Layer Table Manager

A layer manager in the CLASSICLAYER (modal dialog) style with extended capabilities. Detailed information on the primary sections (left treeview and right grid) is contained below.

Keyboard Command: LayTblMgr

It's important to note that only a small portion of this dialogs functionality is included on the toolbars. The program makes heavy use of context sensitive right-click menus. On the tree on the left, the menus will vary depending on which node is selected. For example, right clicking on a layer state name will present different options than right clicking on the word States itself. On the layer grid to the right, many operations expect you to have selected the layers you wish to process before right-clicking for the menu.

🔗Left Pane (TreeView):

• Ribbon:
  • State Restore Options: A drop down menu of toggles. Turn on the toggle for the items you wish affected when a layer state is restored. These toggles are stored for future sessions.
  • State Restore on Click: Controls whether a state will automatically be restored when its name is clicked on the list.
  • State Restore Off Layers: When this is checked (pressed) the program will turn off layers not found when restoring layer states.
  • Filter Apply on Click: Controls whether a filter will automatically be activated when it's name is clicked on the list.
• Drawing: The top node of the tree.
• Layer Filters: A list of layer filters defined in the drawing.
• Layer States: A list of layer states defined in the drawing.
• Status Bar: Displays the last item selected, whether it be a layer filter or state.
• Filter (Top) Menu:
  • Delete All: Immediate deletes all layer filters in the drawing.
• Filter (Item) Menu:
  • Restore: Restores the selected layer filter, hiding some rows of the layer grid.
  • Delete: Deletes the selected layer filter.
  • Rename: Prompts for a new name for the layer filter.
• State (Top) Menu:
  • Create New: Creates a new layer state (matching the layer grid) with the designated name.
  • Delete All: Immediately deletes all layer states.
  • Export All: Prompts for a target path and exports all states to the folder.
  • Import: Imports a layer state from a LAS file.
• State (Item) Menu:
  • Restore: Restores the selected layer state, changing the layer grid.
  • Description: Changes the description assigned to the state.
  • Rename: Changes the name assigned to the state.
  • Delete: Deletes the selected layer state.
  • Export: Exports the selected state to a designated file.

🔗Right Pane (Layer Grid):

• Ribbon:
  • Left Pane Status: If you don't need to manipulate layer filters or states, you can click this button to turn off the left pane. Not only will this reclaim space, having the left pane turned off in subsequent launches also speeds up the display of the dialog as it doesn't need to obtain that information. Showing the left pane the first time when the dialog may cause a short delay.
  • Layer New: Creates a new layer with a default name, like Layer1. The row will appear at the bottom of the list, ready to rename, etc.
  • Layer Delete: Deletes the currently selected layers. Unlike AutoCAD this will attempt to hunt down and delete all objects that reference the layers deleted. Use this with the understanding that objects in the drawing will be erased.
  • Layer Current: If a single layer is selected, this will make it the current layer. The current layer is always displayed on the status area near the bottom of the dialog.
  • Layer Copy: Copies information about the selected layers to the clipboard for pasting into a secondary drawing.
  • Layer Paste: Pastes previously copied layer information into the current.
  • DrawOrder: When this button is checked (pressed) several changes take place. See the important notes below.
    • If the order option is enabled (pressed) you can reorder rows using the row order buttons (on multiple rows), or by drag/drop (of a single row).
    • While ordering is enabled, the ability to sort rows by clicking column headers is disabled.
    • Note that draworder (of even a single object) can increase file size by 30% or more.
    • The layer order information is stored in the drawing. For model space, it's stored on the layer table. For layouts it's stored on the layouts block table record. That means if you delete a layout AutoCAD will purge this data with its block.
    • If you turn off layer ordering, you will be prompted to delete the layer order information for the current layout. Choosing yes will remove ToolPac ordering information from the drawing. It will not remove AutoCAD's draworder information about the objects.
  • Preview: Displays a preview of a layer report which is ready to print.
  • Print: Prints the layer report to the designated Windows printer.
  • Table: Generates an AutoCAD TABLE object of the current TABLESTYLE.
  • Excel Export: Exports the layer table to Microsoft Excel.
  • Word Export: Exports the layer table to Microsoft Word.
  • Right Mouse: Reminds of the extended functionality on right click menus (described below).
• Grid Headers: Left clicking on a column header sorts the data based on that column. Right clicking any column brings up a menu allowing you to choose which columns are displayed. You can also drag/drop columns to change the displayed order.
• Grid Rows: Allows in-cell editing of layer information. Fields like layer name and description begin character editing. Fields like layer off are toggles that simply change when clicked. Other fields with discreet options bring up a dialog allowing you to make changes.

  Note: Due to extended capabilities in this tool, there is a behavioral difference between this tool and AutoCAD. In AutoCAD you select multiple rows and click one row to change multiple. In this tool you select multiple rows then right click to make the changes.

• Filter: Used to quickly view a subset of layers. Type in a mask like *LINE* to filter the list. Once the filter field is cleared, the full list of layers is restored.
• Current: The current layer (as selected by the checkmark button at top).
• Right Click Menu:
  • Select: You can select all, none, only visible or invisible layers. You can also temporarily dismiss the dialog to highlight layers of objects you select in the drawing.
  • Set: When multiple layers are selected, this is used to set values to fields such as on/freeze or set the color, linetype and other properties.
  • Invert: A convenient way to change various fields to the opposite of their current values.
  • Name: Provides the ability to change case, find/replace values or add prefixes/suffixes.
  • Color: Can be used to change the colors from ACI (AutoCAD Color Index) to RGB values or back to ACI (using the nearest ACI found).
  • Other:
    • Extents Views: Generates (or updates) model space view objects in the drawing representing the extents of the layers.
    • Freeze Off: Freezes all layers that has the off toggle turned on.
    • Merge Layers: Merges the selected layers into a single selected layer (that exists in the drawing). All objects are moved to the target layer. Consider following this up with the delete function (a single click).
    • Wblock Layers: Prompts for target folder selection then writes the model space objects from each selected layer to a separate drawing.

🔗Notes:

• On set current this tool will thaw, turn on and unlock the layer then make it current.
• In setting multiple layer descriptions, use <LayNam> as a field for the layer name
• Certain operations cannot be applied to layer '0' or xref dependent layers. These tools will automatically deselect these rows before proceeding.
• On delete, the tool must erase the objects before it can attempt to purge the layer, if the layer cannot be purged, the objects on that layer are un-erased.
• If you attempt to enter a transparency value outside the range of 0-90, the dialog will simply restore the previous value without alert.
• You can reorder the columns of the display grid. Simply drag/drop the columns.
• If the Status column is turned on there may be a noticeable delay as AutoCAD scans the drawing to determine the current status.
• The current layer cannot be frozen (or even unfrozen).
• Layer State Import allows selection of multiple files. If a single file is selected you are prompted for the option to restore it. If multiples were selected you will not be prompted (simply select one the tree and restore it).
• Layer State Export behaves differently depending on whether a specific state or the top level 'States' is selected. If the top level is selected, all states are exported to a selected folder. If a single state is selected, it is exported to the selected file.