This chapter lists each menu item in Constructor and describes its purpose.
The Constructor menus include:
The Apple, File, Edit, and Window menus are visible at all times.
The Arrange and Layout menus appear when a PPob editor is active. The Options and Colors menus appear when a bitmap editor is active.
The Apple menu contains one Constructor-related item.
Choose this item to see the way-cool About Box, and the credits for the fine people who put Constructor together for you.
Use the File menu commands for managing Constructor project files. The Constructor
File menu has all the usual file-related commands you are accustomed
to seeing in a Mac OS application.
Creates a new Constructor project file.
See "Constructor Project Files."
Uses the standard dialog to open an existing Constructor project file.
See "Constructor Project Files."
Closes the active window. If you close the project window and there are unsaved changes, you will be given the chance to save changes.
This item is enabled when there is a window open.
See "Constructor Project Files."
Saves an existing project file. If no file exists, this command displays the standard dialog so you can specify the folder where you want to store the file. By convention, Constructor project file names end with .ppob.
This item is enabled when there is a project open that has been changed without being saved.
See "Constructor Project Files."
Save a file to a new name. This command displays a standard dialog so you can specify the folder in which you want to store the file. By convention, Constructor project files end with .ppob.
This item is enabled when there is a project open.
See "Constructor Project Files."
Displays the standard dialog for choosing page setup options such as paper size and page orientation.
Prints the active Constructor window.
This item is enabled when there is a document open.
Quits Constructor. You will be asked to confirm this operation if any open files have been changed without saving.
In addition to the standard Edit menu commands for copy and paste, the Constructor Edit menu contains commands that allow you to create and modify resources,
panes, menus, and so forth.
The menu item text usually includes a word such as "resource,"
"pane," "menu," or other term to clearly reflect the nature of
the item you are acting upon. In some cases, there may be two
or more different kinds of items listed. For example, when editing
a menu resource, the Edit menu has a few commands to create new items related to menus,
including New Menu, New Menu Item, and New Separator Item.
Menu items are enabled and disabled as appropriate.
The actual text varies depending upon the most recent action. Undo/Redo toggle so that you can repeatedly switch between -undoing and redoing a single action.
Constructor supports single-level undo. Once you perform a new action, you lose the ability to undo or redo the previous action.
Removes the selected items from the active window and puts them on the clipboard.
Makes a copy of the selected items in the active window and puts them on the clipboard.
Makes a copy of items in the clipboard and puts them in the active window.
Deletes selected items from the active window.
Selects all items in the active window.
Makes a duplicate of the selected items in the active window.
Creates a new item. The menu text reflects the exact nature of the item. It might be a resource, a menu, a menu item, and so forth.
This item is disabled for panes. To create a new pane, drag the correct pane from the Catalog Window.
This command opens a resource editor. This could be the view editor, the menu editor, the text traits editor, and so forth. See "Opening a Resource for Editing."
When an editor is already open and an item selected in the editor (such as a menu item), this command opens the property inspector window for the item.
The Window menu contains items that display or activate various Constructor
windows. This menu is always available, but certain items may
be disabled when appropriate.
Displays or activates the Property Inspector Window to display attributes for a resource, menu, menu item, or pane. To close the Property Inspector Window, click in the window's close box.
See "Property Inspector Window."
Displays or activates the Catalog Window. To close the Catalog Window, click in the window's close box.
Display or activate the alignment palette. To hide the palette, click in the palette's close box.
See "Aligning panes," "Distributing panes."
Zoom the window, has the same effect as clicking the window's zoom box.
The Arrange menu appears when a PPob editor is active. This menu provides
tools for aligning and distributing panes in the layout.
Open the Arrange Objects dialog.
See "Aligning panes," "Distributing panes."
Aligns selected panes along the left of the leftmost selected pane.
Aligns selected panes halfway between the left of the leftmost selected pane and the right of the rightmost selected pane.
Aligns selected panes along the right of the rightmost selected pane.
Distributes selected panes evenly from the left of the leftmost selected pane to the right of the rightmost selected pane.
Distributes selected panes evenly from the left edge to the right edge of the container that holds all the panes.
Aligns selected panes along the top of the topmost selected pane.
Aligns selected panes halfway between the top of the topmost selected pane and the bottom of the bottommost selected pane.
Aligns selected panes along the bottom of the bottommost selected pane.
Distributes selected panes evenly from the top of the topmost selected pane to the bottom of the bottommost selected pane.
Distributes selected panes from the top edge to the bottom edge of the container that holds all the panes.
See "Working With Radio Groups."
See "Working With Tab Groups."
The Layout menu is visible when a PPob editor is active. Items in this menu
control the layout grid, and pane visibility. Most items in the
menu are enabled at all times.
Shows or hides a dotted rectangular grid, like graph paper, to help you align and arrange your panes. You can specify the size of the grid and whether to "snap" the panes to the grid.
See "Using a grid."
Toggles the snap-to-grid setting. When this setting is on, dragging and dropping a pane causes it to snap to the nearest grid line.
See "Using a grid."
Displays the Grid dialog that allows you to specify how large to make the grid rectangles (in pixels).
See "Using a grid."
Show or hide Pane IDs in the upper right corner of the pane.
Show or hide the edges of panes which are otherwise invisible, such as LView and LControl. Showing the edge also shows the size of unboxed panes such as LCaption and LStdRadioButton, making it easier to adjust them and avoid overlaps.
Show or hide panes that have the Visible check box in the property inspector deselected.
See "Displaying invisible panes."
If the Hierarchy window is not open, this item opens the window. If the window is open but inactive, this item activates the window. To close the Hierarchy window, click the window's close box.
This item is disabled if the Hierarchy window is open and active.
The Options menu is visible when a bitmap editor is active. Most items in
the menu are enabled when pixels are selected in the editor.
Turn the selected pixels upside down (rotate 180\xa1 ). See "Rotating and Flipping Pixels."
Swap selected pixels left and right. This creates a mirror image of the pixels. See "Rotating and Flipping Pixels."
Turn the selected pixels 90\xa1 clockwise. See "Rotating and Flipping Pixels."
Turn the selected pixels 90\xa1 counterclockwise. See "Rotating and Flipping Pixels."
Render background-color within selected pixels transparent so that any bitmap beneath shows through. See "Using Transparency."
The Colors menu appears when a bitmap editor is active. This menu is enabled
when the resource being edited supports more than one color palette.
Items in the menu are enabled when appropriate.
Most items in this menu represent color palettes for use when editing bitmaps. The currently active palette has a check mark.
See "Choosing a Color Palette."
Use the standard 34 colors for icon design. See "Choosing a Color Palette."
Use the standard 256 colors palette. See "Choosing a Color Palette."
Use the standard 256 grays palette. See "Choosing a Color Palette."
Use the standard 16 colors palette. See "Choosing a Color Palette."
Use the standard 16 grays palette. See "Choosing a Color Palette."
Use the standard 4 grays palette. See "Choosing a Color Palette."
When this item is checked, clicking the Color Tool displays the standard color picker dialog instead of a color palette. See "Color Tool." See "Choosing a Color Palette."
Set the foreground color to black and the background color to white. See "Setting Colors and Patterns."
Set the foreground color to the current background color. Set the background color to the current foreground color. See "Setting Colors and Patterns."
Draw the current bitmap using the current color palette. See "Choosing a Color Palette."
This menu appears when the bitmap editor is active. The font menu lists all available fonts on your computer. Use the items in menu when entering text in a bitmap.
This menu appears when the bitmap editor is active. The Style menu lists contains commands to control typographic style, justification, and font size. Use the items in this menu when entering text in a bitmap.