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Editing classification trees on screen

When the Classification tree option is selected from the File/New dialogue, a window is created with the standard set of graphical tools which function as described below. The drawing pane of the window contains a single node. This will become the root of the new classification tree.

Classification tree FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)

InterModeller Help Contents

The Pen tool

• Click on a node to add a child (subnode). Press and drag on the node to relocate it.
• Click on any label to edit the label's text.  An edit field appears in which the edit takes place. Type the required text, then click the green tick button or hit Return. Text is not case-sensitive anywhere in InterModeller. This means that you need not worry about case differences.
• If the label includes a feature description as well as a class name, ensure that a caret ('^') comes between the class name and the feature description and that correct feature syntax is used, as illustrated below.

• To rapidly edit a succession of text labels, click on a label, type the necessary text, and then immediately select the next label either by pressing a shifted arrow key (to select a neighbouring label) or by clicking on a label in the tree (to select any label). These techniques allow more rapid editing than can be achieved by clicking the green tick or hitting Return after each label is typed.
• To copy a label from one node or arc to another, click on the label and select 'Copy' from the 'Edit' menu (or use the ctrl-C shortcut). Then click on the other label and select 'Paste' (or press ctrl-V), and then click the green tick button or hit Return.

The Arrow tool

• Press and drag on a node to move the node and its subtree. You can position a node almost anywhere. However, child nodes must be located to the right of their parents.
• The 'Edit' menu's 'Undo' command if used immediately will reverse any change.
• You can use 'Edit' menu' commands to copy and paste trees and parts of trees between different windows, providing they are of the same model type.
• The 'Build' menu contains a 'Redraw neatly' command which will automatically tidy an entire tree. If you don't like the result, use Edit/Undo.

The Eraser tool

• Click on a node to delete the node and its connecting arcs. Use this tool carefully: if you erase a node in the middle of a tree, the nodes to the right become detached from the main tree and there is no easy way to reattach them.
• If you decide that the erasure was a mistake then it can be undone by immediately selecting 'Undo' from the 'Edit' menu.
• To erase several nodes at once, drag around them. If you delete the root you can create a new root by control-clicking.