Editing an Element's Name, Description and Appearance

The default ID (name) for a new element is the element type followed by a number (e.g., Expression1, Integrator3). You can, of course, change the name.

Note: Element names can only include letters, numbers, and the underscore ("_") character. They cannot include spaces and must begin with a letter. In addition, some names (e.g., sin, cos, min) are reserved for use as functions and cannot be used as an element name.

Note: Two types of elements (Result elements and Dashboards) have slightly more flexibility in terms of their names. In particular, their names can include spaces.

In addition to changing the element's name in the dialog, you can also edit it by Ctrl+double-clicking on the name of the element in the graphics pane. If you Ctrl+double-click on the element name in the graphics pane, it will become selected and available for editing (indicated by the dark background).

Note: By default, element names are forced to be unique (i.e., the elements are global). For most applications, however, you will want to build models which have elements with non-unique names. In order to do so, the each identically-named elements must have a different scope. You can use a feature called localized Containers to create local scopes.

You should enter a Description for the element below the ID in the properties page. Descriptions can be up to 255 characters long. The Description field shows two lines. If you enter more than two lines of text, scroll bars appear. While entering a Description, you can use Ctrl+Return to insert a line break.

Note that the Description appears in the tool-tip displayed for the element in the graphics pane and the browser.

A tool-tip is displayed when you hold the cursor over the element in the graphics pane. The description is always displayed in the tool-tip below the element name.

Adding descriptions for every element makes your model much more transparent and easy to understand. It is strongly recommended that you add a description at the time you create the element. In larger models, it is highly unlikely that you will go back and add descriptions to the elements after you have completed the model.

Note: Descriptions are intended to be relatively short (255 characters). You can add very detailed documentation to an element by attaching a Note to it.

You can access a menu for changing the graphical appearance of an element by pressing the Appearance… button.