BaseOps User's Guide, Chapter 3: A Brief Tour of BaseOps

The following screen capture shows BaseOps' main window. The most important components are labeled.

Application Title Bar

BaseOps's application title bar displays the program icon, the program name and version, and buttons to minimize, maximize, and close the application.

Clicking on the program icon displays the Control menu, which contains commands for positioning, resizing, minimizing, maximizing, and closing BaseOps. Double-clicking on the program icon closes BaseOps. Double-clicking on the title bar toggles the window between its maximized and normal sizes.

Menu Bar

The menu bar displays the headings for each of BaseOps's menus.

To display a menu, either click on its heading with the mouse, or press the Alt key plus the underlined letter in the heading of the menu. For example, to display the Help menu, press Alt + H. Note that on some versions of Microsoft Windows, the underline segments will be hidden until you press the Alt key.

To choose an item on a menu, either: click on the item; press the key corresponding to an underlined letter in the item's text; or select the item using the up and down arrow keys, and then press the Enter key.

The result of choosing a menu item depends on the item's type.

• Choosing a menu item that ends with a small triangle will cause a secondary menu to appear.

• Choosing a menu item that ends with three dots ... displays a dialog box. All dialog boxes have a Cancel button. Therefore, if you are browsing BaseOps's user interface, it is always safe to click on a menu item ending in three dots. You can inspect the dialog box and then cancel it.

• Choosing any other menu item will cause an action to immediately occur.

Menu items that do not currently apply will appear in gray.

Toolbar

The toolbar displays buttons that provide quick access to frequently used commands in BaseOps. To activate a command, press its toolbar button. If a command is unavailable, its toolbar button will be gray.

The toolbar contains the following buttons:

If you forget the purpose of a toolbar button, briefly hold the mouse cursor over it. A tooltip window will appear, displaying a short description of the button.

Status Bar

The status bar, located below the toolbar, displays information that varies, depending on the action you are currently performing.

• If the mouse is over a map, the status bar displays the mouse's location. You can change the coordinate system used to display the location: see Setting the Case Coordinate System.

  

• If you are using the Measurement tool, the status bar displays the distance and heading between two points on a map. You can set the units used to display the measured distance: see Setting the Case's Physical Units.

  

• If BaseOps is busy performing a lengthy operation, the status bar displays a message describing the operation. If possible, it also displays a progress bar showing the percentage of the operation completed.

  

North Arrow

The north arrow shows the direction of north on a map. True north and magnetic north are indicated by double- and single-prong arrows, respectively.

When BaseOps is busy performing a lengthy operation, the north arrow is replaced with an animated image of a stopwatch.

List Pane

The list pane displays all of the objects (runways, flight tracks, flight profiles, etc.) that comprise a BaseOps case. From the list pane, you can add, duplicate, and delete objects, set the sorting order in which objects are displayed, and select the object to display in the text and map panes. See Working with the List Pane for more information.

Text Pane

The text pane displays a text-based form that lets you edit the properties of the object currently selected in the list pane. For example, if a flight profile is currently selected, the text pane will contain a form that lets you set the profile's name, flight track, aircraft, etc.

Map Pane

The map pane displays a graphical representation of the object currently selected in the list pane. For example, if a flight track is currently selected, the text pane displays a map showing the straight and curved segments that make up the track. See Working with the Map Pane for more information.

Working with Panes

The relative sizes of the list, text, and map panes can be changed. Using the mouse, grab and drag the separators between the panes.

You can temporarily hide any combination of the three panes. This increases the size of the other panes, giving you more room to work.

To hide or unhide the list pane, you can:

• Press the Show Or Hide List Pane button on the toolbar

• Press Ctrl + L

To hide or unhide the text pane, you can:

• Press the Show Or Hide Text Pane button on the toolbar

• Press Ctrl + T

To hide or unhide the map pane, you can:

• Press the Show Or Hide Map Pane button on the toolbar

• Press Ctrl + M