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4. File Menu Commands

4.1 Open

Shortcut Key: CNTL+O

Command: Open

This command will open the file dialog box so that you may pick a DWG or DXF file to view.

There are two preview modes available in this dialog. If there is a bitmap image attached to the drawing file it is displayed by default in the window at the right of the dialog. There are four buttons at the top of the dialog which will allow you to customize the look of the dialog. The two buttons at the right end of the row will allow you to pick either the bitmap preview or the text preview. Please note that the text preview is always available even if there is no bitmap attached to the drawing. The two buttons at the left end of the bar hide the preview window and select either list or detail mode for the file display.

4.2 Save

Shortcut Key: CNTL+S

This command performs a quick save. The currently open file will be saved to the disk with the same name, type and drawing version as the file that was opened. It is really not that useful for a viewing program but will be necessary if this program is ever extended.

4.3 Save As

Shortcut Key: none

This command will open the file dialog box to save the drawing being viewed. The dialog will allow you to set the path to save. The Advanced button will open up a a side bar where you may elect to change the format of the file (DWG, DXF, BMP, PNG, SVG). You may also select the AutoCad version to save to and the number of digits of precision to save for DXF saves.

The button at the bottom of the Advanced section titled WriteBCF will store your current settings in a Batch Control File (a BCF). This file will be read and used if you do batch converting from the external command line. This file has no effect if you call batchconvert from within LX-Viewer.

4.4 Close

Shortcut Key: none

This command will close as a file, and will reset the screen, the toolbars and menus. This command is provided more for cosmetic purposes. It is not necessary to close a file before exiting the program nor is it necessary to close prior to opening another drawing. In both cases the close is done automatically for you.

4.5 Print

Shortcut Key: CNTL+P

Command: Print or Plot

This command will open the print dialog box to print. Refer to section 5 for further information.

4.6 Audit

Shortcut Key: none

Command: Audit

This function will audit the drawing database of the file that is currently open. Audit information is displayed on the text screen as each step is completed. Audit can be useful to determine if a problem you may be having is with a drawing or with the program. At this time there is no associated "recover" command to go with "audit". On their web site the OpenDWG people have written that they hope to have a recover function implemented in the future, but for right now we can only find problems - not fix them.

Please note that the audit process can be very time consuming.

4.7 Report

Shortcut Key: CNTL+R

Command: report

This function will prepare a report of various items found in the drawing database. The first page provides a list view of this information that can be browsed. The list view is in conventional tree format. Just click on one of the + signs in the list to expand that branch of the tree.

The second page of the tab dialog allows you to customize the information presented in the printed report. The left hand side of this page is a series of checkboxes. To select information to report on just place a check the boxes you want. On the right side there are selection buttons for plaintext and HTML. Plain text is formatted only with delimiters and line breaks, HTML contains different fonts, headings and tables. If plaintext is selected there is a series of checkboxes activated that allow you to select the delimiter used to seperate the data.

Below these boxes are a series of push buttons that allow you to select the font to display and print, a button to toggle up and down a window containing a preview of the report, and a button to print and one to save the report to disk. When HTML is selected and you do a save to disk the resulting file contains an HTML formatted document.

The button "WriteBCF" will store a Batch Control File to the directory /lx-viewer located in your home directory. The batch control file stores settings from the dialog which are read when doing batch processing from the command line. The settings from all of the radio buttons and the current font settings are stored. Please refer to the Batch Processing section of this manual for further information.

4.8 Batch Convert

Shortcut Key: none

Command: bconvert

This function will allow you to convert batches of DWG or DXF files into any format supported by LX-Viewer. Selecting this command will open up the file save dialog in multi file selection mode. Select the files that you wish to convert, and use the ADVANCED button to select the various file types and options. Then select OK to start the batch convert.

During the batch process drawings will only appear on the screen when converting into two of the formats. These are the BMP and PNG formats. These two formats are created by a screen capture which is why they need to be drawn. The remaining formats (DWG,DXF, and SVG) do not need to be displayed in order to do the conversion. You can track the progress by watching the status bar at the bottom of the screen.

4.9 Batch Plot

Shortcut Key: none

Command: bplot

This function will allow you to plot batches of DWG or DXF files. Selecting this command will open up a file dialog in multi file selection mode. Select the files that you wish to convert and press the open button. You will then be presented with the plot dialog so that you may change plot settings. All plot settings selected will apply to the entire batch of drawings.

4.10 Quit

Shortcut Key: CNTL+Q

Command: Quit

This command will exit the drawing viewer.


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