, Geographic, and Projection.

If Area, predefined as square meters, is selected the following measurement units are available:
 
 

GeoMedia Area Measurements
 

Alias	Unit of measure	Conversion factor
ac	Acres	4046.8564224 (m^2/ac)
ares	Ares	100.0 (m^2/are)
centare	Centares	1.0 (m^2/centare)
chain^2	Square chains	404.68564224 (m^2/chain^2)
cm^2	Square centimeters	0.0001 (m^2/cm^2)
deciare	Deciares	10.0 (m^2/deciare)
ft^2	Square feet	0.09290304 (m^2/ft^2)
hectare	Hectares	10000.0 (m^2/hectare)
in^2	Square inches	0.00064516 (m^2/in^2)
km^2	Square kilometers	1000000.0 (m^2/km^2)
link^2	Square links	0.040468564224 (m^2/link^2)
m^2	Square meters	1.0
mi^2	Square miles	2589988.110336 (m^2/mi^2)
mm^2	Square millimeters	0.000001 (m^2/mm^2)
perch	Perches	25.29285264 (m^2/perch)
rod^2	Square rods	25.29285264 (m^2/rod^2)
yd^2	Square yards	0.83612736 (m^2/yd^2)

GeoMedia Area Measurements
 

Alias	Unit of measure	Conversion factor
ac	Acres	4046.8564224 (m^2/ac)
ares	Ares	100.0 (m^2/are)
centare	Centares	1.0 (m^2/centare)
chain^2	Square chains	404.68564224 (m^2/chain^2)
cm^2	Square centimeters	0.0001 (m^2/cm^2)
deciare	Deciares	10.0 (m^2/deciare)
ft^2	Square feet	0.09290304 (m^2/ft^2)
hectare	Hectares	10000.0 (m^2/hectare)
in^2	Square inches	0.00064516 (m^2/in^2)
km^2	Square kilometers	1000000.0 (m^2/km^2)
link^2	Square links	0.040468564224 (m^2/link^2)
m^2	Square meters	1.0
mi^2	Square miles	2589988.110336 (m^2/mi^2)
mm^2	Square millimeters	0.000001 (m^2/mm^2)
perch	Perches	25.29285264 (m^2/perch)
rod^2	Square rods	25.29285264 (m^2/rod^2)
yd^2	Square yards	0.83612736 (m^2/yd^2)

GeoMedia Geographic Units
 

Alias	Unit of Measure	Conversion Factor
'	Minutes	0.000290888208665722 (rad/min)
"	Seconds	0.00000484813681109536 (rad/sec)
º	Degrees	0.0174532925199433 (rad/deg)
dd.mmss	Degrees minutes seconds	See individual units.
deg	Degrees	0.0174532925199433 (rad/deg)
d:m:s	Degrees:minutes:seconds	See individual units.
gr	Grads	0.0157079632679490 (rad/gr)
min	Minutes	0.000290888208665722 (rad/min)
rad	Radians	1.0
rev	Revolutions	6.28318530717959 (rad/rev)
sec	Seconds	0.00000484813681109536 (rad/sec)

 

Measurement interpretation is used in coordinate system calculations. The information you specify on this  panel is stored in both the system registry and the GeoWorkspace. Ground units apply only to the workspace, whereas the ground measurement interpretation method applies to all workspaces.
 
 

GeoMedia Geographic Units
 

Alias	Unit of Measure	Conversion Factor
'	Minutes	0.000290888208665722 (rad/min)
"	Seconds	0.00000484813681109536 (rad/sec)
º	Degrees	0.0174532925199433 (rad/deg)
dd.mmss	Degrees minutes seconds	See individual units.
deg	Degrees	0.0174532925199433 (rad/deg)
d:m:s	Degrees:minutes:seconds	See individual units.
gr	Grads	0.0157079632679490 (rad/gr)
min	Minutes	0.000290888208665722 (rad/min)
rad	Radians	1.0
rev	Revolutions	6.28318530717959 (rad/rev)
sec	Seconds	0.00000484813681109536 (rad/sec)

Upon selecting Projection, you can select from the units listed in the following table.

