Interaction with the User Interface

This section lists down all the useful interactions that you may encounter using menus in Virtuoso Studio Design Environment.

Types of Menus

A menu is a list of related commands. Virtuoso Studio Design Environment uses the following kinds of menus:

Pull-down menus: These menus are menus that are attached to the menu bar and that are displayed when you click a menu title to pull down the menu.
You create a pulldown menu with hiCreatePulldownMenu using previously created menu items. After you create a pulldown menu, attach it to the menu bar of a window.
Menu items in pulldown menus can be text, icon, or slider items. They can be enabled or disabled. They can also have callback functions associated with them.
Some text menu items in pulldown menus, such as Load, Open, Save As, Undo, Redo, Close, Exit, and Print, automatically display an icon next to the text. You can choose not to display the default icons for these menu items by setting the following variable in your .cdsenv file:
```
ui useAutoPixmaps boolean nil
```
Pop-up menus: These menus that are not visible until the user displays them, typically with a right-click on an application window. Popup menus contain context-sensitive choices.
You can create popup menus with the following SKILL functions:
- hiCreateSimpleMenuCreates a menu with text menu items only. You can create this menu and its items at the same time, without having to create menu items ahead of time.
- hiCreateMenuCreates a menu with text, icon, or slider menu items. Menu items are laid out in a column, top to bottom, in a specified order. Items can also be disabled (greyed-out) so that they are unselectable.
- hiCreate2DMenuCreates a menu with text or icon menu items, or inactive labels. This menu type lets you specify the exact placement of each menu item through an attribute list provided with each item.
Some text menu items in popup menus, such as Load, Open, Save As, Undo, Redo, Close, Exit, and Print, automatically display an icon next to the text. You can choose not to display the default icons for these menu items by setting the following variable in your .cdsenv file:
```
ui useAutoPixmaps boolean nil
```
You can set a warpCursorBack property on a popup menu that will store the cursor location at the time a popup menu is displayed.
For example, you can set the following menu property:
```
MyPopupMenu->warpCursorBack = t
```
Therefore, when set to t the cursor will be restored back to its original position, prior to the popup menu opening, when that popup menu is subsequently closed.
Toolbar icons: Get displayed on main window and assistant toolbars
A floating icon, typically a column or large icon buttons.

When you use an icon on the toolbar, the window automatically becomes active and the command affects only that window. Inactive buttons are grayed out and do not respond when you click them.

Functionality of Pointer and the Cursor

The pointer is the visible shape that moves across the screen as you move the mouse.
The cursor is a visible shape (see table below and refer to your own desktop documentation) in each window that shows where you can enter text.
The cursor can have one of several shapes—typically a rectangle in a terminal window or an I-beam in a Cadence form.

The pointer can have many shapes, as shown in the examples below:

Shape	Description
	When the pointer is in the title bar (window environment dependent) of a window you are moving.
	When you resize the window using edges. You can increase or decrease the width of the window by moving one side of it.
	When you resize the window using corners. You can enlarge or reduce the window by moving two sides (the corner) of the window.
	When you are pointing in a window. You can select commands or objects.

Instructions in this user guide assume that the window with the pointer in it is the active window.

To verify that the pointer determines the active window, move the pointer to another terminal window and type some text. If the text appears in the window containing the pointer, the pointer determines the active window.

Functionality of Pop-Up Menus and Forms

Some menus and forms are invisible during ordinary use but can be displayed (popped up) when you need them. Use the following mouse actions to pop them up:

Action	Procedure
Pop up the root menu	Click or press and hold the middle button in the root.
Pop up the window manager menu from an icon	Click or press and hold the right mouse button over the icon. This is desktop and/or window manager dependent.
Pop up a Virtuoso menu	Click the right button in a graphics window.
Pop up an options form (if one exists)	Press the F3 key.
Choose an item on any pop-up menu	If holding down a mouse button, slide the pointer to the item and release, otherwise click the item.

Select and Deselect Items

To select and deselect items:

Action	Procedure
Select a single item	Click the item.
Select several consecutive items	Move the pointer to the first item, press and hold the left mouse button, and drag the pointer until all the items you want are highlighted.
Extend a selection	Press `Shift` on the new end point.
Delete one item from a selection	Press the `Control` key and click the item.
Delete several items from a selection	Press `Control` and drag the pointer over the items to delete. When you are done, click OK.
Close the box without selecting an item	Click Cancel.

