Chapter 9. The Page Buddy Floating Window

Figure 9.1: The page buddy floating window

The page buddy provides the following tools:

• 5 general drawing tools:
  • a selection tool, for selecting objects;
  • an arrow tool, for drawing arrows and lines;
  • a box tool, for drawing rectangular boxes;
  • a text tool, for adding text annotations; and
  • a formula tool, for adding formula annotations.
• a graph view tool, for adding graph views; and
• a printing tool, for selecting, configuring, and using a printer.

• The page buddy floating window appears only when a page window is foremost. It is otherwise hidden, but returns when a page window is activated.
• Each tool is accessed by clicking on a button in the page buddy floating window. Controls and options for the selected tool are presented in an associated, but separate, Draw Tools floating window.
• The selection tool on its own is not associated with any additional options, or Draw Tools floating window; however, when an object is selected, the Draw Tools floating window associated with the type of object currently selected will appear to allow editing of the object.
• Following are some general use instructions for options provided in Draw Tools floating windows:
  • Selecting an option’s checkbox activates the option; clicking on a checkbox or its name toggles between its selected and unselected states;
  • Clicking on a pop-up menu opens the pop-up menu, so the desired option can be selected from it.

General Draw Tools
General draw tools provide many elaborate tools for augmenting pages for printing. Details about each of them are explained in Appendix C, the Draw Tools appendix.

Hint: General draw tools in the page buddy is the same as those in the view buddy.

Graph Tools
Graph tools are for pasting selected graph views onto a page. Figure 9.2 shows the graph draw tool floating window:

Figure 9.2: The Graph Draw Tool Floating Window

The elements, from top to bottom in the graph draw tool floating window, are explained as follows:

View pop-up menu

The view pop-up menu is for selecting a view to the clipboard, for subsequent pasting to the page.

Enforce Minimum Size checkbox

The Enforce Minimum Size option is for imposing a 25% limit for a pasted graph views’s minimum size. If the option is not selected, pasted views can be shrunk arbitrarily small.

Print Tools
Print tools are for Figure 9.3 shows the print draw tool floating window:

Figure 9.3: Printer controls in a draw tool floating window

The elements, from top left across to bottom right in the print draw tool floating window, are explained as follows:

Page Setup button

The Page Setup button is for accessing the operating system’s standard page setup window. Options may include paper size, paper source and orientation, graphic resolution, number of copies to be printed, and which printer to print to.

Print button

The Print button is for accessing the operating system standard print window. The print window is for sending the current print page to a printer; it may also include some options that influence the printing process.

Show Printer Page checkbox

The Show Printer Page option is for displaying of the limits that the print head can reach on the physical paper.

Page size and printer Resolution

Page displays the print page dimensions in inches; Resolution displays the resolution in dots-per-inch, “dpi”.

Reset Guides button

The Reset Guides button is for changing all margins back to the default setting. Default margins are set to a minimum, and the guides would overlap with the printer page.

Show Guides checkbox

The Show Guides option is for outlining, with dotted line, the page area on which page contents are to be printed.

Pop-up menus for Left, Right, Top and Bottom Guides

The guide pop-up menus are for changing the respective print margins.

Hint: Margins can also be set by clicking at the respective guide box on the page, then dragging it to the desired position.

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