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Node: <a name="Menu">Menu</a>,
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Next: <a rel="next" accesskey="n" href="Status-line-and-Input-field.html#Status-line%20and%20Input-field">Status-line and Input-field</a>,
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Previous: <a rel="previous" accesskey="p" href="Layout-Area.html#Layout%20Area">Layout Area</a>,
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Up: <a rel="up" accesskey="u" href="Application-Window.html#Application%20Window">Application Window</a>
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<h3 class="subsection">Menus</h4>
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<p>The menus are located at the top of the Layout area. Most, but not all,
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of their functions are also available from the keyboard. Similarly, some
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functions are only achievable through the keyboard or command entry.
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Some menu entries such as <code>center layout</code> in the <b>Screen</b> menu require a certain cross hair position.
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In this case a prompt message will popup at the bottom of the screen
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with wording similar to the following:
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<pre class="example"> move pointer to the appropriate screen position and press a button
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Any mouse button will do the job, whereas any key except the arrow (cursor) keys
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will cancel the operation. If it seems like the menu hasn't done what you
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expected, check to see if it is waiting for the position click. For details see <a href="Actions.html#Actions">Actions</a>.
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<p>Pressing <em>Btn3</em> in the Layout area also pops up a menu with many of the most common operations (except
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when you're in the midst of drawing a line or arc). When
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a choice in the <em>Btn3</em> popup menu needs a cross hair position, it uses the position
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where the cross hair was when <em>Btn3</em> was pressed. For example, to get detailed
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information on an object, place the cross hair over the object, press <em>Btn3</em>, then
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choose <code>object report</code>. If you pop up the <em>Btn3</em> menu but don't want to
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take any of the actions, click on one of the headers in the menu.
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<dd>This menu offers a choice of loading, saving and printing data, saving
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connection information to a file or quitting the application. Most
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of the entries in the <b>File</b> menu are self explanatory.
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<code>print layout</code> pops up a printer control dialog.
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A selection of several device drivers is available from the printer control
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dialog. Presently <em>PostScript</em>, <em>encapsulated PostScript</em>,
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and <em>GerberX</em> are supported. The <em>GerberX</em> driver produces
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all of the files necessary to have the board professionally manufactured.
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The connection saving features in the <b>File</b> menu produce outputs in an
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arcane format that is not too useful. They do <em>not</em> produce netlist
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<dd>The <b>Edit</b> menu provides the usual cut, copy, paste
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which work on selections. To learn how to
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create complex selections, see <a href="Arrow-Tool.html#Arrow%20Tool">Arrow Tool</a>.
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The <b>Edit</b> menu also
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provides access to Undo and Redo of the last operation. These
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can also be accomplished with the <em>U</em> key and <em>Shift-R</em>
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key. Finally, the <b>Edit</b> menu allows you to change the names
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of: the layout, the active layer, or text objects on the layout.
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<dd>The <b>Screen</b> menu supports most functions related to
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the whole Layout area. There are various entries to change the grid to some popular
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values, the zoom factor, and which kind of element name is displayed.
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You can also re-align the grid origin and turn on and off the display
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Before changing the grid alignment, I recommend that you zoom in as close as
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possible so that you're sure the grid
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points appear exactly where you want them.
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<p>The <b>Screen</b> menu also allows you to turn on and off the
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visibility of the solder-mask layer. When the solder-mask layer
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is made visible it obscures most of the layout, so only turn
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this on when you really want to know what the solder-mask will
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look like. The solder-mask that you see belongs to the
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side of the board you are viewing, which can be changed with
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the <code>view solder side</code> option, also found in the <b>Screen</b> menu.
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When the solder-mask is displayed, the pin and pad clearance adjustments
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(see <a href="Line-Objects.html#Line%20Objects">Line Objects</a>) alter the size of mask cut-outs.
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<dd>The <b>Sizes</b> menu allows you to select a group of line thickness, via diameter, via drill
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size, and clearance (keepaway) (collectively called a "routing style") to be copied to the "active" sizes.
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You can also change the names given to the routing styles and adjust their values from
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this menu. The "active" sizes are also adjustable from this menu.
