WinDisp Overlay Menu Description

Overlays [Company Logo Image]

WinDisp Overlay Menu

This menu provides the user with the capability to overlay the display with vector information contained in files generated by another application. The supported formats are:

DXF
HPGL
PLT

Each of these formats can become extremely complex according to how the output file was generated, so there may be instances where WinDisp does not read a particular file. If this occurs please send the file to John Paine so the particular feature or file structure which causes WinDisp to fail can be isolated and dealt with.

DXF overlay

When the Overlay menu item is clicked the default overlay menu form is presented to the user.

The DXF file can be changed either by clicking on the Change DXF File button or double clicking on the DXF input file text box. When a DXF file is initially selected, the only options available are the Input coordinate drop-down box and the Input zone number text box. The Input coordinate drop-down box permits the user to select either Easting/Northing or Longitude/Latitude as the coordinate type for the input dxf file. The Input zone number allows the user to specify that the DXF file coordinates are Easting/Northing but from a zone different to the current display.

Once a DXF file has been selected, the DXF display limits are read from the file and, if no display limits are currently defined, transferred to the display area limits and a plot scale determined.

Once a DXF file has been displayed the remaining items on the DXF overlay menu will be enabled. These items give the user the ability to turn selected layers off or to change the line style and colour for selected layers. This is achieved by selecting the layer from the drop-down list and then changing the layer colour or style attribute or turning the layer off by clicking the Display Layer check box.

Sample DXF display

HPGL Overlay

If the HPGL overlay tab is clicked the HPGL overlay menu is displayed. This menu is as follows:

As for the DXF menu the HPGL file may be changed by either by clicking on the Change HPGL File button or double clicking on the HPGL input file text box. Once an HPGL file has been selected it is necessary to click on the Read HPGL File button to read the HPGL plot commands from the file in order to determine the size of the plot file. Once the plot file has been processed the user is informed of the limits of the plot file and, if no display is currently defined, these limits are transferred to the display area limits and a plot scale chosen.

This step is only necessary if the plot limits of the file are not known. If the size is known, the scale factor and plot origin shifts can instead be specified so that the HPGL file will overlay an existing display.

Once the HPGL file plot size has been determined, it can be displayed by clicking on the OK button and using the Display! menu item to read and display the plot file.

Sample HPGL display

PLT overlay

If the PLT overlay tab is clicked the PLT overlay menu is displayed. This menu is as follows:

The PLT file can be changed either by clicking on the Change PLT File button or double clicking on the PLT input file text box. When a PLT file is initially selected, there are no other options available until the file has been read.

Once a PLT file has been selected, the PLT display limits are read from the file and, if no display limits are currently defined, transferred to the display area limits and a plot scale determined.

Once a PLT file has been displayed the remaining items on the PLT overlay menu will be enabled. These items give the user the ability to turn selected lines off or to change the line name, style and colour for selected lines. This is achieved by selecting the line from the drop-down Display list and then changing the line name, colour or style attribute or turning the line off by clicking the Display Layer check box. The Line Name is provided for the output to DXF file output option, so that specific line numbers can be assigned meaningful names.

Sample PLT display