Rectangle

Parent page: Schematic Objects

A placed Rectangle

Summary

A rectangle is a non-electrical drawing primitive. It is a graphic element that can be placed on a schematic sheet and can be filled or unfilled.

Availability

Rectangles are available for placement in both Schematic and Schematic Library Editors:

• Schematic Editor - click Home | Graphical Elements |  from the main menus.
• Schematic Library Editor - click Home | Place |  from the main menus.

Placement

After launching the command, the cursor will change to a cross-hair and you will enter rectangle placement mode. Placement is made by performing the following sequence of actions:

1. Click or press Enter to anchor the first corner of the rectangle.
2. Move the cursor to adjust the size of the rectangle then click or press Enter to complete placement.
3. Continue placing further rectangles, or right-click or press Esc to exit placement mode.

Additional actions that can be performed during placement – while the rectangle is still floating on the cursor, and before its first corner is anchored – are:

• Press the Tab key to access an associated properties dialog, from where properties for the rectangle can be changed on-the-fly.
• Press the Alt key to constrain the direction of movement to the horizontal or vertical axis, depending on the initial direction of movement.
• Press the Spacebar to rotate the rectangle counterclockwise or Shift+Spacebar for clockwise rotation. Rotation is in increments of 90°.
• Press the X or Y keys to mirror the rectangle along the X-axis or Y-axis respectively.

Graphical Editing

This method of editing allows you to select a placed rectangle object directly in the workspace and change its size, shape or location graphically.

When a rectangle object is selected, the following editing handles are available:

A selected Rectangle

• Click and drag A to resize the rectangle in the vertical and horizontal directions simultaneously.
• Click and drag B to resize the rectangle in the vertical and horizontal directions separately.
• Click anywhere on the rectangle – away from editing handles – and drag to reposition it. While dragging, the rectangle can be rotated (Spacebar/Shift+Spacebar) or mirrored (X or Y keys to mirror along the X-axis or Y-axis respectively).

Non-Graphical Editing

The following methods of non-graphical editing are available:

Via an Associated Properties Dialog

Dialog page: Rectangle

This method of editing uses the Rectangle dialog to modify the properties of a rectangle object.

The Rectangle dialog

The dialog can be accessed during placement by pressing the Tab key.

After placement, the dialog can be accessed in one of the following ways:

• Double-click on the placed rectangle object.
• Place the cursor over the rectangle object, right-click then choose Properties from the context menu.

Via an Inspector Panel

Panel pages: SCH Inspector, SCHLIB Inspector

An Inspector panel enables you to interrogate and edit the properties of one or more design objects in the active document.