GeoMedia Linear Units
 

Alias	Unit of Measure	Conversion Factor
'	Feet	0.3048 (m/ft)
"	Inches	0.0254 (m/in)
Chain	Chain	20.1168 (m/chain)
cm	Centimeters	0.01 (m/cm)
ft	Feet	0.3048 (m/ft)
furlong	Furlong	201.168 (m/furlong)
hundredth	Hundredth	0.000254 (m/100th)
in	Inches	0.0254 (m/in)
kft	Kilofeet	304.80 (m/kft)
km	Kilometers	1000.0 (m/km)
link	Link	0.201168 (m/link)
m	Meters	1.0
mi	Miles	1609.344 (m/mi)
mm	Millimeters	0.001 (m/mm)
nm	Nanometer	0.000000001 (m/nm)
nmi	Nautical miles	1852.0 (m/nmi)
pole	Pole	5.0292 (m/pole)
pt	Point	0.000352777777777778 (m/pt)
rod	Rod	5.0292 (m/rod)
sf	Survey feet	0.304800609601219 (m/sf)
si	Survey inches	0.025400050800102 (m/si)
sk	Survey kilofeet	304.800609601219 (m/sk)
svy_ft	Survey feet	0.304800609601219 (m/sf)
svy_in	Survey inches	0.025400050800102 (m/si)
svy_kft	Survey kilofeet	304.800609601219 (m/svy_kft)
tenth	Tenth	0.00254 (m/tenth)
thousandth	Thousandth	0.0000254 (m/1000th)
yd	Yard	0.9144 (m/yd)

 

+East, +North indicates that the first coordinate in the pair is to be expressed as a positive value along the East axis. The second coordinate is positive along the North axis. +East, +South, on the other hand, displays the first coordinate as positive on the East axis, but expresses the second coordinate as positive along the South axis, yielding positive y-coordinate readings as one moves down rather than up. This option applies to the Projection coordinate type. See Chapter 37 "Projections and Datum Transformations" for a complete discussion of projections.

The final panel, Azimuth settings, specifies the direction and starting point when setting and displaying azimuths. An azimuth is a way of specifying an angle by measuring either clockwise or counter-clockwise from 0 to 360 degrees. For example, using West as your starting point and going clockwise 90 degrees would give you due North. Direction specifies the direction to use when setting and displaying azimuths. The selections are clockwise or counterclockwise. Start from determines which direction to use as a starting point when setting and displaying azimuths. Select North, South, East, or West. These options apply to the distance and azimuth readouts and keyins.

SmartLocate Tab

 graphic  hgm10_5.gif
 
 
 
 

The SmartLocate tab, shown in the illustration at left, is divided into three sections. The first two sections set variables that control the way map objects and the Select tool behave during select set operations. The third section allows you to specify whether you want autopanning to function and how you want it to work. All settings defined on the SmartLocate tab are stored in the system registry, and apply to all GeoWorkspaces. Select set functionality, covered in detail in Chapter 815, is briefly introduced here.

Select Set operations specify which map object you want to use as input to another GeoMedia command. Clicking on a highlighted feature adds it to a select set. When a feature is a select set member, its associated attribute values can be viewed from Select Set Properties.

Assume, for example, that you are viewing a map of a platted subdivision. Associated with each lot in the plat is information about the lot’s owner, address, valuation, and so on. Clicking on any lot in the map pops up a display of the attribute data for that lot. The lot, by virtue of its membership in a select set, is also a candidate for editing or deletion, and can be moved as well.

When the Select tool (the arrow) passes over a graphic feature in an active map window, the feature is displayed in the highlight color you assigned on the Map Display tab. The first selection on the SmartLocate tab is a slider bar that sets the length of delay between the time the Select tool passes over the object and the time it becomes highlighted.

