Working with the Wire Sheet view

The Wire Sheet view has the following unique controls and features.

Zoom controls

Zoom controls appear on the Workbench toolbar when the Wire Sheet view is active. Click the Zoom In, Zoom Out, and Zoom Reset buttons, as needed to adjust the size of objects in the view.

Figure 59. Zoom controls in the Wire Sheet view
Wire Sheet maximum size limits

Starting in NiagaraAX-3.6, you can limit the size of the wire sheet by setting size of the wire sheet in the Options dialog box. From the workbench main menu, select ToolsOptions to open the dialog box. Then select the Wire Sheet option and enter a desired maximum value in the Max Width and Max Height fields, as shown, below. Click the OK button to complete the setting change. If you decrease the maximum wire sheet size, objects are repositioned to stay within the view, after the size change.
You may need to refresh the wire sheet view to see the changes in wire sheet size and object repositioning. Also, the wire sheet borders may not be visible until you zoom out in the wire sheet view.

Figure 60. Setting maximum wire sheet size
Object linking

Following are methods for performing object linking.
- Drag wire
  
  Move the mouse over the In or Out node of a wire sheet object (glyph) until the area is highlighted and the mouse pointer changes to a white arrow. Click and drag from the point of origin to the desired In or Out node of the target object and release the mouse button to complete the link. See Figure 61.
  
  Figure 61. Basic object linking
  
  Dragging a “wire” to a vacant slot on a wire sheet object causes the Link dialog box to open, as shown below.
  
  Figure 62. Link dialog box
  
  Select the desired slots in the Link dialog box and click the OK button to create the link.
  - You cannot select invalid (dimmed) slots in the dialog box.
  - Slot selection is indicated by a red rectangle surrounding the selection.
  - Object names are listed at the top of their respective columns to identify them and to indicate which object is the “Source” and “Target” object.
  - A summary of the currently selected slots displays above the OK and Cancel buttons.
- Multi-linking (continuous link state)
  
  You can maintain a continuous “link state” as you drag connection wires to link to multiple target objects from a single source object. This allows you to link from a single source to as many targets as you want without having to click on the source object to re-initiate each link. To do this, hold down the Shift key any time you release the mouse button. If the mouse pointer is over a valid object node, a link is established or the Link dialog box opens to complete the link. This continued link state is indicated by the target end of the wire “sticking” to and moving with the mouse pointer. Release the Shift key and click anywhere or touch any key to deactivate the link state.
- Link Mark
  
  Link Mark is a feature that allows you to perform “one to many”, “many to one”, or “many to many” linking in a single operation. Use the following three menu item commands to create many links in at the same time.
  - Link Mark
    
    Select the Link Mark command to define one or more selected objects as a link source or link target. This command specifies that the selected objects are to be one side of the link operation. The names of the “marked” objects display as part of the Link Mark or Link From command in the popup menu.
    
    Figure 63. Using Link Mark
  - Link From
    
    Select the Link From command to define one or more selected objects as a link source or link target. This command opens the Link dialog box with the “marked” object as the source object. You can still change source and target roles in the dialog box using the Reverse button .
  - Link To
    
    Select the Link To command to define one or more selected objects as a link source or link target. This command opens the Link dialog box with the “marked” object as the target object. You can still change source and target roles in the dialog box using the Reverse button .
  Figure 64. Multiple links with Link Mark
Link Highlighting (NiagaraAX-3.6)

Starting in NiagaraAX-3.6, a link highlighting option (enabled by default) is available on the wire sheet. Link highlighting makes it easier to distinguish links on a crowded wire sheet. Link highlighting is comprised of the following features:

Figure 65. Link highlighting on the wire sheet
- Colored link highlights
  
  When you select a component on the wire sheet, all links associated with the selected object display with a colored outline around them.
  Highlighted links do not mean that the LINK is selected.
- Distinct coloring
  
  Selecting additional components causes subsequent link highlights to display a different color highlighting (up to 20 colors before repeating).
- Custom colors
  
  You can customize the colors by editing the “system.properties” file (in the nav tree “lib” folder, under MyFilesSys Home) as follows:
  
  niagara.wiresheet.linkHighlightColor1=#00FF00
  
  ...and following, to...
  
  niagara.wiresheet.linkHighlightColor20=#00FFFF
  
  Each color is specified using the standard hexadecimal notation used for HTML color display.
Off-view link navigation (NiagaraAX-3.6)

Starting in NiagaraAX-3.6, link “knob” indicators (used for off-view or crowded view links) have additional properties.
- Off-view linking
  
  Double-clicking on the knob hyperlinks to the component on the opposite end of the link, displaying the wiresheet view with the linked knob highlighted.
- Goto Link command
  
  Right-clicking on the knob displays a GoToLink command on the popup menu. Selecting this command hyperlinks to the component on the opposite end of the link, displaying that component’s wiresheet view with the linked knob highlighted.
- Delete Links command
  
  When one or more off-view links (or knobs) are selected, the Delete Links command (available on the popup menu) deletes all selected links and their associated off-view references. This is effective for multiple selected in-view and off-view (knob) links.
- Link selection
  
  A Link Selection command is available from the popup menu when multiple links overlap on the wire sheet. Right-click on a link knob on the active wire sheet to select this command, then choose the desired link from the secondary popup menu.
  
  Figure 66. Link Selection menu
Edit Link command

Starting in NiagaraAX-3.6, you can edit a link directly from the wire sheet view using an Edit Link dialog box - instead of the source component’s Link Sheet view. To open the dialog box, right-click a single link (not multiple links or knob links) and select Edit Link from the popup menu. The Edit Link dialog box displays, as shown below.

Figure 67. Edit Link dialog box

Use the property fields to change any of the following link property values: Source Ord, Source Slot Name, Target Slot Name, or Enabled. Click the OK button to commit and save the link changes.