Please see CADVANCE
LiTe V13 Review by
CADVANCE
LiTe v13, CADVANCE with AETools LiTe Review
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CADVANCE V13 Release Note describes what is new
and improved for CADVANCE V13. This version of CADVANCE provides all of the features
of CADVANCE V13 currently available. It is intended for experienced users and does
not currently include the updated Manuals, Helps files or SDK. These release notes
should provide all the information needed to get you started with this release.
What's New and Improved in CADVANCE
V13.
CADVANCE V13 contains many
improvements over CADVANCE V12. The following is the outline of these new features:
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Basic
Cadvance Features:
·
Increased
the initial maximum size of drawings from 8mb
to 128mb.
·
Increase
maximum members of Symbols/Groups from 255
to 7,500 per
Nesting level. Nesting level currently is
defined to be 15 deep.
·
Symbol
names can now be up to 256 characters in length (Including path).
·
TrueType
Creation/Editing supports both the V12
TrueType dialog box and a new multi-feature Text Editor. The new Text Editor supports the
RTF (Rich Text Format) specification with a built-in Spell Checker. The System Variable
“TrueTypeEditor” selects which editor to use.
Note: TrueType fonts use Paper Space Units when defining font size and word wrap. The Drawing Scale in Options/Units define the
relationship between Design Units and Paper Space. For
correct TrueType scaling the Drawing Scale must be set appropriately. (See notes at end of document.)
·
TrueType
text has been enhanced to provide additional features that are defined in the Windows RTF
specification. One of the new features is the
ability to show colors of the TrueType text. The
System Variable “TrueTypeColors”, selects if TrueType colors will be used or if
the object color will override the TrueType colors (V12 compatible).
·
Drawings
now pack out deleted symbol/group definitions and their deleted members during drawing
save.
·
Query/Edit
object has been combined to display object and size information in one dialog box.
·
Edit/Properties
now performs Edit/Properties on a single object or Edit/Properties on all objects on the
OSL (Object Selection List). Edit/Properties
is accessible via the Edit/Properties menu, Double clicking the object, or Properties on
the B2 pop-up menu. If only one object is on
the OSL then Edit/Properties displays a Dialog box for that particular object. If more then one object is on the OSL then
Edit/Properties displays the Dialog box to modify all objects on the OSL.
·
Double
clicking any object will activate that object. If
the object type is an OLE object then the application that created that object will be
activated. If the object type is TrueType then
the Text editor will be activated. If the
object is CAD text then the Cad text dialog box will presented. Other graphical objects will activate the Edit
Properties dialog box for that object type and display information for the object.
·
A
new B2 popup menu will be presented when no objects are selected. This popup menu
will provide a set of commonly used operations for faster access to those commands. (Feedback from our Beta Users on which Cadvance
features should be included is welcome.)
·
The
Menu File/Reference has two additional features added for the handling of reference files. They are “Merge” and “Expand”. The “Merge” feature allow for the merging
of all attached reference file drawings that have visible objects to be added to
the current drawing. The “Expand”
feature provides the same as Merge but it includes all objects in the reference
files.
·
File/Reference/Setup
now supports window clipping to include objects that cross the window when using the
window option. Reference files also support
the Area Fills under lines option in Options/Miscellaneous.
·
A
new clipboard feature: Edit/Copy with Basepoint, provides the ability to accurately copy
objects to the clipboard and locate those objects onto the drawing at a specific location.
·
Draw/Line
and Draw/2Line include the ability to sketch lines freehand by using the mouse. Holding down the left button while moving the mouse
sketches the lines onto the drawing.
·
Object
selection now includes two additional methods to select objects on the drawing. They are “Window Crossing” and
“Polygon FreeHand”. Window Crossing
provides the ability to select objects with a rectangle and all objects that reside within
or crossing that rectangle will be selected. Polygon
FreeHand allows for the selection of objects using a sketching motion with the mouse to
define the polygon. The Options/System
variable “SelectionWindow” provides for selecting by Window or Window Crossing
as the default in Point Select mode. In Point Select mode the default is
“Window”.
·
Text
extents now are displayed for the entire block during placement, not just the first line.
