Note: This is documentation for version 5.0 of Source. For a different version of Source, select the relevant space by using the Spaces menu in the toolbar above

Schematic Editor

The Schematic Editor allows you to create and manage an operations or schematic scenario.

Figure 1. Schematic Editor contextual menus

Note: You can select multiple components in one of two ways:

  • Click on a blank area in the Schematic Editor and then drag the mouse. This will create a blue rectangle. Any component entirely inside the rectangle will become selected when you release the mouse; and
  • Shift-click on individual components to add them to a selection.

Several commands are available when you right-click a component or a selection of components in the Schematic Editor (Figure 1):

  • Edit opens the selected component's feature editor where you can edit its configuration
  • Rename the selected component
  • Activate selected component(s) if it has previously been deactivated
  • Deactivate selected component(s), see below for details. 
  • Multi-activate activates the selected component and either all upstream component or all downstream components (including all components in tributaries), based on your choice from the sub-menu.
  • Multi-deactivate deactivates the selected component and either all upstream components or all downstream components (including all components in tributaries), based on your choice from the sub-menu.
  • Add opens a sub-menu listing all nodes. Select a node from the list and it will be added at the place you clicked. This option is synonymous to dragging a node from the node palette on to the schematic. It is only visible in the contextual menu if you right click on a blank area in the Schematic Editor, rather than on a component. 
  • Copy the selected component(s)
  • Delete removes the selected component(s) from the scenario
  • Paste the selected component(s) you have previously copied
  • Apply Params to All Links applies the parameters of the selected link to all links in the scenario
  • Routing Type changes the type of the selected link. Choose the link routing type from the resulting sub-menu
  • Line Type changes the representation of the selected link to either elbow (orthogonal) lines (Figure 2, left pane) or a straight line (Figure 2, right pane). Each line has one control point which you can adjust to route the line around obstacles. The control point for an orthogonal line can only be moved in the vertical dimension whereas the control point for a straight line has no restrictions on its movement
  • Rotate rotates the orientation of the selected node(s) to the orientation chosen from the sub-menu. The default direction is 0 degrees, which corresponds to North to South. See below for more information.
  • Grid Settings... opens the grid settings dialog (Figure 3). Here you can choose to:
    • Toggle display of the grid using Display Grid. The default state is off but the setting is saved with your project. This is synonymous to the Display Grid button in the Schematic Editor toolbar (Figure 5). 
    • Toggle whether nodes will snap to the grid when moved within Schematic Editor using Snap to Grid. Turning this setting on does not affect the alignment of existing nodes. Alignment with the grid is only enforced when you drag a node. Figure 3 compares the appearance of the Schematic Editor with the Snap to Grid control turned off (left) versus on (Grid Size is 50 pixels in centre and 100 pixels on right).  The default state is off but the setting is saved with your project. This is synonymous to the Snap to Grid button in the Schematic Editor toolbar (Figure 5). 
    • Change the frequency of grid lines using Set Grid Size. The default is 10 pixels but the setting is saved with your project. Figure 4 shows the appearance of the Schematic Editor with a grid size setting of 10 pixels (left), 50 pixels (centre) and 100 pixels (right). This is synonymous to entering the grid size in the Schematic Editor toolbar (Figure 5).
Figure 2. Schematic Editor options comparison

Figure 3. Grid Settings dialog

Figure 4. Snap to grid on/off comparison

Schematic Editor toolbar (refer to Figure 5)

  • You can work with links and nodes in the Schematic Editor using Enable connecting link to a different node. This button allows you to disconnect the end of a link from the node to which it is attached, and then reconnect that link to another node. You can use this feature to insert new nodes into a schematic without losing the configuration of existing links.
  • Straight Lines toggles the representation of links to straight lines (eg. Figure 2, centre and left schematics) from the default of orthogonal (elbow) line (Figure 2, right schematic). The representation of any link can be controlled independently using the contextual menu in the Schematic Editor. Right-click the link and choose one of the options in the Link Type sub-menu. Each line has one control point which you can adjust to route the line around obstacles. The control point for an orthogonal line can only be moved in the vertical dimension whereas the control point for a straight line has no restrictions on its movement. The representation of any link can be controlled independently using the contextual menu in the Schematic Editor. Right-click the link and choose one of the options in the Link Type sub-menu.

    Note: At present, only the setting of the Straight Lines button is saved with your project. Any changes you make to individual links or control points are lost when you close your project.
    Figure 5. Schematic Editor toolbar

  • Note/Error icons toggles the view of any notes and/or errors that are present in the Schematic Editor.
  • Node Labels toggles the view of node names the Schematic Editor. Source defaults to displaying node names (Figure 2, centre schematic).
  • Link Labels toggles the view of link names in the Schematic Editor. Source defaults to displaying link names (Figure 2, left schematic).
  • Track when enabled, the Schematic Editor window will scroll to bring into view any node or link that you select in the Project Hierarchy. You can use this feature to locate components in large models. The default state of this button is off. In this mode, Source leaves the Schematic Editor window unchanged, regardless of any selections you may make in the Project Hierarchy. 
  • Overview Panel toggles the display of the Overview Panel in the Schematic Editor. The default state of this control is off. You can use the Overview Panel to obtain a thumbnail view of your entire schematic. You can drag the Overview Panel to any point within the Schematic Editor, but you cannot pan the Schematic Editor by dragging within the Overview Panel.
  • Pan when enabled, clicking and holding on any part of the drawing surface in the Schematic Editor moves the entire drawing surface. This is an alternative to using the scroll bars.
  • Tool tips controls the view of tool tips containing information about a component's name, elevation and type.  A storage node contains additional information including its capacity, height and surface area:
    • Tool tips on – when selected, clicking on any node in the Schematic Editor causes a small floating window to appear that contains additional information about that component;

    • Tool tips off – when selected, the floating windows do not appear; and

    • Tool tips locked – when selected, clicking any component in the Schematic Editor causes a small floating window to appear next to every component.

