Navigating UI

Overview: This section introduces the different parts of the GSA interface, and some of its most common tools.

1) Toolbars

GSA's toolbars are a shortcut to frequently used commands. They are arranged initially along the top and sides of the interface, but are also dockable. Toggle toolbars on/off by going to:

View > Toolbars and Dockable Panes

Tip: Use the dropdown arrow at the end of each toolbar to add or remove buttons for additional commands.

GSA toolbar

Provides access to some of the main GSA tools, including view panes, design and analysis options.

Data options

Modify your model's data, and how it is displayed here.

Sculpt

Sculpt (opens new window) tools allow you to edit your model in the graphic view.

Labels

Display model attributes by applying labels (opens new window) to you model.

Diagrams

Access frequently-used diagram (opens new window) displays.

Contours

Apply contours (opens new window) to nodes and elements from here.

Orientation

Change your display orientation (opens new window) here.

Cursor mode

Change your cursor modes (opens new window).

Graphic display

Access tools to modify the appearance of your display (opens new window) here.

Visit the GSA References entry on toolbars (opens new window) for more on this topic.

2) Explorer Pane

The Explorer Pane is where your model's data is contained. It is split into three tabs: Data, Output and View.

Note: Both the explorer and properties panes are dockable, they can be maximised, minimised and moved freely around the interface.

Within each tab you can:

• Right click on a field to delete, copy, and paste.
• Use Ctrl + select to open multiple data items.

The data tab displays a list of input fields available in GSA. Click on a field to open its corresponding data input table.

The output tab displays a list of available data output options, depending on the state of the model.

The view tab presents a list of graphic and output views. You can also save preferred settings for views, which are available to access here.

• A graphic view displays a graphic image of the structure (i.e., on the central graphic interface).
• Output view displays tabular output.

Tip: Tabular views may be useful for editing data with very large records (e.g., nodes), or for presenting corresponding modules alongside one another, (e.g., beam sections and beam loads).

3) Properties Pane

From the Properties Pane, you can edit the data inputted into your model.

Note: All tabs in properties pane offer the Lock Image Update command. This feature is useful for large models which take a considerable time to update the view. Rotating, zooming, or panning the view will unset Lock Image Update.

Properties

Configured according to the current definition entity. To set this,

1. Click on an entity in the graphic view.
2. Go to Explorer Pane > Views > Graphic Views, where it will be highlighted.

Graphics

Displays a list of frequently used graphic view settings. Icons in the graphics pallet include:

• Wizard – adjust graphic settings here.
• Reset display adornments – re-sets graphic settings to current defaults.

Entity display

Presents the entities displayed in the current graphic view.

• Highlight mode - highlights selected entities in the graphic view.
• Check boxes - view list of entities with check boxes, to allow multiple selection.
• Reset to all entities - resets display list to ‘all’, and clears ‘volumes’.

Labels

Adjust label display in the graphic view.

• Hide labels - toggles on/off, without adjusting labelling settings.
• Reset - default settings.
• Labels and display methods - opens label and display methods dialog box.
• Apply adornments to selection - applies to current selection only.

Contours

Set contours in the graphic view.

• Hide contours - toggles on/off.
• Reset - default settings.
• Layer combo - sets output layer for 2D element stress contours.
• Contour settings - opens contour settings dialog.
• Apply adornments to selection - applies to current selection only.

Diagrams

Set diagrams in the graphic view.

• Hide diagrams - toggles on/off.
• Reset - default settings.
• Layer combo - sets output layer.
• Diagram settings - opens contour settings dialog.
• Apply adornments to selection - applies to current selection only.

4) Object Pane

The Object Pane consists of messages, results and reports.

• Messages displays properties for a selected item.

• Results displays specific results for a selected node or element.

• Reports presents an output log from processes such as a data check or analysis.

5) Graphic Interface

The central graphic interface (or graphic view) is where your model's structures are displayed. Any number of graphic views may be opened for a document.