First of all, I will not explain everything. I will instead outline those features which are not so obvious. Besides, this is only a demonstration version of geoCanvas.
@Windows
The windows have several "hotspots" on them. To hit them, use the "pointer" tool, which is next to the "Tools" button on the toolbox.
The hotspots:
@Title bar
- The highlighted filename bar at the top of the current window lets you move the window around the screen.
@Resize button
- The bottom-right corner in-between the two control arrow pairings lets you resize the window, allowing you to see more, or less, of the document at one time.
@Scroll bars
- These are document position indicators and movers. They show you exactly where you are on the page. Click ON the scroll bar and you can move it. Click ABOVE or BELOW it and it will move in that direction. The other scroll bar works similarly by clicking to the RIGHT or LEFT of it.
@Control arrows
- These let you minutely position yourself around the document.
@Left Border
- The left edge (the blank vertical gap) will resize the window to the perfect height for editing the bottom-most 8 pixels of the document. You can reach the very bottom by clicking on the left border, then using the down control arrow.
@Multiple windows
Perhaps the greatest achievement in GEOS, is multiple file and window handling. To this date there is only one other program that does this, and it's in Germany, and it's a DeskTop alternative.
To open multiple windows, just select 'open' from the 'file' menu, select the new file, and another window will appear on the screen. The new window's title bar will be highlighted and the old one will be unhighlighted (That's how you can tell which one you're drawing on.)
To change which file/window you're working on, just use the "pointer" tool to click on the window you want to open. GeoCanvas will then reopen that window and you can then edit the contents. You can open and manipulate up to three files at one time, but you only draw on one at a time.
Another strange feature is opening the same file three times. This creates a neat view when you place the windows next to each other, sized tall and narrow to fit on the screen.
next to each other, sized tall and narrow to fit on the screen.
@Polygon
The polygon tool (strange-shaped thing near the COLOR tool) now has three more features. Select the polygon tool and press the space bar. This will let you draw rays from one stationary point. Press RUN-STOP and you can draw connected lines (open polygon). While you are drawing the polygon, if you wanted to double-click and single-clicked instead, just press the delete key and it will fix the two lines into one line.
@Ruler
Has a tic-mark option which isn't obvious unless you use it. Select the "ruler tic-mark" option in the "options" menu and then use the ruler tool. When you click the ruler off, it will leave a dot where each end of the ruler was.
@Coordinate display
This displays the coordinates of the document position. They are measured in pixels and are merely for large scale measuring. They start at the top and left edges of the document and measure to the top and left of the window.
As of now, the paint brush, text edit, and some of the fence tool operations do not work. The update and create file options are specifically disabled for this demonstration program. The black out doesn't seem to work either. All of these will be fixed. To all 128 owners, I am looking into making a 128 version of geoCanvas available. Don't place any bets though, just in case it doesn't fall through.
(.txt)