In the second section, you can customize the size of the cursor locate zone. A feature is highlighted, and therefore available for selection, when it falls within the cursor locate zone. This zone is simply a circular area at the tip of the select tool that defines the range in which the cursor is able to ide.gify map objects. Its tolerance is set internally in screen pixels.

In many displays there are multiple features in close proximity to one another. For example, roads cross over streams, parcel boundaries are near water valves, and so on. All features that fall within the cursor locate zone are selectable. When more than one map object falls inside the locate zone, a dialog is launched that allows you to ide.gify the object you are interested in from all objects that qualify (see Chapter 8 15 for more information on Select Sets and Pick Quick).

When the zone is very large, you will be locating many features. On the other hand, if it is too small, you may not be able to select a feature without a lot of detailed mouse movement. The size of the zone should be set based on the detail and complexity of your graphics. The locate zone size for both the Select tool and the Placement and Editing cursor (the crosshair cursor) is displayed in the preview box as you drag the slider bar button.

The last section on the SmartLocate tab is used to specify parameters for automatic panning in the map window. When autopan is turned on, it is functional for all open map windows, but operates in the active map window only. Autopan allows the map window to automatically pan when you approach the pan zone while measuring distance or placing, editing, or moving map objects.

The pan zone is expressed as a percentage of the map window, and ranges from 0 to 50 percent. When you reach a boundary of the pan zone while measuring or editing, the window scrolls to keep your cursor within the pan zone. The pan zone itself can optionally be displayed. However, it only appears when you are executing measuring or editing operations.

The sample box shows you approximately what proportion of the map window the specified pan zone will encompass. When you change the size of the pan zone, the sample window does not update until you click on OK, which dismisses the dialog box. The sample window will properly display on subsequent runs of the SmartLocate dialog.

File Locations Tab

hgm10_7.gif

The File Locations tab, shown in the illustration at left, in the Options dialog is used to set the default search paths for your GeoMedia and GeoMedia Pro files. By default, GeoWorkspace and warehouse files and templates install on your C:\drive. GeoWorkspaces and warehouses have their own directories. Both workspace, warehouse and layout templates install under the \Program Files\GeoMedia (or GeoMedia Professional)\Templates directory. The current paths for each file type display in the Location column.

To change these locations, select the path you want to change and click on Modify. In the "Browse for folder" dialog, navigate through the directory listings until you reach the one in which you want to store your files. File Locations is not workspace specific, but is stored in the system registry and applies to all workspaces.

Query Tab

The Query tab, shown in the illustration at left, is divided into two sections. The first section controls where query results are displayed. The second controls whether a warning will display when you set up query filters.

 hgm10_6.gif

The "Display named query results in" portion of the dialog allows you to specify which windows will contain your query results. If you select Active window, the query results will be posted as graphics to the map window or as attribute values to the data window, depending on which was active when you began the query operation. You have the option of displaying the query results in a new map or data window, in which case a new window is opened for the query display. Because these options are not mutually exclusive, you can select one, a combination, or none of them.

The "Confirm/show value operations" checkbox refers to a warning displayed during the query building process. When you create an attribute query filter, you have the ability to view all attribute values for a column in the database table.

Say, for example, you are building a query to find airports with runways of a certain length. In the query builder, you select the airport table, the runway_length attribute, and the greater than operator. You can then click on the Show Values button, which will generate a listing of all unique values for runway_length in the table. At this point, by default, a warning appears to alert you that it may take a bit of time to create this listing. The "Confirm show value operations" checkbox allows you to control whether or not that warning is displayed.
 
 

Layout Tab

 hgm10_8.gif

Caption The Layout tab in the Options dialog.

The Layout tab, shown in the illustration at left, is new to GeoMedia and GeoMedia Pro 4.0. It is used to control some of the default settings for the Layout window in which you design your hardcopy cartographic output. The Layout tab will be briefly covered here, and is discussed in detail in Chapter 24 "Cartographic Operations". The Layout tab itself is not available until a Layout window has been opened at least once in your GeoWorkspace. Until then the tab is dimmed.

