Masters

The Masters are, like the Templates, a way to replicate and share content across a prototype's screens in order to save time and facilitate any global changes. In Justinmind Prototyper, Masters also behave like a screen as far as the user interface edition is concerned but, unlike the screens, they can be treated like a compound widget. Hence, Masters can be created into screens or templates like a common widget but with a very big difference: every change you make to a Master will spread to all the Master instances you created in your prototype.

In a screen or template, a Master instance is painted with a slightly transparent yellow color so you can clearly see which contents belong to a Master. Notice that the contents of a Master cannot be changed during the screen or template edition. To edit the contents of a Master you first need to select it on the Masters panel to open it. You can, alternatively, double-click on a Master instance on your screen or template to start editing it.

Creating a Master

To create a new Master follow the steps:

  1. Click on the 'plus' button in the Masters panel. A dialog will appear.

  2. Introduce the name for the new Master in the 'Name' field. Remember the name must be unique in the prototype. Introduce a description into the 'Description' field if you need it.

  3. Press Ok to apply the changes or click on Cancel to close the dialog without creating the Master.

Alternatively you can create a Master by duplicating an existing one. To duplicate a Master, right-click on the Master you want to duplicate in the Masters panel and select the 'Duplicate' option. Then follow the same steps described above.

Editing Master's name and description

If you want to change the name or description you gave to a Master, right-click on it in the Masters panel and select 'Edit'. A dialog like the creation dialog will appear. Introduce the new name and press Ok.

Adding a Master to a screen

You can create as many Master instances as you want per screen or template. To create a Master instance just drag the Master like a common widget from the Masters panel and drop it on the screen/template.

Deleting a Master

To delete a Master, right-click on it in the Masters panel and select 'Delete'. Notice that when deleting a Master all the Master instances created in the prototype will also be deleted.

Exporting Masters

To export a Master, follow thees steps:

  1. Click on File->Export->Master...

  2. A new dialog will appear to select the Master you want to export and location.

  3. Select the Master you want to export from the drop-down field 'Select Master'. Once selected a preview of the Master will be shown so you can check it is the correct one.

  4. Click on the Browse button ("...") of the 'Export Location' field and select the export destination in your file system as well as the name for the file.

  5. Select Ok to export the selected Master or click on Cancel to close the dialog without applying changes.

Importing Masters

To import a Master previously exported follow these steps:

  1. Click on File->Import->Master...

  2. Select the 'Import Master' option. A new dialog will appear to select the Master file.

  3. Click on the Browse button ("...") of the 'Import Location' field and select the Master file (.vcc extension) you want to import. Once selected the Master will be displayed in the same dialog so you can check it is the correct one.

  4. Select Ok to import the selected Master or click on Cancel to close the dialog without applying changes.

Tip: You can also import a Master by drag and drop: just drag the file from your file system and drop it on the Masters panel.