Re: gEDA-user: PCB: Moving the endpoint of a line

[Harry Eaton <bumpelo@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Vaughn Treude wrote:

> Hello all,
> I'm new to gEDA; I've been playing with it for a few weeks now, mostly
> gschem and pcb.  Whereas the gschem interface seems reasonably standard,
> pcb is often maddeningly arcane.  I understand that this program has
> evolved over many years, so perhaps that explains it.  I've been trying
> diligently to understand the manual, but either I'm misinterpreting it
> or they've omitted some crucial information.  This is my problem: the
> manual says you can either move a line or the "end point of a line."  I
> interpret the first part to mean you can move the line without changing
> its shape or its orientation.  The second  part, I think, means that pcb
> should allow you to grab one end of a line segment, and while the other
> end stays fixed, you should be able to drag that end point to lengthen,
> shorten, or change the angle of that segment.  Am I right?  If so, I
> have not been able to figure out how to get it to work.  I've tried
> selecting the line first, or just clicking without selecting, and it
> _always_ moves the whole line, _never_ an endpoint.  Note that I've read
> the manual enough to know that I should check the "allow lines of any
> angle" box, so I'm not restricted to multiples of 45 degrees.  So what's
> the trick?  Since gschem allows you to do this with lines in the circuit
> diagram, I would hope that pcb also has this capability.
>  

Certainly it has this capability and it is simple and straightforward to 
use. With the arrow tool simply drag (with the left button down) the 
end-point to it's new location. It must not be selected first. The 
program requires that you click fairly close to the end-point which is 
the center of  the rounded end of the line (i.e the center of the circle 
that makes the end cap).

You may be having a hard time getting the crosshair close enough to the 
end-point. This can happen if you have (a) too fine a grid and zoomed in 
closely - the center can be hard to accurately estimate and when zoomed 
in closely the program requires that you grab it more accurately; or (b) 
too coarse a grid and not having the "crosshair snaps to pins pads and 
lines" setting checked. Of course you can use thin-draw to more easily 
see the actual end-point - it is the actual end of the thin line. It's 
also possible that you are encountering new bugs in the crosshair 
handling etc introduced with the GTK port. Personally I've been using 
the lesstif interface so I can't attest to the correct GTK operation.

Bottom line, the easiest way to do guarantee reaching an end point is 
either zoomed out so that the graphic "slop" will put you close to the 
end point, or with a coarse grid and snap to ends turned on.

h.




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