Drawing Layer Operation Improvement

  • Thread starter Thread starter W. Watson
  • Start date Start date
W

W. Watson

Maybe this exists, but I'll toss it out to the group anyway.

A problem with Draw is that when the figures get loaded with objects one
cannot tell what order they are in. It would be useful to have some facility
that provides a layer by layer description of the # of objects on each layer
and some other information about each item. In fact, what would be useful
would be some operation that simply reveals every item for a given layer #.
For example, maybe a Draw menu item called Layer Properties like:

Layer Properties
Layer Summary (for active layer. shows all items, maybe in outline form)
Display Top Layer (activate top layer only)
Display Next Layer (activate next layer only)
Show All Layers (back to normal)

Wayne T. Watson (Watson Adventures, Prop., Nevada City, CA)
(121.015 Deg. W, 39.262 Deg. N) GMT-8 hr std. time)
Obz Site: 39° 15' 7" N, 121° 2' 32" W, 2700 feet
 
Word is NOT a graphics application.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.
 
Suzanne said:
Word is NOT a graphics application.
Click to expand...
Perhaps not, but it could use some extra operations to make what is does
provide easier to use. Perhaps Word 2006?


Wayne T. Watson (Watson Adventures, Prop., Nevada City, CA)
(121.015 Deg. W, 39.262 Deg. N) GMT-8 hr std. time)
Obz Site: 39° 15' 7" N, 121° 2' 32" W, 2700 feet
 
Hi Wayne,

Are you looking for something that works programatically or in the user interface?
You can, for example find a list of the objects that are not formatted as 'inline with text' (i.e. those in the drawing/floating
layer tethered to the text area) using by adding the optional 'select multiple objects' tool to your drawing toolbar.

From Tools=>Customize=>Commands select the drawing category then drag the Select Multiple Objects command to the drawing toolbar.

If you add 'alternative (web) text' to a graphic/object from Format Object then that text should show up in the Multiple Object
tools to help with the 'which is which' choices.


=======
Maybe this exists, but I'll toss it out to the group anyway.

A problem with Draw is that when the figures get loaded with objects one
cannot tell what order they are in. It would be useful to have some facility
that provides a layer by layer description of the # of objects on each layer
and some other information about each item. In fact, what would be useful
would be some operation that simply reveals every item for a given layer #.
For example, maybe a Draw menu item called Layer Properties like:

Layer Properties
Layer Summary (for active layer. shows all items, maybe in outline form)
Display Top Layer (activate top layer only)
Display Next Layer (activate next layer only)
Show All Layers (back to normal)

Wayne T. Watson>>
 
I use the drawing canvas a lot, if that makes a difference to what you've
said below (text area comment). I have no special addons for drawing. I'll
look into customize. Not sure what alternatite text is about. Is that some
identifier that you can use with an object to identify it while drawing, but
which does not appear in the printed copy?
Hi Wayne,

Are you looking for something that works programatically or in the user
interface? You can, for example find a list of the objects that are not
formatted as 'inline with text' (i.e. those in the drawing/floating layer
tethered to the text area) using by adding the optional 'select multiple
objects' tool to your drawing toolbar.

From Tools=>Customize=>Commands select the drawing category then drag the
Select Multiple Objects command to the drawing toolbar.

If you add 'alternative (web) text' to a graphic/object from Format
Object then that text should show up in the Multiple Object tools to help
with the 'which is which' choices.
Click to expand...
....
 
....Don't see anything called "Select Multiple Objects". I'm using Word 2003.
Didn't see anything in help about it either.
 
The Select Multiple Objects command is the third listed in the Drawing
category on the Commands tab of Tools | Customize in Word 2003. It's pretty
hard to miss!

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.
 
Suzanne said:
The Select Multiple Objects command is the third listed in the Drawing
category on the Commands tab of Tools | Customize in Word 2003. It's pretty
hard to miss!
Click to expand...
Well, miss it I did, and still do. My list shows, from the top, File, Edit,
View, Insert, Format, ... Perhaps you are on intimate terms with Waldo (of
where's Waldo fame). Drawing shows a check mark, and I've highlighted the word.


Wayne T. Watson (Watson Adventures, Prop., Nevada City, CA)
(121.015 Deg. W, 39.262 Deg. N) GMT-8 hr std. time)
Obz Site: 39° 15' 7" N, 121° 2' 32" W, 2700 feet
 
You have listed the Categories. Keep going down that list past Tools,
Table, Web, Window and Help and you will come to a Drawing category. Select
that and then in the list of Commands in the right hand control, you will
see commands for Drawing, Select Objects and then Select Multiple Objects.

