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1: Selection |
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The first aspect of editing that should be explained in detail is object selection, which is done with clicks of the selection button. Individual nodes and arcs are selected by clicking over them. Once selected, they are highlighted on the screen. If you use the toggle select button (typically the same as the selection button but with the shift key held), unhighlighted nodes and arcs are added to the selection, but objects that are already highlighted become deselected.
If there are multiple objects under the cursor, use the select another button to cycle through them (this is typically the same as the selection button but with the control key held). If there are multiple objects under the cursor, and you are trying to do a toggle select to add to the selection, then use the toggle select another button to cycle through them (this is typically the same as the selection button but with the control and shift keys held).
To select everything in the facet, use the Select All subcommand of the Selection command of the Edit menu.
![]() | Highlighted objects have a box drawn around them. In some cases, the object extends beyond the box, but the box encloses the essential part of the object. For example, MOS transistors are highlighted where the two materials cross, even though the materials extend on all four sides. Also, CMOS active arcs have implants that surround them, but the highlight covers only the central active part. |
Besides the basic box, there will be other things drawn when an object is highlighted. Highlighted arcs have their constraint characteristics displayed. The example above shows an arc that is both fixed-angle ("F") and slidable ("S"). The letter "R" is used for rigid arcs, and an "X" appears when none of these constraints apply. See the chapter on Wire Properties for more information.
For nodes, there will be an indication of a highlighted port. The port that is highlighted is the one closest to the cursor when the node is selected. If the port is a single point, you see a "+" at the port. If the port is an area, a line or rectangle indicates its extent.
Highlighted nodes will also show the entire network that extends out of the highlighted port. Arcs in that network will be drawn with dashed lines, and nodes in that network will be indicated with dots. The example here shows the highlighting of a pin node (in the upper-right) with a single-point port ("+") which is connected to a contact and a transistor. | ![]() |
Besides highlighting nodes and arcs, Electric can also highlight an arbitrary rectangular area. The notion of a highlighted area, as opposed to a highlighted object, is used in some commands, and it generally implies highlighting of everything in the area.
There are two ways to highlight an area. If you click the selection button where there is no object, and hold it down while dragging over objects, all of those objects will be highlighted. To more precisely define a highlighted area, drag a rectangle using the rectangle select button.
Highlighted text appears as an "X" over the letters. Since text is a special case, it will not be covered until later in this manual. For now, if you highlight some text, it is best to click again and select something else.
Once a selection is made, you can save it with the Push Selection subcommand of the Selection command of the Edit menu. The highlighting is not changed, but it is saved on a stack. To restore this selection at a later time, use the Pop Selection subcommand.
![]() | To control special selection features, use the Selection Options... subcommand of the Selection command of the Edit menu. The "Center-based primitives" option controls how primitive nodes are created (see the next section on Circuit Creation). The "Constrained dragging by default" makes circuit movement travel along only one axis (see the section on Circuit Movement). |
In a busy circuit, many objects may overlap, causing confusion when selecting. To simplify selection, objects can be marked hard-to-select, which means that standard selection does not work on them. Hard-to-select objects require the use of the special select button in order to find them. There are four "classes" of objects that can be selected:
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