Copy 2D Elements with Clipboard

Commands call:

The clipboard allows you to use existing drawing elements to copy them between several documents of one T-FLEX CAD application or another place in the current document. This mechanism allows you to create only non-associative copies.

To place an object on the clipboard, you must point to it with the mouse cursor and press the right mouse button. The Copy to clipboard, Copy with insertion point command will appear in the context menu. Paste from clipboard and Paste special commands become available only if there is any item in the clipboard.

The types of items available for selection determine the settings of the Selector command. If you need to change the selection of an item, you can use the Other context menu item containing a list of available items.

Using multiple selections, you can copy/paste or move a group of items. You can select a group of drawing elements in one of the following ways:

•using the window (when you move the mouse with the left button pressed, a rectangular area of ​​the drawing is selected, after which all the elements inside it that are available for selection will be highlighted);

•when you click the left mouse button and the <Shift> key, the element closest to the cursor is highlighted and added to the list of selected ones. Pressing the left mouse button and the <Ctrl> key allows you to exclude an item from the selected list.

After multiple selection of elements, you can call the above commands in one of the ways.

•From the context menu (press and select a command).

•In transparent mode, i.e. without explicit command invocation. In standby mode, press to execute the move.

•From the Edit - Copy with point text menu, Paste <Ctrl>+<V> (<Shift>+<Ins>), Translation > Move > Rotate> Scaling > Symmetry.

If snapping to the grid is enabled, then the moved (inserted) elements will be snapped to the grid. When moving beyond horizontal or vertical lines, they also snap to the grid.

Copy/Paste Element

Selecting elements and calling the Copy command is done using one of the methods described above. Then the Paste command is called anywhere in the current document or in another document. After that, an image of the copied elements will appear on the screen, which can be placed in the necessary position when pressed.

To snap the copied objects during the subsequent insertion into the T-FLEX CAD document, it will be possible to use the characteristic points of the copy object (center, upper left corner, upper right corner, etc.).

The elements are copied along with the necessary building elements. If copying is done to another document, then the connection with variables is broken (variables are replaced with constants). Note that when copying, data is placed in the clipboard not only in the internal T-FLEX format, but also their image in the Enhanced Metafile (EMF) format, which allows you to insert the image of selected elements into other Windows applications, for example, Word.

If only one Text type element was selected for copying, then text data in the following formats is also entered into the clipboard:

•T-FLEX Paragraph Text (except the string text),

•RTF (except the string text),

•Unformatted text.

This supports data exchange both within the same T-FLEX CAD application and across several different applications.

The Copy with Insertion Point command allows you to write to the clipboard the selected elements and the point that will be used to bind them when pasting from the clipboard.

Upon calling the command, the elements being pasted will be rubberbanding with the pointer. The attachment point for the elements being pasted is defined by clicking or by using the option .

The following options are provided in the automenu:

The options and are used for blocking pointer movement in the directions of the respective coordinate axes. To specify the exact position of the copied elements or the offset with respect to the original object, use the command parameters window. This option is available only when pasting the copied elements in the same T-FLEX CAD document.

The group of options for selecting the attachment point allows specifying the point to which the pasted object should be attached. The characteristic points of the object are available for selection. If the objects were placed on the clipboard by using the command Copy with Insertion Point, then an additional attachment point can be defined in the command being discussed (the option ).

When using the clipboard copying mechanism, the system forces copying of the parent elements of the objects being copied (in the cases, when the former were not explicitly included in the set of the copied elements). This feature is similar to that used in the copying mode Explode Copy keeping relations. In the current case, you can also prohibit this system behavior by using the option . With this option activated, the elements, whose parents were not included in the set of elements to be copied, will be converted into independent objects.

The copied elements can have relations with variables (except for the variables describing the position of these elements). To replace the respective parameters of the elements being copied by the variables defined in the target T-FLEX CAD document (the document where the elements are copied to), use the option . This option is only available when pasting the copied elements in another T-FLEX CAD document within the same active application. If the option  is turned on, the names of the variables are compared in the target document versus those in the copied objects. If the names coincide, then the copied elements take on the relations with the respective variables of the current document. The variables, for which no match is found, are replaced by their values. If this option is turned off, the relations with all variables are broken, the variables being replaced by constants.

The group of options is used for the same purpose as in the moving, copying and array creation commands. Those define the action that will be automatically performed upon completion of pasting the clipboard contents. The following choices are provided:

- the system exits the command after pasting the clipboard contents;

- repeated pasting mode - upon pasting the first instance, the copied object starts rubberbanding with the pointer. The system waits for the user inputting the attachment point for the next copy. Upon selecting a second point, another copy is pasted, and so on. The copy creation can be interrupted by right clicking or pressing ;

- the copying command Copy with Insertion Point is automatically executed over the pasted object;

- is similar to the previous choice; however, before calling the copying command, the system turns on the mode of editing the list of selected elements.

The command is exited using the option (<Esc>).

When inserting an image, the Picture creation command is automatically launched.

When inserting text from the clipboard into a T-FLEX document, the internal data format is used.

The program scans through the clipboard, searching for the appropriate format among the clipboard data. The data will be pasted in the first appropriate format found. The order of the format search is as follows:

1. Internal T-FLEX CAD format (used only when copying within one T-FLEX CAD application)

2. T-FLEX Paragraph Text

3. RTF

4. Unformatted text

5. EMF

6. BMP (bitmap image)

If a textual format is used, then a Paragraph text element is automatically created, and then its editing command is launched, Edit Text.

When inserting objects from AutoCAD into a T-FLEX CAD document via the clipboard, the Import command parameters dialog appears first. This dialog is used for specifying the general import parameters of an AutoCAD document. Then Paste command will start for setting location parameters of the elements being inserted - position, angle of rotation, scale factor.

Topics in this section:

•Copy with Insertion Point

•Paste Special

See Also:

Move, Copy, Arrays of 2D Elements

Copying Parameters of 2D Elements