Mdraw V0.5 Copyright 1992,1993 by WindowWorks Mdraw - An object-oriented drawing package for MS-Windows. CONTENTS 0 Introduction 1 The Mouse 2 The Keyboard 3 The Toolbar 3.1 The small arrow - Selector Tool 3.1.1 To select an object: 3.1.2 To select more than one object: 3.1.3 To add or remove objects from the selection: 3.1.4 To select the next object 'underneath' another object: 3.1.5 To resize an object 3.2 The box - Rectangle Tool 3.3 The circle - Ellipse Tool 3.4 The pie shape - Arc (Not completely worked out yet) 3.5 The hollow star - Polyline Tool 3.6 The solid star - Polygon Tool 3.7 The letter - Text Tool 3.8 The connected puzzle pieces - Join 3.9 The unconnected puzzle pieces - Un-join 3.10 The big arrow - Hyper jump 3.11 The little window - Edit note 3.12 The color pallete 4 Attributes 4.1 Fonts 4.2 Arrowheads 5 Order of objects 5.1 Move an object up 5.2 Move an object down 5.3 Move an object to the top 5.4 Move an object to the bottom 6 File output 6.1 Window Metafile 6.2 CGM 0 Introduction Welcome to Mdraw, an object-oriented drawing package for MS-Windows. This program is object-oriented in the sense that the objects you draw may be moved or modified after you draw them. This is not a painting program, but rather a drawing program. You do not 'erase' parts of your drawing, but you can select and then delete the parts you have drawn. This is also object-oriented in the sense that each object has attributes that you may modify. For example, each object you draw has a color, and you may change that color after you have drawn it. You may also 'join' multiple objects together. 1 The mouse Mdraw uses the mouse extensively. The left button is use for nearly every operation. The right button acts like the selector tool. The one exception that uses the right button for something else is to terminate a polygon. 2 The Keyboard There are several keyboard 'shortcut' keys available in Mdraw. Cut Copy Paste -c Copy -x Cut -v Paste -s Save file Delete (NOTE: Does not make a copy) Paste Scroll up Scroll Down Move selection up Move selection by one pixel Move selection higher in display list Move selection further back in display list Move selection to top of display list Move selection to bottom of display list 3 The Toolbar To draw an object on the screen, you select which tool you would like by clicking on its icon from the toolbar (or selecting it from the 'Tools' menu) When you draw an object, that object becomes the currently selected object and any previously selected objects are deselected. 3.1 The small arrow - selector This tool allows you to select objects from the workspace. In order to do anything with or to an object, it must be selected. Once you have an object selected, you may change its attributes (e.g. its color, or font). You also need to select an object before moving or resizing as well. Helpful hint: The right button always acts like the 'selector' tool. (unless you're already busy drawing or moving something) 3.1.1 To select an object: Choose the selector tool (if it isn't already selected) Click (button down and then button up) the mouse button on the object you want to select. 3.1.2 To select more than one object: Drag (button down, move the mouse) the mouse to draw a rectangle that surrounds the objects you wish to select. Release the mouse button 3.1.3 To add or remove objects from the selection: Hold down the shift key, then click the mouse button on the object. 3.1.4 To select the next object 'underneath' another object: Hold down the control key, then click the mouse button on the object. (you may click several times to select an object further down.) HINT: You may double-click the right button to select the next object 3.1.5 To resize an object Press and hold the mouse button down in the little tiny black box in the lower right of the selected object Move the mouse (with the button still held down) Release the mouse 3.2 The box - rectangles To draw a rectangle: Select the rectangle tool Drag (button down, move the mouse) the mouse to draw a rectangle Release the mouse button 3.3 The circle - ellipses Select the ellipse tool Drag (button down, move the mouse) the mouse to draw an ellipse Release the mouse button 3.4 The pie - Arc Select the arc tool Drag (button down, move the mouse) the mouse to draw an arc Release the mouse button NOTE: The border is not yet perfect. 