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IndexThe pointer changes to an "O" shape when it's over an object. If you press the right mouse button, a pop-up menu of object editing functions is displayed. Generic editing functions can also be accessed from the Edit menu.
You can rearrange the palette and Shape Library to change the order in which shapes appear, or to customize the selection of which shapes appear in the palette. Do this by simply dragging and dropping icons within or across the two areas. (Be careful not to drag an icon across the drawing area first, as this creates a new object in your diagram.) These changes are saved in your configuration file.
Shapes can be defined as vector (line) drawings or bitmap images. A large number of predefined shapes are provided with Robochart, in the shapedef file. You can add to or replace any of these shapes from your configuration file, or provide your own complete replacement to the shape library by naming a different file in the RCHT_SHAPES environment variable.
Move the pointer to the desired center position for the new object (but not over an existing object or flow - the pointer should be an arrow shape). Press the right button to display the pop-up menu. (In the OPEN LOOK version, choose the Create submenu.) Choose the desired object shape from this menu. The object is created with the current default size for its type, and the current default properties.
To select more than one object, hold down the Control (or Shift) key while clicking over each object - this toggles the selection of the object at the pointer without affecting other selections. (With OPEN LOOK, you can also click the middle button to toggle selection. With Motif, Control/click always selects objects, while left-click and Shift/click can also select text). You can also move the pointer over background (arrow pointer), press the left button, and drag a temporary rectangle around the objects to be selected. Objects completely inside the rectangle are selected (and those partially or fully outside are deselected). The same operation with the Shift or Control key down, or using the middle button instead of the left button, toggles the selection state of objects inside the rectangle.
The Select All submenu of the Edit menu lets you select all objects, all objects and flows, or all objects of one type. To select all ellipses, for example, first select one ellipse, then choose Select All/Same type.
To move a single object to a new location on the same diagram level, move the pointer over the object, but not its label ("O" pointer shape), press the left button, and drag the object to the desired location. If the Meta key (Constrain modifier) is held down while moving an object, movement is constrained to horizontal and vertical directions.
To move a group of objects on the same level, first select them. Then, move the pointer into any of the selected objects and drag the group with the left button.
To move an object to another diagram level or page, use the cut and paste functions discussed below.
An invisible grid is provided to simplify alignment of objects and flows. When active, any movement or resizing of an object causes that object to be aligned with the grid. You can adjust the size of the snap grid (in screen pixels) from the Program Options window. Setting the size to one disables the grid. The default setting is defined in your configuration file.
To move two or more objects into alignment, first select the objects, then choose the desired alignment from the Edit menu's Align submenu.
The icons in this menu indicate top, bottom, vertical center, left, right, and horizontal center alignment. All objects are aligned to the position of the first object selected.
To change the type (shape) of an object, choose the desired new type from the Shape submenu of its pop-up menu. Or, select one or more objects, then hold down the Meta key and left-click on the desired shape in the object palette or Shape Library window. The object size is changed to the current default size for that type (see "Changing Object Size" below). This is true even if you select the object's existing type; this gives you a way to set existing objects to the same size.
To change an object's outline, choose the Border Type item or Color submenu Border item in its pop-up menu.
To change the border, fill, or text color of an object, choose the appropriate color (or gray level) from the Color submenu of its pop-up menu.
You can also change object shapes, line types, and colors using the Selection Options window (described below). The set of available colors can be changed using the Color Options window (Section 9).
Unless an object has no fill (making it "transparent"), it will obscure objects underneath it. To move an object in front of, or behind, overlapping objects, choose To Front or To Back from its pop-up menu.
To change the size or proportions of an object, first select it. Then drag the appropriate grab handle. Dragging a corner handle adjusts the object size in two directions; dragging a side handle adjusts only the object's width, and dragging the top or bottom handle adjusts only the height. If the Meta key (Constrain modifier) is held down while dragging a handle, the opposite handle is moved at the same time to keep the object's center fixed.
Robochart keeps a default size for each object type, which determines the size of newly created objects. The default size for a type is changed whenever an object of that type is resized or moved. If you adjust the size of the first object of each type created in the diagram, all subsequently created objects will match that size. The initial default sizes are specified in the shape definition file. Objects created with the Duplicate modifier are given the size of the duplicated object rather than the default size.
Existing objects (of the same type) can be set to a common size with the following procedure: First, update the default size by moving or resizing one object. Then copy this size to other objects by choosing each object's existing type in the Shape submenu of its pop-up menu, or by selecting the objects to be resized and Meta/clicking on the shape in the shape palette or library.
To delete one or more objects, first select them, then choose Cut from the Edit menu, or press the Cut function key (or Shift/Delete (Motif only), or Meta/X). This saves the deleted objects on the clipboard (see below). To delete selected objects without affecting the clipboard, choose Delete from the Edit menu instead, or use the Delete key. To quickly delete a single object without having to select it first, choose Delete from the object's pop-up menu, or press Meta/D with the pointer over the object.
When an object is cut or deleted, flows connected to the object are also cut or deleted. However, if there are exactly two flows connected (other than any looping flows, which are always deleted), they are automatically "joined together" to connect the objects on either side of the deleted object. For example, if you have three objects connected together as A -- B -- C and delete object B, Robochart will connect A directly to C.
To remove everything at the current level, page, or the entire document, choose Clear from the Edit menu, and indicate the amount to clear in its submenu:
Robochart maintains a clipboard for objects and flows, separate from the window manager's text clipboard. Cut and Paste operations can be performed with both clipboards. Cut and Copy operate on whatever is currently selected, whether text or objects. Paste inserts text from the text clipboard if the text insertion caret is active; otherwise objects and flows from the Robochart object clipboard are pasted.
