2.2 General rules for the dialogue with INA

Before the functions offered by INA are illustrated in detail, important considerations about the dialogue and work with the program can be found here.

• Interacting with INA
• Requesting files and entering names
• Switching to the terminal mode
• Saving data

Interacting with INA

Since INA is an interactive program, at many different points you have to answer questions with <Y> or <N> . When you press any key other than <Y> , the default answer <N> will always be assumed. The answer yes can be entered with <y> or <Y> . INA does not differentiate between upper and lowercase letters here.

Requesting files and entering names

When, for example, you are requested to enter a name of a file or a name of a place, INA suggests a default value, and the cursor rests on the first symbol. You can accept it by pressing <cr> . If, however, you wish to enter a different name, you can simply overwrite the given one.

Unfortunately it is not possible to use the <delete> and cursor keys to edit. INA offers other editing possibilities in their place:

With the <space> key you can move the cursor one position to the right, without overwriting any symbols. Entering <backspace> or <?> moves the cursor one position to the left. You can therefore use <?> for deleting, since you can always overwrite the symbol beneath the cursor. As long as INA is not requesting any file names, you can enter a blank space with <#> .

If you have entered a file name and then press <cr> , INA will assume everything to the left of the current cursor position as the entry. <esc> , on the other hand, assumes the entire row as the entry, regardless of the current cursor position. In either case, the appropriate extension is automatically appended if the entry contains no period.

Please use neither paths nor special symbols as part of a data name, as this can lead to the abortion of the program.

The length of a name for nets, places, or transitions is restricted to a maximum of 16 characters.

Should INA request data, for example a file name or a number of a place, and you enter non-existent data, you receive the message not found! and can enter the requested data again.

Switching to the terminal mode

When INA requests files, it is possible to switch to the terminal mode by entering <esc> . Afterwards, the required data is entered directly via the keyboard. This is necessary in particular if you do not have data of the requested type available (e.g. during the first sessions with INA ).

Saving data

When saving data in an output file, entering <esc> also causes INA to switch to the terminal mode. When saving data in an already existing file, the question overwrite? appears. By entering <Y> the file will be overwritten, and upon entering <N> a new name will be requested.