USER MANUAL
The following screen will appear upon launching the application; there are a twelve layers which
open by default. Left side of the window, where you see 12 layers is called Table of Contents
(TOC).
Figure : Opening Screen
MAPOBJECTS TOOLBARS
Map Objects Java Edition 2 comes with some toolbars like Selection tool bar, Zoom pan tool bar, etc. In
this thesis project, we have used two standard tool bars; Selection tool bar and Zoom pan tool bar.
Zoom Pan Tool Bar
Figure Zoom Pan Tool Bar
Following are the nine standard tools provided by zoom pan toolbar which are discussed from left to
right:
 Previous Extent: This tool is used for seeing the previous displays that have been saved in the
stack. This tool is grayed out till zoom in/out operation is performed on the map.
 Next Extent: Helps in seeing the next displays that have been saved in the stack. This
tool is grayed out till zoom in/out is performed on the map.
 Zoom to active layer: This tool zooms the selected layer. This tool is inactive until the user
selects one of the layers from the TOC.
 Zoom to Full Extent: This tool helps the user to return to the original display of the map. Zooms
to the extent of all layers of the map.
 Zoom In: This tool zooms the map in. The user has to select the zoom-in icon and click on the
desired location that needs to be zoomed. The map is zoomed to the preset
proportion around the clicked area.
 Zoom Out: This tool zooms out the map. The user has to select the zoom-out icon and click on
the required location that needs to be zoomed out. The map is zoomed out to the
preset proportion around the clicked area.
 Pan: Pan tool allows the user to drag the map to have better visibility when the map
has been in zoomed mode.
 Pan One Direction tool: Helps user in pan the map in one direction.
 Identify tool: Using this tool the user can click on the map and then properties of that location are
displayed. Following screenshot shows the window which pops up on clicking any location on
the map after selecting the identify tool.
Figure : Identify tool
Selection Tool Bar:
Figure Selection tool bar
The Selection Toolbar allows the user to perform feature selection based upon attribute or spatial queries.
Following are the tools provided in Selection Tool Bar:
 Search: This tool opens up a dialog for locating features based on a predefined
“stored query”.
 Find: It is used to find features of layers. Following screenshot shows the popup window which
is displayed on selecting "Find" tool.
Figure : Find Tool

Query Builder : This option opens up a dialog based on a query that an end-user
constructs. Initially this tool is inactive but when the user selects the layer then it is activated.
The result set of Query Builder is displayed on the map in yellow color.

Select Feature: This option allows the user to select a specified area selected by different
means as rectangle, circle, line and polygon. This tool becomes active as soon as one layer
becomes active in TOC.

Clear Selection : This tool allows the user to remove the selected features on the active
layer. As soon as the user selects this tool the yellow color goes away ie. the features are no
longer selected.

Buffer: This tool opens a dialog for constructing a polygon around the currently
selected feature. This tool becomes active only when one or more features of the map are
selected.

