JMRI: Item Palette Help
Author: Pete Cressman
Keywords: JMRI help Item Palette

# The Item Palette

The Item Palette is used to place icons and text onto Control Panel Editor panels. The palette is a tabbed window with tabs for each item type. The common method all items use to add an item to a panel is "Drag and Drop". Each tab has a bordered Preview panel containing a labeled Drag to Panel panel. Drag the item inside this border over to your Panel. In the cases where the icon represents a layout device (e.g. a turnout, a sensor, etc.), tab may also contain a table of elements configured for that device type. select a row from a table to associate that particular device with the icon - and then drag the icon to the Panel.

The window shown when the Edit XYZ menu item of a panel item is invoked shows the corresponding Item Palette tab pane without the labeled Drag to Panel panel.

## Iconic Items

Some device types need a set of icons to depict each of their states The Item Palette provides multiple sets of icons to choose from to associate with a device. There is a radio button for each icon set defined for the tab item. For example, under the sensor tab you may have sets of large jewels, small jewels, each size with several sets with different colors for active and inactive - e.g. red-green, yellow-dark, etc.

The individual icons are displayed in the preview on the background of the last editor to open the Item Palette. since 4.9.7 Choosing a different background in the "View On:" combo box, may help in determining what parts of the icon are opaque and what parts are transparent.

### Editing and Creating New Icon Sets

- The Show Icons button displays all the icons in the selected set.
- The Edit Icons button opens a dialog where the icons may be changed by dragging new icons from the Icon Catalog. Also the name may be changed with Rename Icon set
- Additional icon sets may be added with New Icon Set button. After giving a name to the new icon set, the edit dialog is displayed with all the states of the device represented with "red X" icons. Replace the red X icons with icons you drag from the catalogs. There is no limit on the number of additional icon sets that can be added to an item tab.
- The Delete Family Icon Set button deletes the selected icon set.

When the Item Palette is customized by editing icon sets or by adding of deleting sets, exiting PanelPro will open a dialog box asking whether you want to save your changes. When changes are saved the Item Palette is stored in the CatalogTrees.xml file in the preferences directory.

### Table Items

The items associated with a table (eg. Turnouts, Sensors, Lights, Signal Heads) have a pick list of their items displayed. Under the table is a Add New Table Item button. This button opens the corresponding device table from the Tools menu for you to create a new device item.
Tabs with tables require a device to be selected (a row in the table) before the an icon can be dragged to a control panel to represent it.

### Special Cases

Since 4.21
Should all of the icon sets of a device type be deleted, a Restore Defaults button is displayed. This button reinstalls the default icons listed in the file JMRI/xml/defaultPanelIcons.xml. Holding the keys Ctrl and A down while clicking the New Icon Set button will reinstall any missing default icon sets for that tab.

Before 4.21 the Indicator Turnout tab always showed buttons to add and delete status icons when the Edit Icons button was pressed. Now these (advanced) buttons are displayed only if the keys Ctrl and A are held down while clicking Edit Icons.

