Entity selection: Circumstances and selection modes

Introduction

The most part of actions for handling the entities require the selection of entities .

Indeed:

• to modify the coordinates of a point, you should select the corresponding point
• to add a line (segment), you should define extremity points and then select starting point and ending point
• …

The different selection circumstances and selection modes are presented in this paragraph.

Selection circumstances: overview

Selection of entities could be done before or after the activation of a command; it could also be done, during an operation of creation.

These various circumstances of selection are presented through examples in the table below.

Selection before activation of a command
	… Activation of a command: Edit Edit array Delete Force delete

Selection after activation of a command (via selection box)
Activation of a command: Edit Edit array Delete Force delete

Selection during an operation of creation
Activation of a command: New

Selection modes: overview

Selection of entities could be done with the following different selection modes:

• graphic selection (directly with the mouse)

• in the data tree for all entities
• in the graphic area for graphic entities

• identifier selection (by name / by number )
• criterion selection* (by relation / by … identical characteristics )

* the advanced selection is detailed in § Entity selection: Selection by criterion

Summary

The different selection modes proposed function of selection circumstances are gathered in the table below.