User Interface Overview

When started, ews opens a main window, containing a menu bar and toolbar at the top, a navigation tree pane on the left, and an output view pane at the bottom. The rest of the window is occupied by a Multiple Document Interface (MDI) area, which is used to display other windows, like the Properties Inspector, or the Find View (both are described later). These other windows can be resized, moved, or closed just like any other window, but are constrained within the MDI area, and cannot be moved outside.

A screenshot of ews is shown in Figure 3-1.

Figure 3-1 EWS User Interface

Navigation Pane

The navigation pane contains two tabbed windows: a Projects tab, which displays any opened configurations as a hierarchical tree, and a Help tab, which displays the online help table of contents.

Within the Project window, every element in the project view tree is represented by a small icon with a name. Right-clicking on an element brings up a floating context menu, which can be used to perform actions such as changing the element's value. Double-clicking on an element opens the main Properties Inspector window in the MDI area.

Within the Help window, selecting an entry in the table of contents will display the appropriate help page in the MDI area.

Other Windows

The Properties Inspector displays the properties of an element, such as its value and description. Some of these properties may be changed.

The Show Children View window displays the sub-element, or first-level child, of a selected element.

The Find window is used to locate an element in the project view tree. Any element can be searched for by specifying a substring of its name or its type. The search can take place from the root, on the entire tree hierarchy, or from the selected element.