OPEN DRAWING

Purpose:

To open an existing drawing, either within a standard drawing data bank or within a customer defined drawing data bank.

Instructions:

1. In the File menu, click Open Drawing.

   If a drawing already is current, you will be prompted to save this drawing before the new one is opened.

2. In a dialog that now appears, the name of the drawing can be either keyed in or selected from a list of drawings. The drawing list is generated by typing a wild card name (containing '*' and/or '%') and thereafter selecting the List button. Once the name of the drawing has been keyed in, or selected from the list, click the Open button to open the drawing.

Options:

You can filter your selection on drawing types in the Type field. Only drawings matching the selected type will be listed. However, if the type is "General Drawing", drawings with "undefined" drawing type will also be included in the result list. Drawings generated in Draft have undefined drawing type.

In case you do not know of what type your drawing is, you can use the All Drawings option. This will list all drawings with a matching name disregarding its type. This search may be significantly slower than searching for a specific drawing type. Also, it will only search drawings stored in the PADD database.

A drawing can be opened in three modes, selected by the Open Options radio buttons:

3. Update (Claim, full editing)

   The standard option, the selected drawing is opened and claimed. The drawing can be edited without limitations.

4. Read-only (No claim, limited editing)

   With this option you will not claim the drawing for other users. In the read-only mode you will actually be working in a temporary copy of the selected drawing. You should not do any permanent changes to this drawing. The drawing cannot be saved, neither with Save Drawing nor with Save Drawing As. You can only do export SDB. This copy is disconnected from the PADD database and for that reason it is not possible to do changes that requires a PADD database, for example:

   • Draw outfitting

   • Create or modify associative dimensions

   • Create or modify associative labels

5. Create Copy

This option is very useful if you want full editing capabilities to a drawing to which you have only read access or cannot claim for another reason.

The selected drawing will be copied, you will be prompted for the new name and drawing type when you click Open. The copied drawing is in the state of a "new drawing". If you close it without saving it, the drawing will be deleted.

The open options are disabled if you select a drawing not stored in the PADD database (not for drawings stored only as SDB-file.) There is only one standard way of open this type of drawing.

The user can, before opening the drawing, control the initial appearance of the drawing with respect to Envelopes (however, envelopes already defined in the drawing are not affected). Select the desired alternative in the Envelope radio box:

• None - No envelope control (default)

• Initial - All views are initially shown with its envelope

• Permanent - All views are permanently defined as envelopes.

The user can also, before opening the drawing, control the automatic expanding of Drawing References. The Expand Drawing References check box is used for this purpose.

If you click the Open via Link button, this will open a dialog that will let you select a drawing reference in the link documents hierarchy.

If the variable DWG_NAME_UPPERCASE is set to Yes it is not possible to use lowercase characters in the Drawing Name field.

Result:

An existing drawing is opened and displayed on the screen.