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The "active" sizes are shown in the status-line and control the initial size of new vias,
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drilling holes, lines, clearances, text-objects and also the maximum dimensions of the
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<br><dt><b>Settings</b>
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<dd>The <b>Settings</b> menu controls several operating configuration
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parameters. The <code>edit layer groups</code> entry brings up a dialog
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that allows you to change the way layers are grouped. Layer grouping
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is described in <a href="Layer-Objects.html#Layer%20Objects">Layer Objects</a>. The <code>all-direction lines</code>
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the clipping of lines to 45-degree angles. You can also control
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whether moving individual objects causes the attached lines to
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"rubber band" with the move or not from the <b>Settings</b> menu. Another
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entry controls whether the starting clip angle for the two-line
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mode (see <a href="Line-Objects.html#Line%20Objects">Line Objects</a>) alternates every other line. You can
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also control whether element names must be unique from the <b>Settings</b>
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menu. When unique element names are enforced, copying a new element
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will automatically create a unique <code>layout-name</code> name for it
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provided that the name originally ended with a digit (<em>e.g.</em>
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U7 or R6). The <b>Settings</b> menu allows you to control
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whether the cross hair will snap to pins and pads even when they
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are off-grid. Finally you can control whether new lines and
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arcs touch or clear intersecting polygons from this menu.
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<br><dt><b>Select</b>
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<dd>This menu covers most of the operations that work with selected objects.
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You may either (un)select all visible objects on a layout or only the ones
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which have been found by the last connection scan see
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You can delete all selected objects from this menu.
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Other entries in the <b>Select</b> menu change the sizes of selected objects.
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Note that a select action only affects those objects that are
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selected <em>and</em> have their visibility turned on in the Layer Control
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panel. The <b>Select</b> menu also provides a means for selecting objects
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by name using unix <a href="Regular-Expressions.html#Regular%20Expressions">Regular Expressions</a>.
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<br><dt><b>Buffer</b>
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<dd>From the <b>Buffer</b> menu you may select one out of five
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buffers to use, rotate or clear its contents or save the buffer contents
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to a file. You can also use the <code>break buffer element to pieces</code> entry
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to de-compose an element into pieces for editing.
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Note: only objects with visibility turned on are pasted to the layout. If
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you have something in a buffer, then change which side of the board you
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are viewing, the contents of the buffer will automatically be mirrored
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for pasting on the side you are viewing. It is not necessary to clear
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a buffer before cutting or copying something into it - it will automatically
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<br><dt><b>Connects</b>
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<dd>The entries available through the <b>Connects</b> menu allow you to find
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connections from objects and to manipulate these.
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You can also optimize or erase rat's nests from this menu. Finally,
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the <code>auto-route all rats</code> entry allows you to auto-route
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all connections show by the rat's nest. The auto-router will use
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any visible copper layer for routing, so turn off the visibility of any
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layers you don't want it to use. The auto-router will automatically
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understand and avoid any traces that are already on the board, but
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it is not restricted to the grid. Finally,
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the auto-router routes using the active sizes (except for nets that
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have a route-style defined). <code>Pcb</code> always knows which tracks
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were routed by the auto-router, and you can selectively remove them
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without fear of changing tracks that you have manually routed
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with the <code>rip-up all auto-routed tracks</code> entry in the <b>Connects</b>
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menu. The <code>design rule checker</code> entry runs a check for copper
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areas that are too close together, or connections that touch too
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tenuously for reliable production. The DRC stops when the first
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problem is encountered so after fixing a problem be sure to
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run it again until no problems are found.
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<pre class="display"> <em>Warning:</em> <b>COPPER TEXT IS IGNORED BY THE DRC CHECKER</b>.
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<dd>The <code>generate object report</code> entry from the <b>Info</b> menu
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provides a way to get detailed information
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about an object, such as its coordinates, dimensions, etc.
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You can also get a report summarizing all of the drills
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used on the board with <code>generate drill summary</code>. Lastly,
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you can get a list of all pins, pads and vias that were
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found during a connection search.
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<br><dt><b>Window</b>
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<dd>The <b>Window</b> menu provides a way to bring each of <code>Pcb's</code>
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windows to the front. The <em>Library</em> window is used to
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bring elements from the library into the paste-buffer. The
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<em>Message Log</em> window holds the various messages that
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<code>Pcb</code> sends to the user. The <em>Netlist</em> window shows
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the list of connections desired.
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<p>Now that you're familiar with the various menus, it's time
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to try some things out. From the <b>File</b> menu choose
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<code>load layout</code>, navigate to the tutorial folder, then
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load the file <code>tut1.pcb</code>.
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