Mdraw - A WindowWorks production
Mdraw v0.8

Copyright 1992,1993,1994 by WindowWorks

Mdraw - An object-oriented drawing package for MS-Windows.

Welcome to Mdraw, an object-oriented drawing package for MS-Windows.

This program is object-oriented in the sense that the objects you draw  may be moved or modified after you draw them.  This is a drawing program, rather than a painting program.  You can select things you have drawn and then delete them, instead of 'erasing' an area of the screen. This is also object-oriented in the sense that each object has attributes that you may modify.  For example, each object you draw has a color, and you  may change that color after you have drawn it.  You may also change the  location of the vertices of a polygon that you have drawn.  You may also  'join' multiple objects together.
While this program typically draws objects with lines, you can include bitmaps either by pasting from the clipboard, or dragging & dropping from the file manager.

The Mouse
The Clipboard
The Keyboard
The Toolbar
Attributes
Order of objects
Drag and Drop
File output
Printing
Command line arguments


The Mouse - press the buttons guys!
The mouse

Mdraw uses the mouse extensively.  The left button and the right button have different meanings.

The left button is use for selecting objects when the selector tool is active, and used for specifying size and vertex positions when a drawing tool (rectangle,ellipse,arc,polyline,polygon,text) is active.

The right button can display a menu of actions, or act like the selector tool.  If you press the right mouse button and then move it around before releasing the mouse button, it will behave like the selector tool, allowing you to manipulate objects on the screen. If you click the right mouse button without moving it, a menu of available actions will be shown. These actions are based on the current selection.


The Clipboard

Support for pasting text or bitmaps from the clipboard is provided through the 'Edit | Paste Clipboard' menu item.
When objects are copied or cut, they are copied to the Windows clipboard as a metafile.  You can then paste this image into other applications that support pasting metafiles from the clipboard. (NOTE: This support is somewhat non-standard. Your mileage may vary.)


The Keyboard

There are several keyboard 'shortcut' keys available in Mdraw.

<shift><delete>	Cut
<ctrl><insert>	Copy
<shift><insert>	Paste
<ctrl>-c	Copy
<ctrl>-x	Cut
<ctrl>-v	Paste
<ctrl>-s	Save file
<delete>	Delete (NOTE: Does not make a copy)
<insert>	Paste
<page-up>	Scroll up
<page-down>	Scroll Down
<arrows>	Move selection up
<shift><arrows>	Move selection by one pixel
<ctrl><up-arrow>	Move selection higher in display list
<ctrl><down-arrow>	Move selection further back in display list
<alt><up-arrow>	Move selection to top of display list
<alt><down-arrow>	Move selection to bottom of display list


The Toolbar

To draw an object on the screen, you select which tool you would like by clicking on its icon from the toolbar (or selecting it from the 'Tools' menu) When you draw an object, that object becomes the currently selected object and any previously selected objects are deselected.

Selector Tool

Rectangle Tool

Ellipse Tool

Arc

Polyline Tool

Polygon Tool

Text Tool

Join

Un-join

Hyper jump

Edit note

The color palette


The Selector

This tool allows you to select objects from the workspace. In order to do anything with or to an object, it must be selected.  Once you have an object selected, you may change its attributes (e.g. its color, or font). You also need to select an object before moving or resizing as well.

Helpful hint:

The right button always acts like the 'selector' tool. (Unless you're already busy drawing or moving something)

To select an object
To select more than one object
To add or remove objects from the selection
To edit the current object
To select the next object 'underneath' another object
To resize an object


Selecting an object
To select an object:

Choose the selector tool (if it isn't already selected)

Click the mouse button on the object you want to select.


Selecting several objects
To select more than one object:

Drag the mouse to draw a rectangle that surrounds the objects  you wish to select.

Release the mouse button

Alternatively, you can add more objects by holding down the shift key while selecting more objects.


Changing the selection
To add or remove objects from the selection:

Hold down the shift key, then click the mouse button on the object.


Editing a selected object
To edit the currently selected object:

Double click the right mouse button on the object.

If you are editing a TEXT object, you may now change the text of the object. To stop editing the text, press the mouse button outside of the 'edit box'.

If you are editing a POLYGON or POLYLINE object, you may drag the little squares that show up on each vertex.  To stop editing the object, click somewhere except for the little squares on the vertices.

Alternatively, you may click the right mouse button to bring up a menu. The first item in the menu will be 'edit'.  This will be enabled or disabled based upon whether the object selected can be edited.

NOTE: Only one object may be edited at a time.


Selecting layered objects
To select the next object 'underneath' another object:

Hold down the control key, then click the mouse button on the object. (you may click several times to select an object further down.)


Resizing objects
To resize an object

Move the mouse to a corner of the selected object(s).

Drag the corner to change the size of the bounding rectangle.

Release the mouse button.


Rectangles

To draw a rectangle
Select the rectangle tool
Drag the mouse to draw a rectangle
Release the mouse button


Circle
Ellipses

Select the ellipse tool
Drag the mouse to draw an ellipse
Release the mouse button


Arc
Arcs

Select the arc tool
Drag the mouse to draw an arc
Release the mouse button


Polyline
Polylines

To draw a polyline
Select the polyline tool
Click where you want the starting point
Click where you want each intermediate point
Click the right button where you want the last point.
The polyline will not draw a line from the first to the last point.
The polyline will not be filled in with any color, and can't be made to  later on. (use the polygon tool for this)

HINT: You may edit the polyline after entering it by selecting the object and double clicking the right mouse button.


