Designer's Main Menus

There are 6 categores of actions on Dimension's main menu bar. They include:

- File - VDB and resource management actions.
- Edit - Standard edit actions.
- Search - Find data within your VDB.
- Models - Model and VDB level actions.
- Views - Add views to your perspective.
- Help - Access available Dimension help documents, MetaMatrix SQL Support Guide and Eclipse Overview information.

File Menu

The File menu provides actions to manage your VDB it's resources.

The individual actions are described below:

- New > Model - Allows user to create new models of several different kinds.
- New > VDB - Creates a new VDB and closes the current one if one is open.
- Open VDB - Find and open an existing VDB for editing
- Close VDB - Closes current VDB. Checks for unsaved changes and presents user options to save changes or not before saving VDB and closing.
- Close Editor - Closes the currently selected (visible) editor tab.
- Close All Editors - Closes all open editors.
- Save - Saves any changes in the currently selected (visible) editor.
- Save As - Allows user to select a new name and/or location for the resource (model) in the currently selected (visible) editor.
- Save All - Saves any changes in the any open editors that have changes. An asterisk displays on the tab of editors with changes.
- Rename… - Allows user to provide a new name for the currently selected element in the current editor.
- Refresh Tree - !!!! APPEARS TO BE OBSOLETE !!!
- Print - Prints the diagram in the selected editor. Allows control over orientation (portrait or landscape), scaling, margins and page order. User can also specify a subset of the pages to print (i.e., “2 through 8”).
- Import - launches the Import Wizard which provides several ways to construct or import models.
- File Properties - Displays the operating system’s file properties dialog for the selected file.
- Exit - Closes Dimension after prompting user to save unsaved resources, if any.

An additional feature of the File menu is a convenient list of most-recently-edited VDBs. Selecting a VDB from this list will close the open VDB and open the selected VDB in Designer. You can change the number of VDBs displayed in this list via Preferences.

Edit Menu

The Edit menu provides actions to manage your VDB it's resources.

The individual actions are described below:

- New > Child - The New Child menu is created dynamically to support the creation of whatever types of child objects can be created under the selected object..
- New > Sibling - The New Sibling menu is created dynamically to support the creation of whatever types of sibling objects can be created under the same parent as the selected object..
- New > Association -The New Association menu is created dynamically to support the creation of whatever types of associations can be created with the selected object..
- Undo - Reverses the effect of the most recent command.
- Redo - Reapplies the most recently Undone command.
- Cut - Deletes the selected object(s) and copies it to the clipboard.
- Copy - Copies the selected object(s) to the clipboard.
- Paste - Pastes the contents of the clipboard to the selected context.
- Paste Special... - !!! NOT APPLICABLE TO DIMENSION!!!
- Clone - Duplicates the selected object in the same location with the same name; user is able to rename the new object right in the tree.
- Delete - Deletes the selected object(s).
- Rename - Allows a user to rename an object in the tree.
- Find/Replace - Launches dialog that can be used to search in the current text view, such as a Transformation Editor.
- Open - Opens the selected object in the appropriate editor.
- Edit - Opens the selected object in the appropriate specialized editor, such as the Choice Editor or Recursion Editor.
- Set Datatype - Launches a dialog that allows the user to select one of the built-in or user-defined datatypes and to apply it to the selected column.
- Preferences - Launches the Preferences dialog, which can be used to set preferences and default values for many features of Dimension Designer.

Search Menu

The individual actions in the Search menu are described below:

- Find Model Object - Launches the Find Model Object dialog, which can be used to find an object in the workspace by specifying all or part of its name. Selecting the object will open it in the appropriate editor..
- Models... - Launches the Search dialog. User can search for models in the workspace by specifying an Object Type, and/or a Data Type, and/or a property value. Search results appear in the Search Results view, and double-clicking a result will open that model in the appropriate editor.

Models Menu

The individual actions in the Models menu are described below:

- Validate All - Validates the contents of the entire workspace. Any errors or warnings will appear in the Problems View.
- Validate Changes - Saves changed models if needed and validates models that have changed.
- Validate Automatically - Sets the ‘Validate Automatically’ flag on or off. When on, a checkmark appears to the left of this menu item. When this is turned on, validation of changes is done automatically each time a Save is done.
- Rebuild VDB - Revalidates the contents of the entire VDB and saves the VDB.
- Test Sources and Views - Switches to the SQL Explorer Perspective, where the user can execute SQL against the current VDB.
- Create Web Service WAR File - Launches a dialog that can create a WAR file of a specified name and location, based on the contents of the VDB.

Views Menu

The individual actions in the Views menu are described below:

- Show View - Opens and/or selects the specified view or launches "Other...." views dialog.
- Reset Perspective - Resets the current Perspective to its default layout.

Selecting Other... displays a view selection dialog, shown below, which summarizes all views available in Dimension Designer.

Help Menu

The individual actions are described below:

- Welcome - Shifts to the Welcome perspective, which contains links to documentation, examples and ‘how-to’ starting points.
- Help Contents - Launches the Help Window. All of Dimension’s online documentation is accessible from there as well.
- Search - Launches the Help Search view, which can be used to search for phrases in the documentation.
- Dynamic Help - Opens the Help View in Dimension Designer.
- Software Updates... - !!! BARRY – This appears to be concerned with updating Eclipse features, not MM features. Does this belong in Dimension? !!!
- Build Diagnostics Report... - Launches a dialog that can email diagnostic information on the current state of Dimension to MetaMatrix tech support.
- About MetaMatrix Dimension Designer - Launches the About dialog.

Related Topics

- Dimension Perspectives
- Getting Started with Metamatrix Dimension

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