Draw Standard Item

The Draw Standard Item command activates the Standards Draw palette. This palette is essentially the same as the Standards Draw Manager palette except that it does not have the Standards management commands available in the right-click shortcut menu.

The first time you launch the Draw Standard Item command in a drawing session, a dialog box will prompt you to "Select Drawing Standards Data Source".

The Standards Data Source can be loaded by specifying a Universal Data Link file (.udl) or a Standards Database file (.sdb). Carlson includes two Standards Database files (.sdb) with the installation: the Carlson_NCS_SurveyCivil.sdb which is a fully populated database based on the US National CAD Standard and empty.sdb which is a functional, but empty, database with which to start a new Standard Database. Updates and additions to the .sdb files provided by Carlson Software will be posted to this website: www.carlsonsw.com/cadstandards.html.

After specifying the data source, the Draw Standard Item command is automatically issued. If you wish to Draw a Standard Item in your drawing at this time, you can specify the Standard Item to be drawn either by typing its QuickKey in at the Command: Line or by selecting a similar Standard Item currently existing in the drawing.

If you do not know the QuickKey of the Standard Item you wish to draw and do not have a similar Item in the drawing, press the Enter key to finish the command and return to the Command: prompt. You can now access the Standards Draw palette by hovering over the Draw Standard Item icon on the Draw Item toolbar.

By default, the Standards Draw palette automatically hides within the Draw Standard Item icon. Hovering over this icon will display the palette. Once displayed, the palette may be dragged to a new location and re-sized. Since the palette is fully transparent, it can be "parked" in the drawing area and not interfere with other drafting tasks. The palette is also "transparent" with regards to command execution in that other commands are able to run while the palette remains open and available for use.

Items in the Standards Draw palette are organized into Folders and given commonly referred-to, descriptive names. Defining these Items and other management tasks are done through the Items Standards Manager.

A Standard Item can include any one or a combination of 3 types of entities: Symbols, Linework and Annotation (with or without a Leader). Next to each Item in the palette is an icon graphic that indicates the type of entities defined for that Standard Item.

This icon, is shown for a Standard Symbol Item.

This icon, is shown for a Standard Linework Item.

This icon, is shown for a Standard Annotation Item.

You may also see one of these icons representing a combination of entity types:

Drawing Standard Items

Because many Standard Items will be sized based on the scale of the drawing, it is important to set the "Horizontal Scale" in the Carlson Drawing Setup dialog box before drawing Standard Items into your drawing. If Standard Items are drawn and scaled according to the "Horizontal Scale", the "Horizontal Scale" setting is saved with the entity. In other words, changes to the "Horizontal Scale" of the drawing will not affect existing entities. This is true of Symbols, Annotation and Leader components.

There are 3 methods you can use to place Standard Items in your drawing:

Select Object - This option is enabled when starting the Draw Item command from either the Draw Item toolbar or the Draw menu. When prompted at the Command: Line, you can select any Standard Item that has been previously drawn in the drawing and will then be able to place a new instance of that Item.
Quick Key - This option is enabled when starting the Draw Item command from either the Draw Item toolbar or the Draw menu. When prompted at the Command: Line, type in the QuickKey shortcut for the Standard Item you wish to draw.
Standard Draw palette - After the Data Source has been loaded, you can access the Standard Draw palette by hovering over the Draw Item icon.

To Draw a Standard Item using the Item menu in the palette, navigate through and left-click the Standard Item to be drawn. Assuming the Standard Item has a Symbol, Linework and Annotation component, you will see, generally, the following series of prompts. Note that, depending on the various options that have been set for each Item, the prompts may vary.

Start Point: Using the left-mouse button, select the location for the first Symbol component. This point will also be the first endpoint of the Linework for this Item. If you do not wish to have a Symbol inserted at this point and only wish to draw the associated Linework, hold the ALT key when specifying the Start Point to proceed on to the next Endpoint.

Rotation Angle: If you have placed a Symbol, specify its Rotation Angle. If you have set the Symbol Rotation option to "Fixed", you will not be prompted for this Rotation Angle.

If you Insert a Symbol having non-Constant attribute values, you will be prompted through a dialog box to define the attribute values:

Halfwidth/Width/CLose/LEngth/Open/Undo/Arc Endpoint of line: Select the next Endpoint of the line segment or specify one of the other Polyline command options before picking the Endpoint. If you do not want to draw a Linework segment at this time, press Enter to skip this step and continue on to place Annotation.

Rotation Angle: Specify the Rotation Angle for the next Symbol. Again, depending on the Symbol Rotation options you have set, you may or may not receive this prompt.

The prompts will continue to alternate between "Rotation Angle" and "Endpoint of Line" until you have reached the end of your Linework. When you have specified your final Endpoint and the Rotation Angle of your final Symbol, right-click to continue on to place Annotation.

Displacement/Identify or <\P>key in alternative text: This is the prompt for your first Annotation entity. The Item's Label is used for default Text content. To override the default Text, simply type in the alternative Text at the Command: Line. If you need a 2nd line of Text, use "\P" to designate the 2nd line of text. For instance, entering "TWO STORY\PWOOD FRAME" would result in the following Text string in the drawing: Also, left-clicking on any other Text entity will update your current Text value to match the Text that was selected. And, holding the ALT key while left-clicking on any other Text entity will add the value of that Text entity as a 2nd line of Text to your current Text value.

Once you have finished entering the Text, press Enter to finish Text entry. Left-click in the drawing to place the Text.

Rotation angle/Identify or <\P>key in alternative text <0.0000>: Type in a Rotation Angle for the text or left-click to specify the desired angle.

Leader Start Point: Left-click to specify the location of the arrowhead part of the Leader. If you do not want a Leader, you can right-click to skip the Leader and proceed on to place the next Text entity.

Next Leader Point: Left-click to specify the next Endpoint of the Leader. You will continue being prompted for "Next Leader Point:" until you right-click or Enter to finish drawing the Leader.

After you have finished drawing the first Annotation entity (with or without a Leader), you will continue to be prompted to place additional Annotation and Leaders. Right-click or press Enter to finish the command.

Pulldown Menu Location(s): Draw > Draw To Standard
Keyboard Command: drawitem
Prerequisite: Populated Standards Database file (.sdb)