To transfer objects, and the flows between them, to the clipboard, first select the objects. It's not necessary to select flows. Then choose either Copy or Cut from the Edit menu, or press the Copy (or Meta/C) or Cut (or Meta/X) key. The Motif version also accepts Control/Insert for Copy and Shift/Delete for Cut. Copy copies the objects to the clipboard, leaving the originals in the diagram; Cut moves the objects to the clipboard, deleting them from the diagram. Either function replaces the previous contents of the clipboard. If an object containing expanded diagrams (indicated with an asterisk in its level number) is transferred, the complete hierarchy below that object is transferred to the clipboard as well.
To place a copy of the clipboard contents into the current level, first be sure no object or flow labels are selected (you can click over background to make sure). Then, choose Paste from the Edit menu, or press the Paste key (or Shift/Insert (Motif only), or Meta/V). Pasting does not remove objects from the clipboard - additional copies can be pasted if desired. Note that objects duplicated with this method are not linked together as are objects copied by Robochart across diagram levels - they're separate objects, and changes to one copy will not affect other copies.
The clipboard is shared by all Robochart windows (its contents are saved in the /tmp directory, unless you don't have a license), so you can Copy objects from one diagram window and Paste them into a different window.
After pasting objects into a diagram level, Robochart selects all the pasted objects (and deselects everything else) so that you can move them as a group to the desired location.
The Selection Options window lets you change the shape, border type, colors, and label justification of all selected objects at one time. First select one or more objects, then display the Options menu and choose Selection... Choose the desired settings in the window and click on the Apply button to make the changes. If you have flows selected and don't want to change them, click on the FLOWS header to disable flow settings before clicking Apply. You can double-click on a property setting to quickly apply a single change without using the Apply button. Click on the pushpin to keep the window up for experimenting with different settings for an object, or to make changes to several objects.
The Reset size option determines whether objects are reset to the current default size for their new shape when changing their shape.
The Reset button restores the window settings to match the selected objects.
If the selected objects don't all have the same attributes (e.g. different object types), the corresponding window settings will have no current choice highlighted. If the Apply button is activated, these properties of the selected objects are not changed. However, if you choose a specific value and click on Apply, all selected objects will be set to the chosen value. (You can remove the choice by clicking the current choice to deselect it, or by using the Reset button to reset all window settings.)
Vector drawing shapes are defined as a set of lines and arcs that maintain a precise appearance at any size. Bitmap images are defined in external image files; they can be used for more complex shapes, but do not scale as cleanly.
To define or change the icon used to represent the object shape in the palette and menus, click on the Edit Icon... button. This invokes a bitmap editor (defined in environment variable RCHT_ICONED. Normally this is set to rcicon, a supplied utility that in turn invokes the X bitmap editor). Robochart is suspended while the editor runs (to exit bitmap, click on the Write Output button, and then on the Quit button).
The Numberable option determines whether objects with this shape are automatically numbered, when the Numbering option (in the Program Options window) is set to "Specified" shapes only.
Attach mode determines how flows are attached to this shape. Automatic attachment means that a flow attaches at the nearest defined attach point so that the flow points toward the center of the object. This is the normal mode; the attachment is adjusted whenever the flow or object is moved. Manual attachment means that a flow attaches at the defined attach point nearest the pointer when the flow connection is created, and stays at this attach point. This mode is useful for schematic symbols, for example, where different connection points have specific meanings. Bus attachment means that a flow attaches to the closest point along the rectangular boundary of the shape, regardless of any defined attach points. This mode is useful for drawing networks, or objects with many parallel connections.
The Default width and height indicate the initial size of objects, in pixels.
Attach points, Outlines, and Fill are defined in terms of a 128-unit wide by 128-unit high region, with the origin at the upper left corner. This region is scaled to fit the actual width and height of each object. For example, if a certain diagram object is exactly 64 pixels wide and 64 pixels high, each unit in definition space corresponds to a half-pixel of screen space for that object.
Attach points form a list of X,Y coordinate pairs. If no attach points are defined for a shape, a default set of points spaced around the rectangular boundary are used. The standard shape library includes shapes with a reduced number of attach points, which are convenient for drawing objects on a rigid grid. Outline and Fill definitions are lists of drawing commands, defined in shapedef.txt. Section 11 describes a utility program to transform (rotate or flip) existing vector shapes into new shapes.
Click on Apply to apply your modified shape definition. These custom definitions are stored in your configuration file, and any diagram file that uses them. Click on Delete Shape to remove a user-defined shape and revert to the shape defined in the global shapedef file.
Robochart actually keeps three lists of shape definitions:
Images are specified by giving the pathname of a bitmap image file. Robochart accepts images in any of the following formats:
Iconedit and bitmap have "painting" capabilities, allowing you to create and edit custom images. Snap and snapshot are screen capture programs, allowing you to record any image off the screen. Your system may have other programs to manipulate raster images and convert other image formats to raster files.
Robochart requires monochrome images. If you supply a color
raster file (such as an image captured from a color screen with
snapshot or snap),
Robochart will try to convert it by invoking the filter program named in environment variable RCHT_RASCVT. By default
this filter is ras8to1, a simple thresholding converter supplied with
Robochart. The filter must accept a color raster file on standard input, and generate a monochrome raster file on standard
output. The command file filename shows the attributes
of a raster file. (Sun's Imagetool can also be used to convert color
images to monochrome.)
Bitmap objects are plotted as rectangles when output in HPGL format. Object border types (thin/thick, solid/dashed lines) do not apply to them, although border, fill, and text colors can be set. To limit memory demands on the display device, Robochart retains a small number of scaled copies of each custom image. If you use many different sizes of one image on a single diagram level, drawing speed will be slower.
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