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NMPlot User's Guide A Brief Tour of NMPlot
NMPlot User's Guide, Chapter 3: A Brief Tour of NMPlotThe following screen capture shows NMPlot's main window as it would appear after opening two files: the plot Sample Plot - Contours.nmp and the grid Sample Grid - Airport Noise.grd. The main components of NMPlot are labeled.
NMPlot'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 NMPlot. Double-clicking on the program icon closes NMPlot. Double-clicking on the title bar toggles the window between its maximized and normal sizes.
The menu bar displays the headings for each of NMPlot'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 NMPlot'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.
The toolbar displays buttons that provide quick access to frequently used commands in NMPlot. 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 brief description of the button.
The status bar, located to the right of the toolbar, displays information that varies, depending on the action you are currently performing.
If you are viewing a plot, the status bar displays the location of the mouse, and the grid data level at that point. You can change the coordinate system used to display the mouse location: see Mouse Location Display Coordinates.
If you are using the Measurement tool, the status bar displays the distance and heading between two points on a plot. You can set the units used to display the measured distance: see Physical Units.
If NMPlot 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.
The north indicator shows the direction of north on a plot.
To display the exact direction of north, briefly hold the mouse cursor over the north indicator. A tooltip window will appear, displaying the direction of north in degrees.
When NMPlot is busy performing a lengthy operation, the north indicator is replaced with an animated image of a stopwatch.
The workspace occupies the entire NMPlot application window below the toolbar. When you open a file, a new document window appears in the workspace. Any number of document windows can be open simultaneously.
A document window can be moved and resized in the workspace. Alternatively, it can be maximized so that it fills the entire workspace.
Use the Window menu to manage document windows.
The title bar of a document window is similar to the title bar of an application. It displays the document icon, the document file name, and buttons to maximize and close the window.
At any given time, one document window is active. The active window will appear in front of other document windows, and the text on its title bar will be darker. The active document is the focus of your actions: all mouse, keyboard, toolbar, and menu activity is directed to it. In order to work with a document, you must first activate it.
To active a document window, you can:
Click on the document window title bar.
Choose from the list of open documents at the bottom of the Window menu.
Repeatedly choose Next View or Previous View from the Window menu until the desired window becomes active.
Repeatedly press F6 or Shift + F6 until the desired window becomes active.
To maximize a document window, you can:
Press the maximize button 
on the document title bar.
Double-click on the document title bar.
Choose Maximize from the Window menu.
To restore a maximized document window, you can:
Press the restore button 
on the document title bar.
Double-click on the document title bar.
Choose Restore from the Window menu.
To close a document window, you can:
Press the close button 
on the document title bar.
Choose Close from the File menu.
When you create a new plot, or open an existing one, NMPlot displays it in a plot document window. See Introduction to Plots for an overview of the plot window.
When a plot document is active, you can:
Zoom, pan, measure, and display properties of the plot. See Working With Plots.
Modify the plot's options, which control how the plot appears. See Contour Plots, Color Gradient Plots, Displaying Grid Data Points, and Displaying Geographic Annotations.
Modify the plot's background, displaying the plot over background maps and plots of other grids. See Changing the Plot Background and Background Map Formats.
Print the plot. See Printing Plots.
Export the plot to a Geographic Information System (GIS). See Exporting Plots to a Geographic Information System.
Export the plot as a bitmap image. See Exporting Plots as Bitmap Images.
When you open a grid file, NMPlot displays it in a grid document window. This window shows you the contents of the grid file, as described in Viewing Grids. Additional background information about grids can be found in Introduction to Grids.
When a grid document is active, the commands in the Grid menu are available, allowing you to work with the grid. These commands are covered in Working With Grids.
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