Dialog Bar - Left
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Dialog Bar - Left

This is actually a special type of Control Bar, residing on the left or right side of the Main window. It can be turned on or off with the Dialog Bar - Left command in the Display menu. The Left-hand dialog bar combines the functions of the former Rotation and Quick Commands modeless dialogs. The Dialog Bar - Right contains the list of forms, and another set of common controls.

Only those controls are visible which can have an effect on the current state of the problem. For example, when SHAPE is first started up, only the Open button is shown.

The upper part controls rotation of the structure in simple ways (for more ways to rotate or align the structure, see the commands in the Rotation menu). The current orientation is shown at the top. The a, b and c axis labels are attached to the positive ends of the axes, and the part of the axes extending forward (positive x) are drawn with heavier lines. In normal or standard view, the rotation buttons below this are for rotation on x, y and z, respectively; positive angle (clockwise looking outward on the axis) is on the left, and negative rotation on the right. In stereonet view you are looking down on the c-axis, so the pairs of buttons are for z, y and x going downward. The angle of rotation is in the box below the buttons. The initial value of this angle is set in the Preferences dialog in the Settings menu.

If the Auto box is checked, the rotation occurs as soon as each rotation button is clicked. If this box is not checked, the rotations are accumulated into a matrix, and the drawing is not replotted until you click on the Replot button lower in the dialog (or select Replot from the Display menu).

The buttons beneath Auto duplicate some common commands, all from the File menu except Replot , which is also found in the Display menu. You can use Open to start up SHAPE by reading in a file.

Replot - Replots the image (does not recalculate).
Calculate - Reproduce faces and locate corners and edges, etc..
Open - Open an old SHAPE data file.
Save - Save a SHAPE data file.
Save as - Save a SHAPE data file with a new name
Print - Prints using the standard printer.

The Model Mode drop-down or box controls the Model Mode - this duplicates a submenu in the Modes menu.

The Drawing Mode drop-down or box controls the Drawing Mode - this also duplicates a submenu in the Modes menu.

The Fullscreen button switches from normal windows to display using the entire screen. From SHAPE V7.3 this can be done with any combination of Model and Drawing Modes and on Macintosh, Windows or Linux.