4.2.6 Organizing objects
Axis Tool
The Axis Tool allows the user to make changes quickly to many
items on the axes without refreshing the matrix after each change. It is
especially useful for creating new graphs from scratch or working with large
matrices.
To open the Axis Tool select
Axis | Axis Tool....
This operation opens a window as illustrated in
Figure 4–40.
Figure 4–40. Axis tool.
The Axis Tool consists of
two lists: the list on the left shows which of the two axes you are working on
and that on the right the items on the selected axis. Through the pop-up menu of
the items list you can add, delete and move items.
Delete from Matrix
deletes all occurrences of the selected object from the matrix (useful if the
same object is on both axes).
Diagonalization
Because of the matrix representation, some matrix specific
functionality is naturally incorporated in the Matrix Editor. One typical
example is diagonalization, and another is sorting.
The diagonalization of a matrix is performed simply. To do
this, just select
Analysis | Diagonalise. As a result the elements of the
currently selected axis are re-organized so that relationships between elements
are located close to the diagonal.
Sorting
Analysis | Sort... allows you to sort the elements on
the horizontal and vertical axis. The sorting can be ascending or descending
based on alphabetical order of object names, with or without their
types.