Using Named Segments in the Segment Browser

A named segment (called segment in the rest of this text) is a selected portion of a signal document that you assign a unique name to in the Segment Browser. Named segments are a way of labeling parts of signal documents for easy access, as we explain in a moment.

To invoke the Segment Browser, select Segments in the Utilities menu, then select Browser. Or type Command-B. 

To create a named segment, first select a portion of a signal document in a view window, then click on the Segment button in the Segment panel. At the top left of the segment panel is an icon with the name NewSegmentn. You can edit this name to rename the segment. Remember to hit the carriage return button to finish the operation.

To select a named segment, simply click on a name in the list of segment. The figure above shows the named segment "Transition." Note that this does not affect the highlighted selection in the view window. To set view window's selection to the currently selected segment in the segment browser, you must click on the Select button. To play a segment, simply double-click on the segment name.

Editing Segment Boundaries

The Segment Browser shows the offset (starting time), length (in seconds) and end time of the  current segment. You can edit any of these fields to change the boundaries of a named segment.

The Move box determines how the segment boundaries change if you edit the "Length" field in the Segment Browser. The default position of the Move button is "End," which means that the endpoint of the segment is extended or shrunk as you edit the length of the segment. The "Offset" button moves the beginning point (starting time) of the named segment, and the "Both" button adjusts both boundaries equally.

In release 0.9, the only way you can change the boundaries of a named segment is by editing the fields in the Segment Browser. Note that SE does not automatically update them when you edit a signal document. For example, suppose you have a named segment "Intro" that points to the region between 1.0 seconds and 2.0 seconds. If you cut out a half-second from 1.25 to 1.75 seconds, "Intro" still points to the region between 1.0 and 2.0 seconds--whatever happens to be there. 

Multiple Segment Browsers

You can have multiple Segment Browser panels, one for each open document. To save screen space, we recommend that you place all Segment Browser panels on top of one another. SE automatically pops the panel for a viewer to the top of the stack of panels.

As mentioned, each Segment Browser panel corresponds to a particular document. If, as a result of haphazard window operations, the current document does not correspond to the current Segment Browser panel, SE will warn you when you try to create or select a segment. If this happens, rearrange your windows to ensure that the viewer and the Segment Browser panel refer to the same document.