Division of windows
The Fig. 1 shows that the graphical interface of x-model is divided into three windows:
- Data Tree where the model parameters and their values are displayed in a form of a tree with expandable and collapsible branches,
- Data Edit where users will change the value of the currently selected model parameter in the Data Tree window, and
- Output where model simulation results are displayed.
The windows of Data Tree and Data Edit are dockable. To dock a window, click (and hold) on the caption bar, and drag the entire window to one side or corner of the screen. These windows can be undocked by double clicking on the caption bar, or by clicking on the caption bar and dragging the window away from its docking position to somewhere in the middle of the screen.
Fig. 1. x-model three main windows
Data Tree and Data Edit windows can be toggled between view-and-hide modes via the View menu. Clicking on the Hide button (marked as ‘x’) at the top right-hand corner of a window will also hide the window. Note that hiding the Data Tree window will hide the Data Edit window automatically because Data Edit is to change the value of the currently selected model parameter in the Data Tree. If the Data Tree window is not visible this will hide the currently selected model parameter as well; thus, the option to change its value in Data Edit becomes redundant.
Each of the three main windows (Data Tree, Data Edit and Output) has its own unique short-cut menu that can be accessed by right-clicking anywhere on the respective window. Though the commands on these short-cut menus are also available on the main menu bar, these short-cut menus serve mainly for quicker access for the more common menu commands.
The Run menu is available on the main menu bar, and it lists all the commands of desired model simulations. For quicker access, all these commands are also listed on the Run Bar dialog bar (Fig. 2). To select a Run command, click on the downward arrow on the scrollbar, that will expand the list, and select the desired command. Once selected, the Run command is immediately executed. The currently selected Run command remains visible on the Run Bar, and clicking on the Execute button next to it will execute the currently selected (visible) Run command. The Execute button simplifies the access of a Run command especially if the same command is executed repeatedly.
Fig. 2. Run Bar dialog bar