Stardraw Forums

Cable feather won't attach

http://forums.stardraw.com/Topic18524.aspx

By brent barnes - 1/16/2020 3:31:41 PM

Hi, I'm using feathers for the first time. I'm sure I've missed a step. In the online video about feathers, the illustration is to just drag a feather to a desired cable and it attaches. I can't seem to get a feather to attach to a cable end. Do I have to define the cable end as a connection point somehow? Thanks for your help. 
By Rob Robinson - 1/16/2020 6:42:57 PM

Hi Brent,

It really is that simple - you should just drag the Feather symbol to the end of a Cable object (or vice versa) and the 2 objects will connect.

I wonder if maybe what you think is a Cable is really a Cable object, or if it might be a Line?  Lines are just lines and do not support Cable functionality (like connecting to symbols).

However, without seeing exactly what you're trying to do we can only guess at what's happening.  If you can email the project file (.S07) to us at techsupport@stardraw.com, along with step-by-step instructions on how to reproduce what you're doing and seeing, we will be happy to investigate.
By brent barnes - 1/16/2020 7:12:07 PM

Rob Robinson - 1/16/2020 6:42:57 PM
Hi Brent,

It really is that simple - you should just drag the Feather symbol to the end of a Cable object (or vice versa) and the 2 objects will connect.

I wonder if maybe what you think is a Cable is really a Cable object, or if it might be a Line?  Lines are just lines and do not support Cable functionality (like connecting to symbols).

However, without seeing exactly what you're trying to do we can only guess at what's happening.  If you can email the project file (.S07) to us at techsupport@stardraw.com, along with step-by-step instructions on how to reproduce what you're doing and seeing, we will be happy to investigate.

Thanks for the reply. It seems something unusual was happening. I was in fact placing cables on the ins and outs of devices (not lines), then trying to attach feathers. After quite a few attempts, I moved on to something else. At some random location in my diagram, I ran across a collection of feathers. Not at all related to where I was trying to drag and  drop them. It seems that I would drag in a feather and it would drop to this other place. (because of the way I was zoomed, this spot in the diagram was not visible before). I deleted all of those feathers and tried again. And now that I knew where to look, I can confirm that the feathers I drag in seem to always drop to the same location. After I drop them in, I can then grab them and relocate them to the desired place. It isn't a big deal, just kind of different than the video showed.
By Rob Robinson - 1/16/2020 8:19:18 PM

Hi Brent,

I wonder if you have Orthogonal Lock active?  This modifier (F7 to toggle) locks moves and edits to one axis only, either X or Y, and this can produce unpredictable results when dragging new symbols in from the Symbol Browser.

If active, turn Orthogonal Lock off and all will be well.  Does this explain what was happening?
By brent barnes - 1/16/2020 9:50:50 PM

Rob Robinson - 1/16/2020 8:19:18 PM
Hi Brent,

I wonder if you have Orthogonal Lock active?  This modifier (F7 to toggle) locks moves and edits to one axis only, either X or Y, and this can produce unpredictable results when dragging new symbols in from the Product or Symbol Browser.

If active, turn Orthogonal Lock off and all will be well.  Does this explain what was happening?

That was it. I like to use orthogonal lock. I didn't know it would affect the feathers. It will be easy to work around now. Thanks!
By Rob Robinson - 1/22/2020 5:52:43 PM

Hi Brent,

Just to let you know that we have published an update so that Orthogonal Lock is temporarily disabled when dragging from the Symbol Browser into a drawing. This means that the behavior is now the same as when dragging in from the Product Browser and avoids unpredictable placement of symbols when brought in from the Symbol Browser when Orthogonal Lock is active.

Full details of update