The Chartsmith Inspector Panel

The Chartsmith Inspector provides controls for attributes of specific chart components. Where possible, direct manipulation has been provided so that you do not have to use the Inspector. In many cases attributes that can be controlled through direct manipulation can also be controlled using the Inspector.

The Inspector is accessed from either the Tools->Inspector menu item, or the Inspector Shortcut button found on the Chart Window. The title bar of the Inspector panel displays the type of the current selection. The body of the panel displays the controls used to change the attributes of the current selection. Selecting a different item in the Chart Window automatically updates the Inspector Panel to display the attribute controls for the newly selected chart object. When there is no selection in the current chart, the background inspector is displayed. When the last file is closed, the Inspector Panel remains on screen but displays the message "No Applicable Inspector".

If multiple chart objects are selected (by shift-clicking on, or by dragging a selection box around objects of interest), the Inspector Panel will attempt to address all selected objects. If the objects are of the same type, the Inspector Panel displays the appropriate selection title (for instance "Multiple Text Selection") and applies changes made from the Inspector to all selected objects. If the objects are different types, the Inspector cannot determine what attribute controls need to be displayed, and posts the message "Multiple Selection - No Applicable Inspector".