Templot - I've forgotten a few how to's.....:-)

[gordon s]

Hi Martin, apologies for asking daft questions, but I haven't used Templot in 7 months, so started with an update to 2.23d and I seem to forgotten a load of things.

 

Please can you assist/remind me?

 

I managed to change F7 to my normal shift and join, but on screen it now looks like this...

 

 

Once saved the new template is in totally different colours to my default settings with heavy green sleepers. There is also a new template on the top which I have moved to one side.

 

How do I get back to my preferred template colours of dark blue?

 

How do I stop it generating a new template automatically?

 

I'm sure I used to select a new template from the menu. I fully appreciate 99% of Templot users probably prefer it that way, but I'm far too old and set in my ways to accept change..... 

 

I'm sure you've told me before, but I appear to have forgotten....

 

Once I have everything back to my 'norm', how to I save everything as a preference, so each time I open Templot, I don't have to reset everything?

 

I did go onto the Templot forum, but couldn't work out the right question to ask to get a basic answer.

 

Thanks as always.

 

[martin_wynne]

15 minutes ago, gordon s said:

Hi Martin, apologies for asking daft questions, but I haven't used Templot in 7 months, so started with an update to 2.23d and I seem to forgotten a load of things.

 

Please can you assist/remind me?

 

Hi Gordon,

 

Not daft questions, no apologies needed.

 

The bold sleepers are a new feature to show you the most recently stored template. Only one template at any time. It's a useful reminder to show you where you've got to in the design, and that you have already stored the current control template. It's an attempt to reduce the number of duplicate templates which some users create. If you don't like it, you can turn it off in the trackpad menu at normal timbers on last template stored option.

 

I can see a not-blue template on the left, so that means the others have had their marker colour set to blue. Click on the template, then on its menu click template colours > marker colour...

 

Or you can set the marker colour for a group of templates in the group menu > template colours for group. Select the group first, or do the entire trackplan by doing group > group all templates (CTRL+A), It doesn't matter if some are already blue.

 

The marker colour is template-specific, which means it is saved in the file, so you don't need to save any preferences for it. You can have some templates in other colours.

 

 

For the snap join settings it was impossible to please everyone. What we have ended up with is:

 

If you press the F7 key on the keyboard to start, you need to hold down the SHIFT key to make it snap.

 

If you click the top SHIFT & JOIN toolbutton on the screen to start, it will snap unless you hold down the SHIFT key.

 

The end result is -- if it's not doing what you want either way, hold down the SHIFT key to change it.

 

Unfortunately we have two different meanings for the word SHIFT here -- a key on the keyboard, and the moving (shifting) of a template. I have often wondered about changing the latter to MOVE, but SHIFT is the correct technical term for a rectilinear change of position without rotation.

 

 

I'm not sure what you mean by templates being generated automatically? Nothing has changed in that regard. If you are seeing one you don't want, just click the NEW toolbutton or in the menu to change it. Or a dozen other ways to get the specific template required.

 

cheers,

 

Martin.

[martin_wynne]

p.s. Gordon,

 

I wrote a couple of topics which might act as a reminder of the basic working of Templot:

 

 http://templot.com/companion/origins_intent.php

 

 http://templot.com/companion/basic_working_methods.php

 

cheers,

 

Martin.

[gordon s]

17 minutes ago, martin_wynne said:

 

Hi Gordon,

 

Not daft questions, no apologies needed.

 

The bold sleepers are a new feature to show you the most recently stored template. Only one template at any time. It's a useful reminder to show you where you've got to in the design, and that you have already stored the current control template. It's an attempt to reduce the number of duplicate templates which some users create. If you don't like it, you can turn it off in the trackpad menu at normal timbers on last template stored option. Thanks that's fine.

 

I can see a not-blue template on the left, so that means the others have had their marker colour set to blue. Click on the template, then on its menu click template colours > marker colour...

 

Or you can set the marker colour for a group of templates in the group menu > template colours for group. Select the group first, or do the entire trackplan by doing group > group all templates (CTRL+A), It doesn't matter if some are already blue.

