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Subviews > Types

The Types pane displays categories of devices found in the currently opened network. These devices include routers, types of links, and any user-defined network element groups found in the network. Different types of devices are associated with different icons. When putting the mouse over one of these icons, a tool tip will indicate how many items of the corresponding category are represented on the map.

Figure 1: Types SubviewTypes Subview

Customizing Nodes and Links

The right-click popup menu for an icon includes the following options:

  • Set This Icon: Choose an icon

  • Highlight These Items: Highlight nodes of this type

The right-click popup menu for a link supports the following options:

  • Set Color: Brings up a color chooser to customize the color

  • Set Line Width: Choose a line width (the larger the number, the thicker the link width)

  • Set Line Style: Choose a style (for example, dotted lines)

  • Highlight These Items: Highlight links of this type

Customizing Node Type Icons

You set icons by right clicking on the node type or group and selecting Set This Icon. In the Icon chooser, you may select an icon and press OK to use a preexisting icon. The description of an icon can be found by hovering the pointer over the icon.

Figure 2: Icon ChooserIcon Chooser

Alternatively, an icon can be uploaded by selecting Upload New Icon and selecting the image file (PNG, JPG, GIF) in the Choose Icon window. Once the image is selected, select the scale and/or width and height in the Icon Sizing Tool window.

Uploaded icons can be deleted by right-clicking on the type and selecting Set This Icon and then clicking the Delete Icon button. Upon deleting the icon, nodes of that type will revert to the original icon used for that type.

Additional Notes on Icon Import

  • Icons uploaded in one session will automatically appear in the "Icon Chooser" window in later sessions.

  • NorthStar Planner's default icons are flat and two-dimensional, and you can set their colors by clicking on the buttons in the Type Legend. By contrast, it is not possible to change the color of an imported icon.

  • Maps with icons cannot be exported to Visio 2002 and earlier (*.csv export). They can be exported to Visio 2003 and later (*.vdx export).

  • When a map is exported to SVG, the *.svg file refers to the icons by their names in the local cache directory. Before sharing the SVG files with a second user on another machine, it is necessary to edit the *.svg file to use the icons' names on the second user's machine.

Customizing Line Style

You can modify the line style used to represent specific link types, such as OC3, OC12, STM3, Gigabit Ethernet, etc. Similar to customizing node type icons, to customize link type line styles, right click on the link in the type legend and select one of the menu options.

Figure 3: Link StylesLink Styles
Note:

The Export to Visio feature supports dotted line styles, as long as the dotted line is limited to one color. Solid lines can be exported in up to two colors ( for example, to show the utilization in both directions on a link). However, it is not possible to export a link in two colors to show the utilization, and have it be dotted at the same time.