In the Grid panel of the Layout options you can set grid display and grid snap defaults. The Layout window grid is a nonprinting tool that aids in the precision alignment of objects within the Layout window. You control whether a grid appears by selecting the Grid display checkbox. Grid spacing allows you to set the grid size and units of measure. Grid index sets the number of index grid lines. The size of each grid cell is determined by the grid spacing. The grid index determines the number of minor grid lines to display between the major grid lines. If the grid spacing is set to 0.25 inches and the grid index is set to four, then the minor grid lines will display as dashed gray lines at 0.25 inch intervals, and the major grid lines will display as solid gray lines at 1.0 inch intervals. When the Grid snap checkbox is selected, objects placed in the Layout window will snap to the intersection of grid lines. This option is overridden while you work in the Layout window if you use the ALT key when placing objects.

The Symbol browser panel allows you to set the default file system location of your SmartSketch symbol files. This location is used in the Symbol Explorer command within the Layout window. The Length readout panel allows you to define the Units and Precision used by the measuring tools in the Layout window. The Units drop-down menu is composed of the same units listed above in the GeoMedia Linear Units table in the Units and Formats section of this chapter.

Note: The parameters you set on the Layout tab can be overridden when you are working in the Layout window.
 
 

In the following workflow exercise, you will customize a work environment.
 
 

The Options dialog allows you to customize many parameters associated with your working environment. Some of the Option parameters are attached to the GeoWorkspace and are saved with the workspace. Others are associated with the user ID and remain consistent regardless of the workspace used.

The Options dialog is available from the Main Menu bar and consists of seven functional areas: General, Map Display, Units and Formats, SmartLocate, File Locations, Query, and Layout. Access to a context-specific Options dialog is also available at various times during the execution of other operations. When options are accessed from within a specific application, only those options that relate to that application are available. You have already seen instances of this functionality.

In this exercise you will step through the configurable parameters available from the Main Menu bar. You may make changes to your options, or simply step through the review.

Note: Unless your data sets are very large, you will probably leave this option turned off (unchecked).

• "Match GeoWorkspace and Warehouse coordinate systems"

• The Vicinity connection drop-down menu will contain the names of all your warehouse connections. You can select a connection to serve as a vicinity connection, or accept the default of none.

• On the Map Display tab, you have two sets of selections when resizing windows and setting colors. The following options are available without regard to GeoWorkspace. Resizing map windows options follow: (1) "Fit map to window," which scales the feature class display according to the scale of the map window. The area displayed stays constant as the window is changed. (2) Preserve map scale. Upon selecting this option, the map scale is not adjusted to the size of the map window. The area displayed varies. As regards colors, you can click on the Browse button to select colors for select sets, handles, highlight, and background.

1. 3. Review the Units and Formats options. On the Options dialog click on the Units and Formats tab.

• Select a Type to define, then select the appropriate Units and degree of Precision from the drop-down menus.

• Turn Grid display on by clicking the Grid display checkbox.

• Set new grid display spacing by keying in values for the spacing and index parameters. Select a unit of measure from the spacing drop-down menu.

• Navigate to the default file system location for your SmartSketch symbol files using the Symbol Browser browse button.

• Set the unit of measurement and its decimal precision on the Length redout panel of the dialog.

Toolbar Modification

The second major mechanism for improving your workflow efficiency is toolbar customization. This section discusses manipulating the content of toolbars.

Toolbars are shortcut alternatives to the commands on the drop-down menus contained on the Main Menu bar. GeoMedia is delivered with five six toolbars: Standard, Selection, Data, Legend, Spatial Filters, and Placement and Editing.

Insert a See Pro section for more info here.

These toolbars consist of only a subset of the functionality contained in the menu options on the Main Menu bar. The customization dialog gives you access to toolbar buttons for all GeoMedia commands. When your workflow requires regular use of commands that do not appear on the default toolbars, you can add that functionality by modifying existing toolbars or by creating new toolbars that are more reflective of the way you work.

