) is a form object that represents a display of some property as numerical data.Enter the name of the Data Display object in the Name field.
By default, the data display uses Unicode rendering. If the data display does not look as expected or the expression to display contains LaTeX syntax, consider using LaTeX rendering instead by selecting the LaTeX markup check box. Then the data display does not rely on the selected font. It can also be a matter of preference: the look and alignment of the data display changes slightly depending on whether this check box is selected or not.
In the Tooltip field, enter a text that will appear as a tooltip when the user hovers the pointer over the data display.
In addition, the Settings window contains the following sections:
In this section you specify the source for the data to display. The section contains a tree with a filtered view of the trees in the Application Builder and Model Builder windows. The nodes either represent some sort of data or have children that do. For a data display, variables in the COMSOL model, scalar strings, array and matrix settings from model data such as material properties, and numerical (double and integer) variables and arrays or matrices that you define under Declarations are available as the data source. The data display can show arrays or matrices with LaTeX syntax. You can extend the list of available data nodes by clicking the Switch to Model Builder and Activate Model Data Access button (
) in the Source section header, which takes you to the Model Builder, and then selecting a node in the Model Builder branch whose data you want to access. With this button active, the Settings window of the selected node displays a Select Data Source check box (a green square) next to the settings that you can include. Click to select the check box to include that data as an available source node for data display objects.
) in the Source section header, which takes you to the Model Builder, and then selecting a node in the Model Builder branch whose data you want to access. With this button active, the Settings window of the selected node displays a Select Data Source check box (a green square) next to the settings that you can include. Click to select the check box to include that data as an available source node for data display objects.In addition, you can choose to use one of the following information nodes, which you find under the main Model node and under each Study node, as the source:
|
•
|
The Expected Computation Time node (
 ) under Model>Information ( ): The expected computation time is a value that the application developer can enter in the Expected field in the Root node’s Settings window. |
|
•
|
The Last Computation Time node (
 ) under Model>Information: This node shows the last measured computation time for the last computed study. |
|
•
|
The Last Computation Time node (
 ) under each Model>Study>Information: This node shows the last measured computation time for that study. |
When you start an application for the first time, the last measured times are reset, displaying Not available yet.
When you select a node that represents data, the Use as Source toolbar button (
) below the tree becomes enabled. You can right-click the node and choose Use as Source. You can also click the Create button (
) in the Source section header to create a new variable declaration and use it as the source. A Create and Use Variable dialog box opens, so that you can select the data type of the source (if applicable), its name, and its initial value. The name cannot be in conflict with any existing variable declaration. Click the Edit Node toolbar button (
) below the tree to move to the corresponding node. If necessary, the program switches to the Model Builder.
) below the tree becomes enabled. You can right-click the node and choose Use as Source. You can also click the Create button () in the Source section header to create a new variable declaration and use it as the source. A Create and Use Variable dialog box opens, so that you can select the data type of the source (if applicable), its name, and its initial value. The name cannot be in conflict with any existing variable declaration. Click the Edit Node toolbar button () below the tree to move to the corresponding node. If necessary, the program switches to the Model Builder.After selecting a node as the source, the node appears as the selected source under Selected source.
In the Precision field, enter the number of significant digits to display in the output (default: 4). Choose the notation to use for the data from the Notation list. The options are Automatic (the default), Scientific, and Decimal. If you use Automatic, the program switches to scientific notation when the output is about 3 orders of magnitude larger than or smaller than 1. For the Automatic and Scientific options, also choose the format of the exponent for scientific notation from the Exponent list. The choices are Power of 10 (the default) and E-notation. Select the Display all significant digits check box (available for the Scientific and Decimal options) to always add trailing zeros to match the specified precision.
|
•
|
From the Horizontal alignment list, choose Left, Center, Right, or Fill, which automatically expands the form object to fill the cell in the horizontal or vertical direction (where applicable).
|
|
•
|
From the Vertical alignment list, choose Middle, Top, Bottom, or Fill, which automatically expands the form object to fill the cell in the horizontal or vertical direction (where applicable).
|
The need to specify the alignment is most obvious when working in the grid mode, as it controls how the form object is aligned in its grid cell. Aligning the form object can be useful in the sketch mode too, and you can then use the alignment tools on the Arrange menu in the Form toolbar’s Sketch section. When running the application in any client other than the Windows client, the form objects may not be positioned exactly as seen in the Application Builder. This is because the form objects may have a different size in other clients, giving them a slightly different positioning. Specifying the alignment ensures that the form objects are aligned as you want them to be in all clients.
The Width and Height fields are unavailable because the dimensions of the numerical data display are determined by the software.
Additionally, in the sketch mode, you can specify the form object’s absolute position using the Position x and Position y fields. In the grid mode, you can position the object in the grid and see the grid position as the Row, Column, Row span, and Column span values.
 |
Under Cell margin (in grid mode only), you can control the margins around the form object. By default, the margins are taken from the parent form. From the Cell margin list, choose:
|
•
|
None, to use no margin around the form object. Using no margin can be useful when displaying dynamical data inside a sentence to avoid excessive whitespace margins.
|
|
•
|
From parent form (the default), to use the margins set for the parent form.
|
|
•
|
|
•
|
From the Text color list, select a color to use for the text in the data display: Inherit (the default; the form object then uses the setting from the Form it is located in), any of the predefined basic colors, or Custom, which makes it possible to select a custom color from a color palette that opens.
|
|
•
|
From the Background color list, select a color to use as the background in the data display: Transparent (the default), any of the predefined basic colors, or Custom, which makes it possible to select a custom color from a color palette that opens.
|
|
•
|
The font and the font size for the text use the font settings from the Forms node by default. Select a font from the Font list: Default font or any of the available fonts. If needed, choose or enter a font size (in points) in the Font size combo box. The default is to use the Default size for the font.
|
|
•
|
Select the Bold check box to use a boldface font.
|
|
•
|
Select the Italic check box to use italics (an italic font).
|
Under State, you can control the initial state of the data display when users run the application. By default, the data display is visible and enabled. Clear the Visible or Enabled check box if you want to make the initial state so that the data display is hidden or unavailable. You can then make it visible or enable it using a method.