Line
Line
The Line is a fundamental graphical shape object used to draw pipes or connection cables for P&ID (Piping and Instrumentation Diagram) schematics on your screen, or to create horizontal/vertical separators to divide groups within the interface.
Common Use Cases
This object is typically used by manipulating its Location and Size properties:
- Horizontal Line: Set the Height property to a very small value (e.g., 1 or 2 pixels) and set the Width to the desired length.
- Vertical Line: Set the Width property to a very small value (e.g., 1 or 2 pixels) and set the Height to the desired length.
- Diagonal Line: (If supported by the specific object implementation) This is usually determined by specific properties like LineStartPoint and LineEndPoint in the Advanced panel. However, horizontal and vertical lines are the most common usages.
Note: This object generally works with the BackColor property. This property determines the color of the line.
Properties Panel – Key Properties
- Back Color (Background / Line Color)
- BackColor (the line’s color) can be bound to different states of a tag using the + New (New Condition) button.
- Visible
- Binds the visibility of the line as a whole (True/False) to a tag.
Advanced Panel – Key Properties
The Advanced panel defines the default (static) appearance of the line.
- BackColor (Default Color)
- The default color of the line. For P&ID schematics, this is usually set to Gray or Black.
- BorderStyle
- Used to apply a 3D effect or a different style (FixedSingle, Fixed3D) to the edges of the line (which is effectively the line itself). It is usually left as None.
Common Usage Example
Example: Static Horizontal Separator
To draw a visual separator between two GroupBoxes.
- Add a Line to the screen.
- Go to the Advanced panel:
- Size: Set Width = 500 (500 pixels wide) and Height = 2 (2 pixels thick).
- BackColor: Set to ControlDark (A light gray color).
Result: A horizontal line, 500 pixels long and 2 pixels thick, appears on the screen, visually dividing the interface.