Like user preferences set in the Options dialog, toolbar configurations are stored in the system registry in \HKEY _CURRENT_USER\Software \Intergraph\GeoMedia (or GeoMedia Professional)\04.00\Toolbars. To view registry settings, click on Start > Run > Regedit from the Windows status bar. The Registry Editor is a tool that allows you to change the settings that contain information about how your computer will behave.

The path previously mentioned contains your GeoMedia toolbar settings stored on a per-user basis. As such, they vary according to user logon ID, and they are available for all your GeoWorkspaces. The following illustration shows an example of what registry settings for toolbars look like in the Registry Editor.

 hgm10_9.gif
 
 

Registry Editor.

Toolbars Dialog

 hgm10_10.gif

 hgm10_11.gif

Caption Toolbars dialog.

Before exploring the Toolbars dialog, take a look at the other information on the Toolbars pop-up menu, shown in the illustration at left. The top section of the menu contains the names of all available toolbars. When you create a new toolbar, its name, or the default name Toolbar#, is added to this list. Toolbar display status is indicated by the checks. The first aspect of gross toolbar control is that a toolbar can be turned off entirely by unchecking it. The same applies to the last two entries on this pop-up: Status Bar and Precision Coordinates. Their displays can be toggled on and off. The center of the listing contains two other entries: Toolbars and Customize.

When you click on Toolbars on the pop-up, the Toolbars dialog, shown in the illustration at left, again presents you with a listing of all available toolbars, with their on/off status indicated in the checkboxes. Checkboxes are also provided that allow you to specify whether the toolbar buttons are color or grayscale, large or small, and whether tooltips (the labels that appear when the cursor is paused on an icon) are on or off.

The fourth button on the Toolbars dialog changes as a function of context. When one of the factory toolbars is selected, it is a Reset button. This button allows you to undo any changes you have made to a default toolbar and return it to its original configuration. When a user-defined toolbar is selected, the button becomes a Delete key. Although the display of any toolbar can be suppressed, only user-defined toolbars can be deleted.

The New button is important in that it is the only dialog that provides you with the opportunity to name a new toolbar. After you enter a unique toolbar name, a blank toolbar is displayed in the map window and you are taken directly to the Customize dialog, where you populate the toolbar. Contrast this with clicking on the Customize button. In this case, the subsequent dialog is the same, but the toolbar is named Toolbar1, Toolbar2, Toolbar3, and so on.

Customize Toolbars Dialog

The Customize dialog, shown in the following illustration, can be launched three ways: using the Toolbar dialog just discussed, from the pop-up menu in the toolbar area of the application window, or from the Main Menu bar Tools > Customize menu. The only prerequisite for running the Customize dialog is that when an existing toolbar is the target, its display must be on.

ORIGINAL GRAPHIC ig180015

Customization is simply a drag-and-drop operation. Any toolbar in the application window is a potential candidate for modification. Conversely, if you simply want to make an icon available and you are happy with the default naming scheme, you can begin dragging the buttons you want from the Customize dialog to the map window.

The Customize dialog consists of three tabs. The Toolbars tab will be discussed in this section. The Toolbars tab is divided into three parts: a Categories listing, the Buttons or Commands display, and a Description section. Categories represents a functional breakdown of GeoMedia commands. The default toolbars do not correspond one-to-one with the listed categories. Rather, the toolbars consist of a combination of commands from various categories.

When you select a category, the buttons for all but two categories of its commands are displayed in the Buttons window. Command names are displayed for the Edit and All Commands categories due to the number of commands and the space limitation of the Buttons window. The Commands listings, however, work the same way as the graphic displays for the other categories. The All Commands listing is the place to turn when you cannot find a command in any other category.

As the cursor is paused over any button, a long description of the button's function is displayed in the Description field. When ToolTips is turned on, the button label displays as well.

