The Canvas tab
The Canvas tab allows configuration of the circuit drawing area's appearance.
There are eight options.
The Printer View check box specifies whether to display the circuit on the screen in the same way it is displayed through the printer. Normally this is off, and Logisim displays the on-screen circuit with indications of the current circuit state, and it displays some hints about component interface (most particularly, it draws legs on OR gates to indicate where they would connect). The printer view, though, omits indications of state, and it omits such interface hints.
The Show Grid check box specifies whether to draw dots in the background indicating the grid size.
The Show Attribute Halo check box specifies whether to draw the pale teal oval around the component or tool whose attributes are currently displayed in the attribute table.
The Show Component Tips check box specifies whether to display the "tool tips" that will temporarily appear when the mouse hovers components supporting them. For example, if you hover over a subcircuit component's pin, it will display the label of the corresponding pin within the subcircuit - or it will display the subcircuit's name it has no label. Hovering over one of the ends of a splitter will tell you the bits to which that end corresponds. In addition, all components in the Plexers, Arithmetic, and Memory libraries will provide information about their inputs and outputs via tips.
The Keep Connections When Moving check box indicates whether Logisim should add new wires when components are moved to preserve their connections. By default this is on — though it can be turned off temporarily by pressing the shift key while moving the components. If this option is unchecked, then the default will be not to add wires during a move — though you can turn it on temporarily by pressing the shift key during the move.
The Zoom Factor drop-down menu allows you to "blow up" or "condense" the image by a ratio. Zooming into a circuit is useful for live classroom demonstrations where the screen resolution is too small to view the circuit from the back of the classroom; zooming out can be useful for a orienting yourself to very large circuit.
The First Radix When Wire Poked drop-down menu configures how values are displayed when a wire is clicked using the Poke Tool. Clicking temporarily displays the value until the user clicks elsewhere in the circuit.
The Second Radix When Wire Poked drop-down menu configures the second part of the value display.
Next: The Simulation tab.
