Inspecting

The inspector can be opened via Interface menu > Inspector or via the Ctrl + I shortcut on Windows and Linux or Cmd⌘ + I on Mac.

The Inspector is a powerful tool which provides a possibility to view and edit the properties (attributes) of the selected nodes (see Selecting to learn more about how to select nodes in SAMSON), whether it is one node or a group of different nodes.

Attributes and groups

Attributes shown in the inspector might either be modifiable or not. For an atom, for example, you cannot modify its atomic weight, element name and symbol, since they depend on the element type. However, once you modify the element type, let's say from Carbon to Nitrogen, all the dependant attributes will be changed accordingly.

Attributes in the inspector are grouped into corresponding node type groups and attribute groups inside of each node type group.

Let's open any molecule, e.g. 1YRF, provided in the Samples folder. Select any atom from the molecule. You will see all the attributes of these atoms grouped into attribute groups.

Inspecting-Atom-1YRF.png
Inspecting an atom

You may see several node type groups (e.g. Atom, Bond, etc) in the inspector depending on the selection and the controls you have chosen.

Let's use Rectangle selection to choose a group of atoms.

Inspecting-AtomsAndBonds-1YRF.png
Inspecting a group of nodes

Filtering attributes

You can use the filter to see matching attributes only.

InspectorControls.png
The Inspector controls

Having at least one atom selected, start typing "position" in the filter and you will only see the matching attributes.

Inspecting-FilteringAttributes.png
Filtering attributes

Now, let's try and change one of the attributes as shown in the image below. When modifying the atom's position you will see how it moves.

Inspecting-Filtering-ChangingAttributes.png
Changing attributes

Controls

The Inspector has controls that allows you to choose:

a) whether you inspect the descendants of the selected nodes as well

Inspecting-SelectedNodesOnly.png
Inspect Selected nodes only
Inspecting-SelectedNodesAndDescendants.png
Inspect Selected nodes and descendants

b) whether you edit all selected nodes or only the last selected node

Inspecting-EditOneNodeOnly.png
Edit one node only (the last selected one)
Inspecting-EditAllNodes.png
Edit all selected nodes

Let's consider these features in more detail. Please, open any molecule, e.g. 1YRF provided in the Samples folder, and select in the document view the LEU 1 residue as shown in the image below.

Inspecting-DocumentView-1YRF-LEU1.png
The Document View with the 1YRF molecule and the chosen LEU 1 residue

If you choose the control "Selected nodes only", you will only see the residue attributes in the inspector.

Inspecting-Controls-1YRF-LEU1-SelectedNodesOnly.png
Inspecting selected nodes only

If you choose the control "Selected nodes and descendants", you will see in the inspector attributes for the residue and all its descendants (backbone, side-chain, all atoms and bonds).

Inspecting-Controls-1YRF-SelectedNodesAndDescsendants.png
Inspecting selected nodes and descendants

Having chosen the same residue and "Selected nodes and descendants", type "position" in the filter and you will only see the attributes that match the filter.

Inspecting-Controls-1YRF-SelectedNodesAndDescsendants-Filtering.png
Inspecting selected nodes and descendants. Filtering

Let's now try to change the "position" attributes. Choose the control "Edit one node only" and try to modify the position through the inspector. You will see that only one atom out of the whole selection changes its position: the last atom in the selection.

Inspecting-Controls-1YRF-SelectedNodesAndDescsendants-EditOneNodeOnly.png
Inspecting selected nodes and descendants and editing one node only

Now, choose the control "Edit all selected nodes". The inspector will still show the attributes of the last selected node. Try to modify the position through the inspector. You will see that all atoms in the selection change their positions.

Inspecting-Controls-1YRF-SelectedNodesAndDescsendants-EditAllSelectedNodes.png
Inspecting selected nodes and descendants and editing all selected nodes

Note: If you want to move a group of atoms without changing the relative positions of atoms inside the group, do not uncheck the "Relative" checkbox. If the "Relative" checkbox is unchecked, the positions for all selected atoms will be modified to the same value. Try it, you can always undo thanks to the History mechanism.