Partial Differential Equation Toolbox

The Toolbar

The toolbar underneath the main menu at the top of the GUI contains icon buttons that provide quick and easy access to some of the most important functions. They do not offer any additional functionality; all toolbar buttons functions are also available using menu items. The toolbar consists of three different parts: the five leftmost buttons for draw mode functions, the next six buttons for different boundary, mesh, solution, and plot functions, and finally the rightmost button for activating the zoom feature.

The draw mode buttons represent, from left to right,

• Draw a rectangle/square starting at a corner. Using the left mouse button, click-and-drag to create a rectangle. Using the right mouse button (or Control-click), click-and-drag to create a square.
• Draw a rectangle/square starting at the center. Using the left mouse button, click-and-drag to create a rectangle. Using the right mouse button (or Control-click), click-and-drag to create a square.
• Draw an ellipse/circle starting at the perimeter. Using the left mouse button, click-and-drag to create an ellipse. Using the right mouse button (or Control-click), click-and-drag to create a circle.
• Draw an ellipse/circle starting at the center. Using the left mouse button, click-and-drag to create an ellipse. Using the right mouse button (or Control-click), click-and-drag to create a circle.
• Draw a polygon. Click-and-drag to create polygon edges. You can close the polygon by pressing the right mouse button. Clicking at the starting vertex also closes the polygon.

The draw mode buttons can only be activated one at a time and they all work the same way: single-clicking a button allows you to draw one solid object of the selected type. Double-clicking a button makes it "stick," and you can then continue to draw solid objects of the selected type until you single-click the button to "release" it.

If you are not in the draw mode when you click one of the draw mode buttons, the GUI enters the draw mode automatically.

The second group of buttons includes the following buttons, from left to right,

	Enters the boundary mode.
	Opens the PDE Specification dialog box.
	Initializes the triangular mesh
	Refines the triangular mesh.
	Solves the PDE.
	Opens the Solution Plot Selection dialog box.

The buttons in the second group are of the "flash" type; single-clicking them initiates the associated function.

The last, rightmost button with the magnifier icon toggles the zoom function on/off.

Window Menu

The Finite Element Method