The Draw | Shape | Polyline
command 
is used to draw a polyline at any position
on the page. Lines drawn in this manner can have as many segments as desired.
Polylines can display any line style or color and can include arrowheads
at either end of the polyline. Polylines can have associated primary IDs so you
can use polylines as boundary files with pie,
bar, symbol,
flow, prism,
line graph, post
and territory maps.
Polylines can be used to represent data on some thematic maps. Polylines can be assigned a line style, color, and width (see Property Manager). You can assign a primary ID (PID) used to link the polyline to data in a file. Secondary IDs, attributes, and hyperlinks can be used as an additional identifiers for the polyline. Polylines can be imported using the File | Import command, the Map | Base Map command.
Polylines can be used to display thematic information stored in the data file. A polyline is linked to a corresponding row in the data by its primary ID. If you want to assign a primary ID to a polyline, select the polyline after it is completed, and then type the PID into the Object Manager. You can also change the IDs for a selected polyline in the Info section of the Property Manager.
Polylines contain line properties. You can change these properties in the Property Manager.
To draw a polyline:
Click the
Draw | Shape | Polyline command
to enter drawing mode and begin drawing a polyline.
Move the cross hair cursor over the location for the start of the polyline and click the left mouse button.
Move the pointer to the next position along the line and click again.
Continue this procedure until you click at the final point for the line then press the ENTER key, or double-click the left mouse button to place the final point.
Press the ESC key or select another command button to exit drawing mode.
This shows a
Polyline drawn
through three points.
Click the endpoints of the line to draw a straight line, or click several points to create an irregularly shaped line.
Click the right mouse button to remove the last drawn point. This can be done repeatedly.
Click and hold the left mouse button to create a continuous stream of points.
If the CTRL key is pressed while clicking points, the points are constrained to 45-degree angles.
Double-click the left mouse button or press the ENTER key to end the line.
To cancel drawing the line, press the ESC key before ending the line.
Edit the shape of the line using the Draw | Tools | Reshape command.
Line properties are set through the Property Manager.
Line default properties are set in the File | Options dialog under Default Properties.
See Also