Navigating a capture
A capture is usually far longer than the screen. Moving around one means zooming between a view of the whole acquisition and a view of a single edge, and panning along it at whatever zoom you settled on.
The zoom buttons​
Four buttons sit at the bottom left of the waveform:
- Zoom in and Zoom out, around the centre of the view.
- Zoom on a selection: click once at each end of the region you want, and the view fits it.
- Show the entire acquisition, which is where to go when you have lost your place.
The mouse​
The wheel is the fastest way around, and what it does is configurable. Out of the box it zooms horizontally, and modifiers give you the other two actions: horizontal scroll and vertical scroll through the channels.
Each of the three needs a different modifier. If two end up sharing one, zoom wins over vertical scroll, which wins over horizontal scroll. The bindings are under Settings â–¸ Navigation.
Dragging with the left button held pans the view.
The keyboard​
The whole waveform can be driven from the keyboard. These are the defaults, and every one of them can be rebound under Settings â–¸ Shortcuts.
| Action | Shortcut |
|---|---|
| Scroll the signals left / right | Ctrl+Left / Ctrl+Right |
| Scroll the signals up / down | Ctrl+Up / Ctrl+Down |
| Select the channel above / below | Shift+Up / Shift+Down |
| Previous / next transition on the selected channel | Shift+Left / Shift+Right |
| Zoom in / out | Ctrl++ / Ctrl+- |
| Zoom to fit | Ctrl+= |
| Go to the trigger marker | Ctrl+T |
| Start / stop capture | Space |
| Live mode on / off | Shift+L |
| Miniview on / off | Shift+M |
| New marker | Ctrl+M |
| Show the Log view | Ctrl+L |
Transition stepping is the one to remember. Select a channel, then hold Shift+Right: the view
jumps from edge to edge without changing the zoom. Use it to follow a slow signal across a long
capture without looking for it by hand.
The miniview​
By default the waveform has an ordinary scrollbar. Settings â–¸ Navigation can replace it with a miniview: a compressed picture of the entire acquisition with a box showing where you are. On a long capture it shows where the activity is, which a scrollbar does not.
Live mode​
While a capture is running, live mode keeps the view pinned to the newest data as it arrives. Turn it off and the view stays where you put it, so you can study something that has already been captured while the device keeps recording.
Other navigation settings​
- Jump to the beginning at start: moves the view to the start of the capture when a new one begins, rather than leaving it where the last one ended.
- Rubber band at capture ends: the view springs back when you pan past the beginning or the end, so it is obvious you have reached the edge.
- Double-click on an item: what double-clicking a decoded item does, which is normally to select it and centre the view on it.
- Edge-to-edge durations on hover: shows the time between two edges as you pass the pointer over a signal, without placing markers.