The Course Layout Editor is a graphical editor for on-screen course design. The Course Layout Editor is also known as the CLE.
This section has the following topics:
•The Canvas and the Navigation Bar
•Course mode, Graphics mode, Route Choice mode, and Insert Controls mode
The Canvas and the Navigation Bar
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The main portion of the Course Layout Editor window is called the Canvas, and this is where the map and the course are shown. Anywhere on the canvas, you can use the right mouse button to open a pop-up menu that gives you options depending on the context. To the left of the canvas is a Navigation Bar. The navigation bar has three panes, which you switch between by clicking on their headings: "Controls", "Edit Courses", and "Browse Courses". The navigation bar controls what is shown on the canvas: •When "Controls" is selected, the canvas shows all the control locations on the map. You can edit existing controls, add new controls and remove controls. •When "Edit Courses" is selected, then one course is shown. The course shown is highlighted in the course list, and you can switch between courses by clicking on the new course in the course list. You can edit the shown course: add controls to the course, delete controls from the course, edit the graphics layout for the course, and edit the route choice lines for the course. •When "Browse Courses" is selected, multiple courses can be shown on the canvas at once, giving an overview of course layouts. Each course is shown it its own color so that you can distinguish courses from each other. You can change a course's color by clicking on the colored square next to the course name. •The Course Layout Editor handles multiple canvases. Read more about canvases here |
You can create a control, a start point, or a finish point, by selecting the appropriate tool in the Course Symbols toolbar to the right of the canvas, then click on the canvas where you want the control (or start or finish) to be located.
If you want to move a control's circle or control number, you need to select the control. Click inside the circle. Four black rectangles (handles) appear at the corners of the enclosing rectangle for the control, and the control circle changes color to blue. This indicates that the control is selected.
When a control is selected...
•You can move the control circle. Drag the circle with the left mouse button pressed down. This is possible only if the control circles are not locked.
•You can move the control number. Drag it with the mouse. This has effect only on the course shown, and you can place the number individually for each course.
•Double click inside the control circle to open a control dialog window where you can define the control description for the control, and set various options for the control.
•You can manipulate the control circle directly on the map, toggle on/off segments of the circle, by selecting the "cut" tool (the scissors). Alternatively, use the right click menu "Control circle" to take a magnified view of the control at different map scales.
You can create a course by right clicking on the canvas and selecting the menu option New Course, or by selecting the appropriate tool in the main toolbar, or by using the main menu option Course / New.
When a course is selected and is shown on the canvas, you can double click anywhere on the canvas to open a Course dialog window where you can manipulate various properties of the course, including the controls that are on the course.
When you have created a course, you can "draw" the course by using the "Insert Control" tool. See for example Introduction to on-screen course planning
When a course leg is selected...
•You can manipulate the course leg between two controls; bend it, toggle off/on a segment etc.
•When you manipulate a course leg, the result takes effect for all courses that share this leg.
•You can double-click on the course leg to open a Course Leg dialog window that lets you control whether the properties of the leg, i.e. the bends, cut-outs, etc. apply on this course only, or on all courses.
•This is also where you can control whether the course leg is drawn as a solid line, or as a dashed line.
You can design a graphics layout for a course, consisting of texts, external graphics elements (bitmap files or map files). You have the following tools to choose from: Text, Overlaid Graphics, Mask Area, Condes Logo. You can place "objects" of these types onto the canvas. These objects appear above the map, but below the course. You can move the objects up and down in the so-called Z-order, meaning that you can move one object in front of or behind another. For each object, you can select whether this object is visible on all courses on the canvas, or only the currently selected course. This allows you to adapt the layout to each individual course.
In addition to this, there is also the layout frame, which you can modify to fit the course, or keep identical for all courses on the canvas. The frame width and color can be modified to suit your need.
This allows you to create elaborate graphical layouts so that the combination of map, course and graphical layout can be used directly for printing.
The Browse Courses mode in the Course Layout Editor lets you see multiple courses simultaneously. Each course is shown with a different color, and you can select/unselect each course individually via the navigation bar to the left of the canvas.
Course mode, Graphics mode, Route Choice mode, and Insert Controls mode
The Course Layout editor has three "modes": Course Editing mode, Graphics Editing mode, and Route Choice mode
The three modes exist to facilitate editing without accidentally selecting and moving the wrong type of object. thus:
•in Course Editing mode (use this toolbar button 
), you can select course items: controls, leg lines, control descriptions, course symbols (refreshments, out-of-bounds areas, etc.)
•in Graphics Editing mode (
), you can select graphics items: Texts, Mask Areas, Overlaid Graphics, and Condes Logos.
•in Route Choice mode (
), the lines between controls are route choice lines (light blue), which you can bend to follow the optimal route choice. You can create multiple route choices for each leg so that you can compare the lengths of different route choices.
For those courses where Condes calculates the course length along the route choice, the shortest of the route choice lines is used for the calculation.
Don't mistake route choice lines for course leg lines -- route choices do not appear on the printed map.
•Insert control mode (
) is a convenient way to "draw" a course. See Create your first course... to see how it works
Show all controls
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When editing a course, and using the "insert control" tool to add controls to the course, control circles for all existing controls are shown, so that you can choose which one to insert. However, it can be useful to see all control circles even when not inserting a control. This is now possible. |
There is a new button on the toolbar, which toggles on/off all control circles (menu: View / Show all controls dimmed). When this feature is on, controls that are not part of the course currently being edited, are shown dimmed. These are a couple of shortcuts that make navigation easier:
•You can scroll the map in any direction by simply dragging with with the mouse.
•To zoom in on an area that you want to see enlarged, press and hold the Ctrl key (or the Shift key), then press the mouse button and drag the mouse over the area.
•The standard toolbar has buttons to Zoom to Course and Zoom to Layout Frame
•If you have a mouse with a mouse wheel, you can zoom in or out by pressing and holding the Ctrl key (or the Shift key) and using the mouse wheel.
•The zoom in and out tools in the toolbar above the map pane can be used instead of the Ctrl key.
•Click the right mouse button to open a shortcut menu. The shortcut menu provides options relevant to the object that you have selected.
There are four toolbars associated with the CLE:
•the Course Layout Editor toolbar
•the Graphics toolbar
In addition there is the Condes standard toolbar
Each of these toolbars are described below.
Above the canvas is the Course Edit Standard toolbar. It lets you select which canvas to show, and it shows which course and variation is currently shown, as well as the zoom level and the course length.
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The Course Layout Editor has a toolbar at the right border, which lets you select among the tools you can use to design the course and the course layout.
This toolbar has the tools to draw symbols that are normally used on a course, such as controls, start points, finish points, end of marked route, control descriptions, refreshment point symbols, registration marks, crossing point symbols, first aid symbols, forbidden route symbols, Out of Bounds area, and Out of Bounds Boundary lines.
This toolbar has the tools to insert graphics objects, such as lines, texts, masked areas, overlaid graphics, and Condes logos.
The following buttons in the Condes standard toolbar are particularly useful in the Course Layout Editor:
