Using the Tabbed Document Interface

Introduction

One of the most significant user interface improvements to be made available in Toad is the Tabbed Document Interface. After listening to our customers and working with the new interface, we have decided that the tabbed interface is superior to the standard MDI and will be the only interface made available in all new versions of Toad. This decision will allow us to concentrate on continuing to improve and enhance this single design to the benefit of our customers.

The tabbed document interface has many similar features to its predecessor, the Standard MDI Interface, yet is superior in many ways. Like its predecessor, the tabbed interface allows you to work with multiple document windows simultaneously, switching from window to window as needed in order to get your job done. Unlike standard MDI, however, tabbed documents fully maximize the entire client area of the main application window without the need for you to constantly resize, arrange, or tile the windows. How many times in the past have you grabbed and dragged windows around on the screen just to find one that is hidden somewhere?

Splitting Document Windows

It is easy to view two or more document windows simultaneously without having to constantly rearrange and resize the windows. This is accomplished by merely grabbing the tab of the window and dragging it to a new location. Dropping the window in the new location will result in the creation of a new “tabbed group”. Multiple groups may be created and each can contain multiple windows.

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Drag and Drop Across Tabs

Dragging objects is much easier in the tabbed document interface. Grab an object and drag it over a tool or document tab and the window will be brought into view so that it will be available as a drop target. With the tabbed interface, you no longer need to arrange two windows on the screen in order to prepare for a drag and drop action.

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Document Context Menu

Right-clicking a document tab opens a context menu for the document. Actions that apply to the current document, such as Save File, Close, and File Properties are available.

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Drop-down Document List

The down arrow located on the right-hand side of the document tab strip provides a drop-down list that may be used to quickly locate and activate any of the open document windows. This feature is especially useful for finding a document window when a large number are open.

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Next Window Navigation

Pressing and releasing Ctrl+Tab will quickly navigate to the next document window in the list. If you press Ctrl+Tab and then release Tab while keeping Ctrl depressed, a navigation window will be displayed. Repeatedly pressing and releasing Tab will allow you to visibly navigate through all of the open document windows. You may also use the Left or Right keys to switch between a list of tool windows and document windows.

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Window Menu

As with standard MDI, the Window menu provides access to a list of open document windows as well as actions used to manage the windows.

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Windows Dialog

The Window | Windows... menu item will open a dialog that can be used to apply actions to multiple windows simultaneously. For instance, you may multi-select and choose to Close or Save multiple documents in one action.

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Conclusion

We hope you find the information in this white paper useful and that it will increase your productivity when using Toad. We are constantly looking for ways to improve the product and make it even better. Please let us hear from you if you have any ideas for improvement that you would like to share.

Regards,

The Toad team.