PolyLine

The PolyLine dialog.

Summary

This dialog allows the designer to specify the properties of a Polyline (Line) object. A line is a non-electrical polyline drawing primitive. Lines are used for adding reference information to a document, such as building graphical symbols, custom sheet borders and title blocks, and annotating the schematic.

Access

The PolyLine dialog can be accessed prior to entering placement mode, from the Schematic – Default Primitives page of the Preferences dialog. This allows the default properties for the line object to be changed, which will be applied when placing subsequent lines.

During placement, the dialog can be accessed by pressing the Tab key.

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

• Double-clicking on the placed line object.
• Placing the cursor over the line object, right-clicking and choosing Properties from the context menu.
• Using the Edit » Change command and clicking once over the placed line object.

Graphical Tab

PolyLine dialog - Graphical tab.

Use the dialog's Graphical tab to modify graphical properties of the polyline object.

Options/Controls

• Line Width - the width of the line. Available widths are: Smallest, Small, Medium, and Large.
• Line Style - the style the line is drawn in. Options are Solid, Dashed, Dotted, and Dash dotted.

• Color - click the color sample to change the color of the line, using the standard Choose Color dialog.
• Start Line Shape - use this field to specify whether or not the starting point of the line is to have a particular shape, and what that shape should be. Available options are: None, Arrow, SolidArrow, Tail, SolidTail, Circle, Square.
• End Line Shape - use this field to specify whether or not the end point of the line is to have a particular shape, and what that shape should be. Available options are: None, Arrow, SolidArrow, Tail, SolidTail, Circle, Square.
• Line Shape Size - use this field to determine the size of the shape used at the start and/or end points of the line, if shapes have been specified for use. Available sizes are: Smallest, Small, Medium, and Large.
• Locked - enable this option to protect the line from being edited graphically.

Vertices Tab

PolyLine dialog - Vertices tab.

Use the dialog's Vertices tab to edit the individual vertices of the currently selected line object. You can also add new vertices to the line, or remove selected vertices altogether.

Options/Controls

• Vertices Grid - the main region of the tab lists all of the vertex points currently defined for the line, in terms of:
  • Index - the assigned index of the vertex.
  • X - the X (horizontal) coordinate for the vertex.
  • Y - the Y (vertical) coordinate for the vertex.
• Add - click this button to add a new vertex point. The new vertex will be added below the currently focused vertex entry (as distinguished by a dotted outline around a cell in its row) and will initially have the same coordinates as the focused entry
• Remove - click this button to remove the currently selected vertex entries in the list. This command will be unavailable if there are only two vertices present for the line.
• Menu - click this button to access a pop-up menu containing the following commands:
  • Edit - right-click on a coordinate cell (X or Y) for a vertex and use this command to edit the value in that cell. Alternatively, click directly on the cell.
  • Add - use this command to add a new vertex point. The new vertex will be added below the currently focused vertex entry (as distinguished by a dotted outline around a cell in its row) and will initially have the same coordinates as the focused entry.
  • Remove - use this command to remove the currently selected vertex entries in the list. This command will be unavailable if there are only two vertices present for the line.
  • Copy - use this command to copy the content of the selected cells in the list to the clipboard (alternatively use Ctrl+C).
  • Paste - use this command to paste the content of the clipboard into the list, starting at the selected cell (alternatively use Ctrl+V).
  • Select All - use this command to quickly select the entire grid contents of the list.
  • Select Column - use this command to quickly select the entire column in which the currently focused cell resides.
  • Move Up - use this command to move the selected vertex upward in the list.
  • Move Down - use this command to move the selected vertex downward in the list.
  • Move Line By XY - use this command to move the entire line object. The Move Line By dialog will appear, from where you can enter the increment value to be applied to each vertex point's X and Y coordinates.