To create a toolbar, simply click on the button or command you need and, while keeping the mouse button depressed, drag the button to the map window. A toolbar can consist of a single button, or you can concatenate several buttons on one toolbar by dropping a button onto an existing bar. The existing toolbar can be one of the delivered GeoMedia toolbars or one you have created. Toolbars can float in the map window. The orientation of a toolbar can be changed by "resizing" it. A toolbar can float in the map window. Alternatively, it can be docked in the toolbar area, on either the left or right side of the application window, or below the Status Bar.

The Categories window contains the menu headings for all menus that appear on the Main Menu bar, and two additional entries: Custom and All Commands. Clicking on any category name, except Edit and All Commands, displays all buttons for the functionality contained in that menu. Note that each of the five delivered toolbars contains only a subset of the available buttons. You can add additional buttons and reset the toolbars to their original content.

When the cursor is paused over any button, the tooltips label for the button is displayed and a full description of the button’s functionality appears is the Description window. When the Edit or All Commands categories are selected, the Buttons window changes to a Commands window and text is displayed. In the following workflow exercise, you will customize toolbars.

You accomplish tasks in GeoMedia via commands on the Main Menu bar, toolbar buttons, or keyboard shortcuts. You can modify all three via the Customize dialog. In this exercise you will review various options you can use to customize the toolbars for the way you work. Five default toolbars are delivered with GeoMedia: Data, Legend, Placement and Editing, Selection, and Standard (briefly discussed in Workflow 8-1). However, perhaps the buttons for operations you frequently use do not appear on these toolbars. The Toolbars dialog allows you to change the appearance and content of these toolbars, and to create custom toolbars.

In this exercise you will review the steps for customizing an existing toolbar. Open a new GeoWorkspace. You will not need warehouse connections for this exercise.

As with all GeoMedia functionality, the Toolbars and Customize dialogs are context sensitive. You will see some options that are available when working with custom toolbars that are not available when working with the default toolbars. In this exercise you will create a new toolbar consisting of some additional warehouse functionality. Open a new GeoWorkspace. You will not need warehouse connections for this exercise.

GeoMedia application window toolbar area.

Menu customization is the third approach for improving efficiency in your workflows. Customizing menus falls into two broad categories: internal modification of individual menus, and menu maintenance at the level of the Main Menu bar. Menu customization, like toolbar customization, allows you to add entries to existing menus, create new menus, and reset menus to their original settings. Unlike toolbar customization, you can rename menus, reformat menus, remove items you rarely use from menus, and delete menus. You cannot, however, create, modify, or remove pull-right menus such as View > Zoom > In.

There are three issues you should take special note of when working in the Menus portion of the Customize dialog. First, it is important that you are making changes relevant to the Window type selected. For example, this dialog will not prevent you from adding Data window commands to a menu designated as a Map window menu. However, GeoMedia will enforce context, and the items on your new menu will remain unavailable. This is something to check when your menus do not behave as expected.

The second thing to be aware of is that various types of changes are applied at different times. Some actions, such as Reset All, occur immediately, whereas others are not implemented until you exit the dialog. If you do not see your changes, close the dialog and check for them again.

It is highly unlikely that you can cause any irreversible damage to GeoMedia with this dialog. Changes you make here affect the content and appearance of your menus, but they do not make permanent changes to the GeoMedia command set. You can always back out and return to the original set of menus delivered with the software. The only downside to this is that when you reset the menus you lose all custom menus for a given window type.

Separate functionality for the creation of menus for custom commands is provided in the Programming Utilities Customization wizard. For example, you can create a totally new GeoMedia command using Visual Basic and install the command with the Programming wizard. You then add that command to the Main Menu bar or one of the existing menu drop-down listings with the Customize > Menu dialog. Information regarding the wizard can be found in Programming Utilities in the online Help.

