Dialog boxes and list Boxes
Many commands require you to specify the taxa and/or characters
upon which the command is to act, and some also require you to specify
character states. These commands automatically display a "dialog
box" from which you can make your selection. Inside the dialog
box are various buttons, and a "list box" containing taxa,
characters, or states. Clicking on an item in the list selects the
item (or deselects it if it was already selected). You can also drag
the cursor to select or deselect multiple items. Some dialog boxes
contain "SelectAll" and "DeselectAll" buttons,
which select or deselect all the items in the list.
The item currently at the "focus" of a list box is
enclosed in a dotted rectangle, and is also indicated by an arrow. If
you press the "OK" button (or its equivalent) without having
selected any items from the list, then the item at the focus is
automatically selected.
Taxa and characters may be selected in groups from
"keyword" dialog boxes, or individually from taxon and
character dialog boxes. To switch between these dialog boxes, use the
"Keywords" and "List" buttons.
Using the keyboard in list boxes
You can move the focus in list boxes by pressing the up-arrow,
down-arrow, PageUp, PageDown, Home, and End keys, or by typing the
number of the required item. The space bar selects or deselects the
item at the focus.
Advanced selection methods
A set of taxa or characters may be built up by repeated selections or
deselections in the keyword and taxon or character dialog boxes. The
rules governing the process are as follows.
- When a keyword dialog box is deactivated by pressing an
"OK" or "List" button, the taxa or characters
corresponding to the selected keywords are added to the set.
- When a taxon or character dialog box is deactivated by
pressing an "OK" or "Keywords" button, the
selected taxa or characters are added to the set, and the deselected
taxa or characters are removed from the set.
Note that taxa or characters cannot be
removed from the set via the keyword dialog box. As control
passes to and fro between the keyword and taxon or character dialog
boxes, the keywords and taxa or characters that are currently in the
set are automatically marked as selected. The fact that a keyword is
not automatically marked as selected implies only that at least
one of its taxa or characters is not in the set.