TEM manual Customizing Standard User interface 1

TEM manual -- Customizing Standard User Interface

Table of Contents
1 Introduction.......................................................................................................................................... 2
2 How to use it........................................................................................................................................ 2
3 Customizations that are supported...................................................................................................... 2
4 Customizations that are not supported................................................................................................ 4
5 Effect on Existing Users ...................................................................................................................... 4
5.1 Expert Users............................................................................................................................. 4
5.2 Standard Users......................................................................................................................... 4
6 Other points to note............................................................................................................................. 4
7 Installing a new TEM version .............................................................................................................. 5
8 Sample Screen Shots.......................................................................................................................... 5
TEM manual Customizing Standard User interface 2

1 Introduction
This document explains new functionality added to the TEM software that allows the supervisor to
customize certain aspects of the User Interface for new standard users. This user interface
customization is intended for standard users only, i.e. not for users belonging to the TEM Experts group.
It is aimed primarily at setting up defaults for new microscope users, however the effect on existing users
is also explained in a later section.

Section 2 describes the general procedure. Section 3 describes the customizations that are possible,
and Section 4 describes the customizations that are not currently supported. Section 5 describes how
existing users are affected. Finally, sample screen shots are provided in the last section.

Since this functionality is available to microscope supervisors only, the reader is assumed to have some
basic knowledge of the TEM User Interface and of Windows (e.g. adding users to groups, creating
shortcuts and so on).

2 How to use it
The general procedure for customizing the User Interface is as follows.
1. Log on to Windows as supervisor (make sure that the “user” supervisor has administrator rights in
Windows).
2. Starting the user interface in customization mode. From the command prompt this can be done by
typing ‘[Link] /config’. Alternatively, you may prefer to create a taskbar shortcut for starting the
interface in customization mode. Creating shortcuts is described in the standard Windows help
system (e.g. searching for ‘creating shortcuts’ will retrieve topics explaining how to add shortcuts for
both individual users and groups of users).
3. Once started the title of the user interface should resemble that depicted in figure 1. The important
point is that the title of the window at the top of the screen should contain the text ‘CUSTOMIZING
INTERFACE SETTINGS FOR STANDARD USERS (I.E. NON EXPERTS)’. This indicates that the
user interface is running in customization mode.
4. Although you are logged in as supervisor, the user interface you now see is the interface that will be
presented to new standard users when they use the microscope.
5. Make the User Interface changes you require. This is done in exactly the same manner as when an
individual microscope user modifies his own personal interface settings – the only difference is that
in customization mode the changes are stored in a special location on the computer to be then
picked up by new users that log on subsequently. Some examples are given in the following section.
6. Exit the application in the normal manner.

3 Customizations that are supported

Note that the detailed procedure for changing the interface is exactly the same as an individual
microscope user adopts to modify his own personal interface settings. The only difference is that in
customization mode the changes are stored in a special location on the computer to be then picked up
by new users that log on subsequently.

The following workset related customizations are supported:

1. Changing a workset’s colors Left click the Color icon of the workset you wish to change. This
displays a dialog box on the right allowing you to change the color of various aspects of the
workset’s Control Panels’. If the workset you are changing is also the workset currently being
displayed on left hand side of the user interface then you will see your changes immediately. For
TEM manual Customizing Standard User interface 3

example, Figure 2 shows the controls to use for selection of the background color for the Control
Panels.
2. Renaming a workset Right click on the name of the workset you wish to change and select ‘Edit
label’, you can then change the name. If the tab for the workset you have changed is currently
visible on the top left hand side of the user interface then you will see your changes immediately.
For example, Figure 3 shows the popup menu function ‘Edit Label’ that allows changing the text of
the workset.
3. Deleting an existing workset Right click on the name of the workset you wish to change and
select ‘Delete’ to delete the workset. The left hand side of the user interface is again updated
accordingly. For example, Figure 3 shows the popup menu function ‘Delete’ that allows deleting a
workset.
4. Copying an existing workset Right click on the name of the workset you wish to change and
select ‘Copy’. This creates a new workset in the user interface that contains the same Control
Panels as the workset you copied from. Of course you can then rename the workset (as explained
previously), and edit the Control Panels in it (described shortly).
5. Adding a new workset This is performed by first copying an existing workset, then renaming it,
then modifiying the Control Panels it contains.
6. Changing the tab order of worksets Hold the left mouse key down while you drag the workset to
its new position relative to the other worksets. For example, Figure 5 shows the position of the
‘Tune’ workset changed from below to above the ‘Camera’ workset.
7. Changing the presentation order of Control Panels within a workset Hold the mouse key down
while you drag the Control Panel to its new position relative to the other Control Panels in the
workset. For example, Figure 4 shows the Plate Camera Control Panel being put below the Dark
Field Control Panel.
8. Adding a Control Panel to a workset Hold the mouse key down while you drag the Control Panel
from the right-hand pane of the Workspace Layout to the left-hand pane. For example, Figure 5
shows the ‘Direct Alignment’ Control Panel added to the ‘Tune’ workset.
9. Removing a Control Panel from a workset Right click on the name of the Control Panel and
select ‘Delete’ or left click and press the Delete key.

