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<center>LibreCAD User Reference Manual<br>
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<a name="5"></a><h1>5 LibreCAD's User Interface</h1>
<p>
<i>When you launch LibreCAD, it comes up with the main application window
of the graphical user interface. This window hosts the drawing
documents.</i></p>
<a name="5_1"></a><h2>Main Application Window</h2>
<a name="GUI"></a>
<a name="User Interface"></a>
<a name="Application Window"></a>
<a name="Drawing Area"></a>
<p>
LibreCAD comes with a graphical user interface (GUI) which offers most of
the common features you might already know from other applications. In this
chapter we take a closer look at the individual components of the LibreCAD main
application window (Figure 8).</p>
<p class="figure">
<a href="img/screen01.png"><img border="0" src="img/screen01_t.png"></a></p><p class="figure_label">
<b>Figure 8: </b>Main application
window of LibreCAD.</p>
<a name="Menu"></a>
<a name="CAD Toolbar"></a>
<a name="Toolbar"></a>
<a name="5_2"></a><h2>Menu and CAD Toolbar</h2>
<p>
Most functions of LibreCAD can be accessed from its menu. For CAD related
functions it might be more convenient to use the CAD Toolbar at the left.
This Toolbar always shows the functions which currently make most sense to
use. For example if you are about to set the startpoint of a line it shows
the snapping functions which allow you to set the startpoint to an existing
endpoint, a grid point or to use another positioning mode.</p>
<a name="Layer List"></a>
<a name="Block List"></a>
<a name="View - Views - Layer List"></a>
<a name="View - Views - Block List"></a>
<a name="5_3"></a><h2>Layer- and Block List</h2>
<p>
To the right of the main window of LibreCAD you can find the Layer- and the
Block List. They show the layers and blocks of the currently active graphic
document.
<br>
You can switch the Layer- and Block Lists on and off using the menu
<code>View - Views - Layer List</code>
and
<code>View - Views - Block List</code>
.</p>
<a name="Status Bar"></a>
<a name="View - Views - Statusbar"></a>
<a name="5_4"></a><h2>Status Bar</h2>
<p>
The Status Bar at the bottom shows various information about the
current state of LibreCAD. At the left, the co-ordinate Widget displays the
absolute and relative position of the mouse cursor as cartesian and
polar co-ordinates. The Mouse Widget
shows information about the current function of the left and right mouse
buttons. The Selection Widget shows the number of entities that are currently
selected.
<br>
The Status Bar can be enabled / disabled using the menu
<code>View - Views - Statusbar</code>
.</p>
<a name="Command Widget"></a>
<a name="View - Views - Command Widget"></a>
<a name="5_5"></a><h2>Command Widget</h2>
<p>
Just above the status bar you can find the command line of LibreCAD. It is
used to type in commands and to notify you about warnings and errors.
<br>
The command line can be enabled / disabled using the menu
<code>View - Views - Command Line</code>
.</p>
<a name="Option Toolbar"></a>
<a name="View - Views - Option Toolbar"></a>
<a name="5_6"></a><h2>Option Toolbar</h2>
<p>
The Option Toolbar is empty in Figure 8. Depending on the
currently active tool, it shows the options that are available for the tool.
<br>
If you prefer to change options and tool settings over the command line, you
might want to hide this toolbar using the menu
<code>View - Views - Option Toolbar</code>
.</p>
<a name="5_7"></a><h2>Executing Commands</h2>
<p>
Everything in LibreCAD is dependent on a command being issued first. There
are different ways to execute LibreCAD commands:</p>
<p>
<ul>
<li>select a corresponding tool icon on one of the toolbars</li>
<li>choose a menu item from one of the pull-down menus</li>
<li>type the command at the command prompt</li>
</ul>
</p>
<p>
Please note that the menus and toolbars feature the most common
commands.</p>
<p>
Some actions require further input after launching. There are again
three ways how those inputs can be requested by LibreCAD:</p>
<p>
<ul>
<li>Dialog Windows. E.g. the text construction tool shows a dialog window
where the user can choose the font and type in the string for the text
entity.</li>
<li>Option Toolbar. E.g. the dialog for drawing parallels requires the
input of the distance from the original entity. It displays a text input
box in the second toolbar at the top where the user can type the distance
(see Figure 9).</li>
<li>Command prompt. E.g. when drawing a sequence of lines you can close
the sequence by typing 'close' at the command prompt.</li>
</ul>
</p>
<p class="figure">
<img border="0" src="img/toolbar_opt.png"></p><p class="figure_label">
<b>Figure 9: </b>An optional
toolbar may be shown for some tools.</p>
<a name="5_8"></a><h2>Modes</h2>
<p>
LibreCAD operates in two modes: the
<b>command mode</b>
and the
<b>normal mode</b>
. In the command mode, it accepts commands over the command line. In normal
mode all keyboard input goes to the application interface.</p>
<a name="5_8_1"></a><h3>Command Mode</h3>
<p>
The command mode is indicated by a blue label at the left bottom corner
of the command widget and a blinking cursor in the command line. In this
mode, all keyboard input that is printable, goes into the command line. Use
this mode to enter commands or co-ordinates. E.g. you can enter
<code>line</code>
to launch the line tool. If you press the Z key followed by the A key,
the letters 'za' appear in the command line as opposed to triggering the auto
zoom command.</p>
<a name="5_8_2"></a><h3>Normal Mode</h3>
<p>
In this mode, LibreCAD behaves as any other standard application. All
keyboard input is interpreted as hotkeys if specified or has no effect at
all. If you press the
<code>A</code>
key in this mode, LibreCAD triggers the auto zoom command.</p>
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