  • Ordering Highlighting  controls the highlight of nodes with ordering, constraints and off allocation processed. Through Edit >> Scenario Options>>Ordering Processing, nodes and links are able to be ticked on or off to decide whether to have ordering, constraints and off allocation processed or not.
    • None – when selected, no node is highlighted
    • Ordering –when selected, nodes with ordering processed are highlighted
    • Constraints – when selected, nodes with constraints processed are highlighted
    • Off Allocation – when selected, nodes with off allocation processed are highlighted
    • All – when selected, all nodes are highlighted
    • Reset – reset highlighting
  • Show/Hide Node/Link Display - controls the view of nodes and links:
    • Show link labels -  when selected, show link labels
    • Show node labels - when selected, show node labels
    • Custom display - when selected, show customized display of nodes and link labels
    • Configure custom display - by clicking this, a custom display configuration window will pop out,as shown in Figure 6. Ticking the little box to allow show Icon or show label for nodes and links
Figure 6. Custom Display Configuration

  • Display Grid toggles display of the gridThis is synonymous with the Grid Setting dialog option.
  • Snap to Grid toggles whether nodes will snap to the grid when moved within Schematic Editor. This is synonymous with the Grid Setting dialog option.
  • Set Grid Size changes the frequency of grid lines. The default is 10 pixels but the setting is saved with your project. Figure 4 shows the appearance of the Schematic Editor with a grid size setting of 10 pixels (left), 50 pixels (centre) and 100 pixels (right). This is synonymous with the Grid Setting dialog option.
  • Print opens the Print preview dialog allowing you to save the schematic in the Schematic Editor as a pdf. The entire schematic is scaled to fit within a single A4 page in portrait mode. An example is shown in Figure 7;
  • Save as Image saves the entire schematic in the Schematic Editor as a *.jpg. The entire schematic is scaled to fit within a single A4 page in portrait mode.
  • You can view the zoom and undertake various zoom actions using the zoom icons on the right side of the toolbar:
      • Current zoom displays the value of the zoom that is currently used in the Schematic Editor. This value has a range of of 10 – 200%;
      • Zoom in allows you to zoom into a particular part of the mode (or Ctrl and + on your keyboard's number pad or Ctrl and scroll up with your mouse scroll wheel). Similarly, Zoom out allows you to zoom out (or Ctrl and - on your keyboard's number pad or Ctrl and scroll down with your mouse scroll wheel). Both actions are performed in increments of approximately 10%; and
      • The last two icons ensure that the entire model fits into the Schematic Editor screen. As its name suggests, Fit to width ensures that entire model is visible horizontally in the window. Clicking Fit to window will display the entire model in the window.
Figure 7. Schematic editor, Print Preview

Node Rotation

By default, Source nodes have a north to south orientation. If your schematic represents a model that has a different orientation, you can choose to rotate some or all of your nodes to represent this. 

You can rotate a node two ways:

  • Click on a node to select it. A green circle handle will appear, you can drag the handle to rotate the node (Figure 8, left node). 
  • Right click a node or a selection of nodes and choose Rotate from the contextual menu (Figure 1). Then choose either the default direction or one of the four compass directions from the sub-menu  (Figure 8, right nodes). You can set the default rotation in Edit » Scenario Options, then select Default Node Rotation from the side tree. Nodes added from the node palette will have the default rotation. 
Figure 8. Node rotation

Deactivated components allow water to pass through that component as if it was not there. That is, a deactivated component's downstream flow is always the same as its upstream flow. Similarly constituents and orders are not effected by the deactivated component. This allows you to test the effect of component(s) on the simulation. For example, the effectiveness of a proposed storage can be modelled by running the scenario twice; once with the storage node activated and once with it deactivated.

Performance Improvement

Deactivating large sections of a model (eg. a network branch) will improve performance by decreasing model run-time. This can be useful when you are working with part of a model only, eg. during calibration.

Nodes and links can be deactivated two ways, either:

  • select the component(s), right-click to open the contextual menu, select Deactivate; or
  • Right-click on a single component, choose Multi-deactivate to deactivate the selected component and either all upstream or all downstream components, based on your choice from the sub-menu.

Deactivated nodes are indicated by a grey circle backlash symbol on top of the node icon. Deactivated links become a solid grey line. Figure 9 shows what happens when the storage alone was deactivated using Deactivate (left pane), or the storage  and all upstream components were deactivated using Multi-deactivate » This and all upstream, or the storage and all downstream components were deactivated using Multi-deactivate » This and all downstream including tributaries (right pane).

Figure 9. Deactivation of nodes and links comparison

Note the following about deactivation:

  • Multi-deactivate and multi-activate does not work if traversing the network leads back to the starting component, such as an anabranch. Source will notify you if this occurs. For example, it is not possible to use multi-deactivate (either upstream or downstream) on either the environmental demand node or the water user node in Figure 8. 
  • Two Warning notifications are generated by Source when running a model with deactivated components:
    • One indicates how many components were deactivated
    • The other indicates how many components were excluded from the run order. Excluding components from the run order will reduce run time. 
  • Deactivation has not been implemented for a wetland cluster. If a component of a wetland cluster is deactivated, there will be a run time error. 
  • If a splitter is deactivated, all the flow, constituent and orders are passed down the non-effluent link.
  • If a supply point is deactivated, the connected water user will not receive water.