Linking#

In PISE, you can browse three different Content Types (C, N, D), as well as trees (T):

  • (C) Charts (diagrams of theorems and proofs)

  • (N) Notes (annotation and Sphinx pages)

  • (D) Documents (PDFs and other archival document formats)

  • (T) Trees (structure views in the sidebar, showing everything defined in a Proofscape repo)

and these things can be linked to each other in various ways, as described in Table 1.

As you can easily imagine, if you had all three content types open at once (C, N, and D), it might get tricky to ensure that all the automatic navigations were happening where and when you wanted them to, especially if you had multiple views open for a given chart, say, or notes page.

Luckily, PISE gives you easy ways to control “what navigates what,” a topic we refer to as content linking, or just linking for short.

In this tutorial we walk through an example scenario in which you will:

  • Accept default links

  • Change a link

  • Make multiple links

  • Remove a link

  • Link to a tree

Terminology#

Before we go any farther, let’s make sure we have clear ways to talk about the different parts of the PISE workspace.

Above, we have opened two content panels: one notes panel, and one doc panel. (There is a third type of content panel called a chart panel, but we won’t see one of those until later.)

Within each content panel, we have to distinguish two parts, which we call the tab (which you use to select the panel) and the content area (where the content is displayed). See Fig. 1.

../../_images/0020_terminology.png

Fig. 1 Notes panel with highlighted tab in red, and content area in green.#

The drag-and-drop metaphor#

If there is any trick to using drag-and-drop linking in PISE, it’s remembering the direction of the link that’s established when you drop a tab onto a content area. Which panel will control which?

Here are a few memory aids that might help. Pick one that works for you, or make up your own.

  • Remember that “TAb = TArget, CONTent = CONTroller.”

  • Make up a story: You are telling the interactive elements that live in a content area, “I want you to control this tab.”

  • Ask yourself, “How does tree linking work?” Here it’s obvious that the thing you drag and drop (a tree node) must be the target. But the rule is consistent: The thing you drag and drop is always the target.

Summary#

In this tutorial, you have learned the basics of content linking in PISE. You’ve learned about the default links that PISE makes on its own, as well as the basic techniques for controlling the links manually, which include:

  • Drag and drop a tab onto a content area. (The tab is the target, the content is the controller.)

  • Drag and drop a tree item onto a content area.

  • Right-click a tab, and select the “Links…” option, to edit existing links.