PushbuttonPushbuttonThe Pushbutton command display is used to change the associated simulation value to a pre-configured value.
To create a Pushbutton command display, simply drag it onto a page from the Tools window's Commands section. Once in place, you may drag an input from the Data window's Tree tab onto it. Inputs that can accept values from a command display are displayed in the tree in italics.
The Pushbutton's title is set using the Button Title text field at the top of the configuration dialog
The Pushbutton command display can send its value immediately, or at a specified date/time. By default, the Timed checkbox in the configuration dialog is unchecked. In this state, the value configured would be sent immediately upon the user pushing the button in the VC document window. If the Timed checkbox is checked, a date/time field appears along with the button in the interface allowing the user to specify exactly when the value should be sent after the button is pressed.
A Pushbutton can send an integer value, a floating point value, or a matrix. In the Pushbutton's configuration dialog, five command types are listed with matrix types being broken down into the more common 3d Vector and Quaternion types as well as just a generic matrix. Selecting each type changes the interface to allow easy entry of that particular type of data. For example, selecting 3d Vector causes three text fields to be displayed - one for each element of the 3x1 matrix.
Generic Matrix values are entered using a format familiar to Matlab users. The matrix is surrounded by square brackets. Rows are separated by semicolons and columns are separated by commas. Values are entered in a left-to-right, top-to-bottom manner so that a 2x4 matrix with two rows having all 1s in the first row and all 2s in the second row would be specified like this: [1, 1, 1, 1; 2, 2, 2, 2].
Before the Pushbutton is associated with a value in the data tree, all types are available in the configuration dialog. After associated the pushbutton with a simulation value, however, only the type associated with that value is available. For example, if the Pushbutton is associated with a satellite position value from the data tree (a 3x1 matrix), then only the 3d Vector type is available in the Pushbutton's configuration dialog afterwards.
Although you can specify overlapping ranges, the ranges are checked in the order in which they appear in the configuration dialog. The color of the indicator is determined by the first matching range that is encountered.
When the interface is in Run mode, clicking the button causes the associated simulation value to be changed to the value specified in the Pushbutton's configuration. If the Pushbutton is timed, rather than immediate, a date/time field appears along with the button. In that case, after the button is clicked, the change to the simulation value will occur at the date/time specified.