Lesson four: table

Use the UP and DOWN arrow keys to browse the features. Press ENTER to play the sample sound of each feature. To repeat, press SPACE. Please try each feature in the main iSonic window. You can press Alt + TAB to switch between the help window and the main iSonic window.

While the map only shows one variable at a time, the table shows multiple variables at the same time. To switch to the table view, press TAB. Each table row is a state and each table column is a variable. The first column contains all the state names, and the remaining columns are values of variables. As in the map, values in the tabl are presented as pitches. The sound is in stereo, so the sound for the first variable comes from the left, and the sound for the last variable comes from the right. We can use the four arrow keys to move up, down, left, and right, from one table cell to another. Pressing Home goes to the first column, and pressing End goes to the last column. Pressing Ctrl + Home goes to the top row, and pressing Ctrl + End goes to the bottom row. Pressing the space key reads all the details in the current row, including the state name, and all the variable values starting from the first variable. Stopping the details in the middle will not change the current table position. At any time, we can press the plus and minus keys to switch among four information levels. Level one is only sound, level two has sound and state name or variable name, depending on the direction of movements, level three also reads the exact value, and level zero only reads the state names or variable names, depending on the direction of movements.

There are two navigation modes in the table. We can press M, to switch between the two modes. In the cell mode, pressing the four arrow keys will move from one table cell to another, and only the content of the current cell is played. In the row and column mode, pressing the left and right arrow keys will move from one table column to another table column, and the whole target column will be played, starting from the first row. Pressing the up and down arrow keys will move from one table row to another table row, and the whole target row will be played, starting from the first column. In another word, in the row and column mode, pressing the left and right arrow keys will change the variable, and all the values for the current variable will be played automatically, starting from the value in the first table row. Pressing the up and down arrow keys will change the state, and all the values for the current state will be played automatically, starting from the first variable.

The table rows can be sorted by one or more table columns. This allow us to quickly find minimum and maximum values. To sort the rows by a column, press O, while at the column. Pressing O, will switch among three sorting methods, ascendingly, descendingly, and none. Sorting the table rows by a new column will usually cancel all previous sortings. If we want to keep the previous sorting and further sort the table rows by a new column, we can press Shift + O while at the new column. To cancel all sortings, press Ctrl + O.

As in the map, we can select a few rows that are interesting to us and focus on only exploring those states. To select a row, press L, when that row is the current row. If the row has already been selected, pressing L, will unselect it.

To focus on only the selected rows, press A. In fact, pressing A, will switch the current interest set between "all states" and "selected states only". When we are focusing on "selected states only", all actions, such as the automatic playing of a row or column, and the table navigation will only involve the selected rows. Try to select a few row in the table, then switch to "selected regions only", then navigate the table to hear what happens.

To find out your current position in the table, or the row and column names of your current position, press the I key. Pressing the I key will also tell you the sorting status, and how many states are currently selected.

The table also has an associated menu system. Some menu items are the same as those for the map and some are specific for the table. To go to the menu for the table, press F10.

Press ENTER now to return to the main menu of the step by step lessons