Working with the editor

The Visual Designer editor window displays a canvas on which you create your visual project.

About this task

From the editor window you can switch between the modes that allow you to design your visual project and check how the project is displayed for users in different rendering modes.

You can open multiple visual project elements at the same time in the Visual Designer editor window. Each opened element appears as a separate canvas with an identifying tab along the top of the editor window. When you click the canvas tab in the editor window, that canvas becomes active. In order to make changes to a specific visual project element, that element must be active in the editor window. You can also activate a canvas by selecting the element of the visual project in the Project Explorer view.

The tabs at the bottom of the window allow you to toggle between the following modes:
  • Canvas mode

    You use Canvas mode to add content to your visual project. When you add objects they are represented in the editor by placeholder objects.

  • Design mode

    You use Design mode to arrange and modify objects, which you added in Canvas mode, to adjust the content of your visual project to different screen resolutions.

  • Runtime mode

    You use Runtime mode to test the content in your visual dashboard. In Runtime mode, graphic objects are drawn as they will appear to your users, queries are executed, object events are generated, and associated actions are performed. In addition, navigation features are executed. The Runtime mode of the editor displays your visual dashboard as the user will see it.

  • Preview mode

    You use Preview mode to test the content in your visual report. In Preview mode, graphic objects are drawn as they will appear to your users, queries are executed, object events are generated, and associated actions are performed. The Preview mode of the editor will display your visual report as a user will see it.

You can control how your visual project will be rendered in the Runtime and Preview modes by using the rendering mode list in the workstation menu bar.

Depending on the type of the visual project the following rendering mode options can be available:
  • HTML optimizes the content to be viewed in a web browser.
  • HTML5 optimizes the content for better performance in modern web browsers and on mobile devices.
  • PDF optimizes the content to be printed.