Show/Sync Extents

With this function all extents stored in the project can be displayed as graphics in the view (black rectangle with the name of the extent in the left bottom corner) in order to give you an overview of the stored extents. Only those extents that overlap with the view are displayed. If you press the Shift key while activating the function, all extents of the project are displayed.

These named extents can be edited like all other graphics of ArcView (see below). When calling this function again, these graphics are removed from the view and are synchronized with the stored extents (changes you made to the graphics will be applied to the extents).

The graphics can be edited in ArcView as follows:

• To change the coordinates of an extent just select it with the (Pointer Tool ) and then move it or change it's size with the corner handles.
• Extents can be deleted from the project by selecting and deleting the graphics (Edit - Delete Graphics or Del key). At synchronization a dialog named Select missing extent(s) to delete appears, where you can chose those extents that are actually to be deleted (the extents that are not selected remain untouched, even though the graphics have been deleted).

Hint: If you have made changes to graphics by mistake, then just delete them, but don't select them for deletion at synchronization. If you delete all graphics, all extents will be redrawn and not synchronized when calling the function again.

• To rename an extent, the rectangle must be separated from its name (function Graphics Ungroup or hotkey Ctrl+U). By double-clicking on the text you can then change the name.

Hint: If you want to move the extent afterwards, you should also move the text, because it isn't grouped with the rectangle any more and would stay at its old position. This is not a problem when synchronizing the extents (the corresponding rectangle and text can be identified by their old names that are stored internally), but may create confusion at further editing. To avoid this, it is recommended to regroup both graphics after renaming them (Graphics Group or hotkey Ctrl+G).

• To define a new extent just draw a new rectangle with any coordinates (Rectangle Tool ) and add its name as a text field inside (Text Tool ).

Hint: If you define several new extents which are even overlapping, make sure that the name is situated as close as possible to the left bottom corner or group both graphics (select the rectangle and the text and call the function Graphics Group or just press the hotkey Ctrl+G).

• Rectangles without names must be named in the dialog Enter name for this extent at synchronization (the view will be zoomed to each rectangle). If a rectangle shall not be used as an extent (because it is only a normal graphic of the view), it can be ignored by clicking on the button without giving a name. It will be marked with a blank char as internal name and will further be ignored at synchronization.