Polygon

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Modified by Admin on Nov 20, 2013

Parent page: Objects

Use the Polygon object to create useful shapes on the schematic.

Summary

A polygon is a non-electrical drawing primitive. It is a multi-sided graphical object that can be placed on a schematic sheet. A polygon must have at least three sides and can be filled or unfilled.

Availability

Polygons can be placed in both the Schematic Editor and the Schematic Library Editor.

Schematic Editor

Choose Place » Drawing Tools » Polygon [P, D, Y] from the main menus.
Click thebutton on the Utility Tools drop-down of the Utilities toolbar

Schematic Library Editor

Choose Place » Polygon [P, Y] from the main menus.
Click thebutton on the Utility Tools drop-down of the Utilities toolbar.

Placement

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

Click or press Enter to anchor the starting point for the polygon.
Position the cursor and click or press Enter to anchor a vertex, move the mouse and repeat as often as required to define the shape of the polygon.
After placing the final vertex point, right-click or press Esc to complete placement of the polygon.
Continue placing further polygons, or right-click or press Esc to exit placement mode.

While attributes can be modified during placement (Tab to bring up associated properties dialog), bear in mind that these will become the default settings for further placement unless the Permanent option on the Schematic – Default Primitives 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.

Non-Graphical Editing...

The following methods of non-graphical editing are available:

...via an Associated Properties Dialog

This method of editing uses the following dialog to modify the properties of a polygon object.

Edit the properties of the Polygon in the dialog.

The Polygon dialog can be accessed prior to entering placement mode, from the Schematic – Default Primitives page of the Preferences dialog. This allows the default properties for the polygon object to be changed, which will be applied when placing subsequent polygons.

During placement, the dialog can be accessed by pressing the Tab key.

After placement, the dialog can be accessed in one of the following ways:

Double-clicking on the placed polygon object.
Placing the cursor over the polygon object, right-clicking and choosing Properties from the context menu.
Using the Edit » Change command and clicking once over the placed polygon object.

Editing Vertices

The Polygon dialog includes a Vertices tab, where you can edit the individual vertices of the currently selected polygon object.

Examine or edit individual vertices, click the Menu button for more options.

The main region of the tab lists all of the vertex points currently defined for the polygon. Click in a cell to edit a value. You can also add new vertices to the polygon, edit the coordinates of existing vertices, or remove selected vertices altogether.

Click the Menu button or right-click within the main list region to access a pop-up menu containing the following commands:

Edit - right click on a coordinate cell (X or Y) for a vertex and use this command to edit the value in that cell. Alternatively, click directly on the cell.
Add - use this command to add a new vertex point. The new vertex will be added below the currently focused vertex entry (as distinguished by a dotted outline around a cell in its row) and will initially have the same coordinates as the focused entry.
Remove - use this command to remove the currently selected vertex entries in the list. This command will be unavailable if there are only two vertices present for the polygon.
Copy - use this command to copy the content of the selected cells in the list to the clipboard (alternatively use Ctrl+C).
Paste - use this command to paste the content of the clipboard into the list, starting at the selected cell (alternatively use Ctrl+V).
Select All - use this command to quickly select the entire grid contents of the list.
Select Column - use this command to quickly select the entire column in which the currently focused cell resides.
Move Up - use this command to move the selected vertex upward in the list.
Move Down - use this command to move the selected vertex downward in the list.
Move polygon By XY - use this command to move the entire polygon object. The Move Polygon By dialog will appear, from where you can enter the increment value to be applied to each vertex point's X and Y coordinates.

...via an Inspector Panel

An Inspector panel enables the designer to interrogate and edit the properties of one or more design objects in the active document. Used in conjunction with appropriate filtering, the panel can be used to make changes to multiple objects of the same kind, from one convenient location.

...via a List Panel

A List panel allows the designer to display design objects from one or more documents in tabular format, enabling quick inspection and modification of object attributes. Used in conjunction with appropriate filtering, it enables the display of just those objects falling under the scope of the active filter – allowing the designer to target and edit multiple design objects with greater accuracy and efficiency.

Graphical Editing

This method of editing allows you to select a placed polygon object directly in the workspace and change its size and/or shape, graphically.

When a polygon object is selected, an editing handle (vertex) will appear at each corner, as shown in the image below.

Selected Polygon, ready for graphical editing.

Click and drag on a vertex to move that vertex.
Click and drag on an edge to move that edge of the polygon.
Click and hold on a vertex, then press Delete to remove that vertex.
Click and hold on an edge, then press Insert to add a vertex at that point.

To move an entire polygon, click and hold on the un-selected polygon, then move it to the new location.

If attempting to graphically modify an object that has its Locked property enabled, a dialog will appear asking for confirmation to proceed with the edit. If the Protect Locked Objects option is enabled on the Schematic – Graphical Editing page of the Preferences dialog, and the Locked option for that design object is enabled as well, then that object cannot be selected or graphically edited. Double click on the locked object directly and disable the Locked property or disable the Protect Locked Objects option, to graphically edit the object.