If you are familiar with older versions of Mantid you will be used to the user interface MantidPlot. MantidPlot was built on Qt4, but as Qt4 is no longer being supported, the Mantid Workbench was made using Matplotlib as the underlying tool for generating plots. Currently the Mantid Workbench does not have all the functionality of MantidPlot, but once it does, the Workbench will eventaully replace MantidPlot. In this chapter we will cover how to recognize and use some of the features of the Mantid Workbench, as well as the features from MantidPlot that are not yet integrated into Workbench.
The Mantid Workbench is available in any install of Mantid 4.0 or higher, available to download form the Downloads section of the website. This will install both MantidPlot and the Mantid Workbench which will be available to launch from the same directory.
MantidPlot and the Mantid Workbench are visually distinct. If the default layout has the workspace and algorithm toolboxs on the right with a lot of empty space then you have opened MantidPlot. If it has the workspace and algorithm toolboxs on the left with a script editor in the centre then you have opened the Mantid Workbench.
The default layout of both can be changed so you can’t always rely on that if you are opening a copy of Mantid that has already been altered. In that case you can also tell the difference by the name in the top left corner, and the icon on the taskbar.
Most of the basic functionality you have covered in MantidPlot is available to you in Workbench. You are still able to load workspaces as you did before but the context menu you get when right clicking on a workspace is different in Workbench.
When starting in Workbench it is good to get used to the differences in layout between the two and knowing which is best suited for for your task.