Stardraw Forums

Combine Drawings

http://forums.stardraw.com/Topic18760.aspx

By Shayne - 8/26/2021 4:53:55 PM

Is there any way to combine SD7 drawings? We have some standard pages that need to go at the beginning of drawing sets that we don't want to have to redraw or copy/paste each time we make a project. Things like Title Page, Labeling Standards, Legends, etc. Also, there are times when more than one design has been made for a project that then needs to be combined. Having some way to import a drawing would be exceedingly helpful.
By Rob Robinson - 8/26/2021 5:18:06 PM

Hi Shayne,

Thanks for your post.  Currently the simplest way to get a drawing from one project (ProjA) into another (ProjB) would be to copy/paste, i.e.:
  1. In the ProjA drawing select all (Ctrl+A) and Copy (Ctrl+C)
  2. In ProjB create a new drawing and Paste (Ctrl+V)
However, you could save the commonly used drawings as symbols and insert them into any project in the future using the Symbol Browser.  In short, you would add a folder to the Symbol Browser (Tools | Symbol Directories) and export the drawings to that folder as discrete symbols in, e.g. .S01 format.  The movie "Customizing the Symbol Browser", #23 in our Movies page covers this in detail.

We'll look into the idea of importing all or parts of one project into another.

I hope this is helpful.
By Shayne - 8/26/2021 5:30:45 PM

Rob Robinson - 8/26/2021 5:18:06 PM
Hi Shayne,

Thanks for your post.  Currently the simplest way to get a drawing from one project (ProjA) into another (ProjB) would be to copy/paste, i.e.:
  1. In the ProjA drawing select all (Ctrl+A) and Copy (Ctrl+C)
  2. In ProjB create a new drawing and Paste (Ctrl+V)
However, you could save the commonly used drawings as symbols and insert them into any project in the future using the Symbol Browser.  In short, you would add a folder to the Symbol Browser (Tools | Symbol Directories) and export the drawings to that folder as discrete symbols in, e.g. .S01 format.  The movie "Customizing the Symbol Browser", #23 in our Movies page covers this in detail.

We'll look into the idea of importing all or parts of one project into another.

I hope this is helpful.

OK, I was concerned there was a size limit to the symbols so I didn't even consider that direction. But, if I'm understanding correctly, any size drawing can be exported  to a format that would make a symbol. Like we have a title page with our logo and the Title Block outline around it, along with other pertinent info. This should work in there, right? I'll experiment.
I've been doing the copy/paste for the custom drawings, but if there could be a way to bring those in easier in the future I know we would use that feature.
Thanks for the reply.
By Rob Robinson - 8/26/2021 5:41:47 PM

Hi Shayne,

Yes, there's no practical limit of the size of a symbol file so this could be a good solution for you.  Also note that symbols support Text Substitution (see movie #17) so you could set values for editable text fields that could be updated via the Properties Grid, eliminating the need to manually edit the symbol after insertion into a project.