--
Hope this helps.

Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my
services on a paid consulting basis.

Doug Robbins - Word MVP
 
Contine further down that list to Drawing. Select that and Select Multiple
Objects is the third item in the right window. Drag it to the toolbar.

--
<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>
Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com

<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>
 
Doug said:
You have listed the Categories. Keep going down that list past Tools,
Table, Web, Window and Help and you will come to a Drawing category. Select
that and then in the list of Commands in the right hand control, you will
see commands for Drawing, Select Objects and then Select Multiple Objects.
Click to expand...
I guess I wasn't clear that I found Drawing under the Toolbars tab. The key
here is that it's Drawing under the Command tab that I need. That's a rather
confusing set of dialogs with Drawing appearing in two places. I found SMO
in the Command tab when I click on Drawing in the Command Tab's Category. I
successfully dragged it to the toolbar. Yea!

Now to figure out how adding that to my toolbar helps. What was my problem
again? :-)


Wayne T. Watson (Watson Adventures, Prop., Nevada City, CA)
(121.015 Deg. W, 39.262 Deg. N) GMT-8 hr std. time)
Obz Site: 39° 15' 7" N, 121° 2' 32" W, 2700 feet
 
I guess I wasn't clear that I found Drawing under the Toolbars tab. The
key

Despite the fact that I said, "on the Commands tab of Tools | Customize"?

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.
 
Suzanne said:
key

Despite the fact that I said, "on the Commands tab of Tools | Customize"?
Click to expand...
Yes, despite that. Amazing isn't it?

Now if some could kindly tell me what having this menu item will do for me,
I'd appreciate it. It shows a list of check boxes. If I select the very last
one, which I presume somehow is related to the last figure I've drawn in the
document, what effect will I observe?


Wayne T. Watson (Watson Adventures, Prop., Nevada City, CA)
(121.015 Deg. W, 39.262 Deg. N) GMT-8 hr std. time)
Obz Site: 39° 15' 7" N, 121° 2' 32" W, 2700 feet
 
W. Watson said:
Yes, despite that. Amazing isn't it?

Now if some could kindly tell me what having this menu item will do for
me, I'd appreciate it. It shows a list of check boxes. If I select the
very last one, which I presume somehow is related to the last figure
I've drawn in the document, what effect will I observe?
Click to expand...
I think I've figured it out. Showing the layer # would be very useful, as
well as being able to specify objects on a draw level. Another possible
enhancement would be to show all objects associated with a given area. For
example, it's quite possible to hide a drawing object under a canvas, which
cannot be seen unless you move the canvas.
 
Hi Wayne,

Word does use 'floating' objects/graphics but it's not used in the way some graphics layout programs are (i.e. the objects are in
Word's drawing layer, but can be 'stacked' (overlapped) separately, within that layer.

If you add Alternate Text to a graphic using Format Object/Picture's 'Web' tab then that text appears when use the Select Multiple
Object Tools to help you identify which item is which.

For example, from 'Autoshapes' on the drawing toolbar choose 'basic shapes' then the 'hexagon' and place one in a blank Word
document. Then double click the hexagon or use Format=>Autoshape=>Web and type in 'Hexagon'. Draw a few more shapes without adding
Web/Alt text.

When you're back in the Word document use the Select Multiple Objects tool and you should see the word 'hexagon' appear next to the
item where you added Web text (provided that none of them is formatted with an 'inline with text' layout.

A Drawing Canvas is a container that can hold additional shapes on its own. If you use the Select Multiple Objects tool inside of a
canvas it will show the list of elements of the canvas including the individual item web texts. If you use the Select Multiple
Objects Tool outside of the canvas it doesn't penetrate the canvas container, but will list the canvas.

Programatically you may be able to drill into more detail but you may want to post those questions in the Word Visual Basic for
Applications (VBA) newsgroup (link below).

=============
| W. Watson wrote:
|
| > Now if some could kindly tell me what having this menu item will do
| > for me, I'd appreciate it. It shows a list of check boxes. If I
| > select the very last one, which I presume somehow is related to the
| > last figure I've drawn in the document, what effect will I observe?
| I think I've figured it out. Showing the layer # would be very
| useful, as well as being able to specify objects on a draw level.
| Another possible enhancement would be to show all objects associated
| with a given area. For example, it's quite possible to hide a drawing
| object under a canvas, which cannot be seen unless you move the
| canvas. >>
--
MS Office System Products MVP
*courtesy is not expensive and can pay big dividends8

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