QCad User Reference Manual

# 6. The QCad User Interface

When you launch QCad, it comes up with the main application window of the graphical user interface. This chapter gives an overview over the different sections of the main application window.

## 6.1. Main Application Window

Some of the components of the main application window are also commonly available in other applications (e.g. the menubar or the toolbars). Other components are specific to CAD or even to QCad only. Figure 8 shows the names by which this manual refers to the individual components of the QCad user interface.

Figure 8: Main application window of QCad.

## 6.2. Menu and CAD Toolbar

Most functions of QCad can be accessed from its menu at the top. For CAD related functions it might be more convenient to use the CAD toolbar at the left. This toolbar always shows the functions which currently make most sense to use. For example if you are about to set the startpoint of a line it shows the snapping functions which allow you to set the startpoint to an existing endpoint, a grid point or to use another positioning mode.

## 6.3. Layer List and Block List

To the right of the main window of QCad you can find the layer list and the block list. They list the layers and blocks of the currently active drawing and offer some basic tools that are layer or block specific.
You can switch the lists on and off using the menu `View - Views - Layer List` and `View - Views - Block List`.

## 6.4. Status Bar

The status bar at the bottom of the application window shows various information about the current status of QCad. At the left, the coordinate widget displays the absolute and relative position of the mouse cursor as cartesian and polar coordinates. The mouse widget in the middle shows information about the current function of the left and right mouse buttons. The selection widget at the right shows the number of entities that are currently selected.
The status bar can be enabled / disabled using the menu `View - Views - Statusbar`.

## 6.5. Command Widget

Just above the status bar you can find the command line of QCad (Professional version only). It is used to type in commands and to notify you about warnings and errors.
The command line can be enabled / disabled using the menu `View - Views - Command Line`.

## 6.6. Option Toolbar

The option toolbar is empty in Figure 8. Depending on the currently active tool, it shows the options that are available for the tool.
If you prefer to change options and tool settings over the command line, you might want to hide this toolbar using the menu `View - Views - Option Toolbar`.

## 6.7. Executing Commands

Every action in QCad depends on a command being issued first. There are three different ways to execute QCad commands:

- select a corresponding tool icon from one of the toolbars
- choose a menu item from one of the pull-down menus
- enter a command in the command prompt

Most actions require further user inputs after being launched. There are three ways how those inputs can be requested by QCad:

- Dialogs. For example the text construction tool shows a dialog to choose a font and type in the string for the text entity.
- Option toolbar. For example the tool for drawing parallels requires the input of the distance of the parallel from the original entity. It displays a text input box in the tool options toolbar at the top where the user can type the distance (see Figure 9).
- Command line. For example when drawing a sequence of lines you can close the sequence by typing 'close' into the command line.

Figure 9: An optional toolbar may be shown for some tools.

## 6.8. Modes

QCad operates in two modes: the command mode and the normal mode. In the command mode, it accepts commands over the command line. In normal mode all keyboard input goes to the application interface.

### Command Mode

The command mode is indicated by a blue label at the left bottom corner of the command widget and a blinking cursor in the command line. In this mode, all keyboard input that is printable, goes into the command line. Use this mode to enter commands or coordinates. E.g. you can enter `line` to launch the line tool. If you press the `Z` key followed by the `A` key, the letters 'za' appear in the command line as opposed to triggering the auto zoom command. If in normal more, you can enter the command mode by pressing the space key or by clicking into the command line input field.

### Normal Mode

In this mode, QCad behaves as any other standard application. All keyboard input is interpreted as hotkeys if specified or has no effect at all. If you press the `Z` key, followed by the `A` key in this mode, QCad triggers the auto zoom command. To switch from command mode to normal mode, press the Escape key. If there is some text in the command line input field, you need to press Escape twice.