Tool Properties

For each tool that you add to the open DGN file, you must decide which properties it will have and you must set those properties. You can add as many properties as needed to a tool. Once properties are added to a tool they appear in the Properties pane when the tool is selected. When you add a new tool it has the following default properties:

Key–in — Set to "null"
Balloon Text — Set to "New Tool"
Associate Template — Set to "Use Current Setting"
Template Path — Set to "None"
Icon — Set to the New Tool icon
Tool Presentation — Set to "Icon + Label"
Tool Type — Set to "Standard"
Dimension — Set to "Both"

If you copy an existing tool to add a new one, the new tool uses the properties of the copied tool. You can add, modify, and delete properties from the open DGN file's tool. When adding properties to a tool you can choose them from the following categories:

Design File Settings — Includes tool settings for snaps, angles, grid locks, stream line strings and curves, and others.
Lock Settings — Includes tool settings that turn on or off different types of locks.
General Settings — Includes icon, tool presentation, tool type, and dimension settings.
Command Data — Includes key-in, balloon text, and template settings.
Dialog Item Settings — You can use these properties to define tool settings.

Note: You cannot change the properties of a few tools that you can copy from the Application Tools to the open DGN file. These tools activate processing in an MDL application; therefore, they do not have a Key-in property and their other properties cannot be changed when you copy them to the open DGN file. Some examples are the View Attributes tool and most of the tools in the Primary ribbon group.