Format of the DCADWIN.LIN File

Now you should understand how to name your line type and how to tell DataCAD to adjust its spacing. Let's have another look at our example line type:

>ElecLine
4.0
0 40
0 -7
-71.56 -3.953
90 7.5
0 3.5
-90 -3.75
-180 3.5
-90 -3.75
0 3.5
71.56 -3.953
0 -7
0 40

We have already covered the first line so lets move on to the second line and its purpose.

The second line in any line type definition tells DataCAD the default spacing. You should be familiar with changing the look of a given line type by varying the spacing. There are two ways to achieve this when working in DataCAD. The first method is to go into the Line type menu and choose Spacing. The other method is to press [F] (lowercase). Either method produces the same result. In each case you will be prompted for the new spacing for your line.

So what is spacing? Spacing is the distance the line will be drawn before its pattern is repeated. The spacing factor set within the line type definition is only used if' Factor is toggled on in the Line type menu AND the user selects the line type via the line type menu. If the user selects the line type by pressing [Q] OR if Factor is not active, then the line will be drawn with the current spacing. As always the user can always override the default spacing with the methods .html above.

Every line type you create will be based on 100 units. These units are arbitrary and can represent any dimension you wish, as you will see in the next section. Our example line type above will create a line with the letter 'E' located in its center. This looks like:



Since this is exactly what is defined in the line type, this is the pattern that will be repeated based on the spacing the user sets. If you set the spacing for this line to 10.0 (assuming you are using feet-inch scale), this pattern will be repeated every 10'-0". As you will learn in the following section, you can also control other aspects of the lines appearance by varying the spacing.

So what do you set your line spacing to? If you are creating a line type for something that should appear at a certain spacing ( or "scale"), set the default spacing to the desired setting. If you are not sure, just set the default spacing to 1.0. If you find that you are always changing the spacing to a specific spacing for your line type, you can always go back into the DCADWIN.LIN file and change the definition.

Remember that the default spacing is only used if the user has the Factor toggled on.

Continue with Part IV