Adjust text and attributes

If you do not want to edit the content of a text or an attribute, but rather its position or justification, the command Adjust text and attributes is the best choice for you.

Adjust text and attributes can be used on single texts or attributes. It is also possible to use the command on several texts or attributes at the same time. Select the command and pick the texts or the attributes you wish to adjust. Please note that for this command it is not possible to use a window. You will have to select every single attribute or text object one by one. When you have selected them all, press the <RETURN> key. You will receive a question whether you wish to have a new general justification for the texts, which means if you for instance wish to have all objects right or left adjusted. Please answer the question with Yes or No. (No is default.)

If you have answered Yes, you must indicate what justification of the texts you wish to have. You may select between Left, Centred, Mid or Right. You answer by using one of the letters L, C, M or R.

As the next step you will have to indicate a new angle of rotation for the selected texts. The new rotation angle is specified by pointing. If you point straight to the right you will get a horizontal text. If you instead point straight upwards you will have a vertical text. Click with the left mouse-button.

You will then have to indicate a new location for the first text. Please pick the desired insertion point.

If you haven’t selected a new rotation, the other texts will be moved and adjusted in the same way as the first one. On the other hand, if you have selected a new rotation and multiple several texts or attributes, you will get a question whether the rest of the objects should be rotated Connected or Individually. You answer by using a C for Connected or an I for Individually.

To rotate connected means that all the selected texts or attributes are rotated together as a group. This might be suitable if you for instance would like to rotate a plant, location and item designation for an ordinary symbol or to move these attributes to the other side of the symbol. In a case like that all the selected attributes should be handled as a whole.

The alternative Individually means that the texts or attributes are rotated separately around their respective insertion points. This might for example be useful to rotate the terminal numbers for a number of terminals.

Ddatte/edit (edit attributes and texts)

This is the cadett ELSA general attribute and text edit command, also accessible by typing EA.

The command was previously called Ddatte. In the current AutoCAD it is called Attedit. The cadett ELSA version of the command is heavily extended, so that it can be used for a wide range of purposes. In the menu it is called Ddatte/edit, since it contains both the common Ddatte command in AutoCAD (Attedit) and Ddedit.

Ddatte/edit combines a lot of functions in the very same command.

When you use Ddatte/edit on a symbol, a suitable OnLine dialogue box appears:

•If you select a main symbol, the OnLine Main symbol dialogue box appears.

•If you select a help symbol, the OnLine Help symbol dialogue box instead appears.

•If you select a contact mirror, the OnLine Contact Mirror dialogue box appears.

•If you select a common AutoCAD text, the usual text edit function from AutoCAD will appear.

•If you select a Mtext, the same possibilities to edit appears, as when you create a Mtext.

•Several other objects, such as Terminals, Boundary Boxes and Generic Symbols, have their own dialogue boxes.

The command Ddatte/edit in cadett ELSA automatically selects what method to use to edit each object.

It is also possible to select several objects at the same time when using this command. This is also a function that differs from plain AutoCAD.

The objects that you are selecting for the command Ddatte/edit can be of various kinds, for instance both symbols and texts. The object selection can for instance be made with a Window or a Crossing. One dialogue box after another will appear until all selected objects have been edited.

Hide attribute

Sometimes it can be useful to be able to hide an attribute which normally are shown in the drawing sheet.

This can for instance be the case for a remark that you wish to accompany a symbol for presentation in a report, but which you do not wish to display in the circuit diagram. Maybe the remark is to long for the circuit diagram, maybe the information is aimed only for some eyes, or maybe there are other reasons for this.

Anyway you use the command Hide attribute for this purpose. Select this command and then select the attributes that you wish to make invisible. They immediately disappear from the screen.

Technically this is a rather simple function. The attributes are made invisible by moving them to the HIDE layer, which normally is both off and frozen.

Show attribute

If you regret making an attribute invisible, either immediately or much later, and in other words wish to make an invisible attribute visible, you should use the Show attribute command.

After selecting that command you select the invisible attributes that you want to make visible. This might sound as a contradiction and impossibility, but in reality it is no problem at all. When you select the Show attribute command, all invisible attributes are temporarily shown in white colour on the screen. When you are ready and finish the command by pressing the <RETURN> key, all invisible attributes will return to be really invisible.

The attributes are made visible again by moving them to their regular layers. To make invisible attributes temporarily visible the HIDE layer is turned on and thawed.

Extended Attribute Editing

The Extended Attribute Editing command, typed CAELEATTEDIT on the command prompt, was added as late as in cadett ELSA R32.

With this command, which has full OnLine support, single attributes in symbols can be edited concerning layer, colour, text height, text justification and other properties, including the value.

Please refer to the “cadett ELSA Additional Manual – New Features in R32.pdf”, section 6.3, page 19, for a detailed description of the command.

Copy/Edit Edit

Copy/Edit Edit is a slightly enhanced version of the Ddatte/edit command. The advantages appear when the command is applied to multiple symbols, especially when they share the same item designation, like when selecting a main symbol with a number of associated help symbols.

When changing an item designation, the same change that you make for the first symbol, will be used as default for the rest, resulting in less need of typing and less risk of errors.

Replace text

The Replace text command is used for simple global editing, so-called “Search and replace”, meaning that the command searches for a certain text and replaces it with another.

First you select the texts and attributes you wish to search through by clicking them directly or by the use of a window. You finish the object selection by pressing <RETURN> in the usual manner. Then you specify what old text you wish to search for. It can be single letters or other characters, or entire words or expressions. When you have specified the old text, press <RETURN> and specify the new text that is replacing the old one. Finish by pressing <RETURN> once more, and then the command will perform its task.

You can for instance use this command to change the item designations of your contactors from –K1, –K2, –K3 etc. to –Q1, –Q2, –Q3 etc. If so, select the Replace text command, and then select all symbols in the drawing sheet, for instance by making a window around the whole sheet. As old text, do not use “K”, since this might appear in other contexts as well. Instead, use “–K”, which is much more unlikely to be found in the wrong places. As new text specify “–Q”. Now all “–K” are replaced with “–Q” and all your item designations are updated.

Please note, that the method described here has the disadvantage that it only handles one sheet at a time. There are however other methods available, which are not limited in that way.

Remark

This is primarily a legacy feature.

In older versions of cadett ELSA – cadett ELSA 7.5 and earlier – the remark was normally invisible. This was implemented using a so-called attribute property, meaning that it was an invisible attribute. If you would like to make such an attribute visible, you can use this command, which is still here of compatibility reasons. In drawing sheets created using the current version it does not serve any purpose.

Numbering of texts/attributes

Numbering of text/attributes is a very convenient command used to manually renumber terminals or other objects.

You are using the command in the following way:

•Select the command.

•A dialogue box appears.

•Select what you are working with, texts (Texts), a particular attribute (Attributes) or terminals specifically (Terminals).

•Specify a start value, which is the number of the first terminal if you are dealing with terminals.

•Specify a step value, which is the value that the start value should be incremented with (enumerated) for each terminal (or corresponding object).

•Specify a possible prefix, which means a text that is in front of each number. This could for instance be a colon (“:”). In most cases it is best to leave the prefix empty.

•For terminals suffixes are not available. A suffix is a text following the number values. For Texts and Attributes you may however use a suffix.

•Select the terminals (or other objects you wish to renumber) for instance by using a window.

•The renumbering will be made directly and automatically and is executed from the left to the right and/or from top to bottom.