·
When
background is black, all black colored objects become white; when background is white, all
white colored objects become black.
·
A
New Options/System Variables… dialog box
provides operations that allow you to view and modify the system parameters and save them
without accessing the ini file directly. It
provides information about the system parameters and allowable values. It currently
includes about 100 user settable variables and will be expanded as needed. There is an associated help .pdf file that
describes the System Variables.
·
New
variables have been added to the ini file to allow usage of colors in TrueType (RTF) text
blocks( System variable “TrueTypeColors”). Also
a new variable “TrueTypeEditor” allows selection of either using the existing
Dialog box to be use the new text editor for TrueType entry.
DWG/DXF file support:
·
AutoCad 2007/2008 files
can now be read and written directly by CADVANCE V13.
CADVANCE will decompress/decrypt the AutoCad file on reading and will then
compress/encrypt the file during saving to AutoCad in the selected format. CADVANCE now supports versions of AutoCad Drawings
and DXF files from Release 2.5 through AutoCad 2007/2008.
·
Cadvance now supports
Windows RTF blocks in the translation to/from DWG/DXF files.
Cadvance RTF blocks map to AutoCad’s Mtext blocks. TrueType fonts will attempt to maintain the same
names and there are no limits to the number of TrueType fonts that can exist in a VWF file (drawing).
·
Color mapping is now
available during the importing/exporting of DWG/DXF files to provide better control over
the selection of how colors map between DWG/DXF files and CADVANCE colors. The file CAD.TRN now contains the options for
loading and saving DWG/DXF files, the font mapping and the color mapping between Cadvance
and AutoCad. This file is stored in the same
format as a Windows .INI file for easy modification.
·
The function Utility /
Translate DWG SYM now translates AutoCad R2007/R2008 blocks (in DWG format) to CADVANCE
Symbols (SYM files).
·
Drawing scale information
is now exchanged between Cadvance and AutoCad drawings.
The Load AutoCad drawing dialog box allows modification of the drawing scale.
·
Increase Symbol names to
256 characters. Truncation of the symbol names
has been eliminated.
·
Increase the size of
Symbol/Group members from 255 to 7,500. per Nesting level.
Nesting level currently is defined to be 15 deep.
·
Numerous enhancements and
bug fixes have also been included in the updated translator.
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New
features and improvements:
- Resizable dialog box for file
handling such as File/Open, Symbol/Place, etc.
- File/Print --- Load/Save printer
ini file.
When a new printer is selected,
margins, color, pen width are updated per the selected printer.
When a new printer.ini file is
loaded, color and pen width are updated.
- Three icons are added. Please
see bitmap folder in the V13 files.
- TT font edit is now switched
back to V12 style as a default, but if TT Font Edit is set ON in the cadvance.ini file, it
changes to TT font edit screen.
A new TT font edit can be activated by setting
On, Options/System variables/TrueTypeEditor.
- Freehand line draw.
Draw/Line/Sketch
- Huge nested symbol/group problem
is corrected.
- Degree, Radius, and +- signs are
translated properly from/to Acad.
- Angle lock off for
Move/Duplicate by setting OFF on AngleLock in System Variables.
- Kind on/off. Set on or off on
KindEnable in System Variables.
- User can run his exe module from
within CADVANCE. Refer to cadvance.ini and toolbar.txt files.
- Double click object. Text shows
text edit box, other object shows object property dialog box.
- Help file is added which can be
open from System Variables dialog box.
Windows
Vista Support:
Cadvance
V13 supports Microsoft’s Windows Vista operating system. Because of the new security requirements added to Vista,
the following steps are needed to enable Cut/Paste operations in all versions of Cadvance.
1.
From
the Windows Start Menu select the Control Panel.
2.
In
the Control Panel select the User Accounts Icon.
3.
Switch
the user to Administrator mode.
4.
The
bottom icon in the list of operations is "Turn User Account Control on or off.
5.
Select
this Icon and select the square to turn off the "User Account Control" UAC.
6.
Run
Cadvance from this account and check that Copy/Paste is operational.
7.
Log
out of Cadvance and you can switch the UAC back on.
