Text Styles
Text styles are named sets of text attributes, such as
font, width, height, and color, that allow you to place text within
a model (and/or a workspace using DGN Libraries) in a consistent and
automated manner. Text elements placed with a text
style are automatically updated when the style is
modified. Element templates also use text styles for additional standardization.
Text styles specified in DGN Libraries are copied to the local file
when used, and are not automatically updated when the DGN Library
version changes (but can be manually synchronized). Text elements
can be placed with or without a text style. Elements placed with a
text style can contain overrides that prevent style values, even when
modified and saved, from affecting the element.
 | The Text Style setting for the Place Text, Place Note,
and Edit Text tools
reflect the Active Text Style. You can also set the Active Text Style
by:
Using the TEXTSTYLE ACTIVE <style_name> key-in.
Right-clicking a style in the Text Styles dialog
and selecting Activate.
Selecting a style in the Text Styles dialog, and
selecting the Activate icon.
Double-clicking a style in the Text Styles dialog.
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| Fonts cannot be embedded in DGN files. To distribute RSC
fonts, their appropriate resource (.RSC) file must be included and
placed in a directory found by MS_FONTPATH.
To distribute TrueType or SHX fonts, the appropriate SHX or TTF font
file must be included, and either placed in a directory found by MS_FONTPATH,
or in the same directory as the design file.
If a specific
font is not found on the system, a font appropriate for the current
locale and font type, as specified in the font configuration file,
is substituted.
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| If a text style changes in a Text Style library, text
styles placed in DGN files prior to the change are not automatically
updated in the DGN files. To update a DGN file´s local text
style to reflect the changes in the text style library:
Use the DGNLIB UPDATE TEXTSTYLES key-in.
Right-click a style in the Text Styles dialog and
from the pop-up menu, select Update from Library.
Select a style in the Text Styles dialog and click
the Update from Library icon on the icon bar.
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| To remove unused text styles from a DGN file that are
locked because they were once referenced in a V8 DGN library, use
the key-in TEXTSTYLE UNLOCK <TextStyleName>.
(<TextStyleName> is the name of your locked text style.)
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To create a new text style
- From the Element menu,
choose Text Styles.
The Text Styles dialog opens.
- From the menu bar of the Text Styles
dialog, choose Style > New.
or
From the icon bar of
the Text Styles dialog, click New.
A new “Untitled” style appears
in the Text Styles list. | The settings for the new style are taken from the active
settings. To use another text style as a template, activate it first,
then create a new style; or make a copy of it.
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- Key in the desired name for the new
text style.
- Press <Enter>.
The new text style name appears in the Text
Styles list.
- (Optional) Using the controls
on the tabs of the Text Styles dialog, change the text attributes
as desired.
The Advanced tab contains all of the settings
from the General, Spacing, Under/Overline and Background tabs, as
well as some additional, less common options.
- From the Text Styles dialog, choose Styles > Save.
or
From the icon bar of the Text Styles
dialog, click Save.
The new text style is saved.
| The new text style is not automatically activated; you
must activate it before it is used for text placement.
|
To create a copy of a text style
- From the Element menu, choose Text
Styles.
The Text Styles dialog opens.
- Select the desired source text style
from the list.
- From the menu bar of the Text Styles
dialog, choose Style > Copy.
or
From the icon bar, click Copy.
A new “Copy of[mldr ]” style appears
in the Text Styles list.
- Enter the desired name for the new
text style.
- Press <Enter>.
The new text style name appears in the Text
Styles list.
- (Optional) Use the tabs on
the Text Styles dialog to change the text attributes as desired.
The Advanced Tab contains all of the settings
from the General, Spacing, Under/Overline and Background tabs, as
well as some additional less common options.
- Select Style > Save from the menu bar.
or
From the icon bar, click Save.
| The new text style is not automatically activated; you
must activate it before it is used for text placement.
|
Modifying Text Styles
A text style´s attributes are broken down into
categories, shown as tabs on the Text Styles dialog:
The General tab contains
the most common attributes, and controls the general appearance of
text.
The Spacing tab displays
the attributes that control how characters and lines are placed in
relation to each other, as well as special direction options.
The Under/Overline tab
mirrors the values shown on the `General´ tab, but this
tab allows you to override the default properties for the line and
its offset.
The Background tab has
controls that allow you to show a border and/or background fill around
the associated text elements. Offset values are really internal padding
values.
The Advanced tab allows
editing of all text attributes, including several less common and/or
advanced features. This tab also allows you to compare text styles,
either with their associated library text style, or with another style.
