oNote UI Tour

The navigation bar provides fast access to oNote features. When a model is open on your canvas, more options become available.

Expand the main navigation panel to view feature options. Hover your mouse on the left navigation bar to view the menu options. Collapse the menu to maximize screen real estate when you’re working with a model. When you aren’t hovering on the navigation bar, the menu automatically collapses unless you’ve explicitly set it open. To hold the expanded menu open, click the hamburger menu icon in the upper left. To collapse the main menu again, click the collapse icon.

When you expand menus, the oNote app remembers their state as you go back and forth when accessing the menu options.

When you first add a new event model, the canvas is a blank slate ready for your input. The infinite canvas provides plenty of room to continue placing model objects in a rightward direction as you move forward along the timeline. You can insert lanes and insert columns as needed to expand your canvas, which conveniently accommodates your evolving event model designs.

The canvas has three default lanes that cannot be deleted, relocated, or renamed:

You can insert lanes within your event model, edit the lane name, and delete those custom lanes.

The event model objects that you can add within a lane depend on the particular lane type.

The ability to insert a lane above or below an existing lane depends upon the context of the current lane type, as determined by the cursor position.

Navigate your cursor using the directional arrow keys on your keyboard or the available keyboard shortcuts. The cursor focus appears as a box with a blue outline.

As you populate your model, color-coded interface objects appear.

You can populate your model using the smart cursor mode, manual cursor mode, right-click menus, or a combination thereof.

You can quickly navigate your event model using keyboard shortcuts. The keybindings also support actions such as importing models, and adding or deleting lanes.

Press Shift+? to get available options at any location in the model canvas.

If you are new to event modeling, or want to quickly create the basic foundation of a model, you can use the smart cursor mode. Smart cursor is a predictive auto-completion feature. As you create your model, you can proceed to the next logical object by pressing Ctrl+Enter when ending each entry. The smart cursor also automatically links the appropriate objects as you move forward on the timeline.

If you press just Enter instead of Ctrl+Enter after creating an object, then you are in a manual cursor mode. When you create your next model object sequence, click Ctrl+Enter to switch back to smart cursor mode.

If you prefer, you can also right-click in a lane or on a model object to open a context menu. The options that appear depend on the object, location, and any prior actions. For instance, if you cut or copied an item, the paste option becomes available.

A model object is analogous to a sticky note. You can adjust the placement of a model object by clicking and dragging it to another location on the grid. A valid placement displays a grid cell with a pink background.

If you try to drag an object to an invalid position, it snaps back to its original position. The oNote app does not allow invalid placement of a model object.

Cut or copy and paste a model object on the canvas. Only valid paste locations are allowed. You can use the right-click context menu or keyboard shortcuts.

Copy:

Cut:

Paste:

For more information on other supported key bindings for these commands, see keyboard shortcuts.

You can create links in any of the following ways:

If you are using the Smart cursor mode, links are automatically created between model objects for you.

Otherwise, you can manually link objects by entering linking mode:

A yellow arrow on the left side of an object indicates you are in linking mode.

You can then use the keyboard keys or shortcuts to move the cursor focus. You can also just manually click and drag an arrow to an allowed target.

When an object has focus, valid anchor locations for links appear.

A color legend indicates valid or invalid links between model objects:

The Interface Editor is a separate side canvas from the main modeling canvas. After adding and naming an interface in the Default Audience lane or a custom Audience lane of the main modeling canvas, press Shift+Enter, or right-click and choose Edit from the context menu. You can rename an interface or add a description in the Details tab. You can choose the Interface type and configure the interface in the Interface Designer tab.

For more information, see Interfaces.