1.7. PdnMesh Graphical User Interface

When you run the program, you will see the main window as in Figure 1-1. The menubar has 3 menus.

1.7.1. File Menu

File->Open opens a new coordinate file.

File->Import DXF imports a CAD DXF file. For more information on this, please refer to Chapter 3.

File->Save saves contour plot, mesh, gradient etc.

File->Quit exits the program.

1.7.2. Solve Menu

Solve->Mesh+Solve Once regenerates the mesh and solves the problem, using only one iteration.

Solve->Solve Once solves the problem without generating the mesh again.

Solve->Mesh+Solve Iteratively generates the mesh, and solves the problem iteratively, until iteration limit has reached. In each iteration, the mesh is refined.

Solve->Change Options... dialog window for changing solution options. See Figure 1-5 for more detail.

Figure 1-5. Solve Options Dialog

The options that can be changed using the above dialog are as follows:

Note that the units used in all of the above parameters are normalised.

1.7.3. View Menu

View->Mesh draws the mesh.

View->Contours draws the contours.

View->Grad draws the gradient.

View->Legend draws the legend.

1.7.4. Popup Menu

This is the menu you get from right clicking the mouse. It has following items.

Popup->0_Mode switch to default mode. Basically does nothing. Useful if you want to stop zooming etc.

Popup->Triangle Info Mode Switch to retrieving and changing properties of triangles. In this mode, once you left-click on a triangle, you get a dialog like Figure 1-6 and you can change the boundary of the triangle.

Figure 1-6. Triangle Info Dialog

Popup->Triangle Split Mode In this mode, once you left-click on a triangle, it will be split. This is useful if you need to manually refine the generated mesh.

Popup->Zoom Window In this mode, you can select a rectangular area using the mouse left button and zoom in.

Popup->Zoom Back Once you select this option, the display will zoom back to previous view.

Popup->Zoom All Once you select this option, the display will zoom to global view.

Popup->3D Window Once you select this option, a new window will be created to display the contour plot in 3D like Figure 1-2. In the 3D window, you can zoom and rotate using mouse buttons. Move the mouse with left pressed for rotation. Move the mouse with middle pressed for zooming.

Popup->Next Eigenmode This option is useful if you solve the Helmholtz equation for more than one eigenmode. By selecting this option, you can switch between each eigenmode.

Popup->Quit Exits the program.