Designer

The designer

The designer is quite simple to use.
Users can start a new project from the menu as well as open an existing circuit from the workspace, dragging and dropping the file into the central area.

There are several items available into the components panel, which users can drag and drop onto the grid. Users can find a group of actions from the menu bar and within the context menu, which can be used to interact with items (i.e. mirror, rotate and so on). Once a component on the grid has been selected, all the properties associated with an item are published for editing into the property panel. Properties are also accessibile as a dialog using the action properties from the menu bar or the contex menu.
Please, note that components may be involved within in the process of symbolic analysis as numeric or symbolic part. This means that users can get functions mixed with some dynamic symbolic part and a numeric part fixed.

Note:

Not all types of interaction are described here, so please try to click, double-click, select, drag and drop and do whatever comes to mind.
For example, users can select items from the dedicated panel with one click, then move the mouse pointer over the grid and click with right mouse button to rotate them, or create an instance of the component with the left mouse button.
Have you ever tried it?

Some components are referred to as output or probe. At least one of them should be present in the circuit, because the symbolic analysis produces the function associated with them. There may be also more than one at a time but only one will be active (ie the last inserted).

Other components are referred to as generators. Such components are not necessary. However, if you want to extract something meaningful, it should be inserted at least one.

Items offer junction points to connect each other. A junction point is represented by a black circle and all items have at least one of them.
By overlaying several junction points, users can create relations between different items.
The junction points are also referred to as nodes.

Despite the simplicity, there are few components that require to be treated separately.

Wires

There are two types of wire: simple and cross.
Simple wire acts as a point-to-point connection between components junction points. This type of wire does not permit to connect more than two components.
Crossed wire acts as a bus. Each junction point overlaid on this type of wire contributes to create a link between the owner of the item and all other connected components.

Out probes

The out probe can be used to compute the voltage (as a function) associated with a specific node, with respect to the ground.
To interact with the out probe, users only have to connect the probe's junction point to components or wires.

Voltage probes

The voltage probe can be used to compute the voltage (as a function) associated with a specific node, with respect to another node.
To interact with the voltage probe, users have to connect the probe's junction points to components or wires. The voltage probe has a direction indicated by the references of the two poles.
In fact, this type of probe is internally translated to a voltage controlled voltage source (VCVS) and an out probe properly connected to the circuit.

Current probes

The current probe can be used to compute the current (as a function) that flows between different nodes.
To interact with the current probe, users have to connect the probe's junction points to components or wires. The current probe has a direction indicated by an arrow.
In fact, this type of probe is internally translated to a current controlled voltage source (CCVS) and an out probe properly connected to the circuit.

User defined components

One of the most important feature of the software is the ability to create personalized components. These are described in a separate section of the manual.
Ports are also an important components type. They are involved into the definition of the user defined components and hence described in the dedicated section.

See also:

User Defined Components