The following Status Panel related customizations are supported:

1. Changing the colors used in the Status Panels Left click the Color icon of one of the worksets.
This displays a dialog box on the right allowing you to change the color of various interface items.
2. Adding an Indicator to a Status Panel Right click somewhere over the Status Panel you wish to
change then select the item you wish to add. For example, Figure 6 shows ‘Intensity Zoom’ added
to the first Status Panel.
3. Removing an Indicator from a Status Panel Hold the left mouse key down while you drag the
item you wish to remove off the Status Panel. For example, Figure 7 (top) shows the ‘Intensity
Zoom’ item removed from the first Status Panel.
4. Changing the presentation order of Indicators in a Status Panel Hold the left mouse key down
while you drag the item to a new location on the Status Panel. For example, Figure 7 (bottom)
shows the items of the first Status Panel arranged in a different order.
TEM manual Customizing Standard User interface 4

4 Customizations that are not supported

All customizations that are not mentioned in the previous section cannot be modified for standard users
by the supervisor. More specifically the following change is not supported: Binding Panel related
customizations. The Binding Panel is located in the bottom left corner of the User Interface, it shows the
settings for the various function keys on the control pads. However, it should be noted that the actual
bindings for new users are as set by the supervisor under his/her own account (not while in
customisation). This only applies to the actual functions connected to the MF and user buttons, not which
knobs/buttons are displayed and how (lay-out) in the binding display itself.

5 Effect on Existing Users

5.1 Expert Users

Existing expert users are not affected by the customizations.

5.2 Standard Users

Existing standard users are not affected by the customizations if they have made their own changes to
the interface (i.e. whilst logged in as themselves). However, it is possible for a user to delete his/her
current interface changes and revert to the defaults provided by the supervisor by doing the following.

From the command prompt type ‘[Link] /resetInterface’. Alternatively, you can create a taskbar
shortcut for starting the interface in customization mode. (Creating shortcuts is described in the
standard Windows help system.)

Existing standard users that have not changed the User Interface themselves will automatically see the
new changes made by the supervisor. Since they are using the default settings for standard users, then
changing the default settings affects them too.

6 Other points to note

Some general points are worth mentioning:

1. As mentioned above, configuring the user interface for standard users requires logging in as
supervisor and starting the interface in customization mode. However, the supervisor is not
prevented from performing actual microscopy whilst running the interface in customization mode.
This is not recommended. In this mode, the supervisor is seeing the interface intended for standard
users, which is not the interface the supervisor sees when he/she starts the ui in the normal manner.
Therefore, recommended procedure is:
a) Start the user interface in customization mode.
b) Make the interface changes you wish.
c) Exit the user interface.
2. The changes affect new standard users only. New expert users are not affected by the
customizations.
3. When adding new Control Panels, note that you can select from the ‘User’, ‘Expert’, and ‘Supervisor
categories. See Figure 5 where Control Panels from the Expert category were added; but the ‘User’
and ‘Supervisor’ categories are also equally accessible.
4. Changes to the color settings of the Status Panels (e.g. background color or text color) also change
the color settings of the Binding Panel.
TEM manual Customizing Standard User interface 5

7 Installing a new TEM version

Should a new version of the TEM software be installed, the user interface should be started by the
supervisor to copy the user interface customizations from the previous TEM installation. All that is
required is to simply start then exit the user interface, i.e. the interface does not need to be started in
customization mode (see section 2).

Until this is done, any standard users starting the interface will see the default layout that has been
supplied with the TEM version just installed.

8 Sample Screen Shots

Figure 1. TEM User Interface title in Supervisor login in customize mode.

Figure 2. Changing a workset’s colors

TEM manual Customizing Standard User interface 6

Figure 3. Renaming and deleting worksets

Figure 4. Changing workset and Control Panel presentation order

TEM manual Customizing Standard User interface 7

Figure 5. Adding Control Panels to a workset

TEM manual Customizing Standard User interface 8

Figure 6. Adding Status Panels indicators

Figure 7. Removing Status Panel indicators and changing the presentation order of indicators