Environment
MathViews is developed to work in the Windows environment. This allows you
to take full advantage of other excellent Windows utilities, like the Clipboard,
PaintBrush, Word, and other third party applications. To take full advantage of
MathViews, you should familiarize yourself with Windows.
MathViews is a computing environment specifically designed for matrix
computations. It provides many unique and convenient features that make it
particularly well suited to scientists and engineers doing demanding circuit
designs, filter designs, signal processing, numerical analysis, and many other
fields. MathViews is easy to learn and master.
You interact with MathViews through several windows: Program, Interactive,
Output, Variables, Break-points, Functions stack and Graphics. These windows
allow you to enter commands and programs, and to view text and graphical output
of your data.
The Program window is where you load, edit, program, and run
MathViews script files. Script files in MathViews are called M-files. The
Program window is a simple editor that is easily permits you to update changes
in an M-file and to immediately execute the new statements. It is not necessary
to close the file and execute the M-file command afterwards, as in the MatlabTM
language. Text can be cut and pasted into the Program window.
The Interactive window allows you to immediately enter and execute
commands. The interactive window is you interface to the MathViews interpreter.
The Interactive window can be used as a testing ground for statements to be
inserted in the M-file contained in the Program window. This versatility
permits you to test statements as you compose application-specific M-files.
Text can be cut and pasted into the Interactive window.
The Output window is where all the text output goes. The Output
window keeps a 64 line buffer. You can scroll the output window to review
previous results.
The Stack window displays the current program call stack. This
display gets updated dynamically as your program executes. The stack window
shows the following information: Function name, Line at which call was made,
whether Trace was enabled, and the name of the file containing the function.
The Breakpoints window displays a list of the currently active
breakpoints. The list includes the name of the M-file and the line number
within the file containing the breakpoint. The breakpoint can be reset by
selecting an entry with the left mouse button. This brings up a dialog box
asking you whether or not to clear the breakpoint.
The Variables window shows the list of variables visible in the
scope of the currently executing function. In order not to decrease
performance, the variables window is updated only when it is selected. A
variable's value can be examined by selecting it from the list in the left-hand
side of the window. The data is displayed in the right-hand side of the window.
The data can be scrolled using the vertical and horizontal scroll bars.
The Graphics window is independent of the other MathViews windows,
and can therefore reside anywhere on the screen. Graphics windows are used to
display graphical outputs or your data using MathViews' extensive set of
functions for generating x-y plots, contour, and three-dimensional plots.
MathViews allows you to generate multiple graphics windows, one for each piece
of data you wish to plot. MathViews also has commands to let you overlay
multiple data sets on the same graphics window. This allows you to easily
examine you data. Any area of a Graphics window image can be zoomed in and out
by simply selecting the area with the mouse. To select an area, press on the
left mouse button and hold it down while you highlight the desired area. To
return to the original scale of the image just click on the right mouse button.
Each Graphics-window image can be scrolled both vertically and horizontally. The
windows can be scrolled in either original-scale or zoomed mode. Graphics images
in a Graphics window can be printed by choosing the print option in the Control
menu of the Graphics window.
Note:
In each of the windows described above, when the window is in focus,
i.e. when the caption bar is highlighted, text or graphics can be copied to or
pasted from the Windows clipboard. However, in a Graphics window, the user is
only permitted to copy the current graphics image to the clipboard or print the
image onto a plotter or graphics printer (in the current version).
The main MathViews window has a top-level menu bar that provides a list of
choices for which actions to take. The top level menu options are: File, Edit,
Program, Options, and Help. In addition, MathViews supports the Windows
standard Control menu. The control menu is accessed by clicking on the button
in the upper left corner of the MathViews window.
The file menu contains the following menu items: New, Open, Save, Save as,
Open Library, Save Library as, and Exit.
- New
- Creates a new M-file editing session in the Program window. Issuing the
new command will close the current file, before beginning a new editing session.
