GUI - Shelves

When you open RealFlow you will see several tabs, for example “Liquid – Hybrido” or “Daemons”. Every tab contains a list of icons for direct access to the appropriate nodes. Each tab represents a shelf:

These shelves are fully customizable. It is possible to create new shelves and fill them with your own graphs, scripts, files, or plugins. You can also change the order of the shelves with simple drag and drop actions. Once you have added an element to a shelf it is seamlessly integrated like one of RealFlow's internal nodes and functions, and it is accessible with a single click: it is a command.

There is a dedicated tool: the “Shelves Manager”, to create and edit the shelves. This application has a direct connection to the “Commands Manager” and you can populate the shelves simply by dragging and dropping elements from the “Commands Manager” to a shelf.

Drag and Drop Actions

Drag and drop is possible from

• the “Commands Manager” to the “Shelves Manager”, and the GUI's shelves.
• the “Shelves Manager” to the GUI's shelfs.
• external files to the GUI's shelves. This action creates file reference commands. Allowed extensions are: PY, RFS, RFG, and XML.
• plain text can be dragged to the GUI's shelves. If the text appears to be XML RealFlow creates a new “Embedded Graph” command and displays an "Edit Command" dialog. Otherwise, it will create an “Embedded Script”, independent from the contained text type. This process is similar to clicking on "Add new Embedded Graph/Script".

Missing Commands

From time to time commands are removed from the “Commands Manager's” list. In such a case, the command is no longer available, but if it was part of a shelf then there is still a reference. RealFlow will tag these missing commands with a warning symbol. This way you will recognize immediately which element cannot be executed. Once you have reloaded a missing command, RealFlow's shelves will be updated and you can use the command again.

Right-Click Menu "Visibility"

RealFlow's shelves provide a common right-click menu. To access it, please click on an empty area next to the shelves' tabs. There you can choose which shelves should be visible or not. Furthermore, you will find a direct link to the "Shelves Manager" here.

Right-Click Menu "Shelf"

This menu is available with a right-click on a shelf's empty area

Shelf name

Every shelf has its own name displayed in the tabs, e.g. "Liquid - Hybrido", "Daemons" etc.

Hide shelf

If you want to make a shelf invisible temporarily please choose this entry.

Edit shelf...

Shelves can be customized to your own needs: commands can be added, removed, or rearranged with the so-called "Shelves Manager". To learn how to work with this handy tool, please follow this link.

Pop up shelf

When you choose this option the current shelf will be turned into a floating window and placed anywhere on your screen. To attach the shelf to the user interface again, simply use the "Visibility" right-click menu and activate the shelf (see above)

Add new command

RealFlow's shelves are not fixed and you can change them to your needs easily. If you want to attach a command please choose one of the entries of the “Add new command” submenu. In the appearing panel you can load graphs or scripts, assign an icon, a name, and other information. Please follow the links below for a detailed description about how to work with the “Add Command” dialogue:

• Add new graph
• Add new graph from file
• Add new Python script
• Add new Python script from file

A brief tutorial how to add a command can be found here:

• How to Add a Command

Right-Click Menu "Command"

Finally, every command (= icon) provides its own small menu when you right-click on it.

Command name

Here you can see the command's name and its icon.

Edit command...

To edit a command, see its properties, or define a shortcut for it, please choose this entry. An editor appears where you will be able to make changes. Please click here to learn how to work with the "Commands Manager" and which properties can be edited.

Remove from shelf...

Before a command is removed you will be asked for confirmation. Please bear in mind that all changes will be stored automatically without the need of saving the current layout manually.