Functionalities Explained
The followings are all the functionalities provided by the program. All the somewhat counter-intuitive operations are marked in bold for your convenient.

Table of Content:

1. Resource Nodes
1.1 Create Resource Nodes
1.2 Select Resource Nodes
1.3 Move Resource Nodes
1.4 Delete Resource Nodes
1.5 Copy Resource Nodes
1.6 Edit the Comment, Value, and URI properties for the Resource Nodes
1.7 Set Different Colors for Different Types of Nodes

2. Property Edges
2.1 Create Property Edges
2.2 Select Property Edges
2.3 Change Property Edge's Subject/Object (Re-Link the Property Line)
2.4 Delete Properties Edges
2.5 Copy Properties Edges

3. Libraries
3.1 Create Additional Libraries
3.2 Load Additional Libraries

4. Models
4.1 Saving Model
4.2 Loading Model
4.3 Creating A New Model

1. Resource Nodes

1.1 Create Resource Nodes

To create a resource node, click on the appropriate resource type button in the Resource Window. A dialog box will pop up to prompt you for the resource node's URI.

Enter the URI of the resource or leave it blank to create an anonymous resource. (Note: You are not able to have multiple nodes with the same URI in the same model)

A grey, floating resource node will be created for you. Move the floating resource node to the place you like, then click on the left mouse button to complete the operation.

1.2 Select Resource Nodes

To select a single resource node, simply click on the resource node. The node will turn green indicating it's been selected.

To select multiple resource nodes, click anywhere on the blank canvas, and start dragging. All nodes that are intersected by the selection box will be marked as selected.

To add additional resource nodes to the ones that have already been selected, press the CTRL key while drag another selection box to intersect the additional nodes.

1.3 Move Resource Nodes

First, select the nodes you wish to move, then click on any one of the selected nodes and drag the nodes to the desired place.

1.4 Delete Resource Nodes

First, select the nodes you wish to delete, then press the DEL key to delete the selected nodes and all the properties that are associated with them.

1.5 Copy Resource Nodes

First, select a single node that you wish to copy. If you just wish to copy the node but not any of the properties associated with it, press CTRL while dragging the node to another place. The copied node will be left in the original place.

If you wish to copy the nodes and all the properties associated with it, press both CTRL and ALT while dragging the node to another place. Again, the copied node will be left in the original place.

If the original node is not anonymous, a "(copy #)" string will be appended to the end of the URI to make the URI unique. Follow instructions in section 1.6 if you wish to change the URIs.

1.6 Edit the Comment, Value, and URI properties for the Resource Nodes

Double click on the node you wish to edit, and a dialog box will pop up for you to edit the desired values. (Note: you are not allowed to have multiple nodes with the same URI in the same model)

You can view the edited Comment and Value properties of any node simply by movving your mouse over it.

1.7 Color Different Types of Nodes

Choose the Colors command from Option menu in Main Window. A color chooser dialog box will pop up. Choose the type of the node on the left panel, and choose the color that will be associated with it on the right hand side.

When you are done, press the [x] button on the top right hand side corner to close the color chooser window.

Note: Color info applied to the program as a whole, and not to individual model. And the color info is currently is NOT saved with the model, so when you restart the program, the color setting will be lost.

2. Property Edges

2.1 Create Property Edges

First, click on the subject of the property you wish to create. Then click on the "Add New Property" button in the Main Window. A Property Window will pop up. Select the property you wish to add, and the Add Property Window will close again. Finally, click on the object of the property to complete the operation.

2.2 Select Property Edges

To select a single edge, click on the label associated with the edge. The label will turn red and the line green to indicate that the edge has been selected.

To select multiple edges, press CTRL while clicking individually on all the edges you wish to select.

2.3 Change Property Edge's Subject/Object (Re-Link the Property Line)

To change the property edge's subject or object, click you mouse near the end of the edge and start dragging. While you are dragging, all nodes with invalid range/domain will be grayed out. Drag the end over the desired resource node, and release the mouse button to complete the operation.

2.4 Delete Properties Edges

Select the property Edges you wish to delete, then press the DEL key to delete the edges selected.

2.5 Copy Properties Edges

To copy a property edge, press CTRL while performing the Re-Linking operation mentioned in 2.3 )

3. Libraries

3.1 Create Additional Libraries

Libraries are additional RDF schemas that you can load into the program. Please note the following restrictions / rules on the RDF schemas when creating a RDF schema:

  • The RDF and RDFS namespaces are required. Please use 'http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#' as the RDF namespace and 'http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#' as the RDFS namespace.
  • Items defined with rdfs:Class will be loaded as additional resources
  • Items defined with rdf:Property will be loaded as additional properties.

3.2 Load Additional Libraries

To load additional libraries, click on the Library menu in the Resource Window and choose Load from URI command.

The program will first prompt you for the new namespace that is to be loaded. Enter a namespace and click on OK.

The program will then prompt you for the RDF schema that's going to be associated with the namespace. Enter a valid URI and press OK.

The program will then attempt to retrieve the schema via internet. If you get an FileNotFoundError or a ConnectionRefused exception, please make sure you've entered a correct schema URI and try again.

If the schema is loaded successfully, the program will prompt you for a tab name, which is used in the Resource Window and Property Window to identify the tab that will host the buttons.

Note: If the schema to be loaded makes references to other namespaces that are not yet loaded into the program, the program will attempt to load them first. (Prompting you for the schema and tab name while it's trying to load those namespaces)

4 Models

4.1 Saving Model

Choose Save from File menu in Main Window to save the model. Alternatively, press the CTRL+S to save the model when you have the Main Window in focus. If you want to save the model under another name, use the Save As command, or the CTRL+A hotkey.

Important: An additional file with the format aux<filename you chose>.rdf will be save along with the output rdf file. The file stores important information about the model that is needed to reconstruct the model when you wish to load it later from the program. If the aux file is deleted, the program will be unable to load the model.

4.2 Loading Model

Choose Open from File menu, and choose either the aux file or the output rdf file to open the model. Or you can use the CTRL+O hotkey.

The program will prompt you to save the model currently opened,if it's not empty.

If the rdf file requires additional namespaces not yet loaded into the program, the program will prompt you to enter the schema and tab name for those namespaces.

4.3 Creating A New Model

Choose New from File menu to clear out the entire canvas. The program will prompt you to save the model currently opened if it's not empty.