The area displayed in the Lens window is indicated by a red rectangle in the Viewer's Drawing Area. The red rectangle may be moved directly in the Viewer by clicking and dragging. As the rectangle moves, the Lens window will update to show the area inside the rectangle. Likewise, panning and zooming in the Lens window will be reflected by position and size of the rectangle in the Viewer.

When the Lens is started, its text size, symbol size, attribute size, coloring rule, big symbols, and power flow arrow settings are all synchronized with the Viewer; thereafter, the Lens settings are independent. If you want to resynchronize the Lens settings with the Viewer settings, close and reopen the Lens. Note that real-time/study mode and tracing are always synchronized between the Viewer and the Lens.

NMS applications start in real-time mode, where every action you perform is applied to the real-time model and displayed to all users. Certain windows (the Viewer and the Control Tool) allow you to change to study mode, where your actions are reflected in your study session on your workstation, but not recorded in the real-time model. Study mode is especially useful in "what if" studies, when you need to evaluate the effects of an action before you record it in real-time.

When in real-time mode, the Viewer displays status, topology, and condition information based on real-time operations information. All changes to these items made by any user in real-time mode are reflected on all real-time Viewers in the system.

When in study mode, the Viewer displays only status and topology changes you make on your workstation. Changes made in your study session are not reflected in the real-time model, and likewise changes made in real-time are not reflected in your study session. When in study mode, the Viewer displays information about the study session in the upper left corner of the drawing area and there is a green glow inside the window frame.

A study session is created for a specific workstation the first time you put the Viewer into study mode. The study session is initially created as a copy of the current real-time model. From that point on, changes in the study session and real-time are independent of each other. You can reset the study session to current real-time by using the Study Session Control tool. In addition, some Web Switching Management actions can also cause study session resets. Please refer to the Web Switching Management chapter for more information.

To toggle the Viewer to study mode, do one of the following:

To toggle the Viewer back to real-time mode, do one of the following:

The Viewer window borders and dialog boxes change color back to red.