Davicom’s Cortex products have built-in graphic design capabilities that allow easy customization and creation of Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) to cover all your needs. In the Cortex world, these GUI’s are called Workspaces, and below is a list of some of their key features.
- Activation & deactivation (appearance/disappearance) of objects (images, text, shapes, lines) based on I/O status
- Change of object color based on I/O status
- Drag, drop, resize, copy, and paste of objects
- Grouped drag, drop, copy, paste of objects
- Grouped edition of objects’ properties (size, color, etc.)
- Rotation of objects in1° increment
- Send-to-front and Send-to back of object in display layers
- Association of objects to any I/O
- Vectorization of objects for lossless resizing
- Hyperlink to a specific Workspace tab from an object
- Use of transparent (cut-out) .png images
- Use of a background image
- Use of common image formats (jpg, gif, png, bmp, svg, etc.)
- Possibility of merging Workspaces when uploading a Workspace into a unit.
To edit or create Workspaces, you must be logged-in to the Cortex, but it is not required to be in control of the unit. To begin, click on the small arrow located at the top of the left side of the screen: this activates the Edit Mode.
A graphic edition menu slides out from the right side, and a floating toolbar appears.
All the tools and buttons from these two menus are used to edit, create, save, open and merge Cortex Workspaces. Please see these associated articles for more details:
1 – ADD TAB: Adds a new tab (screen or window) to a Workspace. A Workspace can have multiple tabs, each having its own set of objects, or each showing I/O’s, but in different formats. For example, this can be images (including backgrounds like site location maps), schematic diagrams, emergency phone lists. NOTE: It is important to not have tabs with identical names, as this would block these tabs from merging when loading a Workspaces containing tabs having the same names.
2 – EDIT MODE ACTIVATION / DEACTIVATION: To activate or deactivate the Edit mode.
3 – FLOATING TOOLBAR HIDE / SHOW: To hide or show the floating toolbar (13).
4 – SELECT: To select, move, and resize objects.
5 – ADD SHAPE: To add shapes. Three different shapes are available: circles (ellipsoids) , rectangles and triangles.
6 – ADD LOGIC GATE: To add logic gate symbol. Six different types are available. Note that these logic gates are only a visual representation, they must be associated to a particular I/O for their characteristics to become animated.
7 – DRAW LINE: Draw lines that can then be animated.
8 – ADD TEXT: Adds text.
9 – ADD IMAGE: Adds images.
10 – ADD METER: To add meters. Four different types are available: strip chart, angular, horizontal bar meter or vertical bar meter.
11 – ADD INDICATOR: To add LED-style status indicators.
12 – ADD I/O BOX: To add I/O boxes. To display values, statuses, or to create control buttons.
13 – FLOATING TOOLBAR: Toolbar containing Workspace Save and Load tools. Note that for Undo and Redo actions, it is also possible to use keyboard shortcuts like Ctrl Z (Undo) and Ctrl Y (Redo).
14 – UNDO: To undo the previous action that was performed on the Workspace.
15 – REDO: To redo the previous action (undo or delete) that was performed on the Workspace.
16 – SAVE TO PC: Save the Workspace to the PC. For more information on the mechanics of Workspace displays, locations and how to save and load them, see this article.
17 – OPEN FROM PC: To open (or load) a Workspace from the PC. For more information on the mechanics of Workspace displays, locations and how to save and load them, see this article.
