  <chapter label="7" id="selecting-chapter">
  <title>Selecting Objects</title>
    <sect1 id="selecting-introduction">
    <title>Selection Introduction</title>
     <para>
         Selecting one or more objects is a very common task
         when using <application>Dia</application>. Whenever you wish to move, 
  			 copy, delete, or edit an object or change it's properties, you must first 
    	 	 select it. You can also work with a set of selected objects -- for example,
  			 to move a group of related objects while keeping their relative positions
  			 in tact or to change the properties of a group of objects.
      </para>
  	    <para>
         Selecting objects can be done in several ways, including clicking with
  			 the mouse, selecting by area, or using the Select menu to perform 
  			 additional selection options.
  		</para>
    </sect1>
   
   
    <sect1 id="how-to-select">
    <title>How To Select Objects</title>
      <sect2 id="basic-selection">
      <title>Selecting a Single Object</title>
       <para>
           To select a single object, just click it with the mouse. Also, when an
  				 object is first placed on the canvas, it is automatically selected.
       </para>
       <para>
           Once an object is selected, its handles are 
  				 illuminated. For shapes, the handles are green points on its corners 
  				 and sides. For a line, the handles are green or red at the ends, and 
  				 orange in the middle. Once the object is
  				 selected, you may work with it as desired. To access the object's properties,
  				 you can double-click it or right-click and select Properties from the
  				 pop-up menu. 
  				 </para>
  				 	 	<figure>
        <title>Selected Object</title>
       <screenshot>
        <screeninfo>Selected Object</screeninfo>
        <graphic format="PNG" fileref="graphics/selected-object" 
  			srccredit=
        "Mark Dexter" />
  			 </screenshot>
      </figure>	
  				 </sect2>
  				 <sect2 id="basic-deselection">
  				 <title>Deselecting Objects</title>
       <para>
  				 You can deselect one or more selected objects by double-clicking on
           any empty space on the canvas or by selecting any other object. The 
  				 handles will diObjects / Align Optionssappear, indicating that the object is no longer selected.
  				 Selecting the Layers option from the Diagram menu will also deselect 
  				 all selected objects. 
  				 
         </para>
  	
       </sect2>
   
      <sect2 id="multi-selection">
      <title>Selecting Multiple Objects</title>
  		    <para>
  				Multiple selection is useful when you want to apply the same operation to two
  				or more objects. When selected, you may work with these objects as a set or 
  				individually. See the section 
  				<link linkend="working-with-selected">Working With Selected Objects</link>
  				for more information.
       </para>
       <para>
  		 
  		 <application>Dia</application> provides a number of ways to select multiple 
  		 objects. These are outlined below. Note that either double-clicking on an empty 
  		 region of the canvas or single-clicking on an unselected object  
  		 deselects all selected objects.
  		 </para>
       
      <sect3 id="shift-click">
      <title>Shift+Click Selection</title>
        
      <para>
  			A simple way to select two or more objects is to hold the Shift key down
  			while clicking the objects with the mouse. The Shift+Click acts as a toggle.
  			If you Shift+Click once, the object is selected. Shift+Click a second time 
  			to deselect the object. 
  			</para>
  			<tip><para>
  			You can combine Shift+Click with any of the other methods outlined below 
  			to either select an additional object or deselect a selected object.
  			</para></tip>
  			     <note>
        <para>
           When you have a set of objects selected, it is still possible
           to resize or change the properties of one object without 
  				 affected the other selected
           objects. See the section 
  				<link linkend="working-with-selected">Working With Selected Objects</link>
  				for more information.
        </para>
       </note>
  		</sect3>
        <sect3 id="select-area">
        <title>Select By Area</title>
          <para>
  				 You can select all of the objects within a rectangular region of the 
  				 screen by placing the mouse pointer to the upper left of the top-left
  				 object in the set and then dragging the mouse to a point below and to 
  				 the right of the lower-right object in the set. A thin dashed rectangle will
  				 be drawn on the canvas as shown in the screenshot below. 
  				 All objects that COMPLETELY FIT inside this
  				 rectangle are selected. Objects that are only partly inside the 
  				 rectangle are not selected.
  			
