A Quick Walk through the Ribbon
Contents
The FCS Express 7 interface utilizes the Ribbon system, similar in design to the familiar Microsoft Office suite of programs. The Ribbon helps you quickly find commands that you need to complete a task. The commands are organized into functional groups collected under Tabs. For example, there is a Gating tab, a Batch & Export tab, an Insert tab, etc. The Ribbon (Figure 3.4) is at the top of the page.
Above the Ribbon bar, on the left side, you can find the Quick Access Toolbar which is a place to put frequently used functions. The Quick Access Toolbar is customizable.
The Ribbon bar is organized in multiple Tabs. Each Tab contains command buttons organized into logical groups. Some groups contain a Dialog Box Launcher Button with multiple formatting options. The Ribbon bar is fully customizable.
Figure 3.4 The Ribbon
On the lower-right portion of the ribbon you can find the ribbon display options (Figure 3.5):
•Auto-hide Ribbon will hide the ribbon in a single band until the top band is clicked on to display the ribbon.
•Show Tabs will only display tabs until a tab is clicked on, then commands for each tab will be present.
•Show Tabs and Commands will show all tabs and all commands at all times.
•Search box will search within the buttons in the ribbon and show available options that match your search term. The options returned are selectable directly from the search box.
Figure 3.5 Ribbon Display Options
At the very bottom left of the application window is the Layout Navigation Toolbar (Figure 3.6) used for navigating through the layout. Beneath the Layout Navigation Toolbar is the Zoom Toolbar. To the right of the Zoom Toolbar is a Status Bar showing the active panel, described in Working with Panels.
Figure 3.6 Layout Navigation Toolbar with Zoom Toolbar and Status Bar
Tabs and commands in the ribbon bar will be enabled or disabled based upon the current status of the layout. For instance, if no items are selected, the Cut, Copy, and Duplicate commands in the Clipboard group of the Home Tab will be disabled. Similarly, Multicycle and Spreadsheet tabs are only available when a Multicycle plot or spreadsheet has been inserted, respectively.