Menu Access Keys

Menu access keys, also known as menu shortcuts, provide keyboard access to menus. With these keys, you can:

Display a menu
Select menu items from a displayed menu

without using the mouse. These keys provide a quick way of navigating and learning menus.

Menu access keys use the modifier ALT. To display a menu, you press ALT and the access key for that menu. To select an option in that menu, you then press the access key for that option (without ALT). For example, if the menu access key for the File menu is F, you would press ALT+F to display the menu. To select the New option in the menu, you would then press N (assuming that its access key is N.)

Menu access keys are displayed as underlined letters in the menu or menu item names. For example:

Menu access keys always display a menu, unlike bindkeys that do not display a menu or require a menu to be displayed in order to select menu items. For example, with a bindkey, you can select the Fileﬂ–New option without the File menu being displayed.

Setting Access Keys for Menu Items

To set an access key for a menu item when you create the menu item, in the item text, specify & (ampersand) before the character that you want to designate as the access key. Specifically:

When you create a menu item with hiCreateMenuItem, add & before the desired chararcter in the ?itemText argument. For example, creates the menu item New, whose access key is N:

hiCreateMenuItem(?name ’new ?itemText "&New")

- When you create a menu item with hiCreateSliderMenuItem, add & before the desired character in the ?itemText argument. For example, creates the menu item Open, whose access key is O:
```
hiCreateSliderMenuItem(?name ’open ?itemText "&Open" ?subMenu openOptions)
```
- When you create an action for a menu, specify & before the desired character in the ?iconText argument of hiCreateAction. For example, creates the action Refresh, whose access key is F:
```
hiCreateAction(?name ’refresh ?iconText "Re&fresh" ?callback "refreshCB")
```
- When you create a simple menu with hiCreateSimpleMenu, specify & before the desired character in each menu item in the l_menuItems argument. For example, creates a menu with the menu items Place and Print, whose access keys are P and R respectively:
```
hiCreateSimpleMenu(’customized "Custom" ’("&Place" "P&rint") ’(CB1 CB2))
```
  Since symbols are created from the item text in this case, the symbol names also include the ampersands.

Setting Access Keys for Menus

To set an access key for a menu,

When you create the menu with hiCreatePulldownMenu, hiCreateMenu, hiCreateSimpleMenu, or hiCreate2DMenu, specify & (ampersand) in the menu title before the character that you want to designate as the access key.
For example, creates the File menu. Pressing ALT+F displays this menu:
```
hiCreatePulldownMenu(’File "&File" list( new open close))
```

Escaping Ampersand

If you have an ampersand as part of a menu or menu item name, you need to escape it with another ampersand. For example, to display the name P&R, you need to specify the menu title or menu item text as "P&&R". Otherwise, it will be displayed as PR and R will be the access key for it.

Guidelines for Creating Menu Access Keys

Access keys always use the modifier ALT.
Access keys can be any printable ASCII character, although they are typically alphanumeric characters.
Access keys for menus must be unique within an application.
Many applications can launch other applications by adding their menus to the menu bar. Access keys for menu items must be unique within the menu or submenu.
If a window manager or desktop, such as CDE, predefines an ALT+key binding, then that ALT+key combination will not work as a menu access key or bindkey on that system.

Menu Access Key Conflicts

You can display warnings about menu items that have conflicting access keys by setting the following variable in your .cdsenv file:

ui checkAccessKeyConflicts boolean t

Warnings are displayed in the CIW. This variable is set to nil by default.

Disable Menu Access Keys

Menu access keys can be disabled in one of the following ways:

By adding the following line to your .cdsenv file:
```
ui enableMenuShortcuts boolean nil
```
By deselecting the Menu Shortcuts option in the User Preferences form (displayed by selecting Options – User Preferences in the CIW) and then saving your defaults in the Save Defaults form (displayed by selecting Options – Save Defaults in the CIW).

Your change will take effect the next time that you start the software.

When you disable menu access keys, bindkeys can use ALT.

Compatibility Issues

In your custom code, if you access Cadence menu or menu item names and do string comparisons against them, you need to be aware that there are now extra ampersands in the names because of access keys. You need to modify your code accordingly.
The code that accesses Cadence menus through menu handles or symbols is unaffected.
If you have bindkeys that use ALT, you should redefine them because ALT is the modifier used with menu access keys. It can no longer be used with any printable characters in bindkeys, unless menu access keys are disabled.

Virtuoso Studio Design Environment User Guide
Product Version IC23.1, November 2023