SACS

Prevue

Prevue
RELEASE 6
USERS MANUAL

ENGINEERING DYNAMICS, INC.

2113 38TH STREET
KENNER, LOUISIANA 70065
U.S.A.

No part of this document may be

reproduced in any form, in an
electronic retrieval system or
otherwise, without the prior
written permission of the publisher.

Copyright

2005 by

ENGINEERING DYNAMICS, INC.

Printed in U.S.A.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

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SECTION 1

INTRODUCTION

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1.0 INTRODUCTION
This program was developed to provide the design engineer with an intuitive and efficient
tool with which geometric structures may be defined and manipulated.

1.1 GENERAL INFORMATION

This program was developed to provide an easy method of generating hardcopy plots
from a Neutral Picture File or HPGL file on a number of different hardware devices.
Input to this program is in the form of either a Neutral Picture File or an HPGL file in the
ASCII format. The Neutral Picture File may be in either EDIs original format or in the
newly defined format.
Output of this program is in the form of hardcopy plots on any Windows printer.
Additionally, the output may be a DXF file which may subsequently be input into the
Autocad program developed by Autodesk, or the Windows Meta File format for input
into any Windows program such as wordprocessors or drawing programs.
Entry into Prevue is provided by entering the command prevue filename, where
filename is the plot file name (example: prevue npfile.001) or by selecting Prevue and the
filename from the SACS Executive.
On-line help may be obtained by selecting the Help option.

1.2 PROGRAM OVERVIEW

1.2.1 System Configuration
Before executing Prevue for the first time, the SACS system configuration file should be
generated using the SACS Executive. Prevue accesses the configuration file name
configg.sac defined by environmental variable SACGCFG. Data from the
configuration file is used in all subsequent executions and may be edited by using the
SACS Executive. If the configuration file is not found or if the file does not exist, Prevue
will exit with a configuration file not found error message.
Note: The environmental variable SACGCFG must contain the full path
name of the configuration file including the filename.

The configuration parameters used in Precede may be changed for the current session
using the File|Options option.

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SECTION 2

GETTING STARTED

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2.0 GETTING STARTED

2.1 CREATING A PLOT FILE
The Prevue interactive plot program requires that plot information be stored in either
SACS Neutral Picture File format or HPGL file format. The plot file must be created by a
SACS interactive or batch module, such as Precede, Postvue, PSI etc.

2.2 BEGINNING A PREVUE SESSION

The Prevue interactive session is begun by entering the command Prevue filename,
where filename is the plot file name, or by selecting Prevue from the SACS Executive
then selecting an NPF or HPGL format plot file. Prevue will automatically determine the
plot file format (NPF, HPGL).
If a plot file name is not specified, or if Prevue cannot open the specified file, the
File|Open dialog is initiated. The user may then select the proper NPF or HPGL file
name, or exit the program.

2.3 EXITING THE PREVUE SESSION

Select the File|Exit menu option to exit the Prevue session.

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SECTION 3

FILE MENU FEATURES

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3.0 FILE MENU FEATURES

The following section details the commands found under the File main menu.

3.1 OPEN
Open is used to import an existing NPF or HPGL plot file into Prevue.

3.2 SETTINGS
The Options option allows program settings such as the scale factor for zooming in and
zooming out to be modified. Foreground and background colors can be modified by
selecting the Colors button.
Note: Modifications to the program settings affect only the current
Prevue session and are not saved to the configuration file.

3.3 PRINT
The color plot check box may be checked to create color plots.
Note: Black & white printers will gray-scale color plots. This may not
always be desired, especially for text and lines drawn in color.
The lines may appear washed-out and hard to see. Gray-scaling
generally works well with color-filled areas.

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3.3.1 Active Window
Active Window will print the plot in the currently active window.
3.3.2 All
All will print all the plots in the plot file.
3.3.3 Rest
Rest prints the current and all the following plots in the plot file.

3.4 EXPORT AS
3.4.1 DXF Format
The Data eXchange Format (DXF) format is widely supported by CAD and other
graphics programs.
3.4.2 WMF Format
The Windows Meta File (WMF) format is supported by many Windows graphics and
word-processing programs.
3.4.3 Postscript Format
The Postscript File (PS) format is a vector based file format understood by only
Postscript viewers and Postscript printers.

3.5 EXIT
The Exit option is used to exit the Prevue session.

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SECTION 4

EDIT MENU FEATURES

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4.0 EDIT MENU FEATURES

The Edit Menu provides the user with the capability to annotate individual plots by
adding labels, titles, and other information.

Note: Text added from this menu is temporarily added to the plot and is
not saved as part of the plot. The text is only included while the
plot is displayed and is lost as soon as another plot is
displayed.

4.1 ADD TEXT

The Add Text option is used to annotate the current plot. Select the text starting point
with the mouse, then type the desired text. Press the Enter key after typing the desired
text string to add another string.

