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Layer Table

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, the scroll bar below the layer table is used to scroll through the layers.

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

Immediately to the left of the the layer table is the Selection Control button group (described in the next section), which provides control over selection and layer presentation modes, and provides the layer palette, which is a useful adjunct to the layer table.

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.

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.

Layers with the Invisible technology file keyword will by default be invisible, as indicated by the absence of the sample box in the layer table entry. Invisible layers are not shown in drawing windows. 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. This can also be accomplished by clicking with button 1, while pressing the Shift or Ctrl keys. In physical mode, if Shift is held (with button 1 or 2), the drawing windows will be redrawn after the change, otherwise the user must explicitly redraw the windows (Ctrl-R does this) to see the change. In electrical mode or with a 256-color display mode, the drawing window display will be updated immediately, whether or not Shift is used. The SCED layer, which is the electrical mode active layer, is always visible. Instead, of toggling visibility of this layer, the button presses will toggle between solid and empty fill.

Clicking on the layer-specific icon with button 2 (or Shift or Ctrl with button 1) 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. When using this method to make ``all'' layers visible, by clicking on the layer-specific icon again, layers with the Invisible keyword will remain invisible.

Button 3 enables layer blinking. Pressing and holding button 3 over a layer entry in the layer table will cause that layer to blink periodically in the main drawing window, while button 3 remains down. In a 256-color display mode, the logic is different: blinking status is turned on and off by clicking with button 3. 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.


next up previous contents index
Next: Selection Control Button Group Up: Main Window Layout and Previous: Prompt Line Editing   Contents   Index
Stephen R. Whiteley 2012-04-01