## Item Palette Tabs

- Turnout Both left and right turnout icon sets are contained in this tab. Select a turnout from the table and an icon set for either Right, Left, R/L Crossover, then drag to the panel.
- Sensor Select a sensor from the table and an icon set, then drag to the panel.
- SignalHead When a signal head is selected in the table, the [Show Icons] button will only display the icons for the valid appearances of the signal. When no row is selected all possible appearance icons are shown. When adding a new icon set, all possible appearance icons are shown.
- SignalMast A signal mast must be selected from the table to drag icons for it to the panel and to display the icons it uses for its aspects.
- Memory Select a memory variable from the table. The four icon types each have a "Drag to Panel" area. Drag the item within the bordered "Drag to Panel" to the panel. Note that Input and Spinner types can only be dragged from the edges of their text boxes.
- Global Variable Select a LogixNG Global Variable from the table. The four icon types each have a "Drag to Panel" area. Drag the item within the bordered "Drag to Panel" to the panel. Note that Input and Spinner types can only be dragged from the edges of their text boxes.since 5.3.1
- Reporter Select a reporter from the table and drag the item within the bordered "Drag to Panel" to the panel.
- Light Select a light from the table and an icon set for either Crossed symbol, Right or Left and drag to the panel.
- Multisensor The table displays the Sensor Table and the default icon set has three lever positions. For the default case, three rows must be selected in order from the table to place the multisensor icon in a panel. The table selections are labeled "first", "second", etc. and these labels correspond to the labels shown when the full icon set is displayed. When editing or creating a Multisensor icon set, lever positions can be added and deleted. That is, you may make a two sensor multisensor or a four or five sensor icon set. Use the Add Icon or Delete Icon button to add or delete lever positions.
- Icon The bordered icons displayed (labeled with their names) can be dragged directly to a panel. Icons can also be dragged directly from the Icon Catalog. to add icons to this tab, just drop them into the preview panel from the Icon Catalog.
- Background Background icons are placed in a panel just as regular icons are. However, they are assigned the lowest display level and cannot be selected with a simple mouse click. Use "Control Click" to select a background icon. Rather than an icon, a custom background color can be chosen with the Color Chooser button. This button displays a color chooser with tabs for different ways to set a color.
- Text The Text tab displays a text field to enter the text and the attribute options that renders the text. Font sizes styles, justification and border attributes can be chosen. A color chooser provides custom colors for fonts, background and borders.
  Drag the item in the Preview Panel to the panel.
- RPSReporter Drag the "Drag to Panel" icon to the panel and setup the RPSReporter from its pop up menu.
- FastClock Drag the clock to the panel.
- Indicator Track since 2.12 These are intended for use when track circuits are configured with OBlocks. Most of the items in this tab pertain to their use as presentations of OBlocks and their use with warrants. However, if OBlocks are not defined, but occupancy sensors are installed on the layout as track circuits, the Occupancy Circuit field will accept a sensor name. When this is the case only the "Occupied" and "Clear" colors can be displayed.
- Indicator Turnout The above comment also applies to Indicator Turnouts.
- Portal Portal icons are used in Circuit Builder to define Portals and Paths. On the Control Panel they also will display direction arrows along a route when Warrants are allocated.

## More about Indicator Track

Indicator track (i.e. both track segments and turnouts) have colors to display status of the track circuit they represent. When the track circuit is configured by an OBlock, and the Portals and Paths it contains, the following status states will be displayed by color:

- Clear Indicates ready for use. More precisely, the circuit is in a known state and none of the other status apply.
- Occupied (Yellow) The track is occupied by an unknown train or car.
- Allocated (Green) The track is reserved for use by a warrant.
- Train Position (Blue) The track is occupied by a train under warrant and this is its current position.
- Not In Use (Gray) The state of the track is not known or it has been set to be out of service. This state is also used when local control of blocks is granted from a panel.
- Power Error (Red) This is the state of another sensor - not the occupancy sensor. If used, most likely it would be wired to indicate a short or power failure.

### Indicator Track Tab

Enter the name of the track circuit (OBlock) this track icon represents into the Occupancy Circuit field. The Open Detector Picklist button opens a picklist showing the defined OBlock track circuits. Drag or copy the name to the Occupancy Circuit field. Do Not use the "Sensor Table" tab of the picklist unless there are no OBlocks configured and you only want to use the "Occupied/Unoccupied" status.

When a valid OBlock name is entered in the Occupancy Circuit field and the icon dragged and dropped onto the panel, after selectiing it a CircuitPath panel is added to the tab showing all the paths that have been defined for the OBlock. Check the paths of the track circuit that pass over this icon. When these paths are part of an allocated route or are occupied by a warranted train, they show that status by color.

Below the Occupancy Circuit field is a checkbox labeled Display Train Name when occupied. When a warranted train occupies the track circuit, circuit icons having this box checked, show a marker with the occupying train's id. Most likely, you will only want one of the icons in the track circuit to display the train id.

### Indicator Turnout Tab

This tab has the same functions as the Indicator Track tab with the addition of a turnout table. A turnout must be selected from the Turnout Table to be able to drag an icon to a control panel.

The [Show Icons] button displays the icon set in a matrix where the rows show the status icons for each state of the turnout - Closed, Thrown, Inconsistent, and Unknown.

When an Edit Icons window is displayed all icons are shown, Icons from the Icon Catalog may be dragged and dropped to any icon shown.