When adding unit procedures to a process, you have available a limited drawing space. The application perceives drawing space as the equivalent of an array of tiles (paper sheets) (H x V) where H is the number sheets of papers horizontally and V is the number of paper sheets vertically. By default, each process file is assumed to have available the equivalent pixel space of a 2x2 array of sheets in portrait mode. If the entire space is not directly visible to your screen (due to its resolution and/or size) then you can scroll horizontally and vertically to see the ends of the drawing space. Of course if needed, you can change according to your needs, the drawing size for your flowsheet. Select File } Drawing Size from the application’s main menu and you will be presented with a dialog that allows you to change the number of sheets that dictate the space available across or vertically as well as the paper’s orientation (landscape vs. portrait). If more than one printers are available to you (locally or via your LAN) you can use this dialog to pick a printer of choice.
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When selecting the size of the drawing area based on a non-standard paper size and the file is later opened up on the same PC (or a different PC) at a time when that paper is NOT selected as the default paper size, the application will re-paginate the document’s drawing size and recalculate the number of horizontal and vertical pages needed to provide sufficient drawing space based on the currently selected default paper. This may result in undesired relocation of icons on different pages. |
When adding elements to a flowsheet (unit procedures, streams, text labels or any other visual enhancements) their appearance (size and location) depends on the current screen resolution. If you save a flowsheet in a given resolution (e.g. 1280x1024) and later open the flowsheet on the same (or different) PC when the active resolution is something other than 1280x1024 you will notice some changes. The icon images of the unit procedures may appear larger (if the new resolution is smaller than 1280x1024) or smaller (if the new resolution is higher than 1280x1024). Also, the icons will appear to be either squeezed together (if the new resolution is lower than 1280x1024) or spread apart (if the new resolution is higher than 1280x1024). To avoid such unexpected appearance on the flowsheet you should try to use the same resolution for saving the file as when you will be presenting to others.
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If you think that others may open your files in a resolution other than your, then to minimize the effects of resolution change, it is recommended that you arrange your icons and save the file in the lowest possible resolution that may be used by the file viewers. This way, if the file is opened at a higher resolution, the icons may be more spread apart (and possible fall on different pages) but at least they will still be comfortably viewable on a computer presentation. |
As soon as the application detects that the resolution (or pixel aspect ratio) now is different than when the document was last saved, it will attempt to ‘stretch’ the unit icons and streams apart (vertically and horizontally) in order to avoid having icons too close to each other or too far apart. The stretch factors in the x- and y- directions are calculated based on the saved dimensions (in real distances) of a reference icon in the resolution and pixel aspect ratio in effect when the document was last saved, versus, the dimensions of the same icon, now with the active resolution and pixel aspect ratio when the document is being viewed. Even though the result in most cases is quite satisfactory, it may not suit the preferences of all users. That is why the application will display the “Adjust Icon and Text Label Locations Dialog,” letting you know the values that are suggested to be applied for stretching the icon (and text label) location in the x- and y- direction (values greater than 1.0 will move icons apart, whereas values less than 1.0 will bring them closer). You can either accept the suggested values or overwrite with your own. If after accepting the values and seeing the results you are not satisfied, you can reset the factors to better values and re-apply until you are happy with the results. Please note that you can visit this dialog at any time later, from the document’s context menu (right-click on an empty area of the document and select Preferences } Adjust Icon and Text Label Locations...
