CAVE Fundamentals
Mouse Settings
This lesson provides a brief description of the mouse controls and user-configurable mouse settings, so you can adjust your own mouse settings. While many of the mouse settings are not routinely changed, there are some mouse settings that are commonly used. One WDTD recommended change to the AWIPS defaults is to enable image sampling with a long left click. This allows you to sample and roam on demand which is a critical skill in warning decision making.
Mouse Shortcuts Tables
The three-button mouse performs a number of actions, depending on where in the CAVE window the mouse pointer is located. Here, each button is referred to by number: Button 1 (B1), Button 2 (B2), and Button 3 (B3). If your workstation has a two-button mouse with a clickable scroll wheel, all references to Button 2 in this lesson refer to the clickable scroll wheel.
The tables below detail the different functions for each mouse button for the default AWIPS mouse settings.
| Function | Mouse |
|---|---|
| Open pull-down menus in the menu bar | Click B1 |
| Create tear-away menus by selecting the dashed line in the pull-down menu | Click B1 |
| Make menu selection in menu | Click B1 |
| Activate menu buttons in toolbar | Click B1 |
| Toggle product on/off in product legend in main map editor | Click B1 |
| Drag slider to desired setting on a slider bar in a dialog box | Press and Hold B1 |
| Moving any of the following items in a main map editor and any other map editor: Point, Baseline, Distance Speed, WarnGen vertex, and Select Alert Area | Press and Hold B1 |
| Bring a window to front | Click B1 |
| Move a window or dialog box | Press and Hold B1, then Drag Mouse |
| Pan across large display (Pan feature must be activated) | Press and Hold B1, then Drag Mouse |
| Function | Mouse |
|---|---|
| Zoom in (Pan feature must be activated) | Scroll Forward, Middle Click |
| Zoom out | Scroll Back |
| Pan across large display (Pan feature must be activated) | Press and Hold B2, then Drag Mouse |
| Toggle on/off Editability of tool in Tool Legend of main map editor | Click B2 |
| Insert/Delete vertices when editing on lines/vertices of warning box | Click B2 |
| Function | Mouse Action |
|---|---|
| Swap small display pane with the large display pane containing the main map editor | Click B3 |
| Launch CAVE window options in title bar of CAVE display or dialog box | Click B3 |
| Toggle all product legends within selected map editor (small or large display pane) | Click B3 |
| Launch color table by selecting product in Product Legend of main map editor | Click B3 |
| Open respective pop-up menu on legend or over displayed products in any map editor/pane | Press and Hold B3 |
| Open pop-up menu on product name listed under Product Selection List in Volume Browser | Press and Hold B3 |
| Toggle Alert Cells in radar alert area | Click B3 |
Configuration of Mouse Buttons
In AWIPS, you can set the mouse settings to your own personal preference. They are stored on the EDEX server under your username and are available on any workstation into which you log in. However, there are two issues with using modified mouse settings. One is your individual settings are not available to another user. If workstations are shared during active weather, you need to be familiar with the mouse settings of your collaborators. The default settings are always available. The second issue is the mouse setting configurations could possibly be reset after a server software upgrade if the settings were not preserved prior to the upgrade and migrated after the upgrade.
For the D2D perspective, there are two different mouse profiles available: Default Cave and AWIPS 1 D2D. The table shown here lists the default mouse settings for both Default Cave and AWIPS 1 D2D. Note that it is possible to overwrite the default settings. Therefore, this listing will help to restore the actual default settings.
| Category | Action | Default Cave Event | AWIPS 1 D2D Event |
|---|---|---|---|
| Navigation | Zoom Out | Scroll Back | Left Click |
| Navigation | Zoom In | Scroll Forward, Middle Click | Middle Click |
| Navigation | Panning | Left Drag, Middle Drag | Middle Drag |
| Legend Interaction | Show/Hide Resource | Left Click | Left Click |
| Legend Interaction | Edit Resource | Middle Click | Middle Click |
| Editor Action | Toggle Legends | Right Click | Right Click |
| Editor Action | Show Color Edit dialog | Right Click | Right Click |
| Editor Action | Sample | Disabled | Long Left Click |
| Editor Action | Context Menu | Long Right Click | Long Right Click |
| Editor Action | Clear | Disabled | Disabled |
Note that you can assign multiple actions, like panning and zooming, to a single mouse control. Sometimes, these will not conflict, like setting left click to zoom out and show/hide resource (default). Sometimes these will conflict, like when left click is assigned to show/hide resource and sampling. In this instance, the sampling overrules the show/hide resource, so you can’t toggle the products with the left mouse button. If you encounter a conflict, try assigning one of the mouse controls to a different action (e.g., long left click for sampling and left click for show/hide resource).
You can also have conflict with different actions in one mouse button, like left-click pan and long left-click mouse sampling (i.e., Cave Defaults modified with sampling turned on). This particular conflict can be mitigated by disabling the pan button in the CAVE toolbar or by rapidly double clicking and holding on the second click.