SAVE

Purpose:

To convert the current drawing into a drawing form and save it in the Standard data bank. Text insertion rules are defined in interaction with the user.

Instructions:

1. In the Tools menu, click Drawing Form, then Save.

   The geometry in the drawing, except rule definition texts, will make up the layout of the form. A rule definition text is a text beginning with a "$" or a "@" followed by a running number that denotes the identification (number) of the rule. Standard slant and aspect of the text is assumed. The font, position, rotation and height of the text are characteristics that will be saved together with the rule description. Additional attributes (adjustment, max number of characters ) will be defined by user within this function.

   A rule definition text can be of type single ($) or table (@). The single text will contain only one row, while a table text may contain several rows. The attribute data for a single text is the adjustment and the max number of characters allowed. The table text takes two more attributes, namely the max number of lines and the interline space factor.

2. First, the user is prompted to key in the desired name of the form. Note that this name cannot equal the name of the current drawing. If an object with the same name already exists in the data bank, you have to confirm the overwriting before the drawing form is saved.

3. The user now gets a chance to supply the name of a reference form. The rule attributes of this form can then be used in the form about to save, if desired. If the form already exists in data bank, this name will be proposed by the system. Note that the reference form is not needed by the system; it just makes things easier for the user. If a reference form has been supplied, the system now asks if the rule parameters in the form about to save should be defined automatically, via the reference form. This means that only the attributes of rules not present in the reference form must be defined explicit by user.

4. Next, the system will go through all rule definition texts in the drawing to establish the definition for each rule, with or without the assistance of the reference form. The attributes of rules that can/should not be defined automatically must be supplied explicit by the user. Predefined values will be proposed, if possible.

5. When the rule definition is completed, all rules will be listed in a dialog. The user now gets the possibility to update the additional attributes of any rule. Just key in the number of the rule, or select the rule in the dialog list. The update session is completed with an empty rule selection (or Cancel), where after the form will be saved.

Options:

None.

Result:

The current drawing will be converted into a drawing form and saved in the Form data bank.