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Getting Around in a Diagram

Limitations of the computer screen present the single greatest obstacle to working on a diagram. Typical diagrams extend well beyond the size and degree of detail that you can view effectively within a single window. This chapter describes the methods provided to overcome this obstacle. With these features, you can control precisely both the portion of the diagram and the degree of detail that are shown.

Zoom

Zoom features allow you to move quickly between different views of the diagram and to increase and decrease the degree of detail displayed in the diagram window. By changing the zoom magnification, you can control how much of the diagram is visible and how much detail is displayed. You also can easily zoom in or out with increased precision using Pan & Zoom window.

 

Using the Scroll Bars

You can use scroll bars to move your view of the diagram up-and-down and left-and-right without affecting the degree of detail shown. The only thing unusual about our scroll bars is the large area of the diagram that lies beyond the extents of the printed page boundary. For the common diagram that fits on a single piece of paper, the entire diagram is located very near the center position of the scroll bars. With these diagrams, the slider portion of the scroll bar won't be particularly useful. The scroll bar buttons scroll the diagram by a small amount in the direction of the arrow. Clicking in the region of the scroll bar between the slider and a button scrolls by a half screen in the direction of the button.

 

Autoscroll

When you drag an object past the edge of the screen, the diagram automatically scrolls to follow the cursor. Autoscroll is only in effect when the current view is maximized to fill the entire workspace.


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