Linked Symbol objects, Project Symbol folder, and Symbol library

Linked symbols, also referred to as symbols, are sets of one or more screen objects that are saved in a library for reuse.

Symbols Library

The Symbols library is a visual browser for all of the symbols that are available to be used in your project screens. To open the library, select Symbols in the Libraries group on the ribbon Draw tab. The Symbols library opens in the Screen/Worksheet Editor.

The library is divided into two main folders:

• The System Symbols folder contains premade symbols that are installed with the software. These symbols are grouped into subfolders by category as shown above.

• The Project Symbols folder contains copies of System Symbols used in the project and user-made symbols created for the project.

Adding a symbol to a project and placing it in a project screen:

1. Find the symbol you want in the library, and then select it:

   • Select it with the main mouse button, or

   • Double-click it to close the Symbol library

   After the symbol is selected, the mouse cursor will change to indicate that a symbol is selected and ready to be placed:

2. Open or navigate to the project screen where you want to place the symbol.

3. Click anywhere in the project screen to place the selected symbol.

4. Customize the symbol's custom properties. For example, when you place a gauge that displays tank levels, you can define custom properties for each instance of the symbol, allowing each linked copy to display the level of a different tank. See Symbol Object Properties, below, and Create and edit project symbols for more information.

Project Symbol folder

A symbol that is added to a project is a copy, also referred to as an instance, that is linked to the master Symbol in the Symbols library. Changes made to the master symbol will propagate to every linked copy in every project. Changes made to a linked copy will not affect the master symbol in the Symbol library unless you explicitly edit or update the master symbol; see Create and edit project symbols for more information.

Project symbols, whether copies of installed System Symbols from the Symbols Library or symbols created and added to the project, are displayed in the Project Explorer Graphics tab:

Symbol Object Properties

The properties unique to a Linked Symbol are:

• Hint: This property is not unique to a Linked Symbol, but the behavior of the hint can differ from that of other objects. Groups of objects and linked objects can have hints, in addition to the hints for each grouped object. All of these hints will be active, but the individual grouped objects' hints will have priority over the hints for the group of objects or the linked object. The hint for the group of objects or the linked object will appear in parts of the screen occupied by the group of objects, but not occupied by one of the grouped objects.

• Name: This read-only field shows the name of the symbol.

• Use linked size: This property is selected by default. While selected, the symbol cannot be resized. Deselect this property to allow the symbol to be resized.

  Note: Some symbols will scale evenly, but the items that comprise the symbol will not all scale with the symbol size. Bitmaps and other raster graphics may become pixelated. In particular, Rotation and Position animations use fixed pixel positions, which will not scale. To fix these, edit the linked symbol and change the pixel settings.

• Category: Symbol properties can be segregated by category. By default, System Symbols have all properties with the Main category. You can edit the symbol and add categories. All categories used by the symbol will be listed here. Selecting a category from this list will cause the only the properties from that category to be displayed in the Property/Value table in the pane beside the list.

• Property/Value table pane: Properties, also referred to as Custom Properties, and their values associated with the selected Category displayed in this table. Set the values to customize this instance of the symbol. These values can be set independently for each different instance of a symbol in the project.

• Display all properties from all categories: The property is not selected by default. Select it to display Property/Vales pairs for all Categories of the symbol. As noted above, only the Main category exists initially for System Symbols.

• Expand: This button will toggle the Object Properties window to a view with more space to display Categories and Property/Value rows. See below:

  

  • OK: Use this button to toggle back to the regular Object Properties dialog, saving the changes made in the expanded dialog.

  • Cancel: Use this button to toggle back to the regular Object Properties dialog without saving any changes made in the expanded dialog.