# Command Reference

## &symboleditor; Menus

### The File Menu

&Ctrl;N New

- Creates a new library

&Ctrl;O Open

- Opens an existing library

Open Recent

- Open a recently used library

&Ctrl;S Save

- Saves the library

&Ctrl;&Shift;S Save As

- Saves the library under a new name

Save Symbol

- Save the symbol being edited

  If the symbol being edited was selected from the library, saving will update that symbol. If it is a new symbol, it will be appended to the library and subsequent saves will append another new symbol to the library.

Save Symbol as New

- Save the symbol being edited as a new symbol

  When a symbol is saved as new it will be appended to the library regardless of it having originally been selected from the library for editing. Subsequent saves will append another new symbol to the library.

Import Library

- Import a library appending the contained symbols into the current library

&Ctrl;W Close

- Close the library

&Ctrl;Q Quit

- Quits &symboleditor;

### The Edit Menu

&symboleditor; has the common &kde; Edit menu items, for more information read the sections about the Edit Menu of the &kde; Fundamentals.

### The Rendering Menu and Toolbar

Here is a screen shot of the rendering toolbar

Fill Path

- Enable filling of the path

Winding Fill

- Select the winding fill method

Odd Even Fill

- Select the odd even fill method

Flat Cap

- Select the flat cap line end type

Square Cap

- Select the square cap line end type

Round Cap

- Select the round cap line end type

Bevel Join

- Select the bevel line join type

Miter Join

- Select the miter line join type

Round Join

- Select the round line join type

Increase Line Width

- Increase the path line width

Decrease Line Width

- Decrease the path line width

### The Tools Menu and Toolbar

A number of tools are available to aid the design of the symbols. The symbols are composed of a series of sub paths and each sub path is composed of a move to the start position (this defaults to 0,0 for new symbols) followed by lines and curves. The curves are cubic splines having a start, an end and two control points defining the curve. There are convenience tools to create rectangles and ellipses, but these will be broken down into lines and curves.

All points created for the elements are moveable by dragging them to their new position. All points can be snapped to the grid intersections if the snap option is turned on, otherwise they can be positioned anywhere.

The symbol can be rotated clockwise and counter clockwise and also flipped vertically and horizontally. This allows multiple symbols to be easily created based on the same design. Remember to use the save symbol as new option for this.

Here is a screen shot of the tools toolbar

Move To

- Move the starting position of the sub path

  If an existing sub path is being created, this will be closed and a new sub path started at the new position

Draw To

- Draw a line to the next selected point

Cubic To

- Draw a bezier curve using two control points and an end point

Rectangle

- Draw a rectangle between two opposite corners

  This closes any existing sub path and creates a new sub path consisting of the rectangle.

Ellipse

- Draw an ellipse between two opposite corners

  This closes any existing sub path and creates a new sub path consisting of the ellipse.

Insert Character

- Select a character from a font and insert it into the editor

  This will overwrite any existing paths

  Here is a screen shot of the character selector

  The character selector dialog is the standard KDE dialog and allows selection of characters from any font. The size is not used as the character is scaled to fit within the preferred size guide.

  Double clicking a character will insert that character into the editor. The dialog will stay open so that another character could be inserted, although this will overwrite the first. This does allow an insert character, save, insert character, save workflow to quickly build up a library of symbols. Ensure that the symbol being edited is a new symbol and not one previously selected from the library, otherwise saving would keep overwriting the one in the library.

Rotate Left

- Rotate the whole symbol counter clockwise 90 degrees

Rotate Right

- Rotate the whole symbol clockwise 90 degrees

Flip Horizontal

- Flip the symbol across the vertical axis

Flip Vertical

- Flip the symbol across the horizontal axis

Scale to Preferred Size

- Scale the symbol to fit within the defined preferred size

  Note that this only affects the points; where a non filled symbol is created and a line width is defined, this may extend beyond the guide size.

Enable Snap

- Enable snapping of points to the grid

Guide Lines

- Enable the generation of guide lines

### The Settings and Help Menu

&symboleditor; has the common &kde; Settings and Help menu items, for more information read the sections about the Settings Menu and Help Menu of the &kde; Fundamentals.