Creating Line Patterns Page 1 of 4

Diagrams User Guide

Diagrams : Utilities : DWG Export : Creating Line Patterns

Creating Line Patterns

The default Diagrams.lin file with DWG patterns definitions is placed in the %PDMSEXE% directory. This is a
text file, so it can be edited using a text editor like Notepad. This file can be exchanged with another line pattern
file directly in the operating system. It is possible to have project-specific patterns. To achieve this the modified
Diagrams.lin file should be placed in the Diagrams sub-directory in the location pointed out by %
<PROJ_ID>DFLTS%. The systems is searching for the patterns file in the
following order;
1. %<PROJ_ID>DFLTS%/Diagrams
2. %PDMSDFLTS%
3. %PDMSEXE%
One pattern consists of two lines. The first line contains the name and description and uses the following syntax:
*name,description
The Second line starts with A,. It indicates the beginning of the linetype pattern:
A,pattern
A simple pattern is a sequence of dashes, dots or spaces separated by commas:
• Dash - is represented by a positive number.
• Space - is represented by negative number.
• Dot - is represented by zero.

Example 1:
A simple linetype definition containing dashes:
*myLine1,- - - - - - - -
A,1,-1

Example 2:
A simple linetype definition containing dashes and dots:
*myLine2,- . - . -
A,1,-0.5,0,-0.5

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To define the linetype that includes text characters, some parameters must be defined:
• "text" - text to display (must be defined)
• textstylename - used text style (must be defined)
• scale - the scale or height of the text
• rotation - rotation angle of the text
• xoffset - X offset from the end of the previous space
• yoffset - Y offset from the end of the previous space
The text specification is enclosed in square brackets "[]" and each item is separated by commas ",":
["text",textstylename,scale,rotation,xoffset,yoffset]
Note: textstylename - should be ACAD embedded text style name, .shx files are unsupported.

Example 3:
Line type definition with text character:
*myLine3,- B - B - B -
A,1,-0.5,["B",STATNDARD,S=0.4],-0,-0.5,-0

Example 4:
Line type definition with rotated text character:
*myLine4, - B - B - B -
A,1,-0.5,["B",STANDARD,S=0.4,R=18],-0,-0.5,-0

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Example 5:
Line type definition with moved text character:
*myLine5, - B - B - B -
A,1,-0.5,["B",STANDARD,S=0.4,X=0.2,Y=0.3],-0,-0.5,-0

Example 6:
Line type definition with text character above continuous line:
*myLine6, -B-B-B-B-B-
A,1,-0,["B",STANDARD,S=0.4,Y=0.3]

Example 7:

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*FLOWDIR, -->---->--
A,1,-0,[">",STANDARD,S=0.1,R=0,Y=-0.05]

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