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## Activating a database

VisIt can have any number of databases open simultaneously but there is still an active database that is used to create new plots. Each time you open a database, the newly opened database becomes the active database and consequently the source database for any new plots that you decide to create. If you want to create a plot using a database that is open but is not your active database, you must activate that database so it becomes your active database. When you activate a database, its variables are added to the menus for the various plot types.

There are two ways to activate a database and the method that you choose depends on how you have configured the File panel to display files. By default, the File panel shows the Selected files list and the Open, ReOpen, Activate, Replace, and Overlay buttons. However, you can configure the File panel so it does not show the Selected files list. You can read more about configuring the File panel in the Preferences chapter of this book. If the Selected files list is shown in the File panel, you can click on a database in the Selected files list that you've previously opened and click the Activate button to set the active database to the highlighted file. The Activate button, shown in Figure figure, is located in the same place as the Open or ReOpen buttons but it is only displayed if you have clicked on a file that you have previously opened that is not already the active database.

Figure 1

If you have configured VisIt's File panel so the Selected files list is not shown then you have to use the second method of database activation in order to activate a database since the controls used in the first method are not available. The second method for activating a database is to select a database from the Source combo box, which is located just above the plot list and contains the list of opened databases (see figure).

Figure 2