User interface

This section provides an overview of the user interface of CADMATIC Viewer.

Main elements

The main elements of the CADMATIC Viewer user interface are:

  • Quick access toolbar

  • File menu

  • Tabs: Home, Tools, Insert, Styles, View

  • Additional toolbar above the tabs

    1. Close BE – Closes the Block Editor tool.
    2. Edit current layer – Opens the Edit Layer dialog.
    3. Layer drop-down menu.
    4. Linestyle drop-down menu.
    5. Lineweight drop-down menu.
    6. Edit current textstyle – Opens the Text Styles dialog. See Textstyle.
    7. Textstyle drop-down menu.
    8. Edit current dimension style – Opens the Dimension Style dialog. See Dimension style.
    9. Dimension style drop-down menu.
    10. Color drop-down menu.
  • Drawing area
  • Property pane is displayed on the left side of the drawing area, when relevant

Context menu

Some options and commands that the user can select from the tabs of the ribbon are also available via the context menu. The availability of specific menu items depends on what objects are currently selected. Some commands might function differently when they are selected from the context menu instead of selecting them from the tabs.

Menu Item

Key

Description

Move

 

Allows moving the selected objects. After selecting this tool, you can also do the following:

  • Hold down the R key to rotate the object set by moving the mouse, using the cursor position as the base point.
  • Hold down the S key to stretch the object set by moving the mouse, using the cursor position as the base point.

Cut

Ctrl+X

Cuts the selected objects to the clipboard.

Cursor position will be used as the reference point when pasting the objects.

Copy

Ctrl+C

Copies the selected objects to the clipboard.

Cursor position will be used as the reference point when pasting the objects.

Copy from Point

 

Copies the selected objects and displays a reference line from the copying point to the cursor.

Paste

Ctrl+V

Paste selection to current position as a new block, to an external file, or paste data from the clipboard. Supported clipboard data type is text which will be pasted as text, or image or bitmap type which will be pasted as embedded OLE object.

Deselect All

Esc

Mouse middle button

Clears the current selection. Note that double pressing the mouse middle button will zoom the drawing to its original view.

Visibility

 

Allows hiding the selected objects or all but the selected objects, and managing invisible objects.

Explode

 

Explode the selected objects.

Burst

 

Use the burst command on the selected objects.

Erase

Delete

Deletes the selected objects.

Export Block

 

Export block to a 2D symbol source file (*.asy), to DXF/DWG file, or extract attributes from block to a CSV-formatted file.

Create Block From Selection

 

Create a new block record from selected objects.

Create Group From Selection

 

Create a new group from selected objects.

Create Pattern From Selection

 

Create a new pattern from selected objects.

General Properties

 

Opens the General Properties dialog for the selected objects.

Dxf Codes

 

Show/modify the dxf group codes of the selected objects.

Hyperlink

 

Add, open, copy, add to favorites, or edit the selected object's hyperlink. Hyperlinks can also be opened by holding down Ctrl and picking the object.

Draw Order

 

Change the drawing order of the selected objects.

Undo, Redo

 

Allows undoing or redoing previous actions.

Rescale

 

Opens rescale panel for rescaling the selected objects. Base point will be by default the current mouse cursor position.

Rotate

 

Opens rotate panel for rotating selected objects around selected axis. Base point will be by default the current mouse cursor position.

Properties

 

Select object(s), press this command to open property window to see or modify object properties.