csmstr - Omega Engineering

CONFIGURING THE COLOR VIRTUAL HMI
ALIGNING PRIMITIVES
ALIGNING PRIMITIVES
While the Smart Alignment options discussed above allow many alignment operations to be
performed by hand, there are times that you will want the software to perform the alignment
for you. This can be done by selecting a number of primitives, starting with the primitive that
you wish to use as the reference point for the alignment operation. Note that the reference
primitive is always shown with a double-square at its center. Once you have made your
selection, use the Align command on the Arrange menu to display the following dialog box…
The Horizontal and Vertical settings can be used to indicate what type of alignment is to be
performed, while the Operation setting indicates whether the primitives should be resized or
moved to achieve the desired result.
As an example, in Move mode, selecting Left for Horizontal will align the left-hand edges of
all the primitives with the left-hand edge of the reference primitive. Similarly, selecting
Middle for vertical will align the primitives so that the horizontal line through the center of
each are aligned with the same line through the center of the reference primitive.
In Size mode, the edge-alignment operations work by growing the non-reference primitives in
order to achieve the desired results, while the center-alignment operations work by changing
the height or width of the primitives to make them match the reference primitive. You may
want to experiment with Size mode to get a better idea of its operation.
SPACING PRIMITIVES
If you have a number of primitives that you wish to space equally on the page, you may use
the Space Equally Vertical or Space Equally Horizontal commands on the Arrange menu. The
commands work on the currently selected primitives, and attempt to reallocate the free space
between the items to achieve equal spacing. The two outer primitives will be left in their
current positions. Note that the command may fail if an inappropriate set of primitives are
selected, and may not achieve perfect spacing if the available space is too limited.
REORDERING PRIMITIVES
Primitives on a display page are stored in what is known as a z-order. This defines the
sequence in which the primitives are drawn, and therefore whether or not a given primitive
appears to be in front of or behind another primitive. In the first example below, the blue
square is shown behind the red squares ie. at the bottom of the z-order. In the second
example, it has been moved to the front of the order, and appears in front of the other figures.
REVISION 6 PAGE 163