Design page in MFS Editor

The Design page contains the Design canvas and an associated Palette view, where you can visually edit a format definition.

Design canvas

Use the Design canvas to customize a new format definition or modify an existing format definition. Use the scroll bars to view the entire visual editing space.

To see the available design, filter, and edit options, right-click the canvas to open the right-click menu.

To add an item to the canvas, click the item icon on the Palette and click the cursor at the canvas location that you want. You can also drag the item onto the canvas.

Note: When you first create an MFS device format with the MFS Device Format wizard, the lowest level of the hierarchy that is created is the MFS division. You can view this hierarchy in the Outline view. Before you can start adding fields to the design page, you must first add a device page and physical page element to the device format. After the first physical page is created, the highest level of hierarchy that is displayed in the design page is the physical page level. Subsequent device pages must be created through the Outline view.

When you select a field in the design canvas, the field is highlighted in the Outline view, and property value information is shown in the Properties view. If you open the Source page of the MFS editor, the MFS source corresponding to the MFS field is also highlighted.

Selecting and moving items

There are several ways to select and move items in the Design canvas.

If you want to select and move a single item, use the Palette view Select tool from the Default drawer. Select the item, press and hold the mouse, and drag the item to the desired location. As the field is moved, a pop-up dialog opens and shows row, column, and width information.

To select multiple items in sequence, use the Select tool in the Design canvas, press the Ctrl key, and select the items to move. You can then click one highlighted item and move the entire group of selected items.

Alternatively, you can draw a box around the items that you want to move in the Design canvas, by pressing the Shift key while you use the Select tool.

You can also use the Marquee tool in the Design canvas, and then use the Select tool to create a cursor for moving the selected items.

Edit options and keyboard shortcuts

Table 1 lists the edit options and the corresponding keyboard combinations. These options are also available from the Design page right-click menu.

Table 1. Design canvas edit options
Option	Keyboard shortcut
Undo	Ctrl+Z
Redo	Ctrl+Y
Cut	Ctrl+X
Copy	Ctrl+C
Paste	Ctrl+V
Delete	Delete
Save	Ctrl+S
Print	Ctrl+P

Important: The Undo and Redo operations apply to operations performed in either the Outline view or the Design canvas. For example, if you cut a field in the design canvas, the Undo Cut option is enabled in the Outline view pop-up menu.

Printing

To print the design canvas, click File > Print from the menu toolbar. You can also use the Ctrl+P key combination or select Print from the Design page right-click menu.