When you select entities in a drawing, the selection method and the display of selected entities, e.g. whether grips display or not, is controlled by a number of settings.
Selection settings
Selection settings sit in the Selection settings group of the Program Options settings category in the Settings dialog.
Name |
System Variable |
Description |
Highlight |
HIGHLIGHT |
Determines wether or not entities highlight on screen when selected. |
Image highlight |
IMAGEHLT |
Determines whether the entire raster image highlights or only the raster image frame when selected. |
Pick add |
PICKADD |
Controls whether subsequent selections replace the current selection set or add to it. ON : The selection set is extended if you select additional entities. Press and hold the Shift key to remove entities from the selection set. OFF : You cannot add entities to a selection set. The newly selected entity or entities replace the existing selection set. However, if you press and hold the Shift key, you can add entities. If you select an entity that was already selected while pressing the Shift key, this entity is removed from the selection set. |
Pick automatic |
PICKAUTO |
Controls automatic window selection (inside or crossing) when selecting entities. The value is stored as a bitcode using the sum of the selected options.
|
Pick box |
PICKBOX |
Defines the size of the small square at the end of the selection cursor ( The default size of the Pick Box is 3. |
Pick drag |
PICKDRAG |
Controls the method of drawing a selection window. ON : Allows to define a selection window by dragging:press and hold the left mouse button to define the first corner of the rectangle, then move the mouse to define the size of the selection window and release the mouse button to define the opposite corner. OFF : Define the selection window by clicking two opposite corners. |
Pick first |
PICKFIRST |
Controls whether you select objects before or after you issue a modification command. ON : Allows to first compose a selection set, then launch a modification command. OFF : You must first start the command, then compose the select entities. |
Pick style |
PICKSTYLE |
Controls the selection of groups and associative hatches.
|
Match options for SELECTSIMILAR |
SELECTSIMILARMODE |
Controls which properties must match for an entity of the same type to be selected with the SELECTSIMILAR command. |
Selection area |
SELECTIONAREA |
Controls the display of selection area effects. |
Selection area opacity |
SELECTIONAREAOPACITY |
Controls the transparency of the selection area: the higher the value the more opaque the selection area. |
Crossing area color |
CROSSINGAREACOLOR |
Specifies the color for crossing selection areas. |
Window area color |
WINDOWAREACOLOR |
Specifies the color for window selection areas. |
Selection preview display |
SELECTIONPREVIEW |
Controls when entities highlight when the cursor hovers over them:
When the QUAD cursor menu is active, SELECTIONPREVIEW is neglected, unless a command prompts for entity selection. |
Selection preview effect |
PREVIEWEFFECT |
Controls the appearance of highlighted entities: 0=dashed lines; 1=thickened lines; 2=dashed and thickened lines (not yet supported). |
Selection preview filter |
PREVIEWFILTER |
Controls which entity types are excluded from selection previewing.
|
GL Selection Highlight Style |
HIGHLIGHTEFFECT |
Specifies the highlight method:
|
Selection Highlight color |
HIGHLIGHTCOLOR |
Specifies the highlight color to be used when HIGHLIGHTEFFECT is 1 or 3. |
Selection Modes |
SELECTIONMODES |
Defines which subentities should highlight in selection preview. The variable is stored as a bitcode using the sum of the values of all selected options. Click the buttons on the Selection Modes toolbar to set the value of SELECTIONMODES. A pressed button indicates the option is selected.
* Hold down the Ctrl-key to invert the status of the Select Faces option: if ON allows to select 3D solids, if OFF allows to select solid faces. Repeatedly pressing the TAB key, while keeping the cursor at the same position, highlights all included subentity types one by one. See also window selection. |
Constraint Bar Display |
CONSTRAINTBARDISPLAY |
Controls the visibility of a geometric constraint at its creation or selection. |
Dynamic Constraint Mode |
DYNCONSTRAINTMODE |
Controls the visibility of hidden dimensional constraints when the constrained entity is selected. When the cursor is over an entity with a dimensional constraint, the blue constraint glyph displays. |
User Preference |
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Preview selection delay |
PreviewDelay |
Specifies how many milliseconds to wait before highlighting the (sub)entities under the cursor. |
Grips settings
If the Grips system variable is different from zero, grips display on selected entities.
Grips settings sit under Display/Viewing in the Drafting settings group of the Drawing settings category in the Settings dialog.
Grips can be used to manipulate entities (see Grips Editing)
Name |
System Variable |
Description |
Grips |
GRIPS |
The value of GRIPS can be 0, 1 or 2
|
Grips in blocks |
GRIPBLOCK |
Toggles the display of grips on entities in blocks on/off. |
Grip color |
GRIPCOLOR |
Sets the color of unselected grips. Default value is green (index color no. 72). |
Selected grip color |
GRIPHOT |
Sets the color of selected grips, so called 'hot grips'. Default value is red (index color no. 240). |
Hover grip color |
GRIPHOVER |
Sets the color of an unselected grip when the cursor pauses over it. Default value is blue (index color no. 150). |
Grip size |
GRIPSIZE |
Sets the size of the grip box, expressed in pixels. Default value = 4. |
Grip object limit |
GRIPOBJLIMIT |
Suppresses the display of grips if the number of selected objects exceeds the value of GRIPOBJLIMIT. If set to 0 (zero) grips always display. |
Grip tips |
GRIPTIPS |
(Not supported yet) Determines whether grip tips display when the cursor hovers hover grips on custom entities or dynamic blocks that support grip tips. |
Grips attraction |
EnableAttraction (*) |
Toggles the magnetism of grips on/off. |
Grips attraction distance |
AttractionDistance (*) |
Sets the grips attraction distance: if the cursor is within this distance the cursor is attracted by the grip and jumps to it. |
(*) User Preference
Tutorial: Dynamic Grips and Tips
Click here to watch