Project Pane

The View - Panes - Project pane lists all components in the project.   This is our primary interface to see what is in the project.  Like all Manifold panes the Project pane can be docked or undocked by Alt-clicking the title bar.  An undocked project pane can be resized and moved anywhere on our Windows desktop.  See the User Interface Basics topic.

 

The Project pane is visible by default.   It may be hidden and then brought back into view from the main menu by using View - Panes - Project.

 

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The toolbar at the top provides the usual Windows Cut, Copy, Paste and Delete commands.  In addition a pattern match box allows us to enter text by which to filter the contents of the pane so we can more easily find components when projects are very large.    

 

i_project_pane01_01.png

 

A Filter button to the right specifies what types of components are displayed and how they are sorted for display, by Name or by Type.   By default the Project pane displays components sorted alphabetically by their name.

 

The Project pane shows the type of component by using distinctive icons for different types of components, as illustrated below.

 

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We can create a new component by right-clicking into white space in the Project pane and choosing the component desired from the resulting context menu.   We can also launch the creation menu from the main menu by choosing File - Create.

 

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Copy and Paste

The Project pane uses classic Windows moves to manipulate components.   For example, we can click on a component to highlight it and then press the Copy icon to copy it.  Pressing the Paste icon then pastes a copy of the component into the Project pane.   If we have two Manifold sessions open Copy and Paste work between them.

 

The usual Windows moves work as expected:  Ctrl-click to toggle whether a component has been highlighted, so by Ctrl-clicking on several different components we can highlight them each.   Ctrl-click to highlight a component and then a Shift-click on another component will highlight all components in between.

 

Cut and Moving Components

We can move components, for example, into a folder, by using Cut and then Pasting the components into the folder, or we can use drag and drop.

 

i_project_pane01_04.png

 

For example, if we want to move several components we can click on the first one to highlight it and then Shift-click on the last and all the components in between will be highlighted as well.

 

i_project_pane01_05.png

 

We can then drag and drop the highlighted components into a folder.

 

i_project_pane01_06.png

 

Using folders is a great way to keep a large project organized.   We can click on the + icon box by a folder to open it and to see what is inside.

 

i_project_pane01_07.png

 

Renaming Components

To rename a component we slowly double-click it to open it for editing.

 

 

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We can then change the name as desired.

 

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Press Enter to accept the edits.  Press Esc to abandon the edits.

 

i_project_pane01_10.png

 

 

Using the Filter Button

The Filter button specifies what type of components are displayed and the sort order used.

 

i_project_pane01_11.png

 

 

By default all types of components are displayed.

 

i_project_pane01_12.png

 

If we use the Filter button to choose Tables then only tables will be displayed.

 

i_project_pane01_13.png

 

If we use the Filter button to choose Images then only images will be displayed.

 

i_project_pane01_14.png

 

Changing the setting of the Filter button will not open up folders.   It simply changes the display of whatever folders are already open.   

 

i_project_pane01_15.png

 

Using the Pattern Match Box

When any text is entered into the pattern match box only those components which contain the text will be displayed.  Case is not significant.

 

eg_project_pane01_01.png

 

We start with a project containing tables and queries.    The moment we enter a c character in the box only those components which contain a c character anywhere in their name will be displayed.

 

eg_project_pane01_02.png

 

As we continue by adding an a character only those components which contain the two-character sequence ca anywhere in their names will be displayed.

 

eg_project_pane01_03.png

 

All that matters is that the sequence exists in the name of the component and not whether it is in the beginning, middle or end of the name.   For example, entering the two-character sequence og will cause only the component named Catalog to appear.

 

eg_project_pane01_04.png

 

See Also

Getting Started

 

User Interface Basics

 

View - Panes - Info

 

Example: Project Pane Tutorial - In this example we take an extended tour of the Project pane, engaging in a variety of simple but typical moves that are illustrated step by step.