Using Markers

Markers

Six markers (M1, M2, M3, M4, M5, M6) are provided. Markers have several uses. They can be used to measure time or signal specific measurements, to 'bookmark' locations and to help bring data to the center of the screen.

The Status window shows the current time of each marker (relative to TRIGGER) as well as additional information for the current capture.

Whenever a marker becomes the Active Marker, its corresponding information will automatically highlight in the Status Window and if assigned to a signal (assigned = being dragged over a signal or dropped on one in the Waveform View), measurements for the signal are displayed for adjacent marker pairs in the Measurements Window. The measurement displayed is determined by the type of signal the active marker is assigned to.

In the image below, marker "M3" is the active marker and it is assigned to an Asynchronous signal definition named "ASYNCTX".

Drag to place

Simply click on a marker and drag it to the area of interest.  You can grab the marker itself (the vertical line in the waveform area) or its 'flag' (the rectangle at the top of the window).  Notice that the flags are offset so that even when they are overlapped, you can still grab them.  When your mouse is in the capture zone for a marker, the cursor changes to indicate that it is over a marker.  The cursor also indicates which marker would be selected, making it easier to grab a specific marker when they are very close together (or even on top of each other).

Quick Select Flags

Sometimes markers are invisible, buried behind other markers or off-screen. You can easily grab any marker from the quick-select flags at the top right corner of the window, regardless of their current position or visibility.

Dragging from these flags will bring the marker to the current screen position and make it visible if necessary.

Clicking on one of these flags will automatically scroll the waveform view to the markers position and center it in the waveform window. This can also be referred to as "Jump to Marker".

Auto-Snap

'Snapping' the markers to signal edges makes it easy to measure the time between them or to bring a specific edge to the center of the window. This operation is used so often that we optimized it by making it an automatic function.  When you are dragging a marker and your mouse is over a waveform, the cursor changes to a 'snap-left' or 'snap-right' arrow. The direction of the arrow shows you which edge (previous or next) of this waveform the marker will 'snap' to if you were to drop it at that point.  The arrow will point to the nearest edge or to the nearest edge in the direction of mouse movement, even if that edge is off-screen.

If you do NOT want to SNAP, but rather wish to drop the marker exactly at the mouse position, you can either hold down the control key or move your mouse above or below all waveforms before releasing the mouse button.

Auto-Snap & Bring to Center

Hold the SHIFT key when 'Snapping' the markers to force the "snapped-to" edge to the center of the screen.

Drop & Bring to Center

Hold both the SHIFT key and the CTRL key when dragging a marker to "drop" the marker and bring the drop point and marker to the center of the screen.

Right Click Popup

Right clicking on the name of the signal (or in the top margin) opens a pop-up menu with easy access selections to bring a marker to the center of the window, or to clear one or more markers. This provides another method of Setting, Clearing and Jumping to markers. If you click on the signal's name, then this popup menu will also include signal specific options.

Active Marker

Any action that uses a marker will automatically designate that marker as the "Active Marker". The active marker exposes additional properties and associated items for easier navigation and support to 'bring the data to center' concept.

Waveform Association

When you snap a marker to a waveform, it becomes associated with that waveform as indicated by the usage of the marker's color in the Active Marker Column on the right. In the image below, Marker M2 is associated with ASYNCTX and the value of ASYNCTX at the marker position is 'E' as shown in the Active Marker Column.

To associate the Active Marker to another signal, click in the Active Marker Column of the signal. To SNAP the Active Marker to the next edge of the signal after it is associated, right or left click in the active marker column of the associated signal (or use the Snap Left/Right button)

Snap Left/Right

To snap the active marker to the previous or next edge of the associated waveform, either right or left click in the Active Marker Column or on the dedicated snap button next to the Active Marker Column's marker identifier.  In the image above the identifier is "2" and the dedicated button is the same color as marker M2.

This allows one to walk any marker from edge to edge on a specific signal.  To walk through two different sections of data or two different signals, simply select each desired marker using the Quick Select flags.  Each marker maintains its position, allowing one to jump back and forth between them. You can walk one signal for a while, jump to the other marker and walk that signal and then jump back to the first marker and pick up where you left off.

Left-Click to Snap Left.

Right-Click to Snap right.

Marker Tack

The button just above the Active Marker's snap button will toggle the "Tack" feature of the marker. When the button is pressed tacking is enabled. When the Tack option is active, snapping the marker will bring the data to the position of the '@' time reference instead of moving the marker out of view. When tacked, the button displays in the same color as the active marker.

You can still drag the marker (with or without auto-snap) to another point in the data, but when you release the mouse button, the marker AND the data will be brought to the center of the screen, ready for zooming in/out.

TACKing a marker is particularly useful for walking though a signal, edge by edge.  Normally, when you SNAP the a marker, the marker moves to the previous or next edge of the associated signal.  When the marker is tacked, the DATA is brought to the MARKER (and the screen's '@' time reference).  This allows you to walk through the data without continually re-centering the screen.  It also supports our 'bring the data to the center..THEN zoom' paradigm.

Note that this is an intelligent TACK.  It does NOT freeze the marker at the screen center. It brings the marker to center any time you move the marker (by dragging, snapping or setting its position). This allows the marker to stay at a specific TIME/EDGE if you scroll the screen or jump to another marker.  The next time you attempt to move the TACKed marker, it will move relative to the place you left it, then bring it and the data to the window's center.  For example, we will assume that you have enabled the Tack option for both M1 and M2 markers.  While you are moving/snapping the M1 marker, it stays as the center. You can jump to the M2 marker and it starts tacking at the center. At any time, you could jump back to the M1 marker (by clicking on the Quick Select flags in the upper right corner).