**********************************
The Graphical User Interface (GUI)
**********************************

This page describes the different parts of the graphical user interface in `Learning Simulator`.

See :doc:`starting` for instructions on how to launch the GUI.

The GUI aims to allow easy editing and running of a simulation script.

.. image:: gui.png
  :alt: gui.png

Menu bar
********

File menu
---------

.. image:: menu-file.png

| **New**
| Create a new (blank) script. If the current script is not saved, a dialog box below appear asking if you want to save the changes.

| **Open...**
| Open an existing script file by browsing the file system. If the current script is not saved, a dialog box below appears asking if you want to save the changes.

| **Open Recent**
| Selecting this menu item displays the last opened/saved script files. Open any of them by selecting it.
| 
| Below the list of recent files, there is a **Clear Items** menu item. Select this to clear the list of recent files.
| 
| The list of the last opened/saved files are stored in the file ``lesimrf.txt`` in the user's home directory (on Windows this is typically C:\\Users\\name).

| **Save**
| Save the current script.

| **Save As...**
| Save the current script as a different name.


| **Exit**
| Exit the GUI.

Edit menu
---------

.. image:: menu-edit.png

| **Undo**
| Undo the last action.

| **Redo**
| Redo the last action.

Run menu
--------

.. image:: menu-run.png

| **Simulate and Plot**
| Run the current script, including displaying plots and performing exports.

| **Plot**
| Only performs the plotting and exporting commands on the data from the last simulation.

Help menu
---------

.. image:: menu-help.png

| **Documentation**
| Opens this documentation.

| **License**
| Displays the terms and conditions for the license of `Learning Simulator`.


Script window
*************
This is the text area where to open/edit scripts. It works like a simple editor.

If you need further editor features, you may use your favourite editor, save the file
as a text-file, and run the script from the command line. See :doc:`starting`.

Button panel
************
The **Simulate and Plot** button does the same as the menu item **Run > Simulate and Plot**

The **Plot** button does the same as the menu item **Run > Plot**

The **Close Figures** button closes all currently open plot figures.

Message log
***********
This is the message log, used to display information from the `Learning Simulator`.
