5.3 The View Menu

The View menu is shown in Figure 1-3. It is subdivided into three sections. The first section of the View menu allows you to select one of the four working modes: Draw, Graph, Field, and Comment. A check mark appears in front of the selected item. At the same time, the corresponding menu becomes en-abled in the main menu bar.
Figure 1-3: The View Menu.
Draw The Draw menu allows you to draw and edit the structure to be modeled. The TLM grid is displayed when Draw is active.
Graph The Graph menu allows you to graph and visualize all input and output functions of the Simulator. These are source waveforms, time and frequency domain responses of the probes, and Scattering parameters. It also allows setting the attributes of the graph display and of the ports.
Field The Field menu allows displaying and visualizing all electromagnetic field components and the dissipated power distribution in all or part of the structure. Both 2D and 3D visualization is available. Display attributes can be set for both types of display.
Comment  This item opens a comment box that accepts plain text; it will be stored in the tlm file, together with all the other data. Copying, cutting and pasting of text are possible by means of the Ctrl+C, Ctrl+X and Ctrl+V keystrokes, respectively.

Tip: 
Clicking the right mouse button brings up a menu that contains the three first items Draw, Graph and Field. Using this menu may be faster.

The second section of the View menu allows you to inspect and edit the parameters of three types of elements: Varactor Diode, Active Diode, and Variable Link. A check mark appears in front of the active item. Only one type can be implemented in a given structure, but several elements of the same type having identical parameters may be used.

Varactor Diode This item is enabled if a varactor model has been created previously under the Draw menu. Click on Varactor Diode to bring up a dialog box displaying the parameters set during that implementation. You may edit the values in each field and enter the new parameters by clicking OK or hit the <Enter> key.
Active Diode This item is enabled if an active diode model (such as a Gunn or Tunnel diode) has been created previously under the Draw menu. Click on Active Diode to bring up a dialog box displaying the parameters set during that implementation. You may edit the values in each field and enter the new parameters by clicking OK or hit the <Enter> key.
Variable Link This item is enabled if a variable link (a model for implementing and programming a moving electric wall) has been created previously under the Draw menu. Click on Variable Link to bring up a dialog box displaying the parameters set during that implementation. You may edit the values in each field and enter the new parameters by clicking OK or hit the <Enter> key.

Note: 
When the Draw option is active, the right mouse button menu contains the items Varactor Diode, Active Diode and Variable Link as well. However, these are used for drawing rather than viewing or editing such elements and duplicate the items with the same name in the Draw menu (see below). 

The third section of the View menu allows you to show or hide the Toolbar, Status Bar, Simulation Bar, and Coordinate Area.

Toolbar The Toolbar duplicates some frequently used items of the File menu. These are standard items familiar to users of Windows applications. Moving the cursor over the buttons on the toolbar displays a comment for each item in the Status Bar.
Status Bar The Status Bar is a narrow field at the bottom of the MEFiSTo-2D window. It displays a comment for each menu item when the cursor is pointing to it. It also displays a variety of useful simulation data.
Simulation Bar The Simulation Bar duplicates six items of the Simulation Control menu and two items of the Right Mouse Button menu in the 2D Field display mode. Their functions are:
Start or continue simulation forward in time.
Go one step forward in time.
Start or continue simulation backward in time.
Go one step backward in time.
Stop simulation.
Resets the simulator to t=0 and clears all simulation results.
Toggle 2D field envelope display option.
Reset signal envelope to zero
Note Simulation forward in time is enabled only if you have drawn at least one of the following elements:
 
  • A Source Point or a Source Region
  • A Probe or an Animation Region
  • A Boundary
  • A Computation Region.
  Simulation backward in time is enabled if and only if the mesh does not contain:
  • Johns Matrix boundaries
  • Nonlinear subregions (Diodes) or a Variable Link.
  • Probes.

A detailed description of these functions is given in Section 5.9.
Coordinate Area   This rectangular window at the top of the screen displays the z- and x-coordinates of the cursor position. In the Draw mode, the position of the cursor is displayed continuously, showing the coordinates in cell units. In the Graph mode, click the left mouse button to display the coordinates of the cursor position in units of the graph axes. In the Field mode the coordinate area is disabled.