3.5 The hollow star - Polyline To draw a polyline: Select the polyline tool Click where you want the starting point Click where you want each intermediate point Click the RIGHT button where you want the last point. The polyline will NOT draw a line from the first to the last point. The polyline will not be filled in with any color, and can't be made to later on. (use the polygon tool for this) 3.6 The solid star - Polygon To draw a polygon: Select the polygon tool Click where you want the starting point Click where you want each intermediate point Click the RIGHT button where you want the last point. The polygon will draw a line from the first to the last point. The polygon is filled in with the current color. 3.7 The letter - text To add text: Select the text tool Click where you want the upper left of the text to go. Type the text. Click outside of the text entry rectangle (but still within the Mdraw window) HINT: You may paste text from the clipboard into this text entry rectangle 3.8 The connected puzzle pieces - join This is not really a tool, but rather an action. When you press this, the currently selected objects are joined together. If only one object is selected, nothing happens. 3.9 The unconnected puzzle pieces - un-join This is not really a tool, but rather an action. When you press this, the currently selected objects are un-joined. If there is no selection, nothing happens. 3.10 The big arrow - Hyper jump This is not really a tool, but rather an action. When you press this, you jump to the file that this object is linked to. If the current file has changed, you are given the chance to save it. If there is no link to another file, you are prompted for a filename. If the file doesn't exist, it tries to jump anyway. (I'll fix this) You may add or edit links through the 'Edit' menu. HINT: You may double click the left button to activate the link NOTE: The right button behaves differently when you double click it. 3.11 The little window - edit note This is not really a tool, but rather an action. When you press this, you invoke NOTEPAD.EXE and edit the file that this object is attached to. If there is no attached note, you are prompted for a filename. You may add or edit notes through the 'Edit' menu. 3.12 The color pallete To select a color: Click the mouse on the square that has the color you want If you have an object currently selected, it will change to that color If not, the little box next to the pallete will change, showing the current color. 4 Attributes To change the attribute of an object, select that object (or select multiple) objects, and use the Attribute menu to select the new attribute you want. You may also use the pallete to change the objects color by selecting the object, and selecting the desired color from the pallete. 4.1 Fonts Text objects are drawn with a certain font and style. Fonts are things like 'Arial' or 'Times Roman'. Styles are things like 'Bold' or 'Italics'. You may select different styles from the 'Attribute|Text' menu. You may select different fonts and sizes from the 'Attribute|Text|Font' menu. The font sizes in the Font dialog box that comes up may be selected from the list, or you may type in an arbitrary number for the font size. 4.2 Arrowhead The Polyline tool may optionally be drawn with an arrowhead at one end. You may select this attribute from the 'Attribute|Polyline' menu. 5 Order of objects As you draw objects, they are laid down on top of the older ones. You may change which objects are on bottom and which are on top. To change the order, use the 'order' menu or the keyboard shortcuts. 5.1 Move object up Selecting this menu option will move the currently selected objects up one. This may change what you see by hiding other objects. HINT: You may also do this by pressing 5.2 Move object down Selecting this menu option will move the currently selected objects down one. This may change what you see by revealing other objects, or hiding the current objects. HINT: You may also do this by pressing 5.3 Move object to top Selecting this menu option will move the currently selected objects to the top. This may change what you see by hiding other objects. HINT: You may also do this by pressing 5.4 Move object to bottom Selecting this menu option will move the currently selected objects up one. This may change what you see by revealing other objects, or hiding the current objects. HINT: You may also do this by pressing 6 File output 6.1 Windows metafile You can 'export' your drawing to a Windows Metafile. There are two types of Windows Metafiles: placeable and non-placeable. Placeable metafiles are used in Word for Windows and other high-end packages. 6.2 CGM (Computer Graphics Metafile) This is an ANSI psuedo-standard metafile format. The standard leaves room for different ways of representing things, and I still have a ways to go to get a useable format working.