       </para>
  		 		 	<figure>
        <title>Select By Area Example</title>
       <screenshot>
        <screeninfo>Select By Area Example</screeninfo>
        <graphic format="PNG" fileref="graphics/select-area" 
  			srccredit= "Mark Dexter" />
  			 </screenshot>
      <blockquote>
        <simpara>Only objects entirely inside rectangle are selected.</simpara>
      </blockquote>
      </figure>	
  		<tip>
  		 <para>
  		 You can select multiple regions using select by area. Objects previously selected
  		 will continue to be selected as long as you don't deselect all (e.g., by 
  		 double-clicking on an empty region of the canvas or by clicking on an 
  		 unselected object without using the Shift key). As noted above, you can
  		 also use Shift+Click to select or deselect an individual object at any time.
  		 </para> </tip>
  	   <tip>
  		 <para>
  		 Normally, selecting from top-left to bottom-right is the same as a "reverse 
  		 drag" --  
  		 starting on the bottom-right and dragging toward the top-left.
  		 However, you can set an option in <application>Dia</application> that allows you 
  		 to select objects that are only partially contained in the selection rectangle
  		 when you "reverse drag". See <link linkend="user-interface">User Interface /
  		 Reverse Dragging</link> for more information.
  		 </para> </tip>	
   
  
  		 </sect3>
  		 <sect3 id="select-all">
      <title>Select All</title>
  		<para>
  		The Select menu shown below has six options for selecting multiple objects. 
  		The first option is All.
  		</para>
     		 		 	<figure>
        <title>Select Menu</title>
       <screenshot>
        <screeninfo>Select Menu</screeninfo>
        <graphic format="PNG" fileref="graphics/select-menu" 
  			srccredit= "Mark Dexter" />
  			 </screenshot>
      </figure>	 
   
      
      <para>
         You can select all objects on the canvas using the 
  			 <menuchoice><guimenu>Select</guimenu>
  								 <guimenuitem>All</guimenuitem>
                  </menuchoice> option  or by pressing Ctrl+A. This selects 
  								all objects whether they are visible or not. 
      </para>
  		<note>
  		<para>
  		As with any of the selection methods, if you are using layers, 
  		only objects in the current layer will be selected. See 
  		<link linkend="layers-chapter">Managing Layers</link> for
  		more information on working with layers.
  		</para>
  		</note>
  		</sect3>
     
  		<sect3 id="select-none">
      <title>Select None</title>
                <para>
               <menuchoice><guimenu>Select</guimenu>
  								 <guimenuitem>None</guimenuitem>
                  </menuchoice>
               option will deselect all objects. It has the
               same effect as double-clicking on a blank region of the canvas.
            </para>
  					</sect3>
     
   
    	<sect3 id="select-invert">
      <title>Select Invert</title>    
           
           
       <para>
          This option allows you to select all objects except for those currently
  				selected. Say, for example, that you have 20 objects and wish to select
  				all but two of them. You can do this by (1) selecting the two objects
  				to be excluded and then (2) using the 
          <menuchoice>
            <guimenu>Select</guimenu>
            <guimenuitem>Invert</guimenuitem></menuchoice> menu (or Ctrl+I). 
  				This will
  				deselect the two currently-selected objects and select the 18 unselected
  				objects. 
       </para>
    
             <tip>
               <para>
                  Another way to do this is to <menuchoice><guimenu>Select</guimenu>
  								 <guimenuitem>All</guimenuitem>
                  </menuchoice> (or Ctrl+A) and then use Shift+Click to deselect the 
  								objects you don't need.
               </para>
             </tip>
       
  		
      </sect3>
     <sect3 id="selection-transitive">
      <title>Select Transitive</title>
  		    <para>
         Objects in <application>Dia</application> can be connected using lines. The
  			 Select Transitive and Select Connected options allow you to select 
  			 objects based on how they are connected.
       </para>
       <para>
  		 The Select Transitive option selects ALL objects connected directly or 
  		 indirectly to the currently 
  		 selected objects,
  		 no matter how many levels deep the connection might be. To use this, select
  		 one or more objects and then choose 	 
  		 <menuchoice>
            <guimenu>Select</guimenu>
            <guimenuitem>Transitive</guimenuitem></menuchoice>. 
  					All objects connected to the 
  					initially selected objects will be added to the selected set.
       </para>
      
      </sect3>
      <sect3 id="selection-connected">
      <title>Select Connected</title>
   
       <para>
  		 This option is similar to Select Transitive except that it only adds
  		 objects that are immediately connected to an already-selected object.
         To use this option, first select one or more objects. Then choose 
  			 <menuchoice>  <guimenu>Select</guimenu> <guimenuitem>Connected</guimenuitem>
         </menuchoice>. Any objects that are directly connected to the currently 
  			 selected objects will be added to the selected set. 
       </para>
        <note>
        <para>
  			  The Select Connected option only goes out one level. For example, if box
  				A is connected by a line to box B, and box A is selected, 
  				<menuchoice>  <guimenu>Select</guimenu> <guimenuitem>Connected</guimenuitem>
         </menuchoice>
  				will only select the line, not box B. If you do 
  				<menuchoice>  <guimenu>Select</guimenu> <guimenuitem>Connected</guimenuitem>
         </menuchoice>
  				 a second time, then box B will also be connected.
        </para>
        <para>
          You can use <menuchoice>  <guimenu>Select</guimenu> <guimenuitem>Transitive
  				</guimenuitem> </menuchoice>
  			 to select all objects connected to the currently selected objects in one operation.
        </para>
       </note>
      </sect3>
    
