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Layer Menu

The layer menu is arrayed beneath the main drawing window and the prompt line. If layers have been specified to Xic, they will be shown in this area. Each layer contains a sample area and name. If there are more layers than space available for display, clicking on the arrow buttons to the right of the layer menu will show a new line of layer entries.

The up arrow, with accelerator keyword ``ltup'', advances to the set of layers above those presently listed. The down arrow, with accelerator keyword ``ltdn'', scrolls in the opposite direction. Both operations wrap around the ends of the list of layers.

Immediately to the left of the the layer table is the S button. When this button is in the down position, Xic is placed in layer-specific mode for selections.

One of the layers will be the ``current layer'', which is assumed by many of the drawing commands. The current layer is highlighted in the layer table, and may be changed by clicking with button 1 on the entries in the table. The current layer is used for all created geometry, and for layer-specific selections. Clicking on the layer entries with button 2 toggles the layer visibility on and off, as shown by the presence or absence of the sample area. Button 3 toggles or enables layer blinking. In 256-color modes, the blinking status is turned on and off by clicking with button 3. In other modes, button 3 must be pressed and held over a layer entry, and only the main drawing window will display blinking. In either case, layers that happen to have the same color as the selected blinking layer will also blink, since the operation is sensitive only to the layer color.

A small icon at the far right of the layer table indicates when layer-specific selection mode is active. Clicking on this icon with button 1 will toggle layer-specific mode on and off. Clicking on this icon with button 2 will toggle the visibility of all layers. Thus, if the user wants to view only one layer, a quick way to achieve this is to click on the icon with button 2 to turn off all layers, then click on the layer(s) to show with button 2. Note that unless the graphics is set for 256-color mode, the screen has to be explicitly redrawn (Ctrl-R does this) to show the new view in physical mode. Holding Shift while clicking with button 2 will force a screen redraw.

The entries in the layer table can be shown in more compact form by setting the variable LayerTable, with the !set command, to either ``compact'' or ``tiny''. For example, one can type

!set LayerTable compact
to obtain the compact representation. Entering
!unset LayerTable
reverts to the default view.

The compact view uses smaller sample boxes and text. The tiny view uses still smaller sample boxes, and two rows.

There is no limit on the number of layers that can be defined in Xic.

Each layer has an optional long name in addition to the CIF style name shown in the layer menu. When specifying a layer to a command or function, either name can be used.



Subsections
next up previous contents index
Next: The S Button Up: Menus and Operations Previous: Prompt Line   Contents   Index
Stephen R. Whiteley 2006-10-23