Colours & Group Switching

 

 

The data grid uses colours for its cell text and cell backgrounds to show data of a certain type and to indicate rows that have been marked for editing. The cell text colour can be defined for the following types:

-          Normal values

-          Read-only values

-          Disabled values

-          “From Template” values

-          Aux. Vent and HVAC System “Use Main System” values

-          Plant Profile “Same As Heating Profile” value

-          Plant Profile “Same As Cooling Profile” value

 

The row background colours can be defined for the following types:

-          Normal rows

-          Rows marked for editing

-          Locked columns (NOTE: only available in VE2014 Feature Pack 2 or later)

 

 

Although Tabular Space Data ships with a default set of colours defined for the above items, you can modify these colours to suit your own tastes. To configure the colours, select Preferences… from the Tabular Space Data Edit menu.

 

The Colours tab shows you the colours that are currently applied to the different data types. To edit a colour, click on the relevant colour block:

 

This will display the standard colour picker window, allowing you to select the colour you desire:

 

Once you have selected the colour you wish to use, click OK in the Colour dialog. The Preferences dialog will then be updated to show you the new colour. Once you have finished modifying the colours for the different text and row types, click OK and the data grid will update to reflect your new colour scheme.

 

If you want to restore all the colour choices back to their default values, simply open the Preferences dialog and click on the Restore Default Colours button – this will return each of the colours to their default values. You can then click OK to apply the colour changes.

 

 

By default, Tabular Space Data is configured to automatically display the NCM-specific Space Data items in the <VE Compliance> module and the Apache-specific items in the Apache and ASHRAE 90.1 App. G – PRM modules. However, you can customise this behaviour to display your own tab groups on entry to the specific views, or disable the auto-switch behaviour entirely.

 

To configure the Group Switching behaviour, select Preferences… from the Tabular Space Data Edit menu and then click on the Group Switching tab.

 

 

You can turn the auto-switch behaviour on and off by clicking the When switching to these views… button above the view list – when the button is checked, the auto-switch behaviour is switched on and the tab group choices shown in the view list will be applied when you enter those views.

To disable all auto-switching, click the button again to remove the check – the options for auto-switching will then be disabled. When switched off, whichever tab group is active will remain displayed when switching between different modules in the <VE>.

 

When auto-switching is turned on, you can configure which tab group will be selected for each supported module. This can be one of the standard supplied groups (Space Data or Space Data (NCM)) or a custom group that you have previously saved. Alternatively, you can choose to do nothing when a particular module is selected.

To set the switching action for a particular view, select the appropriate row in the list and click on the drop-list column – this will display a list of all available tab groups, plus an additional Do Nothing option:

 

-          To set a particular tab group to become active for the module, select its name from the bottom area of the drop-list.

-          To set a particular module to use whichever tab group is currently active when you enter, select the Do Nothing item at the top of the drop-list.

 

With the switching behaviour defined, you also have to select the appropriate option for dealing with unsaved changes on the current tab group. This is done by the three option buttons underneath the list:

 

The changes you make to group switching will be applied once the OK button is clicked on the Tabular Space Data Preferences window.