Interactive editing

At the beginning of every work session and after the termination of the execution of a main command the base command Select is activated that lets the user select entities of the drawing in order to operate with them. Obviously, the Select command can be recalled at any moment cancelling as the other main commands do the former active command.

When the Select command is active you can select any graphic entity by a simple mouse click on it. The selected entity can now interactively be modified, it is in editing.

When an entity is in editing the use of modifying and transformation commands is inverted: instead of first entering the command and then selecting the entity or entities to apply the operation on in editing you first select the entity you want to modify and then the command that shall be applied. The commands are applied to all entities that are in editing, after their execution they are automatically disabled; the selected entities continue to be in editing, other modifications can be made.

The commands mainly used in editing are available in the context menu.

When the Select command is active and you select a graphic entity it is in editing: you will see it within a dashed rectangle that encloses it perfectly, the so-called box; further you will see markers on the entity’s snap points and other markers on the box: on its center and its vertices as well as on the middle points of its sides.

If the box is too small and cannot be displayed the only thing to be displayed is the marker on its center. You have to enlarge the view to see the box with all of its markers. See Zoom commands.

The selection of another entity de-selects the entity that is in editing.

If you want to select several entities you have to press the Shift key while selecting the entities: this way selected entities are not de-selected by the selection of other entities. If you select an already selected entity with the Shift key pressed a second time it will be de-selected and lose the editing state. This use of the Shift key is active only when the Select command is activated.

When the cursor is brought onto a marker of whatever type the cursor appears in another shape; this shape indicates the action you can perform if you select the marker by left mouse clicking. The editing operation can be still modified opening the contextual menu by right mouse clicking. The available operations are:

•  Modify the geometric position of the selected point. This action can be performed on the snap points only.

• Move the entities that are in editing according to the transformation type you choose in the menu. The transformation of the entities is executed by moving the selected point according to one of the following types:

  • Translation: translates the all the entities the same way as the selected point is translated.

  • Rotation: rotates the entities round the center of the box by an angle that equals the angle defined by the translation of the selected point.

  • Mirror: mirrors the entities at the axis that passes through the center of the box and the selected point.

  • Scale: resets the size of the entities according to the increase or decrease of the distance of the selected point from the center of the box.

• Copy the entities that are in editing. The available transformation operations are the same as in Move, the only difference is that the original entities are not deleted, but continue being part of the drawing; they also continue being in editing. Copying is therefore not actually an interactive modifying operation than a handy interactive way of copying. The transformations are:

  • Translation

  • Rotation

  • Mirror

  • Scale

Selecting the marker and moving it to a new position you modify the entity. The modifying is interactively displayed by the echo.

The available operations are memorized separately for each marker type. When you perform an operation through a marker as described above the next time you select a marker of the same type the same operation will be reproposed.

In case of the Rotation the Ortho mode is active respectively to the center of the box, i.e. to the point the rotation axis passes through. This way performing a rotation at one of the markers positioned at the middle points of the box sides you can - when pressing the Ctrl key - perform rotations of 90, 180 or 270°.

If you have selected an entity that does not allow some of the editing, these are disabled. In particular, the devices of the system can be moved or deleted, but you can not change its size.

If you select an electrical cable, you can move, add or delete a node. To move a node, simply select it and move it; to add or delete a node, you must use the commands available from the context menu when selecting a cable.

If a single module is selected, the snap points of the box coincide with the corners of the module even if it is rotated. This feature allows you to move a module by hooking a corner, allowing a precise repositioning.