 SimView Application Help Index

The help topics for the functions in SIMVIEW are organized by function menu, as listed below:

File menu

Edit menu

Axis menu

Screen menu

Measure menu

View menu

Option menu

Label menu

Help menu


File menu commands
File Menu

The File menu includes the following functions:

Open	Open a data file, in ASCII format
Open Binary	Open a data file, in SIMVIEW binary format
Merge	Load another file for display. The curves of these two files will be combined.
Re-Load Data	Re-load the data from the same file
Save	In the time display, save the waveforms to a SIMVIEW binary file with the “.smv” extension. In the FFT display, save the FFT results to a text file with the “.fft” extension.
Save As	In the time display, save the waveforms to a SIMVIEW binary file with a different name. In the FFT display, save the FFT results to a text file with a different name.
Save Settings	Save the current display settings to a file with the “.ini” extension. This “.ini” file is a text file and can be edited by a text editor. When SIMVIEW is launched or the data is reloaded, if this setting file exists, SIMVIEW will read this file and use the settings for display.
Print	Print the waveform
Print Setup	Select a printer and printer connection
Print Page Setup	Change the size of the hardcopy printout
Print Preview	Preview the printout
Exit	Exit SIMVIEW
In the FFT display, the “Save” or “Save As” function will save the data within the range defined on the screen.


Edit Menu

The Edit menu includes the following functions:

Copy to Clipboard	Copy the waveform from the document to the clipboard
Edit Title	Edit the title of the waveform printout
Note that the “Copy to Clipboard” function will copy whatever on the screen to the clipboard. Therefore, if the display is in color (default), the image saved to the clipboard will also be in color, which would result a large file.

To reduce the image memory size, one should first change from color display to black-and-white display (by de-selecting “Color” in the “Option” menu). Then click on “Copy to Clipboard”. The image will be in monochrome which will result a much smaller file.


Axis Menu

The Axis menu includes the following functions:

X Axis	Change the settings of the X axis
Y Axis	Change the settings of the Y axis
Axis Label Setting	Change the settings to show or hide the labels
Default X Axis: Time	By default, the first column of the data is time, and X axis will be time. If a column other than time is chosen as the X axis, before opening any documents, this option should be de-selected.


Screen Menu

The Screen menu includes the following functions:

Add/Delete Curves	Add or delete curves to/from the selected screen
Add Screen	Add a new screen
Delete Screen	Delete the selected screen
The curves can be manipulated mathematically. Expressions with brackets are permitted, and are not case sensitive.

The following are the math functions supported in SIMVIEW:

+	addition

-	substruction

*	multiplication

/	division

^	to the power of [e.g. 2^3 = 2*2*2]

SQRT	square-root

SIN	sine function

COS	cosine function

TAN	tangent function

ATAN	arc-tangent function

EXP	exponential

LOG	natural logarithm (base e)

LOG10	common logarithm (base 10)

ABS	absolute value

SIGN	sign of the variable [e.g. SIGN(2.5) = 1; SIGN(-5) = -1; SIGN(0) = 0]

AVG	average of the variable

INT	integration of the variable

Assume the data have curves I(1), I2, and Va. The following are samples of the expressions:

(I(1)+I2)/(I2^3)

SIN(I(1)+0.2)

20.


Measure Menu

The Measure menu includes the following functions:

Measure	Select to enter the Measure mode
Max	Find the global maximum of a selected curve
Min	Find the global minimum of a selected curve
Next Max	Find the next local maximum of a selected curve
Next Min	Find the next local minimum of a selected curve
Avg	Calculate the average of the selected waveform within the selected time interval.
Avg(|x|)	Calculate the average of the absolute value of the selected waveform within the selected time interval.
rms	Calculate the rms value of the selected waveform within the selected time interval.
Note that all the measure functions can only be performed in the Measure mode, after a curve is selected. Click on the Measure icon to enter the measure mode. In the measure mode, click on the curve name (at the upper left corner, outside the screen) to select the curve.


View Menu

The View menu includes the following functions:

Zoom	Zoom in
Redraw	Re-draw the waveforms
Escape	Escape from either Zoom or Measure mode. This is needed, for example, if one wishes to select a text after zooming in.
Toolbar	Enable or disable toolbar
Status Bar	Enable or disable status bus at the bottom of the SIMVIEW window


Option Menu

The Option menu includes the following functions:

FFT	Perform the FFT analysis.  (Note: The length of the waveforms on the screen must be an integer number of the fundamental period before performing FFT. For example, for a 60-Hz waveform, the length of the date must be 16.6667 msec or its integer multiples. Otherwise the FFT results will be incorrect.
Time	Switch from the frequency domain display to time domain display
Set Text Fonts	Set the font of the text
Set Curves	Select the settings of the curve display. The data points of a curve can be either connected or discrete. In addition, data points can either have no symbol, or one of the following symbols: Circle, Rectangle, Triangle, Plus, and Star. To change the settings, first select the curve with the left mouse, and choose the desired settings. Then Click on “Apply”.
Set Background	Set the background color to either black or white
Grid	Enable or disable the grid display
Color	Set the waveform color option to be either color or black/white.  To save the waveform to a monochrome image with  “Copy to Clipboard”, for example, first de-select “Color”.
Activate or Deactivate	Activate or deactivate the software (for softkey version only)


Label menu

The Label menu includes the following functions:

Text	Place text on the screen
Line	Draw a solid line on the screen. First click the left button to start the  line, then move the mouse while keep the left botton pressed.
Dotted Line	Draw a dotted line on the screen. First click the left button to start  the line, then move the mouse while keep the left botton pressed.
Arrow	Draw a solid line with arrow on the screen. First click the left button to start the line, then move the mouse while keep the left botton  pressed.
Note that if one is in the Zoom or Measure mode, one should first escape from this mode (by selecting “Escape” in the “View” menu, or click on the escape icon on the left of the text icon) before adding or editing a text string or a line.

To go back to the Measure mode, click on the Measure icon.


Help Menu

The Help menu includes the following:

Index	Provide the help topics organized based on menu
About	Display the version number of SIMVIEW and contact information