      <sect3 id="selection-same-type">
      <title>Select Same Type</title>                                            
  		<para>
          This option allows you to select all objects that are the same type
  				of object as one already selected. To use this option, select one or more
  				objects and then choose the <menuchoice>
            <guimenu>Select</guimenu>
            <guimenuitem>Same Type</guimenuitem> </menuchoice> option. 
  					All objects that are the 
  					same type as one of the previously selected objects will be added to
  					the set of selected objects.
       </para>
       <para>
         For example, if you want to select all of the Line objects on your diagram, 
  			 select one Line object and then use <menuchoice><guimenu>Select</guimenu>
            <guimenuitem>Same Type</guimenuitem></menuchoice> to select all other lines. 
       </para>
  		 <tip>
  		 <para>
  		 The menu choice 
  		 <menuchoice><guimenu>Select</guimenu>
            <guimenuitem>Same Type</guimenuitem></menuchoice> can be combined with 
  					the menu choice 
       <menuchoice><guimenu>Objects</guimenu>
            <guimenuitem>Group</guimenuitem></menuchoice> to quickly change one or more
  					properties of all objects of one type on your diagram. See
  					<link linkend="changing-group-properties">
  					Changing Properties for a Group of Objects</link> for 
  					more information.
  		 </para>
  		 </tip>
  		 <note>
       <para>
         The object type must match exactly. For example, a Line object and a 
  			 Zigzagline object are different types.
       </para></note>
     </sect3>
  	 </sect2>
  </sect1>
  <sect1 id="working-with-selected">
    <title>Working With Selected Objects</title>
  	<para>
  	Once you have a set of selected objects, there are several things you may do with
  	them.
  	</para>
  <sect2 id="working-with-all">
    <title>Operations on All Selected Objects</title>
  	<para>
  	The following operations can be done on all selected objects as a set.
  	</para>
  	<sect3 id="move-selected">
  	<title>Move Selected Objects</title>
  	<para>
  	You can move selected objects as a group, without changing their
  relative positions. To do this, place the mouse pointer inside a shape or
  on a blank spot on a line that is part of the selected set and then drag 
  to the desired new location. 
  <tip>
  <para>
  Be sure
  to avoid placing the mouse on an object's handle, or this will resize the object
  instead of moving the selected set of objects.
  </para>
  </tip>
  	</para>
  	</sect3>
  		<sect3 id="copy-selected0">
  	<title>Copy, Cut, Paste, Duplicate, Delete</title>
  	<para>
  You can perform any of the normal edit operations on a set of selected objects,
  just as you would for a single object, using either the shortcut key or the Edit
  menu. For example, to Duplicate a set of selected objects, select Edit / Duplicate
  or press Ctrl+D. A copy of the entire set of objects will be created on your
  canvas, just below and to the left of the original objects. Note that when you 
  Duplicate or Paste a set of objects, after the operation only the newly-created
  objects are selected.
  	</para>
  	</sect3>
  		<sect3 id="individual-selected">
  	<title>Working With Individual Objects</title>
  	<para>
  While a set of objects is selected, you may still resize or modify a single object's
  properties without losing the currently selected set. To resize an object, 
  place the mouse pointer over the desired handle of the object and drag the
  handle to resize. To view or change an object's properties, double-click anywhere
  on the object and the properties dialog box will display.
  </para>
  <para>
  For line objects, you may change the line's connection points and change the shape
  of the line while a line is part of a selected set. Just place the pointer on the 
  desired handle of the line and drag it as needed.
  	</para>
  	<tip>
  	<para>
  	When pulling up the properties dialog, be sure not to double-click on the 
  	blank canvas or all of the objects will be deselected.
  	</para>
  	</tip>
  	</sect3>
  			<sect3 id="copy-selected">
  	<title>Creating an Object Group</title>
  	<para>
  As noted above, it is easy to create and remove sets of selected objects, 
  and a selection can be removed accidentally by double-clicking on a blank
  area of the canvas. If you wish to
  keep a set of selected objects as a permanent group so that you will not 
  accidentally deselect them, you can create an object group. Just select 
  <menuchoice><guimenu>Objects</guimenu>
            <guimenuitem>Group</guimenuitem></menuchoice> to create the group. 
  					You can select <menuchoice><guimenu>Objects</guimenu>
            <guimenuitem>Ungroup</guimenuitem></menuchoice> to remove the group.
  See <link linkend="grouping-objects">Grouping Objects 
  </link> for more information on groups.
  
  	</para>
  	</sect3>
  </sect2>
  </sect1>
  </chapter> 
