Selection
MOLMOL uses the selection-action principle wherever
possible. This means that the user first selects a set
of items, and then executes the command(s) that performs
the desired action on the selected items. The kinds of
items that can be selected are:
- molecules
- residues
- atoms
- bonds
- angles
- distances
- primitives (annotations, ribbons, surfaces, etc.)
What kind of items need to be selected for a given
command is often clear from the command name, e. g. the
command ColorAtom operates on atoms, and therefore
you need to select the desired atoms before executing the
command. If you are uncertain about the required selection
for a command, check the online help pages, the first
sentence in the description normally tells you how the
command operates on the selection.
Selected items do not look visually distinct in the
graphical display. When you perform a selection operation,
the status line will give you information about the items
that were selected. You can also choose to only see the
currently selected items by clicking the Show Sel.
button on the right side of the
main window. Use the Show All
button to get back to displaying all visible items.
The following sections explain various aspects of how
to make selections:
Last modified: Mon Jan 20 19:44:56 CST 2003
Reto Koradi, kor@mol.biol.ethz.ch