Viewports

A graphic viewport is a defined rectangular sub-section of a graphic that can be viewed independently of the main graphic; it is a zoomed in view of a larger graphic that allows you to see specific detail related to the graphics depth.

The relationship between a graphic and a graphic viewport is that of a parent-child relationship. The main graphic is the parent, and the graphic viewports are the children. A graphic’s viewports are listed as its children in the Graphics folder in System Browser.

There are two methods for creating viewports: automatic and manual.

Automatic Viewports

Automatic viewports are automatically created and calculated by the Graphics Editor based on existing system object references in the elements and symbols. The Auto Fit property of the Graphic must be disabled in order to view automatic viewports.

When you save a graphic, each data point, symbol, or system object referenced on that graphic, generates its own graphic viewport. The graphic viewports size is defined by the associated depth that contains the system object reference. An element or symbol instance can have system object references or data points. All the references are used for the automatic view calculation.

For more information on how automatic views are calculated on depths, see Depth.

Manual Viewports

You can manually draw one or more viewports on the active graphic in the work area. These viewports, when saved, are then saved as the children of the parent graphic. Manual pages are viewed in the Graphics Viewer. You can associate data point objects from System Browser with manually created viewports.

In order to create a manual page, you must activate the viewport from the Viewports group on the Home tab.

Viewport Mode

Manual viewports can be viewed when you activate the Viewport button while you are in Design or Test mode. When you are in Viewport mode, all existing manual viewports display on the canvas with the associated viewport name and a blue background. When a viewport is active it is encased in red brackets. While you are in Viewport mode you cannot add any elements to the canvas and all existing elements on the canvas are visible, but locked and cannot be edited.