You can control this option via the Mode drop-down list box. When
selecting the Compare or Difference modes, you must first either select
two text styles from the list (hold down the <Ctrl> key for multi-selection), or turn on Compare
against library style (only available for text styles that have a
library text style equivalent).
 | Multiple text styles can be modified at once by selecting
multiple text styles from the list. To select multiple text styles
from the list, select the first text style, then while holding down
the <Ctrl> key,
select additional styles. Each style is only modified by the immediate
changes that you make (that is, modifying multiple styles does not
cause all of them to match in every attribute).
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Instance-specific style
overrides
An instance-specific style override
enables you to change text attributes for a single placement of text
or a text node. Text style changes made in this manner are not a permanent
part of the text style.
You can create instance-specific overrides in either of the
following ways:
To apply style overrides
- With the text editor preference (Preferences
dialog Text category) set to either Word Processor or Dialog Box,
start the Place Text, Edit Text,
or Place Note tool.
- Modify the text attributes.
Modifying attributes in any of these ways introduces
overrides.
Common text attributes are available on the tool settings dialogs
for these tools. If a value is overridden, its label turns blue. You
can revert all settings to the underlying style by selecting the Reset
Style button next to the text style drop-down list box.
Common text attributes are also available in the icon bar of
the Word Processor text editor window.
Open the Text Styles dialog while one of these tools is active,
and select “Style (none)” from the list. Changes made
in the Text Styles dialog now apply to the text, and will not be made
to the underlying style. If a value is overridden, its label turns
blue.
- After entering or editing the text,
enter a data point to accept.
| When the option Apply changes to all text is off in the
tool settings window, changing text attributes applies to any text
selection you have made in the respective editor, or to the text entered
immediately after the change. This means that overrides from the style
only apply to this selection. For example, if attributes are changed
in the underlying text style, all other text in the element updates,
while the overridden portion does not. With this option on, changing
text attributes affects all existing text in the editor, as well as
text entered after the change.
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Working with text style
libraries
Text styles
can be stored in a DGN library.
A DGN library that contains text styles is also known as a “text
style library,” and a text style from a library is referred
to as a “library text style.”
The Text Styles dialog displays text styles in all text style
libraries found by the MS_DGNLIBLIST configuration
variable. You can save and then modify local copies of these text
styles. Once a library style is copied locally, it is not automatically
synchronized with the library style. It can, however, be manually
synchronized. Text styles are matched with library text styles by
name.
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The grey book icon indicates that the style is a library
style that has not been copied locally.
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A green check mark appears next to the text style when
it has been copied locally, and still matches the library text style.
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The blue delta icon appears next to a text style if it
has been copied locally, but no longer matches the library copy.
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You should avoid storing multiple text styles with the
same name across DGN libraries. If the MS_DGNLIBLIST configuration variable results in having
multiple library text styles by the same name, the text style in the
DGN library that is processed first appears in the Text
Styles dialog.
To copy a library text style into the active file
- Make sure that the MS_DGNLIBLIST configuration variable points
to the text style (DGN) library.
If necessary, close and reopen the product
to set the variable.
- In the Text Styles dialog, select a
library text style library (gray book icon) from the list box.
Library text styles can also be selected in
the tool settings dialogs of the Place Text, Edit Text, and Place
Note tools, which also copies the library text style locally.
- Select Style > Save to save the style.
or
From the icon bar, click Save.
The style has now been copied locally, and
a blue delta icon appears next to the style indicating that the local
copy does not match the library copy.
| Saving a library style does not automatically activate
it. Alternately, you can simply activate a library text style, which
will have it copied locally and activated in one operation.
|
To compare a local text style with its library text style
- In the Text Styles dialog, click the
Advanced tab.
- From the Text Styles list box, select
the local text style.
- Turn on Compare against library style.
- Set the Mode to Comparison or Difference
The Advanced tab pane displays the comparison
of the two styles, with the local style on the left. If Comparison
is selected, all properties display side-by-side; if difference is
selected, only differing properties display.
To import text styles from another file or DGN library
- From the Text Styles dialog's Style menu, choose Import.
The Text Style Import dialog opens.
- From the list box, choose the DGN,
DGNLib, or DWG file containing the text style to import. Click OK.
The imported styles display in the Text Styles
list. | All styles from the selected file are imported; if some
styles are not required, delete them after importing.
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If a text style in a DGN library changes, local
text styles based on the text style
library are not automatically updated.
Remapping text styles
The Remap Elements function allows you to change the
text style of all text elements having a particular text style to
another text style. This function is accessible via the right click
pop-up menu in the Text Styles dialog (Element > Text Styles).
Choosing Remap Elements opens the Remap Elements to Text Styles dialog.
To remap text styles
- From the Text Styles dialog,
select the text style to be the source of the remap.
- Right–click in the Text Styles pane of the Text
Styles dialog.
The right-click menu opens.
- Select Remap Elements
The Remap Elements to Text Styles dialog opens.
- Select the text style from the Destination
drop down menu that will be remapped to the source text style .
- Click OK.