Menus are stored in the system registry in \HKEY_CUR-RENT_USER\Software\Intergraph\GeoMedia(or GeoMedia Professional)\04.00\Menus. There are subdirectories under \Menus for both map and data window menus. Placing your menus in the registry makes them available to all of your GeoWorkspaces. In a multi-user environment such as Windows NT, the menu changes you make have no affect on the other GeoMedia users who may use the same computer.

Customizing Menus

Take another look at the types of changes you can make to menus. First, look at adding a command to a menu. Customization takes place on the Menus tab of the Tools > Customize dialog. From the drop-down list for "Window type," you have the choice of Map, Data, or None. None refers to the startup menu bar you have access to before you open a workspace, which by default contains only the File and the Help menus.

Notice that at the head of the command listing for each category is the Separator entry. Like any command in the list, this item can be selected for addition to a menu. It formats the menu with a divider bar at the location specified in the "Position on menu" field. In the "Change what menu" drop-down, you specify the menu to which the command will be added.

The "Position on menu" drop-down allows you to specify where on the menu the command is to appear. Your choices here are Auto (which places the command at the end of the menu), Top (which places the command at the top of the menu), and Bottom (which places the entry at the bottom of the menu). The items that follow represent the current format of the menu. If you wish to place the command at any other location, select an existing menu entry. Your command will be positioned below that item. The Add button will change to Add Below when you insert an item into the body of a menu.

The default command name will appear in the "Name on menu" field. You can accept the default or type in a new name. You can also specify which character in the name is to be the mnemonic for the command by placing an ampersand (&) in front of that character. The letter you select as a mnemonic is the one that appears underlined on the menu. It is the one that activates the command from the keyboard with the Alt key/letter keystroke. When you have completed the dialog, click on Add or Add Below.

To remove an item from a menu, simply select the menu to be modified in the "Position on menu" field. From the "Name on menu" drop-down, select the entry you want to delete and click on the Remove button. Removing a menu entry does not delete the command from GeoMedia. Menus can be restored to their original configuration at any time with the Reset All button. However, Reset All only restores the delivered menus for the window type you have selected. To revert back to the factory settings, you must Reset All for each of the three window types. In the following workflow exercise, you will customize menus.

The Customize dialog is used to modify the content of existing menus and to create new menus. In this exercise you will add the Edit Warehouse Connection command to the Tools menu and format the menu. Open a new GeoWorkspace. You will not need warehouse connections for this exercise.

The Menu Bar button on the Menus tab takes you to a dialog designed for customizing the Main Menu bar. From this dialog you can add new menus, rename existing menus, or remove menus. As always, make sure you have the appropriate window type selected before proceeding to this dialog.

The Menu Bar dialog consists of only two sections. The operations available to you are a function of what is in them. When you initiate this dialog, it opens with "Last" highlighted, and only the Cancel key active. To remove a menu from the Menu bar, select it from the list. When a menu name is selected, the Remove button becomes available. As with removing an entry from a menu, the menu is not permanently deleted from GeoMedia. It can be restored to the Main Menu bar with the Reset All command.

Typing a name in the "Name on menu bar" field activates the Add button. The rules for adding a menu are the same as those for adding an entry to an existing menu. Selecting a position for the new menu on the Main Menu bar works the same way as positioning an item within a menu. You can specify that it appear First (leftmost), Last (rightmost), or that it follow another menu item. Specifying a mnemonic character is the same for menu names as it is for menu entries. Clicking Add or Add Below creates an empty menu. You return to the Menus tab to add commands (as previously outlined) to the new menu, which will appear in the "Change what menu" drop-down.

To change the name of an existing menu, type the new name in the "Name on menu bar" field, select the menu you wish to rename from the "Position on menu bar" list, and click on Rename. As with the changes previously discussed, original menu names can be restored with the Reset All command for the appropriate window type. In the workflow exercise that follows, you will create a new menu.

In this exercise you will create a new menu for your workspace commands and add commands to it. Open a new GeoWorkspace. You will not need warehouse connections for this exercise.