PlaceLine

Applied Parameters: None

Summary

This command is used to place a Line object onto the active document. A line is a non-electrical polyline drawing primitive. Lines are used for adding reference information to a document, such as building graphical symbols, custom sheet borders and title blocks, and annotating the schematic.

Access

Lines are available for placement in both Schematic and Schematic Library Editors:

• Schematic Editor - the following commands are available:
  • Choose Place » Drawing Tools » Line from the main menus.
  • Locate and use the Line command () on the Active Bar.
    If the command has been recently used from the Active Bar, it will become the active/visible button. Where other commands are available, this is indicated by a triangle at the bottom-right corner of the button. Click and hold on the active button to access a menu of all associated commands for that grouping.
  • Click the  button on the Utility Tools drop-down () of the Utilities toolbar.
  • Right-click and choose Place » Drawing Tools » Line from the context menu.
• Schematic Library Editor - the following commands are available:
  • Choose Place » Line from the main menus.
  • Locate and use the Line command () on the Active Bar.
    If the command has been recently used from the Active Bar, it will become the active/visible button. Where other commands are available, this is indicated by a triangle at the bottom-right corner of the button. Click and hold on the active button to access a menu of all associated commands for that grouping.
  • Click the  button on the Utility Tools drop-down () of the Utilities toolbar.
  • Right-click and choose Place » Line from the context menu.

Use

After launching the command, the cursor will change to a cross-hair and you will enter line placement mode. Placement is made by performing the following sequence of actions:

1. Click or press Enter to anchor the starting point for the line.
2. Position the cursor and click or press Enter to anchor a series of vertex points that define the shape of the line.
3. Use the Backspace or Delete keys to remove the last line segment placed.
4. After placing the final vertex point, right-click or press Esc to complete placement of this line.
5. Continue placing further line objects, or right-click or press Esc to exit placement mode.

When placing a line there are 5 placement modes. The mode specifies how corners are created when placing lines and the angles at which lines can be placed. During placement:

• Press Spacebar to cycle through the 90 Degree Up, 90 Degree Down, 45 Degree Up, 45 Degree Down and Any Angle modes. You can change modes at any time during line placement.
• In all modes other than Any Angle, the line segment attached to the cursor is a look ahead segment. The segment you are actually placing precedes this look ahead segment.

Tips

1. Through the Properties panel, several options are provided which can be used to change the style of a line. Using the Line, Line Style, Start Line Shape, End Line Shape, and Line Shape Size options, a large variety of arrow and marker designs can be achieved.
2. For information on how a placed line object can be modified graphically, directly in the workspace, see Graphical Editing.
3. While attributes can be modified during placement (Tab to bring up the Properties panel), bear in mind that these will become the default settings for further placement unless the Permanent option on the Schematic - Defaults page of the Preferences dialog is enabled. When this option is enabled, changes made will affect only the object being placed and subsequent objects placed during the same placement session.