Using Quick Select
When editing a drawing, often the task of selecting the objects to change is more work than the actual change itself. This is where object filtering becomes crucial to your work. Imagine having a convention center drawing where you need to change the layer and color of a circle with a radius of 12". Now compound the problem by increasing the number of circles to be changed to hundreds and the layers they reside on to include nearly all layers in the drawing. Zooming and panning around and selecting these circles among other circles and layers would be a huge task.
With the Quick Select feature, this could be done with one visit into the Quick Select dialog box and setting the proper parameters. In Figure 11.19, you see the standard settings for the QSELECT command dialog box.
Figure 11.19. The Quick Select dialog box contains controls for many basic object properties in which you can filter to a new selection.
The first thing to understand about the Quick Select dialog box is where it can be used. It is not a transparent command, so it cannot be used at any Selectobjects: prompt. It works with the Properties dialog box because it is “modeless,” meaning that it’s active all the time. So to utilize the QSELECT command, you must initiate it before the command is started that would use its selection.
Note
When first introduced in AutoCAD 2000, the Quick Select feature allowed quick access to gathering objects to edit. However, this command was not very speedy itself. The performance of the QSELECT command was improved in AutoCAD 2000i and now is a fast solution for your selection needs.
When the QSELECT command is executed, your first task is to define the parameters of the filter selection. As you modify the settings in the dialog box, you build the criteria that objects must meet in order to be selected. When complete, exit the dialog box; the drawing database is filtered to match those parameters. These controls are covered in the following sections.
Specifying Objects to be Filtered with Apply To
The Apply To control is very simple to understand. By default, the setting of the Apply To drop-down list is set to Entire Drawing. If you click the Select Objects tool to its right, you can choose a set of objects using standard selection techniques. The selection set would then be used to filter against. If you do select a group of objects or if you have selected objects prior to opening the Properties dialog box, the drop-down list for Apply To displays Current Selection. You may then switch between that selection and the entire drawing at your leisure.
The Object Type Drop-Down List
The Object Type control allows you to specify which object types are to be considered when filtering through the selection made in the Apply To drop-down list. If only one type of object exists in the drawing, that single object will be your only choice. But if other object types exist, each type will be displayed in the drop-down list from which you can choose one. This control will determine what properties to list in the Properties option.
The Properties Option
This control displays a categorized listing of the properties of the object(s) currently being filtered. For example, if a line is the current object type, this control would show all properties that lines have. If you change the object type to circle, then Properties would show all settings unique to circles, such as a radius. This is where you get specific beyond simple object type filtering.
The Operator Option
With this control, you create conditional statements that the objects must meet in order to be selected. Table 11.3 outlines these conditions.
| Operand | Definition |
|---|---|
| = | Equal To. With this operand, the data in the field must be matched perfectly to be valid. |
| <> | Not Equal To. With this operand, the data in the field must not match to be valid. |
| > | Greater Than. With this operand, the data in the field must be greater in value to be valid. |
| < | Less Than. With this operand, the data in the field must be smaller in value to be valid. |
| * | Wildcard Match. This is used only with text fields that can be edited by the user. |
Note
Not all operands are available with all objects.As you define different object types, the Operator list will change automatically to the available options for that type of object.
Using the Options in How to Apply
This option box control is where you add and remove objects from the current selection set. Either one of the two settings, Include or Exclude, specifies what AutoCAD is to do with the objects that meet the filter criteria.
The Include option adds all matching objects to the selection set when the user exits QSELECT. By choosing Exclude, you can then select all non-matching objects and apply them to the current selection set.
The Append to Current Selection Set Control
The last item in the Quick Select dialog box is the Append to Current Selection Set toggle. This toggle will determine if the selection set created from the QSELECT command adds to the current drawing selection set or if it simply replaces it. After you have completed the QSELECT command, the objects will be selected and the grips displayed (if grips are on) and ready for immediate use. You then can proceed with editing or, if needed, use QSELECT again to further filter your object selection set.
The QSELECT command is a very easy-to-use filtering method for building selection sets. Another method that has been in AutoCAD for several versions is the FILTER command. The following section examines the use of this feature.