2001 South First Street Champaign, IL 61820
[email protected] (217) 384-6330
Simulator 13 – New look of the Ribbon and Model Explorer
When PowerWorld Corporation first introduced Simulator in the mid 1990s, we introduced a new user interface to power system analysis that was built on top of the Windows 95 platform. This interface made your power system analysis tool look and feel the same as other software you used on a daily basis. The heart of this interface was the familiar menu structure still used by most software today. In Simulator 5.0 we first introduced toolbars to the interface, which complemented the traditional menu structure. Since that time, Simulator has grown substantially as more and more features have been added to make your analysis faster, easier, and more convenient. However, the basic user interface with the menu structure and toolbars remained unchanged. Over the last few versions of our products, we have found it increasingly difficult to fit all these new features into the menu and toolbar structure in a manner that made the program approachable and continued our history of being easy to use for all users. The primary flaw with the menu structure is that all menu items and toolbar buttons visually appear to have the same priority, making it difficult to signal to the user the most commonly used features. As more features were added, the menus got longer making the program more difficult to navigate. To combat these problems, Simulator Version 13 introduces a new Ribbon Interface as a fundamentally different structure which replaces the old menu and toolbar interface. This innovation was first introduced in the Microsoft Office 2007 desktop applications, which ships with most computers running Windows Vista. In researching the development history of Microsoft Office 2007, PowerWorld found that it addressed many similar hurdles that we have found in our own development. We believe the new Ribbon Interface will be more efficient for you and will allow more flexibility when adding new features in the future. As part of the changes to the menus, a related change was also made to the old Case Information Menu. This menu in particular was getting exceedingly long, and our users often had a number of case information displays open simultaneously leading to a cluttered environment. To alleviate both of these problems, the new Model Explorer now provides convenient direct access to most case information displays in a single window. The remainder of this document will provide you a brief introduction to the new Ribbon Interface and Model Explorer. PowerWorld Corporation continues to produce software that is complex in its scope. At the same time, we invest in user interface improvement, ensuring that your use of the software remains both efficient and enjoyable.
Mark Laufenberg President, PowerWorld Corporation
2001 South First Street Champaign, IL 61820
[email protected] (217) 384-6330
The Ribbon
When you first open Simulator 13, you will notice the new Ribbon Interface. The new Ribbon, opened to the Case Information Ribbon Tab, is shown in the following image. The first thing to learn about the new Ribbon is the Application Button. Click on this button to open the Application Menu.
Application Button
Click on the Application Button to open the drop-down menu (shown below) which provides access to the familiar Open, Save, Load, and Print options, as well as the list of recently opened cases.
Ribbon Tabs
All of the features in the software are organized in seven Ribbon Tabs. Browse through each of the Ribbon Tabs and you will see that each is designed for a specific way of using the software.
Application Menu
Ribbon Groups
Each Ribbon Tab is further sub-divided into between 4 and 7 groupings called Ribbon Groups. Ribbon Groups join sets of buttons and menus that are related to one another.
Large Buttons and Menus
There are Large Buttons and Large Menus that represent features of the software that are most commonly used. As you navigate the Ribbon Tabs notice the buttons which are large. The various types of buttons available now are depicted below. Large Button Large Button Menu Small Button with Caption Small Button Menu Small Button without Caption Menu only Caption
Quick Access Toolbar
The Ribbon Quick Access Toolbar provides you with quick access to the most frequently used buttons. These buttons are found in the top left portion of the Ribbon just to the right of the Application Button. You can add buttons to the Quick Access Toolbar by right-clicking on the button in the Ribbon and choosing Add to Quick Access Toolbar. Also experiment with the options Show Quick Access Toolbar Below the Ribbon and Minimize the Ribbon. The default buttons that appear in the Quick Access Toolbar are Save Case Load Auxiliary File Model Explorer Message Log Single Solution Buttons Simulator Options
2001 South First Street Champaign, IL 61820
[email protected] (217) 384-6330
Summary of Ribbon Tabs
A brief summary of each Ribbon Tab along with a picture of it are shown on this page. A brief note about the design of the Ribbons: the number of items in any grouping is no more than seven. Thus, there are seven Ribbon Tabs, in each Ribbon Tab there are no more than seven Ribbon Groups, and in each Ribbon Group there are no more than seven buttons or menus.
Case Information
Primarily used to navigate all of the data in your model. Provides access to the Model Explorer and Area/Zone/Owner Filters.
Draw
Replaces the old Edit, Insert, and Format Menus. Features are used to draw new onelines or edit existing ones by adding, moving, formatting, or resizing existing oneline objects.
Onelines
Primarily used after you have already created a oneline diagram. This provides features for customizing the appearance of your oneline diagram.
Tools
Provides access to all of the analysis tools available in the base package of Simulator such as power flow analysis, contingency analysis, or the sensitivities tools.
Options
All of the buttons on this are also available on one of the other ribbon tabs, however this ribbon tab brings most of the options in the software into one place.
Add Ons
This ribbon tab provides access to all of the add-on tools available for Simulator including the OPF, SCOPF, ATC, and PVQV tools.
Windows
This ribbon tab provides access to customizing the windows in the user interface. It also has some information regarding help topics.
2001 South First Street Champaign, IL 61820
[email protected] (217) 384-6330
Model Explorer
The old Case Information Menu has been replaced by the Model Explorer. The Model Explorer Button is available on the Tools Ribbon Tab, Case Information Ribbon Tab, as well as the Quick Access Toolbar. The three menus (Network, Aggregation, and Filters, Expression, Etc…) on the Case Information Ribbon Group on the Case Information Ribbon Tab mimic the behavior of the old Case Information Menu, but PowerWorld encourages you to leave open a Model Explorer in the future and navigate using the Explore Pane instead. The Model Explorer is made up of several regions which are described below and are depicted in the image below. Explore Pane The Explore Pane contains a hierarchical list of most of the objects contained in the power system model. Entries in the Explore Pane that are grayed out represent objects that presently are not defined in the model. The Explore Pane is separated into eight primary folders, with only the Network and Aggregations folder expanded by default. The Network folder contains the objects that represent the physical devices in the model, while the Aggregations folder contains objects that represent groups. Options Pane The Options Pane contains access to some commonly used case information display actions. All options here can also be accessed from the case information toolbar or local menu. Recent Tabs The Recent Tabs represent a list of the most recently viewed case information displays on the Model Explorer. You can click on the X to the left of each tab to clear from the recent list. Case Information Toolbar The Case Information Toolbar contains a graphical representation of all of the options and actions which can be applied to the case information display. These are the same options that have always been available on the Case Information right-click local menu. This is depicted in the image below. Search Toolbar The Search Toolbar provides direct access to the former Search For Text dialog.
Explore Pane
Options Pane
Recent Tabs
Case Information Toolbar
Note: The option available on the Case Information rightclick local menu are now all available on the Case Information Toolbar directly above the display
Search Toolbar