[Xastir] Working with CAD Polygons

[Curt, WE7U]

On Wed, 2 Jul 2008, Jim Tolbert wrote:

> Newbie question working with CAD Polygons
> 
> I can insert them via the Map>Draw CAD Objects>CAD Polygons, but
> how to I change the font, text color, text size, background, &
> fill of the polygon while inserting and how do I modify these
> things traits after insertion?   I assume it is in a manual
> somewhere, but I have been unable to find it.

The CAD Polygons are an initial stab at implementation.  Tom and
myself coded that.  I intended to clean up the code a bit more and
add features there, but haven't gotten back to it.  It looks like
the docs are in README.MAPS and the in-Xastir help text (English
version).

Here's how I do it:

    Map->Draw CAD Objects

Cut off the menu at the cut line, move the dialog somewhere
convenient.

    "Draw" button

Draw the object's vertices via the middle mouse button (or both
mouse buttons if you are emulating a 3-button mouse).

    Close Polygon

Up comes a dialog where you can enter probability, name, comment,
and line type.  After you finish that dialog the name will appear in
the CAD Polygons and Erase CAD Polygons dialogs.

Turn off the "Draw" button when you're done drawing polygons.

There are no options for modifying color, text size, background,
fill.  These are not that kind of polygons.  They're used for
defining search areas.

If you're after APRS area objects, which can be lines, rectangles,
circles, etc, then you use Object/Item Create from the mouse menu.


> What is the difference between an object and an item?

That's in the APRS spec.  Bob B. has more recently suggested not
using Items at all because several devices/programs did not
implement them correctly.  Xastir does support them, and correctly.

    http://info.aprs.net/index.php?title=Protocol


> How do I use the mouse pointer menu entries for object/item create
> and modify?

What's the specific problem you're having.  I've used these quite a
bit.  Be aware that many APRS programs implement these slightly
differently.

-- 
Curt, WE7U.				archer at eskimo dot com
http://www.eskimo.com/~archer
  Lotto:  A tax on people who are bad at math. - unknown
Windows:  Microsoft's tax on computer illiterates. - WE7U.
The world DOES revolve around me:  I picked the coordinate system!"