Note: The text input must be terminated with either a <CR>, another
mouse click within the graphics area, or any menu selection.

4.2 DELETE TEXT

This option allows the user to delete text that was added using the ADD Text feature by
selecting the leftmost character of the text string to be deleted with the mouse.
Note: The text string whose leftmost character is closest to the mouse
pointer will be deleted.

4.3 EDIT TEXT

This option allows the user to edit text that was added using the ADD Text feature by
selecting the leftmost character of the text string to be edited with the mouse.
Note: The text string whose leftmost character is closest to the mouse
pointer will be edited.

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4.4 TEXT SIZE

This feature allows the user to change the size text strings added using the Add Text
option. Select the leftmost character of the text string to be resized. The text will flash
twice to indicate that it has been chosen. Use the UP arrow to increase the text size and
the DOWN arrow to decrease the text size.

4.5 COPY TO CLIPBOARD

This feature allows the user to copy the displayed image to the Windows clipboard,
which can then be pasted to other applications as a bitmap image.

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SECTION 5

DISPLAY MENU FEATURES

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5.0 DISPLAY MENU FEATURES

The Display menu features provide the capability to view the plots contained in the plot
file.

5.1 FIRST
This option specifies that the first plot in the plot file is to be displayed.

5.2 PREVIOUS
The Previous option displays the previous plot in the plot file.

5.3 NEXT
The Next option displays the next plot in the plot file. The plot number is shown in the
lower right corner of the screen.

5.4 LAST
The Last option displays the last plot in the plot file.

5.5 GO TO
Go to brings up a dialog from which the user can choose which plot in the plot file to go
to.

5.6 ZOOM IN
This option allows the user to window or box a portion of the plot to be zoomed. After
selecting the Zoom option, one corner of the box is picked, then the diagonally opposite
corner of the box is selected. The area within the designated window is expanded so that
it fills the entire display area.
Note: Once the first corner of the window is picked, a box is drawn from
the first corner to the current mouse arrow position. Do not hold

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down the mouse button after picking the first corner of the
window.

5.7 ZOOM OUT

This option specifies that the current display is to be redrawn so that the entire plot fits on
the screen.

5.8 ZOOM BOX

This option allows the user to select a region of the image to zoom into a specified
section.

5.9 RESTORE ZOOM

Restores the normal view of the image. The restore zoom option is used most commonly
after the image is zoomed in to specific region with the zoom box feature..

5.10 REFRESH
Refresh redraws the current plot.

5.11 AUTO REDRAW

When the Auto Redraw option is set, the plot will automatically redraw.

5.12 DOCK TOOLBAR

Dock Toolbar will dock the toolbar to the specified edge of the Prevue window.

5.13 FLOAT TOOLBAR

Float Toolbar will undock the toolbar and allow it to be repositioned wherever
convenient.

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SECTION 6

WINDOW MENU FEATURES

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6.0 WINDOW MENU FEATURES

6.1 CLOSE
Close closes the current window.

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SECTION 7

HELP MENU FEATURES

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7.0 HELP MENU FEATURES

7.1 HELP
Selecting the Help menu activates the help file browse facility.

7.2 ABOUT
About shows details of the version information for Prevue and the copyright information.

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APPENDIX A

INDEX

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A.0 INDEX
A

About, 7-1
Active Window, 3-2
Add Text, 4-1
All, 3-2
Auto Redraw, 5-2

Introduction, 1-1

Beginning A Prevue Session, 2-1

Next, 5-1

Close, 6-1
Configuration, 1-1
Copy To Clipboard, 4-2
Creating, 2-1
CREATING A PLOT FILE, 2-1

Open, 3-1
OPEN, 3-1
Overview, 1-1

Plot File, 2-1

Postscript, 3-2
Previous, 5-1
Print, 3-1
Program overview, 1-1

L
Last, 5-1

Delete Text, 4-1

DISPLAY MENU FEATURES, 5-1, 6-1
Dock Toolbar, 5-2
DXF, 3-2

Refresh, 5-2
Refresh, 5-2
Rest, 3-2
Restore Zoom, 5-2

EDIT MENU FEATURES, 4-1

Edit Text, 4-1
Exit, 3-2
Exiting The Prevue Session, 2-1
Export, 3-2

S
Session, 2-1
Settings, 3-1
System configuration, 1-1

F
File Menu Features, 3-1
First, 5-1
Float Toolbar, 5-2
Float Toolbar, 5-2

T
Text Size, 4-2

G
W

General information, 1-1

Getting started, 2-1
Go To, 5-1

WMF, 3-2

Zoom Box, 5-2

Zoom In, 5-1
Zoom Out, 5-2

Help, 7-1
HELP MENU FEATURES, 7-1

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