Getting Started #2 - CPS Navigation: Modes, Nodes and Toolbars

Tutorial Scripts

Introducing Modes, Nodes, and Toolbars See This Tutorial Segment

To begin with, Segment 2 of this lesson walks you through the elements of the Navigation Pane, including the Three Unique CPS Modes: which are: the "Home Mode”, the "Codeplug Configuration Mode” , and the "Custom View Configuration Mode”.

Segment 2 also covers other Navigation Pane Features, including: “Browse for a Codeplug”, “Read a Radio”, “Refresh a Radio”, “Clone a Radio” and “The Recent Codeplugs List”.

Segment 3 introduces the Two Types of CPS Codeplug Nodes that can be launched from the Navigation Pane, which includes: “Single Record Nodes  and “Multiple Record Nodes”.

And finally…Segment 4 thoroughly describes the CPSs Multiple Record Toolbars”, <pause> which include: The Add / Delete Records Toolbar in the Multiple Record Table View, <pause>and the Navigation Toolbar in the Single Record View.

The Three CPS Modes and Navigation Pane Button Choices See This Tutorial Segment

To begin with, opening the CPS lands you on the CPS’s Home Mode. Note that there are two other modes that may be selected: the Codeplug Configuration Mode, and the Custom View Configuration Mode. As you can clearly see, these Modes are selected from the Navigation Pane. Also within this Navigation Pane, note that there are Five Button Selections, and for your convenience, several “Recently Used Codeplugs” that can be easily reloaded.

This “Recent Codeplugs” list,  the “Browse for a Codeplug” button and the “Read a Radio” button, all allow you to load a codeplug into the CPS. Once a codeplug is loaded into the CPS, you are automatically taken to the “Codeplug Configuration Mode” where the features of the codeplug are programmed. Further note that when in this Codeplug Configuration Mode, the Navigation Pane is converted into a tree-like representation of the codeplug’s feature set.

Prior to getting further into this “codeplug navigation”, first let’s briefly click back to the “Home Mode” and take a look at two of the other Navigation Pane buttons: “Refresh a Radio” allows for the upgrading of a radio’s internal Feature-Set software, also known as “firmware”. And “Clone a Radio” allows for the CPS’s currently-loaded codeplug-programming to be written-to multiple radios. Be aware that these two features are also available from the Ribbon Bar's “Device” Tab.

And now, let’s return back to the Codeplug Configuration Mode, and the “tree-like” navigation tool. First note that codeplug trees can have many levels of branches. We can refer to these different levels of the tree as "nodes". Click on a branch’s show / hide toggle tool to open more levels of the tree. Note that some branches of the Tree also have several smaller branches, which can also be referred to as "nodes".

And finally, the third mode that is accessed from this Navigation Pane is the Custom View Configuration Mode. Once this mode button is clicked, this tool is further accessed from the Ribbon Bar, where the user-defined Custom View of the codeplug’s radio features is possible. Note that when defining a Custom View, Hiding or Viewing of specific CPS features is created from a predefined CPS View: such as “Basic”,  “Intermediate”, “Full” , and the “Expert” level view.

As always, be aware that, from the CPS’s Online Help System, more detailed information may be found on this Custom View Configuration feature.

Single and Multiple Record Nodes See This Tutorial Segment

Certain codeplug nodes are single record nodes, for instance the "Radio Wide" node is an example of a single record node. Other codeplug nodes have multiple record capability; for instance as you can see, the Conventional Personality node is capable of multiple records. When you click on the lowest level of any certain node, the features of that node appear in this middle window within the CPS. Within this window, the individual codeplug features are available for programming. Notice that the features in this window are organized within groups, which are also known as Expanders or Pages. Further note that, on a group’s title bar, there is a Show - Hide “Toggle Tool”, which allows you to expand or collapse all of the features within a group. And, do be aware that, when there are many groups of features within a node, there are “Quick-Links” located at the top of the feature’s window, that conveniently jump you to the desired features of the node.

The Multiple Record Toolbars and Alternate Views See This Tutorial Segment

When a node has multiple record capabilities, like this Conventional Personality node, there will be a toolbar at the top of the Window; we can therefore call this the Multiple Record Toolbar. Note that, depending on the node’s current view, Single Record or Multiple Record Table View, the toolbar’s available features do change.

For instance, in the Single Record View the toolbar allows you to navigate the records of the node. And in the Table View, the toolbar allows you to copy, add, and delete records. In this Table View, the node’s features are still in the same groupings as in the Single Record View, however all features appear in the same row for each record. Scrolling to see more features is sometimes needed in the Table View.

One advantage of the Table View… is the ability to View and Compare the same feature’s settings for multiple records.  When in the Single Record View, be aware that, certain groupings of features like the Frequency Options group, can also have multiple records, therefore, what you have in this case is a Multiple Record Node that can also contain multiple record groups of features.

At the Top node level, switching between the Single Record View and the Table View is accomplished by clicking on the top level of the Conventional Personality. Conversely, clicking on a specific Personality… switches the features back to the Single Record View of the selected Personality.

You may also switch to the Top Node Level “Table View” from the window’s Alternate Mode button, and simply click again to switch back to the window’s Single Record View. When switching between the two modes of a multiple record group, within a multiple record node, the Page Level Alternate Mode button is available for this purpose. From this Group’s Table View, click to switch to the Group’s Single Record View, and simply click again to switch back to the Group’s Table View. 

Returning now to the Top Node Table View of All Personality Records, let’s take a more detailed look at the Toolbar. To begin with, this toolbar allows you to add more personality records within the node using the Add button. When clicking the Add button, notice that the number of records increases in the table, which can also be seen in the codeplug tree. Changing this Add Record Quantity tool, allows you to add a desired number of records at the same time. This Add button feature also includes a Copy Type Selector. The Copy Type’s "Current" selection allows you to duplicate all of the Feature Settings of the currently highlighted record. Therefore when "Current" is the selected Copy Type, any new records added with the Add button, will be identical to the currently highlighted record. Ultimately, when needing to add new records, and when many of the new record’s feature settings will be the same, the "Current" selection can greatly reduce your programming time. Note that the "Default" Copy Type, creates all new records with the CPS’s Default feature values. This toolbar also allows you to Delete records for the node. First highlight the desired record or records in the table and then click the Delete icon to permanently remove these records.

Additionally, be sure to see the tutorial on "Table View Productivity Features".

Also be aware that, from the Navigation Pane tree, highlighting an appropriate record, and then right-clicking offers the ability to Copy and then to Paste, which is creating a duplicate of that record as the last record on this branch. Highlighting an appropriate personality record, and then right-clicking also offers the ability to permanently Delete that record.

And finally, in this Single Record View, the navigation toolbar offers choices for going Back to the previous record, Forward to the next record, jump to the First record, jump to the Last record, or even Go To any desired record.

This concludes the second Getting Started Tutorial, be sure to continue with the third Getting Started tutorial on “CPS-User Productivity Preferences”.