 

The marker colour is template-specific, which means it is saved in the file, so you don't need to save any preferences for it. You can have some templates in other colours. That's also fine now. It was the heavy green template that was confusing me. I use group colours all the time.

 

17 minutes ago, martin_wynne said:

 

 

For the snap join settings it was impossible to please everyone. What we have ended up with is:

 

If you press the F7 key on the keyboard to start, you need to hold down the SHIFT key to make it snap.

 

If you click the top SHIFT & JOIN toolbutton on the screen to start, it will snap unless you hold down the SHIFT key.

 

The end result is -- if it's not doing what you want either way, hold down the SHIFT key to change it.

 

Unfortunately we have two different meanings for the word SHIFT here -- a key on the keyboard, and the moving (shifting) of a template. I have often wondered about changing the latter to MOVE, but SHIFT is the correct technical term for a rectilinear change of position without rotation. All fine...

 

 

I'm not sure what you mean by templates being generated automatically? Nothing has changed in that regard. If you are seeing one you don't want, just click the NEW toolbutton or in the menu to change it. Or a dozen other ways to get the specific template required.

 

When I'm finished with a template, I click on 'Ins' to save the template, but it now overlays a new template on the one I saved. This can be moved about using F7, but I'm fairly sure it didn't do that before.

 

The last question is once I have everything the way I like it, I'm sure I could save all those preferences for next time, but I need a gentle reminder of how I did that....

17 minutes ago, martin_wynne said:

 

cheers,

 

Martin.

 

[martin_wynne]

11 minutes ago, gordon s said:

When I'm finished with a template, I click on 'Ins' to save the template, but it now overlays a new template on the one I saved. This can be moved about using F7, but I'm fairly sure it didn't do that before.

 

The last question is once I have everything the way I like it, I'm sure I could save all those preferences for next time, but I need a gentle reminder of how I did that....

 

 

Hi Gordon,

 

Nothing has changed in the way Templot works.

 

Clicking Insert copies the current control template onto the background. It doesn't change it in any way. The "new overlaid" template you are seeing is the same one you just copied on to the background. To get a different one you change it. Templot has always worked that way. Have a look at:

 

 http://templot.com/companion/basic_working_methods.php

 

There are some options on whether it temporarily hides the control template or not when a copy is stored in the options menu on the storage box. But nothing has changed there in the recent versions.

 

Here are the instructions for saving your program preferences: 

 

 http://85a.co.uk/forum/view_topic.php?id=2652&forum_id=22#p18289

 

But you don't need that to save the template colours. Just save a .box file in the usual way.

 

cheers,

 

Martin.

[gordon s]

Thanks again Martin, all sorted...

 

One final question I meant to ask. What does this red Z mean? Something to do with join between two templates?

 

Edited November 13, 2019 by gordon s

[martin_wynne]

1 hour ago, gordon s said:

One final question I meant to ask. What does this red Z mean? Something to do with join between two templates?

 

Hi Gordon,

 

It means you have reduced the length of the control template to zero, probably by accidentally pressing the Delete key on the keyboard. The big red Z is a way of seeing where it is. Just press Delete again, or use F4 to extend it back to a finite length, and the Z will disappear.

 

A zero-length template isn't much use for anything.   The main thing is not to try to store it, otherwise you will get some alerts:

 

 

If you are in normal-click mode, you will hardly ever have any use for a zero-length template, and it will usually jump back to a more normal length as son as you try to do anything with it.

 

The messages above mostly relate to Templot when in make-on-click mode, where reducing the length to zero is a way to prevent an automatic store.

 

(make-on-click mode is Templot's attempt to work more like AnyRail and other pick-and-place programs, in response to complaints from new users. Almost no-one who has actually tried it likes it, and it makes some things which are easy in normal-click mode quite tricky. I haven't done anything more with it in years, but it's still there for anyone who wants it. On the program panel, go to the program > click-mode options menu item. The toolbar background turns orange as a reminder.)

 

cheers,

 

Martin. 

Edited November 13, 2019 by martin_wynne