There are many techniques and commands that are used to selecting joint and members within a graphical window.  The most common way of selecting items is by using the mouse.  To select a single item

§    Click on the item

The selected item is draw as using a thicker line size to make it appear bold.  Typically this will be drawn in black but a different colour for drawing the selection can be set via the Colour command in the View menu.

To extend or reduce the selection

§    Shift-click on an unselected item to add it to the current selection

§    Shift-click on a selected item to remove it from the current selection

To select a group of items

§    Drag a rectangle which encloses the items to be selected

If the rectangle is defined by dragging the cursor from the left to the right, a bounding selection will be performed and only the items within the rectangle will be selected.  If shift is held down while dragging, the existing selection will be extended with the additional unselected items that are contained within or intersect the rectangle.

When performing a drag selection there are two techniques for items. The first is by using a rectangular box as described above.  An alternative to this is to use a line selection in which the user drags the end of a straight line across the screen. In this case all members that intersect this line are selected and well as all joints connected to these members.

The selection tool to be used when performing a drag selection is picked using the View Toolbar. Clicking on the dotted square or dotted line buttons chooses the corresponding selection tool.

The Select menu contains a number of commands for helping to select items in the model.  Member and Joint may be selected by specifying their number or by a label.