- Open
- Opens an ASCII text M-file for editing. A dialog box will prompt you to
insert the filename to be opened. Selecting a file can be accomplished in one
of two ways. The first way is to simply type in the file name. The second way
is to click on its name in the list of files provided in the dialog box. You can
also open other directories for search by double-clicking on the drive letter or
the path specifier in the dialog box. When the dialog box comes up, only files
with the '.m' extension are displayed. To see other files, type in the
appropriate extension.
- Save
- Saves the current editing session in the Program window onto disk.
MathViews saves the data into the file if the filename to be saved to already
exists. If the file has not previously been saved, a dialog box will be
displayed to prompt you for a filename.
- Save As...
-
Saves the current editing session in the Program window onto disk. A dialog box
will prompt you for the filename to be saved to. You can specify any new
filename or an entirely new path. The '.m' extension must be explicitly
entered.
- Open Library
- Opens a Library file. A dialog box will prompt you to insert the library
filename to be opened. Library files are files with the '.l' extension.
Selecting a file can be accomplished by either typing in the filename or
clicking on its name in the list of files provided in the dialog box. You can
also open other directories for search. When the dialog box comes up, only
files with the '.l' extension are displayed. To see other files, type in the
appropriate extension.
- Save Library as...
- Save the current editing session in the Program window onto disk as a
library file. A dialog box will prompt the user for the filename to be saved to.
The user can specify any new filename or an entirely new path. The '.l'
extension must be explicitly entered.
- Exit
- Exits the current session of MathViews, and returns to Windows. If the
current editing session Program window has not been saved, a dialog box will ask
you to either save changes and exit (YES option) or abandon changes and exit (NO
option).
The Edit menu contains the following menu items: Clear, Select All, Cut,
Copy, Paste, Delete, and Goto Line.
- Clear
- Clears the currently selected (highlighted) area.
- Select All
- Selects all the text in the currently active MathViews window.
Cut (Shift+Del) Cuts the currently selected (highlighted) area onto the
Windows clipboard, removing the selected area in the currently active window.
You can cut a selected area from either the program window or the interactive
window. Those are the only two windows from which items can be cut. To select
an area, place the cursor to the desired beginning location, click the left
mouse button, drag to the desired end location, and release the mouse button.
To unselect text, click on the mouse button again.
- Copy (Ctrl+C)
- Copies the currently selected area into the Windows clipboard, without
removing the selected area in the currently active window. The copy option can
be used in all MathViews text-based windows: Program, Interactive, Output. In
the Graphics windows, the copy command is issued through the control menu on the
Graphics window.
- Paste (Ctrl+V)
- Pastes the content of Windows clipboard onto the currently active window.
MathViews does not allow pasting into either the Output window or the Graphics
windows. Pasting ASCII text is permitted in either the Program window or the
Interactive window.
- Delete (Del)
- Deletes the character to the right of the current cursor position or
deletes the selected area. Deletions can only be made from the Program window or
the Interactive window. To delete the character to the left of the cursor, use
the backspace key.
- Goto line
- Lets you immediately go to a specified line in the currently active window.
The Program menu contains the following menu items: Run, Reset, Abort, and
Compile. These items only affect the Program window.
- Run (F2)
- Runs the current M-file in the Program window. If a highlighted area
exists, choosing the run option will execute the statements in the highlighted
area instead.
- Reset (F10)
- Resets the starting position for execution to the beginning of the M-file
in the Program window.
- Abort (F6)
- Stops the session currently running in the Program window. A continue or
run command restarts the session.
- Compile
- Compiles the current editing session into MathViews memory. The current
editing session in the Program window must be a file with the '.M' extension.
Otherwise, MathViews will not compile the file. After the compilation, the old
M-file function in memory will be replaced by the most recently compiled M-file.
The Program menu contains the following menu items: Animate, Step Over,
Trace Into, Break, Continue, Set Breakpoint, Reset Breakpoint and Breakpoint
Enabled. These items only affect the Program window and Breakpoint window.
- Animate (F3)
- Automatically single step through the current program or highlighted
portion thereof. The sequence will animate, pausing between execution of
statements. The animation sequence operates as if you were stepping through the
program.
