Select Shape Tool

Help Contents

Introduction

The Select Shape Tool Select shape mode allows you to select and work with entire items or groups of items.

Selected shape

To select items with the Select Shape Tool:

  1. Select the Select Shape Tool Select shape mode
  2. Do one of the following:

To add or remove items from the selection, hold down the <Shift> key while clicking or dragging.

Selecting an item in a group will add (or remove) all the items in the group to the selection.

Double-click an item to both select it and open a properties editor for the item.

Move Selected Items Using the Mouse

To move the selected items using the mouse:

  1. Press the mouse button down on an item.
  2. Move the mouse to a new location.
  3. Release the mouse button.

Pressing the <Shift> key down will constrain the movement to one of the main compass directions:

Feedback about how far items are moved is provided in the Status Bar Current Action Indicator:

Status bar indicator showing how far an item is moved

Move Selected Items Using the Keyboard

To move items using the keyboard, the Graphic Editor must have keyboard focus. The Graphic Editor shows gray selection handles if the keyboard focus is not on the editor:

Selected shape without keyboard focus

To set the keyboard focus to the Graphic Editor do one of the following:

Use the arrow keys to move selected items 1 grid unit at a time.

To move items 10 grid units at a time, holding the shift key down while pressing an arrow key.

Resize Selected Items Using the Mouse

To resize the selected items:

  1. Move the mouse cursor over one of the selection handles.

    The cursor will change to one of these shapes when placed in the correct location:

    CursorComment
    Resize horizontallyResize the width
    Rotate verticallyResize the height
    Resize north east to south westResize the width and height
    Resize north west to south eastResize the width and height
  2. Press the mouse button down.
  3. Move the mouse to a new location.
  4. Release the mouse button.

Pressing the <Shift> key down will maintain the aspect ratio of the item. Pressing the <Alt> key down will resize items relative to the center.

Feedback about how much the selected items are scaled is provided in the Status Bar Current Action Indicator.

Status bar indicator showing how far an item is scaled

Rotate Selected Items

A shape, image, or group containing only shapes and images, can be freely rotated in Select Shape Mode.

To rotate the selected items:

  1. Move the mouse cursor to just outside one of the corner selection handles.

    The cursor will change to one of these shapes when placed in the correct location:

    CursorComment
    Rotate top leftRotate using the top left corner
    Rotate top rightRotate using the top right corner
    Rotate bottom leftRotate using the bottom left corner
    Rotate bottom rightRotate using the bottom right corner
  2. Press the mouse button down.
  3. Move the mouse to a new location.
  4. Release the mouse button.

Pressing the <Shift> key down will round the rotation angle to a multiple of 45°.

As you rotate the selection, feedback about the rotation angle is provided in the Status Bar Current Action Indicator.

Status bar indicator showing how far an item is rotated

Move the Translation Center

Each item has a translation center shown on the canvas by Shape Translation Center Icon. The translation center provides the reference position for:

The Translation Center is only shown when you have a single shape selected.

To move the Translation Center to a new location:

  1. Move the cursor to the translation center you want to move (the cursor will change to Translation center cursor when positioned correctly).
  2. Press the left mouse button down.
  3. Move the mouse to a new location.
  4. Release the mouse button.

As you move the translation center, feedback about how far you have moved it is provided in the Status Bar Current Action Indicator:

Status bar indicator showing how far an item is moved

Further Information

Select Point Tool

For how to use the select point tool to edit the points that define the position of items.

Graphic Editor Toolbar

For the different tools available to edit graphic pages.

Keyboard Shortcuts

For a complete list of keyboard shortcuts.

Graphic Editor

For information about editing graphic pages in Fernhill SCADA.

Glossary

For the meaning of terms used in Fernhill SCADA.