Attribute operations (Attach/Detach/Toggle visibility etc...)

An attribute is nothing more than a text item which is in the form name=value. It can be either unattached or attached.

The operations in this group manipulate attributes only. Most of these operations have no effect on plain text objects.

• Attach The Attach command allows you to take a text item (in the proper form; name=value) and attach it to another object.

  To use Attributes/Attach:

  1. Select the object which will receive the attributes
  2. Select the text object(s) which will be attached to the above object
  3. Pick or type the shortcut for Attributes/Attach
  The order of the sequence of selecting the object and then the text items is important; gschem will not allow you to select the text items first and then the object. After going through the above sequence the text item will turn yellow (or the current attached attribute color) signifying that the text item is an attached attribute.

  You cannot attach a single attribute to several different objects. You cannot attach non-text items as attributes.

• Detach Detach allows you to deassociate attributes from objects.

  To deselect an object of all attributes:

  1. Select the object of interest
  2. Pick or type the shortcut for Attributes/Detach
  All the attached attributes (even if they are not selected) will be detached from the object. This behavior is probably broken and will eventually be fixed (so that only selected attributes are detached).

  When you detach attributes then they turn red (or the current detached attribute color). This color changes allows you to spot text which was an attribute and is now dangling (unattached).

• Show Value
  Show Name
  Show Both These operations allow you to control which part of the attribute string is visible. Usually you are just interested in seeing the value of the attribute, but there are circumstances where seeing the name and value (or maybe just the name) would be useful.

  To use the options:

  1. Select the attribute(s) of interest
  2. Pick or type the shortcut for Attributes/Show *
  The text item(s) should immediately change.

  These operations only work on text items which are in the form name=value

• Toggle Vis This operation allows you to toggle the visibility of attributes.

  To use this option:

  1. Select the text item(s) of interest
  2. Pick or type the shortcut for Attributes/Toggle Vis
  The text item(s) should change their visibility immediately.

  If you make an attached attribute invisible, then you can simply select the parent object and select Toggle Vis and the attribute will be come visible (likewise any visible attributes attached to that object will become invisible).

  If you make a free floating (unattached) attribute invisible, then the only way to make it visible (and all other invisible attributes) is to use the Edit/Show Hidden Text option.