Views, layers and tools

The right side of the main window shows one plant five ways. The Layout view is the drawing; Summary is the per-plant figures as a sheet; Energy is the yield result; BOM is the bill of materials; SLD is the single-line diagram. They are tabs across the top of the right side, and each takes the whole area under the header.

Switch with a click or with Ctrl+1 to Ctrl+5 in tab order. The Energy tab reads "Energy •" when a result landed while another view was up.

The tools row

The tools sit to the right of the tabs and change with the view.

Zooming and the persistent view

The mouse wheel zooms at the cursor in every view but SLD. Whatever framing you set stays through redraws — a layer toggle, a moved control room, a drawn obstruction — until you click Home, generate a layout, or load a boundary file. There are no back and forward arrows; the wheel and Home are the way about.

When the window is narrow

Every tool stays reachable at every width. When Satellite, Wireframe and Piles no longer fit beside the tabs, they move to the top of the Layers popover as ON/OFF rows — Satellite image, Wireframe tables, Piles — and the button reads Layers ▾ +3.

The Expanded View window

⛶ opens SolarLayout — Expanded View: the plot alone in a large, resizable window with a full toolbar and a ⟵ Return to Main Window button. While it is open the main window's plot area reads "Plot is open in the Expanded View window. Close that window to return the plot here."

The Layers popover

Layers ▾ opens a small popover of ON/OFF pills. Rows in order, with the state each starts in after a layout:

A first layout is therefore drawn as the placement alone: cables, arresters and contours have been computed where you asked for them, but stay off until you switch them on. The plot carries a units note in its bottom-left corner: "UTM 38N · metres" (with the site's own zone) for a Google Earth file or a CAD drawing located by its own coordinates, and "Drawing coordinates · metres" for a CAD drawing or an image placed by hand or loaded as layout only — see CAD drawing boundaries.

While the layout is out of date the plot dims, and an amber note at its top-left names what changed, with a Show 1 change or Show 2 changes link that opens the list of changes.

The Legend chip

The legend is folded away by default so it never sits on the drawing. A small Legend ▾ chip in the plot's top-right corner (Layout view only) unfolds it; the chip then reads Legend ▴, and the open legend can be dragged.

The plant chips

One row of chips runs under every view and never wraps. It is the only place the plant totals are shown — the status bar does not carry them.

Clicking any chip opens the Summary view; the energy chip opens the Energy view. When the row is too narrow the lowest-priority chips hide first — Lightning arresters, Plants, ICR blocks, Site area, Tables, Modules — and DC capacity and energy go last. Water-body results are left out of the totals.

Two more chips can lead the row. Both open the Summary view when clicked, and neither is ever hidden for width:

The Summary view

The Summary view is the per-plant figures as a sheet turned on its side: a Metric column, one column per plant, and a Total column when there are two or more plants. A plant's column header reads "<plant> ›", and clicking it shows that plant on the Layout view.

The rows are grouped:

A trailing * on tilt or pitch means the value was auto-calculated (fixed tilt only). A — means not computed — the cable rows before cables are calculated, the energy rows before a run. The three grouping rows read — until inverters are placed; Power transformer (MVA) is the whole plant's figure, shown on the plot that holds the main control room and in the Total column. Before any layout the view reads "Generate a layout to see the per-plant summary here."

Two banners can sit above the sheet. The out-of-date banner lists what changed since the last run; the sheet is then greyed and Copy is disabled. The design warnings banner — "1 design warning", "2 design warnings" — lists each warning under the sentence "The layout is complete, but … outside the design rules." The first is described on Out-of-date results, the second on Design warnings.

Copy puts the whole sheet on the clipboard as tab-separated text, ready for a spreadsheet or a document. Open in window opens SolarLayout — Summary, a separate window with a Summary tab and a Monthly energy (Year 1) tab — the second enabled once energy exists — that follows the layout as you work. It carries the out-of-date banner too, but not the design warnings. Every row is defined in Summary rows.

The Energy view

Before a run the view reads No energy result yet, explains what the run will use, and offers a gold Calculate energy button — the same action as Calculate Energy on the Yield tab. On a site loaded as layout only the note reads "Energy yield is off: the site's location is unknown (layout only)." After a run it shows four tiles — Year-1 energy, Specific yield, Performance ratio, CUF — the monthly table to IEC 61724-1, an irradiation and performance-ratio chart, and the monthly energy bars.

The result belongs to the layout it was calculated for. While that layout is out of date a banner sits above the tiles and the figures are greyed; a new Generate Layout clears the result, and the view then reads Layout regenerated until you calculate again. See How yield is calculated.

The BOM and SLD views

BOM shows the editable bill of materials on the right and hands the left column to the BOM TOOLS panel under a green banner; SLD shows the drawing sheet and hands the column to SLD TOOLS under a blue banner. Each banner carries the Exit button that gives the column back. See Bill of materials and Single-line diagram.

Where to go next