Combining palettes and marking menus
Interaction Techniques


The two main interaction techniques of CPN Tools are palettes and marking menus. You can use these techniques separately, or you can combine them.

Combining palettes and marking menus

When you have a tool in the hand, you can access all marking menus as you would normally, by clicking with the right button. The tool stays in the hand but is not applied while you interact with the marking menu. You can, for instance, have the arc tool in the hand and access the page marking menu to create the destination node for the arc.

Creating the destination node during arc creation The arc can now be attached
Though the same can be accomplised by double-clicking.

Your selected tool only stays in the hand as long as you don't use a marking menu to select a new tool. If you, for instance, have the single step tool in the hand, and choose new arc from the place marking menu. Then the create arc tool will replace the single step tool, and you will have to pick up the single step tool from the simulation tools palette to use it again. (Or you can use it through a marking menu.)

Combining palettes with basic interaction

When you have a tool in the hand, it is still possible to perform most of the actions described on the Basic interaction page. For instance, you can have a tool in the hand and move an object by using a long click.