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-
- 6.1.1 DEFINE SOFTFONT
-
-
- The DEFINE SOFTFONT command allows a softfont definition to be saved under
- a unique name for later recall. Most drawing commands allow a softfont line-
- style to be specified using the SOFTFONT family of modifiers. If a
- particular style is to be used several times, it is more efficient to save
- the softfont definition using DEFINE SOFTFONT, then recall the softfont by
- name as in:
-
- #DRAW LINE SOFTFONT NAME name
-
- The softfont definition will be saved in the softfont data file selected
- with the command SELECT SOFTFONT, or in the default softfont data file
- ( "XCDATA:softfonts" ) if none has been selected.
-
-
- MODIFIERS
-
- NAME A unique name for the softfont to be defined, this modifier
- must be used. The softfont name can consist of up to 15
- alphabetic characters.
-
- TYPE The TYPE modifier is used to specify whether the font will be
- automatically scaled when used in viewports with different
- units types, or whether the font will use absolute units.
- The modifier is followed by one of two keywords:
-
- FIXED
- A FIXED softfont will automatically be scaled
- according to the units of the viewport it will
- be used in; a softfont defined with a width
- of 1 inch will be drawn at a width of 25.4 mm
- in a viewport using millimetre units. The
- units used to define a FIXED softfont are the
- units for the active viewport.
-
- VIEW_DEPENDENT
-
- A VIEW_DEPENDENT softfont is not fixed to any
- particular units type, the font takes its
- units from the viewport is is used in; a
- softfont defined with a width of one unit will
- be drawn at a width of 1 inch in a viewport
- using inch units or at a width of 1 mm in a
- viewport using millimetre units.
-
- The default type used is VIEW_DEPENDENT.
-
- SOFTFONT The SOFTFONT modifier is used to enter a family of modifiers
- used to define the parameters for a softfont. The modifiers
- are exactly the same as those found in most of the drawing
- commands.
-
- There are three main types of softfont that can be defined:
- a font drawn at a single line-width but with a repeated
- sequence of dashes and spaces; a font drawn at a width which
- may be optionally filled with a solid colour or a
- patternfill; or a font with a width and a repeated sequence
- of dashes and spaces. The WIDTH modifier is used to control
- all of the options available for a width font, the SPACING
- modifier is used to specify a dash/space sequence. One or
- both of these modifiers must be used to define a softfont.
-
- .WIDTH Specifies that the font will have a width. The modifier
- should be followed by a real value defining the softfont
- width - in active viewport units if the is a FIXED type of
- softfont.
-
- ..CENTRE Used to specify that a width softfont should be centre-
- justified about the centre-line of the entity. This is the
- default justification.
-
- ...EXTEND If the EXTEND modifier is used with centre-justification of
- a width softfont, the ends will be extended by half of the
- softfont width.
-
- ..LEFT Used to specify that a width softfont should be left-
- justified about the centre-line of the entity.
-
- ..RIGHT Used to specify that a width softfont should be right-
- justified about the centre-line of the entity.
-
- ..OPENENDED A width softfont is drawn as a series of parallel lines
- closed at each end. The OPENENDED modifier can be used to
- suppress the two lines used to close each end of the parallel
- lines. OPENENDED cannot be used on a filled softfont.
-
- ..THICKNESS If a width softfont is not going to be filled, a hardfont
- type thickness can be applied to the lines used to draw the
- graphics of the softfont. The thickness can be in the range
- 1 to 5.
-
- ..FILLED The FILLED modifier is used to specify that a softfont drawn
- at a width should be filled with a solid colour. The default
- option is to use the layer dependent colour for the entity.
-
- ...COLOUR The COLOUR modifier is used to specify an absolute colour
- number for the fill, this will override the layer dependent
- colour. The modifier should be followed by a colour number in
- the range 0-7.
-
- ....OUTLINE If the OUTLINE modifier is used in conjunction with COLOUR,
- the filled softfont will be outlined using the layer
- dependent colour.
-
- ..PATTERNFILL Requires the name of a patternfill previously defined with
- the DEFINE PATTERNFILL command. The softfont will be filled
- with the named patternfill as an alternative to a solid
- colour.
-
- The following modifiers only apply to patternfills that
- were originally defined using colour 1 only. ( See the
- command DEFINE PATTERNFILL ).
-
- ...COLOUR Requires a colour number in the range 0 to 7. The colour
- specified will be used as the 'foreground' colour for the
- patternfill overriding the default layer dependent colour.
-
- ....BACKGROUND The background of a patternfill is normally filled with the
- background colour, colour 0. This modifier when used with
- COLOUR will fill the background of the patternfill with the
- layer dependent colour.
-
- ...OUTLINE Will outline the patternfilled softfont with the layer
- dependent colour.
-
- .SPACING The SPACING modifier is used to specify a repeated sequence
- of dashes and spaces to display a particular type of line-
- style such as a dashed line or a centre-line. The modifier
- is followed by a list of comma-separated real values
- defining dash lengths and space lengths as pairs. The first
- value is always a dash length.
-
- For example:
-
- #DEFINE SOFTFONT NAME name SPACING .5,.5
-
- will create a line style made up of alternate dashes and
- spaces each .5 of a unit in length.
-
- Up to 8 pairs of dash/space values may be entered. If this is
- a FIXED type of softfont, the dash and space lengths should
- be specified in the active viewport units.
-
- ..THICKNESS If a width is not used with s SPACED softfont, a hardfont
- type thickness can be applied to the graphics used to draw
- the softfont. The modifier should be followed by a thickness
- value in the range 1 to 5.
-
-
-