It is possible to highlight an area of a reading or the consensus sequence in preparation for performing some further action upon it. Such examples of actions are: creating annotations and aligning sequence. We call these highlighted areas "selections". They will be displayed as an underlined region.
The simplest way to make a selection is using the left mouse button. Pressing the mouse button marks the base beneath the cursor as the start of the selection. Then, without releasing the button, moving the mouse cursor adjusts the end of the selection. Finally releasing the button will allow normal use of the mouse again.
Sometimes we may wish to make a selection longer than is visible on the screen, or to extend our current selection. This can be done by using shift left mouse button to adjust the end of the selection. Hence we can mark the start of the selection using the left button, scroll along the contig to the desired position, and set the end using the shift left button.
The selection is stored in a "cut buffer". This allows for
the usual "cut and paste" operations between applications, although
the contig editor only supports this in one direction (as it is not
possible to "paste" into the window). The mechanism employed for this
follows the usual X Windows standard of using the middle mouse button
(or Alt left mouse button).
For example, to send a piece of sequence to a text editor (eg
Emacs) mark the desired region using the left mouse button in
the editor window and then press the middle button, or Alt left mouse
button, whilst the mouse
cursor is in the text editor window. The sequence will then be
inserted into the text editor.
A quick summary of the mouse commands follows.
Left button Position editing cursor to mouse cursor Left button (drag) Mark start and end of selection Shift left button Adjust end of selection Middle button (another window) Copy selected sequence Alt left button (another window) Copy selected sequence