User Interface

This topic contains the following sections:

Start page – quick access to the most important functions

The start page appears each time you start cxE. It provides quick access to application functions that you might find useful to start your work:

Further Info
Start and save a project
Application settings and defaults
Engineering assistants and configurators

Backstage area – for application settings and default values

Clicking the cxE icon on the left opens the backstage area.
Besides the "usual" functions like opening/creating or saving projects and information, this is where you...

... make the basic application settings like language, set default values and set up the interfaces to external applications.
... find the project history and roll back the project to specific project versions or history points.
... create and download/copy the project documentation (including part lists) for follow-on usage or data archiving.
... find detailed version information on the application itself and the technical components used.
... open the cxE online help from the About section.

Note
A yellow dot on the backstage area icon indicates that there are new cxE release notes available for download in the About section (the dot is also shown next to the Release notes entry in the About section). The icon is removed once you have opened the Release notes link in the About section.

Engineering view – do the planning

The actual application UI, where you do the planning, consists of a fix central editing area (the engineering workspace) and additional windows for specific purposes, which you can displayed/hide and resize according to your needs.
The following picture shows the different areas of the UI and gives you a general idea of their functions.

Note
The arrangement of the views and windows has been optimized for engineering tasks and cannot be changed. You can, however, resize the individual windows and toggle their display on the VIEW tab.

Note
In this documentation, we use the following notation and style to refer to individual commands (buttons) in the toolbar ribbon:
tab name > ribbon heading | button on the ribbon
Example: ACCESSORIES > INSERT | Bridges

(1) The PROJECT TREE on the left shows the mounting devices contained in the project together with the mounted equipment (terminal strips).
Read more...

The project itself is the root element of the tree. Below the root, each inserted mounting device (plate or rail) is represented by a parent tree node and subnodes for the individual equipment. Each time a new mounting device or equipment is added, the corresponding node is automatically added to the tree.
The checkbox ( ) toggles the display of the individual mounting rails/plates in the workspace view. This way, you can either get an overview of the whole project or have a detailed display of single elements.

Note
Unplaced equipment is not shown in the tree but only displayed in the UNPLACED ELEMENTS window (2).

Selecting a node name in the tree highlights the related element in the workspace (if displayed there).
New equipment nodes are automatically named according to the currently valid equipment labeling standards (e.g., X for terminal strips). You can change any node name in the tree by double-clicking the name field in the tree.

(2) The UNPLACED ELEMENTS window is used to handle components and articles that are not placed on mounting rails, mounting panels or enclosures in the current project. You can use this container as a clipboard for the articles and components to be put on purpose. All articles and components added to the UNPLACED ELEMENTS window are not contained in the order.
Display/hide this window: VIEW > WINDOW | Unplaced Elements

Further Info
See the topic "Working with Unplaced Elements" for details.

(3) The WORKSPACE in the middle is the actual editing area where you do the engineering. It shows the 3D representation of the mounting devices that are selected for display in the project tree.
The workspace is always visible.
With the buttons for the image display settings (in the upper right corner), you can adapt the display of the configuration image according to your needs.

Further Info
More information on the buttons and functions within the workspace...

(4) The INSERTION CENTER is the central access to all Phoenix Contact mounting devices, articles and accessories that are available for you. If you need to insert a custom (3rd party) article, you can create and insert this article from the Insertion Center, too.
Display/hide this window: VIEW > WINDOW | Insertion Center

Further Info
See the topic "Using the Insertion Center" for details.

(5) The PRODUCT INFORMATION window displays an image and general information on the item that is currently selected in the workspace or the insertion center.
Display/hide this window: VIEW > WINDOW | Product information