Attributes: This tool displays the attributes of the layer selected on the TOC
CUSTOM TOOLBAR & MENUS
In addition to the previous available tools, a custom toolbar is created to optimize the usability of this
tool. Following figure shows “Custom Toolbar”.
Figure: Custom Toolbar
The tools in the toolbar have tooltips which help users know more about the tool. Following is the list of
tools created starting from the left most one.
Pointer or Release Tool
This tool is used to release other tools. When a tool is selected from any toolbar, the cursor icon is
changed to the selected tool icon. This tool helps user to go back to the original state.
Hotlink Tool
The users can use this tool to see the election results for a state by clicking on the map. When the Hot
link tool is selected, the cursor changes to a lightning bolt icon and then the user can select any state from
the map to see the presidential election results of that state in tabular form. As shown in the following
snapshot, the popup window displays the presidential election results for California. It has columns
which display the years when elections were held, republican votes, democrat votes, electoral votes for
democrat party, electoral votes for Republican Party, and winning party. There is also a button at bottom
named "View Graph" which when selected displays the presidential election results in graph form.
Figure: Hotlink Tool
Bar Graph Tool
When the user selects the bar graph icon, a window opens up and then the user can select any
state; the trends of presidential elections results will be displayed in bar graph form for past years
for that specific state. As shown in the snapshot below, upon selecting the bar graph icon, a
window pops up with the dropdown menu of states. Blue colored bars represent democrat votes,
red represents republican votes and white color represents other parties’ votes.
Figure : Bar graph Tool
Distance Measuring Tool
This tool can be used for measuring the distance between two locations or states in U.S. As
shown in the snapshot below the green line represents the distance between two locations and
total distance is displayed at the bottom of the map in miles and kilometers.
Figure: Distance Measuring Tool
Attribute Table Tool
As described in [14], the attribute table is a tabular representation of the information about a
regional division of USA which is arranged so that each column represents one feature attribute.
Following snapshot represents the Attribute table for east north central division. The
Last5_DWon column represents the winnings by democrat party in last five years. Similarly the
Last5_RWon column represents the winnings by Republican Party in last five years. EC2012
column represents Electoral College votes in 2012. CD2012 column represents the number of
congressional districts in 2012. POP2010 column represents the population in 2010. The
remaining columns represent area and state name.
Figure: Attribute Table Tool
Election Matrix Tool
This tool can used to see the results of presidential elections for the past 80 years. When the user
selects the Election matrix tool then election results are displayed for all states of U.S. in past
years . As shown below in snapshot the first column represents the states of U.S. and other
columns represent the winning parties in the years when presidential elections were held . The
"R" and red color in matrix cell represents that the republic party won in that year for specific
states. The "D" and blue color in matrix cell represents that the democrat party won in that
particular year for the specific states . The "O" and white color in matrix cell represents that Other
party won in particular year in for specific states.
Figure 6 Election Matrix Tool
Quiz Tool
When the user selects the Quiz icon then a Quiz related to U.S. Presidential elections will be
displayed on the screen. The user can also see the correct answers of the questions given in the
quiz. This tool will make the user experience more interesting.
Figure: Quiz Tool
Elections Data Management Tool
This tool is a very important tool. It will keep the application current. This tool allows the users
to add, edit and delete the presidential elections results data for four future elections. When
database management tool is selected a window pops up with options to add, edit and delete the
data which are shown below in snapshot.
Figure: Elections Data Management Tool
Selective Election Matrix tool
The Selective Matrix Tool is created for giving users the flexibility to see the presidential election results
for particular years and states or regional divisions.
When a user selects selective election matrix icon then a popup window is displayed on screen. The user
has the option to select by regional division or by state. If the user selects by state then a list of states is
displayed; if the user selects by division then all regional divisions are displayed in dropdown menu;
then the user can select all or any state or division and select the year from the drop down and submit the
form to see the selective matrix which displays the presidential election results for particular year(s) and
state(s) or division(s) as per user request. Code from the election matrix has been reused for the selective
matrix also.
Figure Selective Election Matrix tool
Presidential Election by Year Tool
When the user selects the US presidential election option then a window pops up with a drop
down. The user can select a particular year from the drop down and select the submit button; then
the states where the republican party won are displayed with background color red on the map for
that particular year, and the states where the democrat party won are displayed with blue
background color on the map for that particular year.
Figure US Presidential Election by year Tool
States Classification Tool
A State Classification tool has been created to show the states in the following categories:
a) Safe Democrats
b) Leaning Democrats
c) Swing States
d) Leaning Republicans
Past Presidents Option
This option allows users to view the past U.S. Presidents names for last eighty years along with
the strong opposition party contenders.
Photos and Videos Option
In this option photos and film clips related to presidential elections will be displayed. This option
has been added to make this tool more interesting.
Read Me Option
There is a “Read Me” file which will give information about US Presidential elections and
terminologies used.
Help File Option
There is a help file for the beginners which will help users to get familiar with this tool and
its features.