Polygon
Polygons

To draw a polygon
Select the polygon tool
Click where you want the starting point
Click where you want each intermediate point
Click the RIGHT button where you want the last point.
The polygon will draw a line from the first to the last point. The polygon is filled in with the current color.

HINT: You may edit the polygon after entering it by selecting the object and double clicking the right mouse button.


Text

To add text
Select the text tool
Click where you want the upper left of the text to go.
Type the text.
Click outside of the text entry rectangle (but still within the Mdraw window)

HINT: You may paste text from the clipboard into this text entry rectangle

HINT: You may edit the text after entering it by selecting the object and double clicking the right mouse button.


Join
Joining

This is not really a tool, but rather an action.
When you press this, the currently selected objects are joined together. If only one object is selected, nothing happens.


Unjoin
Unjoining

This is not really a tool, but rather an action.

When you press this, the currently selected objects are un-joined. If there is no selection, nothing happens.


The HyperJump
Hyper Jump

This is not really a tool, but rather an action.
When you press this, you jump to the file that this object is linked to. If the current file has changed, you are given the chance to save it. If there is no link to another file, you are prompted for a filename. If the file doesn't exist, it tries to jump anyway. (I'll fix this later)

You may add or edit links through the 'Edit' menu.

HINT: You may double click the left button when using the selector tool to activate the link
NOTE: The right button behaves differently when you double click it.


The note window
Attached Note

This is not really a tool, but rather an action.
When you press this, you invoke NOTEPAD.EXE and edit the file that this object is attached to.  If there is no attached note, you are prompted for a filename.

You may add or edit notes through the 'Edit' menu.


The color pallete
The color palette

To select a color
Click the mouse on the square that has the color you want
If you have an object currently selected, it will change to that color. If not, the little box next to the pallete will change, showing the current color.


Attributes

To change the attribute of an object, select that object (or select multiple) objects, and use the Attribute menu to select the new attribute you want. You may also use the pallete to change the objects color by selecting the object, and selecting the desired color from the pallete.

Fonts

Text objects are drawn with a certain font and style. You may select different styles from the 'Attribute|Text' menu. You may select different fonts and sizes from the 'Attribute|Text|Font' menu. The font sizes in the Font dialog box that comes up may be selected from the list, or you may type in an arbitrary number for the font size.

Arrowhead

The Polyline tool may optionally be drawn with an arrowhead at one end. You may select this attribute from the 'Attribute|Polyline' menu.


Layering of objects
Order of objects

As you draw objects, they are laid down on top of the older ones.  You may  change which objects are on bottom and which are on top.  To change the order,  use the 'order' menu or the keyboard shortcuts.

Move object up

Selecting this menu option will move the currently selected objects up one.  This may change what you see by hiding other objects.

HINT: You may also do this by pressing <ctrl><up-arrow>

Move object down

Selecting this menu option will move the currently selected objects down one.  This may change what you see by revealing other objects, or hiding the current objects.

HINT: You may also do this by pressing <ctrl><down-arrow>

Move object to top

Selecting this menu option will move the currently selected objects to the top.  This may change what you see by hiding other objects.

HINT: You may also do this by pressing <alt><up-arrow>

Move object to bottom

Selecting this menu option will move the currently selected objects up one.  This may change what you see by revealing other objects, or hiding the  current objects.

HINT: You may also do this by pressing <alt><down-arrow>


File output formats
File output

Mdraw saves its files in a proprietary format (this means nobody has heard of it.)
In order to get other programs to use the pictures you create with Mdraw, you will need to export them to a format that is commonplace.

Mdraw currently supports two formats: Windows Metafiles and CGM.

Window Metafile
CGM


Window Metafiles
Windows metafile

You can 'export' your drawing to a Windows Metafile.  There are two types of Windows Metafiles: placeable and non-placeable.  Placeable metafiles are used in Word for Windows and other high-end packages.


CGM
CGM (Computer Graphics Metafile)

This is an ANSI pseudo-standard metafile format.  The standard leaves room for different ways of representing things, and I still have a ways to go to get a useable format working.


Printing

Mdraw will print to the default printer.  The scaling is such that the width of the screen corresponds to the width of the paper.

You may print Mdraw files from the command line by specifying the '/p' option. If you are familiar with 'REGEDIT.EXE' (which is in your windows directory) you can add Mdraw to your registration database and then use the File Manager 'associate' command to associate Mdraw files with the executable.  This would let you then drag files from File Manager to the Print Manager icon and have them automatically print out.


Command line arguments

<filename>	Edit specified file
/p <filename>	Print the file
/r <filename>	Edit in Read-only mode


Dragging & Dropping
Drag and Drop

You can include a copy of other files as individual objects by dragging and dropping the file from the MS-Windows file manager.  You can drop Mdraw metafiles (*.mmf),  Windows metafile (*.wmf), Windows bitmaps (*.bmp) and ANSI CGM files (*.cgm).


How to drag
Press the mouse button down, but do not release it, then move the mouse.
You may release the mouse button when you have finished dragging.


How to click
Press the mouse button down, then release the mouse button.


How to double click
Quickly press the mouse button down twice.  Try not to let the mouse itself drift as you click the buttons.  It might help to have the base of the hand resting on the table surface.


Font definition
Fonts are the names for the special look of text.  Things like 'Arial' or 'Times Roman'.


Style definition
Styles are the way text is drawn.  Things like 'Bold' or 'Italics'.