This
operation only needs to be performed once after installing Cadvance. Cadvance then can run as a standard user if
desirable.
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New
INI File variables:
·
[System]
TrueTypeEditor=ON/OFF ON - Use the V13 Text Editor, OFF – use the V12 Dialog box.
·
[System]
TrueTypeColors=ON/OFF ON - Display TrueType font colors, OFF – use color of object.
·
[System}
WindowSelection=0/1 0 – Use V12 TrueType
Dialog Box, 1 – Use V13 TrueType Editor.
Cadvance
SDK Features:
Two
new functions have been added to the CADVANCE SDK: CdiSelectbyKind(), and CdiObjElemXY().
The function CdiLoadFile() now includes the ability to load a Bitmap and insert it into
the drawing at a specified location. The
function CdiSaveFile() provides the ability to save the ini and toolbar file, just the ini
file, or just the toolbar file. CdiZoom() has a new option for drawing fit:
CDI_ZOOM_FIT’
·
Short CdiSelectbyKind (osl, kind)
This
routine will place all Visable/Selectable objects in the drawing with the given kind onto
the specified OSL.
Parameter
Type/Description
Osl
Long (void *) The
OSL to use for this operation. If osl is NULL
then the
CADVANCE
OSL will be used.
Kind
Short
The
value for kind.
Return
Value CDI_OK
if successful, CDI_ABORT if B2 was selected,
CDI_WARNING if nothing was selected, otherwise CDI_ERROR.
·
Short
CdiObjElemXY( point,
op, index, lineset)
Retrieves
the x and y coordinates of a vertex within a 2D lineset.
(Can be used with reference files).
Parameter
Type/Description
Point
CDI_DD_POINT A
two element structure specifying the (x,y) coordinates being retrieved. (RETURNED)
Op
Short (*)
The type of operation: CDI_MOVETO or CDI_DRAWTO
Index
Short The
index of the point to be retrieved. (See table
8.2)
Lineset
CDI_LINESET_BUFFER (*) A buffer which defines the lineset, typically
obtained through a call to CdiObjInfo().
Return Value CDI_OK if no error, otherwise
CDI_ERROR.
·
Short
CdiLoadFile (file_name, file_type, configuration)
Loads
the specified file. (see CADVANCE SDK Manual for function description and table 8.41 for
File Types.)
file_name:
String (char *) File name.
file_type:
Short
CDI_FILE_BMP
configuration:
Long (void *) CDI_FILE_BMP_LOAD_CONFIG
The
CDI_FILE_BMP_LOAD_CONFIG
structure contains information
that CADVANCE needs during a BMP file load operation.
typedef struct cdi_file_bmp_config {
CDI_DD_POINT position;
double
scale_x;
double
scale_y;
double
rotation;
short
layer;
short
DoDialog;
} CDI_FILE_BMP_LOAD_CONFIG;
The CDI_FILE_BMP_LOAD_CONFIG
structure contains the following fields:
Field
Description
Position
The lower left coordinates of the bitmap.
Scale_x
The x scale of the bitmap.
Scale_y
The y scale of the bitmap.
Rotation
The angle of rotation in degrees.
Layer
The layer of the bitmap.
DoDialog
CDI_TRUE to display a dialog box for the above values. CDI_FALSE to use the passed
in parameters.
·
Short
CdiSaveFile (file_name, file_type, configuration)
Saves
the specified file. (see CADVANCE SDK Manual for function description and table 8.49 for
File Types.)
file_name:
String (char *) File name.
file_type:
Short
CDI_FILE_INI
configuration:
Long (void *) CDI_FILE_INI_SAVE_CONFIG
or Null
The CDI_FILE_INI_SAVE_CONFIG structure contains information that CADVANCE needs during a
INI file save operation.
typedef struct
cdi_file_ini_save_config {
short
option;
} CDI_FILE_INI_SAVE_CONFIG;
The CDI_FILE_INI_SAVE_CONFIG
structure contains the following fields:
Field
Description
File_type
CDI_FILE_ALL saves the ini file and
toolbar.
CDI_FILE_INI_ONLY saves only the ini
file.
CDI_FILE_TOOLBAR_ONLY saves only the
toolbar file.
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