- Step Over (F8)
- Executes one statement. By continuously typing in 'F8', you can step
through the M-file in the Program window. If a selected area exists, then only
the statements in the selected area will be executed.
- Trace into (F7)
- Single-step into the specified function. Note, you can only trace into
functions which are defined in M-files. MathViews will automatically display the
code from the M-file which describes the function. You can single step through
the M-file by entering 'Ctrl+s'.
- Break (F5)
- Halt execution of a program run session.
- Continue (F9)
- Resumes execution of a stopped run session. The continue option lets you
resume execution of the M-file, or the selected part of it, after a stop command
was issued or an error occurred.
- Set Breakpoint (Ctrl+B)
- Set a breakpoint on the program line containing the cursor. The program
will halt execution when this program line is reached.
- Reset Breakpoint (Ctrl+N)
- Clear a breakpoint which was set on the program line containing the cursor.
- Breakpoint Enabled (Ctrl+E)
- This selection globally enables or disables the use of breakpoints. If
enabled, then program execution halts when a breakpoint is reached. If
disabled, all breakpoints set in the program will be ignored.
The Options menu contains the following items: Path, Format, Load Setup and
Save Setup.
- Path...
- Changes the search path of MathViews. The search path is used in MathViews
to search for M-files, libraries, .mat and .dry files. A dialog box will show
the current search path, and prompts you to enter a new search path. You can
either choose CANCEL to exit without making any changes to the current search
path, or you can type in a new search path and click OK.
- Format...
- Selects floating-point output format. Instead of specifying the
floating-point numbers output format through the format command in the
interactive window, this option permits you to interactively select an output
format using the mouse.
- Load Setup
- This selection loads the current setup configuration information from the
mathview.cfg file. Configuration information includes the window
layout, active windows, and the breakpoint list.
- Save Setup
- This selection saves the current setup configuration information to the
mathview.cfg file.
The Window menu contains the following items: Cascade, Tile, Arrange,
Program, Immediate, Output, Stack, Breakpoints and Variables.
- Cascade
- Cascades the active MathViews windows.
- Tile
- Tiles the active MathViews windows.
- Arrange
- Manually arranges the location of windows.
- Program
- Activate the Program window. Opens the window if it is closed or brings it
to the top if it was already open.
- Immediate
-
Activate the Immediate window. Opens the window if it is closed or brings it to
the top if it was already open.
- Output
- Activate the Output window. Opens the window if it is closed or brings it
to the top if it was already open.
- Stack
- Activate the Stack window. Opens the window if it is closed or brings it
to the top if it was already open.
- Breakpoints
- Activate the Breakpoints window. Opens the window if it is closed or
brings it to the top if it was already open.
- Variables
- Activate the Variables window. Opens the window if it is closed or brings
it to the top if it was already open.
The Help menu contains the following menu items: Help, About ..., and
Memory.
- Help
-
Display a help window. The help window lets you view help information contained
in M-files.
- About...
- This selection displays version and copyright information for MathViews.
- Memory
- Displays the current memory usage of MathViews.
The control menu is a standard Windows feature. It contains the following
menu items: Restore, Move, Size, Minimize, Maximize, Close, Switch to This is a
brief discussion of its use with MathViews.
- Restore
- Returns the window to the default size and position.
- Move
- Changes the position of the application window on the screen. An easy way
to accomplish the same action is to click on the title bar and drag the window
to the desired location.
- Size
- Resizes the window. An easy way to accomplish the save action is to move to
the lower right corner of the window, until the mouse cursor becomes a
bi-directional arrow; then click on the mouse and drag until the desired size is
reached.
- Minimize
- Reduces the window into an icon.
- Maximize
- Enlarges the window to its maximum size.
- Close
- Closes the window of the current application. In order words, quit the
application.
- Switch to...
- Switches between the applications currently running under Windows.
- Maximize/Minimize Button
- Functions in exactly the same manner as the Maximize/Minimize item in the
control menu.