All of these actions (and others) can be accomplished with a simple but useful command in ZWCAD 2011, LAYWALK – short for “layer walk”. Let’s take a look at how it helps you manage layers in your drawings.
Tutorial 1: Showing and Hiding Layers
When you first
open the Layer Walk dialog box with the LayWalk
command, all of the drawing’s layer names are listed. All those not turned off are
down selected (are highlighted) automatically, so you can see the layer
visibility settings as they were in the drawing before you started this
command.
Now,
whenever you select a layer name from the list, the corresponding layer is
displayed in drawing area, and other layers are turned off instantly. (You
don’t need to exit the dialog box to see the changes.) This allows you to view dynamically
only the objects assigned to this layer.
You can hold
down the Ctrl key to select more
than one layer for viewing at a time; also, you can hold down the Shift key to select a contiguous group
of layer names. A simpler way to select multiple, contiguous layer names is to click
on one layer, and then drag down the list with your mouse.
The dialog box works in reverse, too: when you choose one or more entities
in drawing by Pick button, the dialog box highlights the layer names of those
entities. In this way, it functions like the Layer Isolate command.
Tutorial #2: Filtering Layer Names
At the top
of the Layer Walk dialog box, there is a text entry box, in which you can input
expressions to filter the names of layers. This shortens the list of layer
names displayed, and is very useful in complex drawings with many layers. The filter
function supports wildcard characters, such as * (all characters) and ? (any
single character). For example, if you want to list and view all layer names
starting with the letters “gr”, then follow these steps: (1) enter gr*” in the
text entry box, and then (2) tick the “Filter” option. Notice that the dialog
box lists only those layer names that begin with “gr.”
Tutorial #3: Using the Right-click Menu
You can
right-click on the list of layer names at any time to display context menu with
additional functions for selecting, viewing, and summarizing the layers.
For
example, the Hold Selection option
keeps your current selection always turned on as a reference; based on it, you
can select other layers. The on-hold layer is prefixed with the “*” character; you
can select it, release it, or release all.
Another
useful option is Inspect, which provides
a detailed summary of the currently selected layers; see the figure below.
You may
notice the Purge button at the bottom
of the dialog box. It allows you to purge
empty layers from drawings, those layers that have no entities. This button is
disabled until you select one or more empty layers.
The Restore on Exit option means that the
layer state will be restored after you end this command -- regardless of what
you’ve done while in the dialog box. When this option is turned off, keeps the
layer state when you exit the dialog box, which can be very useful.
By the way,
this command works both in model space and in layout tabs.
