Text entry in the Text Tool writable box is limited to 256 characters: But if you select the Text Tool,(setting alignment, size and font) you can drag and drop a largish text file. This is helpful as it enables you to use your preferred text editor for, say, specification notes.
Long lines are wrapped to a maximum length of 256 characters, a writable preference allowing a lower maximum length may be set up from the icon bar preferences.
[ProCAD+ 1.06 manual pages 111 & 121 refer. ]
(Charles Barraball. 24/8/99)
With a tool other than the Select tool selected, an ADJ click on a Rectangle or Polygon will open the appropriate dialogue box. However, if you hold down Ctrl while doing the ADJ click the shape will be treated as a line and you will be able to edit the individual vectors.
(David Snell. 15/09/99)
To save tedious setting of styles by setting each parameter one by one, select an item that has all the parameters already set. Then use the 'Style' menu and click on 'From selection'.
(Paul Williamson. 08/03/00)
You can program your own keyboard shortcuts to do some amazing things, some of which are not available from the menus.
You must first store your shortcuts as a text file called KEYDEFS buried inside the application.
Here is an example of a command line to put within this text file:
87,299; W = Sort the symbol list
The '87' (ASCII code for 'W') designates the key you want to press. The comma is just a separator. The '299' is the ProCad function number to sort symbols. The semi colon makes any following text ignored but useful as a commentary note.
Once this file is saved within the application and re-loaded then pressing 'W' will now sort your symbol list into alphabetical order.
IF IT WON'T WORK: Then check that:
You are not using <Ctrl>, you only need hit the key raw.
You are typing in the right case (it's case sensitive) so you will need to hold <Shift> key down if <Caps Lock> is off.
You are not typing in a dialogue box. If so <Ctrl+Y> will remove the cursor.
Here are some more lines as examples using the number keys on top of the keyboard to adjust line thicknesses. Try making a selection of lines then hit 1,2,3,4,5 etc and watch them all change before your very eyes.
; line thicknesses
49,326; 1 = thin line
50,333; 2 = thick line
51,340; 3 = 0.25mm line
52,341; 4 = 0.5mm line
53,342; 5 = 1.0mm line
54,343; 6 = 2.0mm line
Function numbers are extensively listed in the manual.
Happy pressing!
(Paul Williamson. 09/03/00)
The !Plotter+ application can shell out large quantities of plots for you in the background. You don't have to plot things individually.
On the icon menu, look at the 'input' menu and make sure 'selection' is ticked. You can now drag a selection of files directly to the plotter icon. You don't even have to load !ProCad+ to do this. Each job will be printed in turn automatically.
This works even better when the plotter is networked.
(Paul Williamson. 09/03/00)
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