Components view

Other views: Courses | Weeks | Timetables

Components are the basic building blocks of the system. Edit the list of components (such as classes, teachers, rooms and subjects) with the help of the commands Insert, Modify and Delete or the corresponding buttons. For each component, you have to enter an unique code, name and category. You can create your own categories and replace the categories suggested by this application. The maximum number of categories is 7 and you can input up to 8191 components.

Your institution or company may already have a convention how to have shortcuts for the used resources. The only rule set by Mimosa is that a code must be unique (any other component or course cannot have the same code). Mimosa provides default names for each resource type, but it is recommended that you change them for your needs in Options|Categories.

Mimosa can be applied (and has been applied) in several environments, not only schools and universities. Components and component categories can be built freely for any specific need. Here are few typical examples of the ways how Mimosa has been used:

Below is an simple example of school components and their categories:

If you start with a new empty file, click first Insert or the appropriate add button to create your first component. You will then see the view below where you input the Code and Name for the component and select the appropriate category for it from the list of available component categories. When you have later on created courses, they will be displayed on the boxes below.

Replace the suggested code and name ("ComponentX") with something more meaningful and accept your code by clicking OK. It is a good idea to create a couple of components for each category just to test how the system works. At the start, the list of components may look something like that below:

The columns MAX, SUM, DONE and LINKS have at the start the value 0, but their values are later on dependent on the courses that use the current components and they are automatically kept intact by Mimosa.

After you have created your components (and also courses) you can view them in a list like the one below, which represent a complete Mimosa file where lectures have been assigned into timetables. You can sort components by any criteria and you can change the current component by clicking Enter or F2.

When the list of components is double-clicked, the list of courses linked to this component plus its timetable are automatically displayed on top of the component list (if they exist). Double-clicking the list again hides them.

The order of the components in the list can be changed with the help of the Move up and Move down buttons or by sorting them according to some appropriate criteria (Tools|Sort). Note that it is very easy to import the list of components via Clipboard, provided you have entered it in a spreadsheet application with a format below (Code, Name, Category number):

Menu selections:

Edit

With Edit menu selections you can modify the list of components. See Modify or insert a component

Duplicate (component)

This option duplicates the activated component by creating a new component with the same name and category. The code for the new component is generated automatically by using the last clicked component code as the basis (by appending letters a, b, c, …). You can modify all fields of this component later on.

Copy onto the Clipboard

Copies the list of components onto the Clipboard to be used also by other Windows applications. See Clipboard.

The last selection Use timetabled lectures applies timetabled lectures (instead of lectures allocated to weeks).

You can select a subset from the courses and components to focus only on those codes that are of interest at the moment. If you first select "Use timetabled lectures", the results are calculated from already timetabled lectures (including Manual rooms), instead of weekly allocated lectures.

This information can also be obtained in Tools|Modify collections.

Paste from the Clipboard [Ctrl+V]

Component codes, names and category numbers (1-7) can be pasted from the Clipboard and added to the component list, if their codes are not found from the list. If a matching component code is found, its name and category is replaced with the Clipboard content. The lines have the same format as in its mirror selection Edit|Copy onto the Clipboard|2 Codes, names and categories [Ctrl+C].

Form-AForm-A1
Form-BForm-B1
Form-CForm-C1
BEATTYBeatty, W.2
HARRISONHarrison, R.2
SPATTSpatt, E.2
R206ROOM 2063
R307ROOM 3073
R329ROOM 3293

Insert [Insert]

Inserts a new component. See Modify or insert a component.

Modify [Enter]

Modifies the data of the current component. See Modify or insert a component.

Delete [Delete]

Deletes the current component.

Move up

Moves the current component up.

Move down

Moves the current component down.

Replace courses

This (advanced) selection enables you to move a component from its course to another course by scanning all permissible courses combinations and displaying their properties (lectures, gaps, matches and names). This tool is especially useful in schools with personalised timetables.

When you activate this selection, all components of the current category are scanned, and for each component and course combination all other courses are studied in order to find and list all feasible course replacements.

If you select from the list the first option [no change => go to next course] and click Ok, no replacement is made and the next replacement options are listed. Click Cancel to quit searching, or if the list is not shown (because feasible replacements cannot be found), click the component grid.

If you select a course from the list, the active component is moved from its previous course to the selected course and searching continues.

Go to topic Replace courses for more specific information about this selection.

View

Select font

Selects the font used in this window.

Component info [Ctrl+H]

Shows detailed information of the selected component in tree form. For more information about this selection, click here.

Show course links

This selection shows or hides a window on top of the Components view, showing all courses using the current component in their collections. Double-clicking the list of components has the same effect. In Courses view you have a similar functionality to view the components of the active course.

Show snapshot timetable

This selection will show/hide the following snapshot timetable of the current component and the current week. User the arrow keys on bottom of the table to change the week.

Weekly lectures [Ctrl+W]

This selection shows or hides the weekly timetables and/or lectures of components.

Find component ... [Ctrl+F]

By entering the code or name (or a substring) locates the first component that matches the search criteria and makes it the active one. The search method is not case-sensitive. Press [F3] to locate the next code with the same search criteria.

Find by courses ...

This extended search mode allows the user to locate only those components that have links to selected courses or those that do NOT have links to selected courses. Press [F3] to locate the next code with the same search criteria.

Linked with components

Finds those components that have links to one or more of the selected courses.

NOT Linked with components

Finds those components that do NOT have links to one or more of the selected courses.

Search again [F3]

Locates the next component that matches the search criteria and makes it the active one.

Best matches [Ctrl+B]

Finds other components with the most similar course links compared with the current (last activated) component. Components are listed in the order of best match, each component code followed by the percentage number indicating the similarity of their course links (100%=exact match). This option can be used for grouping purposes to find students who have made the same selections.