Interacting With The Schematic

In addition to modifying the river schematic, there are options available to zoom in, zoom out, display the cross section river stationing, and reset the viewing extent of river system schematic. Additionally, the user has the ability to use the mouse to interact with the schematic. This is accomplished by moving the mouse pointer over an object (river reach line, junction, bridge, culvert, etc.) on the schematic and pressing down the left mouse button. Once the left mouse button is pressed down, a pop up menu will appear with options that are specific to that type of object. For example, when the left mouse button is pressed down over a cross section, a menu will appear allowing the user to select options to: edit the cross section, plot the cross section, plot the profile for the reach that the cross section is in, display tabular output for the cross section, and plot the computed rating curve for that cross section. Another way of interacting with the schematic is to press the right mouse button while the mouse pointer is located any where over the schematic drawing area. This will bring up a pop up menu that is exactly the same as the View menu at the top of the drawing. This option is providing for convenience in getting to the View menu options. The options available from the View menu are as follows:

Zoom In: This option allows the user to zoom in on a piece of the schematic. This is accomplished by selecting Zoom In from the View menu, then specifying the area to zoom in on with the mouse. Defining the zoom area is accomplished by placing the mouse pointer in the upper left corner of the desired area. Then press down on the left mouse button and drag the mouse to define a box containing the desired zoom area. Finally, release the left mouse button and the viewing area will display the zoomed in schematic. Also displayed will be a small box in the upper right corner of the viewing area. This box will contain a picture of the entire schematic, with a rectangle defining the area that is zoomed in. In addition to showing you where you are at on the schematic, this zoom box allows you to move around the schematic without zooming out and then back in. To move the zoomed viewing area, simply hold down the left mouse button over the rectangle in the zoom box and move it around the schematic. The zoom box can also be resized. Resizing the zoom box is just like resizing a window.

Zoom Out: This option zooms out to an area that is twice the size of the currently zoomed in window. Zooming out is accomplished by selecting Zoom Out from the View menu on the geometric data window.

Full Plot: This option re-draws the plot to its full original size. The Full Plot option is accomplished by selecting Full Plot from the View menu on the geometric data window.

Pan: This option allows the user to move around when in a zoomed in mode. The pan option is accomplished by selecting Pan from the View menu of the geometric data window. When this option is selected, the mouse pointer will turn into a hand. Press the left mouse button and hold it down, then move the mouse. This will allow the user to move the zoomed in graphic. To turn the pan mode off, re-select the pan option from the view menu.

Set Schematic Plot Extents: This option allows the user to set the extents of the viewing area for the river system schematic. The user can enter a specific coordinate system, or utilize the default data system. The default data plot extents are from 0 to 1 for both the X and Y axis.

Find: This option allows the user to have the interface locate a specific feature on the schematic. This is especially useful when very large and complex river systems are being modeled.

Display River Stationing: This option allows you to display river station identifiers on the schematic. This is accomplished by selecting Display River Stationing from the View menu on the geometric data window.

Display Bank Stations: This option allows the user to display the main channel bank stations on the cross section lines of the schematic. This is accomplished by selecting Display Bank Stations from the View menu of the geometric data window.

Display Ineffective Areas: This option allows the user to display the location of ineffective flow areas on top of the cross section lines of the schematic. This is accomplished by selecting Display Ineffective Areas from the View menu of the geometric data window.

Display Levees: This option allows the user to display the location of levees on the cross section lines of the schematic. This is accomplished by selecting Display Levees from the View menu of the geometric data window.

Display XS Direction Arrows: This option allows the user to display arrows along the cross sections in the direction in which they were extracted. This option is useful when you have coordinates defined for the cross section, such that the software can detect the direction that the cross section was extracted. Cross-sections are suppose to be entered from left to right while looking downstream. If a cross section has not been entered in this manner, it should be reversed. HEC-RAS has an option to reverse the cross section stationing. This option can be found under the Tools menu bar of the geometric data editor. To display the cross section direction arrows, select Display XS Direction Arrows from the View menu of the geometric data window.

Fill in Storage Areas: This option allows the user to turn on and off the fill in color for the storage areas. Turning this off is very useful when a background picture is loaded.

Background Pictures.