General Drawing Properties

Applies To:

All product levels

Related Settings:

None

Menu: Edit>Drawing Properties

Default keyboard shortcut: None

Note: In order for the Drawing Properties toolbar to be active you must have an active drawing.

Enter values directly or use the pull down buttons to open enumerations or dialogs depending on the property. This window applies to the following:

•	Drawing properties.

•	Drawing entity properties.

•	Report designer properties (See the Report Designer Section).

Depending on the property, the property window will accept input in one of the following formats (data types):

Format	Range	Example
String	Alphanumeric	Hello World 1234
Coordinate	Horizontal Double ,Vertical Double	1,1 will locate a vertex at 1 drawing unit away from the horizontal and vertical origins.
Double	-1.79769313486231E308 to -4.94065645841247E-324 for negative values and from 4.94065645841247E-324 to 1.79769313486232E308 for positive values	1.234567
Integer	Depends on the property	Colors range from 0-255.
Path	Windows long path	C:\Program files\WireCAD5.

General Drawing Properties

The WireCAD drawing environment supports many different environment variables. These are available by pressing the button on the View toolbar. In order to expose the general properties, be sure that no entities in the drawing are selected before pressing the properties button.

The following is a list of the general drawing properties:

Property

Style/Value Range

Description

Document Settings

Active Layer

Dropdown / Enum

Sets the current layer. Use the Layers Dialog to define layers .

Angular Units

Dropdown / Enum

Sets the Angular units for the drawing.

Angular Units Precision

Dropdown / Enum

Sets the number of decimal places for Angular units.

File Name

Read Only

Returns the name and path of the drawing file.

File Version

Read Only

Returns the current file version.

Grid Mode

Boolean

Toggles the display grid.

Grid Spacing

Direct Entry / Double (x,y)

Sets the display grid spacing.

Linear Units

Dropdown / Enum

Sets the Linear units for the drawing.

Linear Units Precision

Dropdown / Enum

Sets the number of decimal places for Linear units.

Line Type Scale

Direct Entry / Double

Sets the scale for all line types in the drawing.

Ortho Mode

Boolean

Toggles the orthogonal (right angle) snap mode.

Polar Tracking

Boolean

Toggles the Polar Tracking function.

Polar Tracking Angle

Direct Entry / Double.

Sets the angle increment at which Polar Tracking will extend and track.

Snap Mode

Boolean

Toggle the Snap to Grid mode.

Snap Space

Direct Entry / Double. (x,y)

Sets the snap spacing.

Note: the snap spacing can differ from the Display grid spacing

Active Pen

Active Pen Color

Dialog / 0-255

Sets the current color to draw entities:

Active Pen Style

Dropdown / Enum

Sets the current line type for entities to be drawn.

Penstyle is scalable. The scale is set from the LineTypeScale property.

Instead of changing line type every time you want a different line type, you can create different layers with the desired line type.

Active Pen Width

Direct Entry / Double

Sets the line width for entities to be drawn.

Active Fill

Active Fill Background Color

Dialog / 0-255

Sets the background color for filled entities.

Active Fill Color

Dialog / 0-255

Sets the color for filled entities.

Active Fill Mode

Dropdown / Enum

Sets the hatch type for filled entities.

Active Text

Text Style

Dropdown / Enum

Sets the active Text Style.

Text Height

Direct Entry / Double

Sets the default text height.

Hor Justify

Dropdown / Enum

Sets the horizontal text justification.

Ver Justify

Dropdown / Enum

Sets the vertical text justification.

Drawing Limits

X Min

Direct Entry / Coord

Sets the lower left X corner of the grid.

X Max

Direct Entry / Coord

Sets the upper right X corner of the grid.

Y Min

Direct Entry / Coord

Sets the lower left Y corner of the grid.

Y Max

Direct Entry / Coord

Sets the upper right Y corner of the grid.

General Entity Properties

Property	Style/Value Range	Description
Area	Read Only	Displays the area of the entity.
Handle	Read Only	Displays the entity’s handle. This identifier will last for the life of the entity.
Label	Direct Entry / String	User definable field associated with entity.
Layer	Dropdown / Enum	Sets the layer that the entity is associated with.
Line Type Scale	Direct Entry / Double	Sets the scale of the LineType associated with the entity.
Pen Color	Dialog / 0-255	Color dialog to set the color of the entity:

Pen Style

Dropdown / Enum

Set the line type used for the entity.

Penstyle is scalable. The scale is set from the LineTypeScale property.

Instead of changing line type every time you want a different line type, you can create different layers with the desired line type.

Pen Width

Direct Entry / Double

Sets the pen width for the entity.

Has Extended Data

Read Only / Dialog

Displays a count of the extended data items associated with the entity.

Note: This dialog is read only.