Filtering Layers by Their Properties

Filtering Layers by Their Properties
Below these three tools is a filter list, which is a hierarchical list displaying the different sets of layer
properties and group filters. Right now, you don’t have any filters in place, so you see only All and
All Used Layers.

Other Layer Options
You may have noticed the Freeze and Thaw buttons in the Layer Properties Manager dialog box. These
options are similar to On and Off buttons. However, Freeze not only makes layers invisible, but it also
tells AutoCAD to ignore the contents of those layers when you use the All response to the Select
objects: prompt. Freezing layers can save time when you issue a command that regenerates a complex
drawing. This is because AutoCAD ignores objects on frozen layers during Regen. You’ll get firsthand
experience with Freeze and Thaw in Chapter 7.
Another pair of Layer Properties Manager options, Lock and Unlock, offer functionality similar to Freeze
and Thaw. If you lock a layer, you can view and snap to objects on that layer, but you can’t edit those
objects. This feature is useful when you’re working on a crowded drawing and you don’t want to accidentally
edit portions of it. You can lock all the layers except those you intend to edit and then proceed
to work without fear of making accidental changes.
Three more options—Lineweight, Plot Style, and Plot—offer control over the appearance of printer or
plotter output. Lineweight lets you control the width of lines in a layer. Plot Style lets you assign plotter
configurations to specific layers. (You’ll learn more about plot styles in Chapter 9.) Plot lets you determine
whether a layer gets printed in hard-copy output. This can be useful for setting up layers you may use for
layout purposes only. The Linetype option lets you control line patterns, such as dashed or center lines.
Finally, you can save layer settings for later recall by using the Layer States Manager tool in the upperleft
corner of the Layer Properties Manager dialog box. This feature is extremely useful when you want
to save different layer combinations. Chapter 15 shows you how to use this feature. This option is also
accessible from the State option in the command-line version of the Layer command.

In this section, you’ll learn how the tools and the filter list box work. You’ll start with a look at
the New Property Filter tool:
1. Open the Layer Properties Manager dialog box by clicking the Layer Properties Manager
button in the Layers control panel. You can also choose Format  Layer from the toolbar.
2. Click the New Property Filter tool in the upper-left corner of the dialog box to open the Layer
Filter Properties dialog box. You see two list boxes. The Filter Definition list box at the top
is where you enter your filter criteria. The Filter Preview list box below is a preview of your
layer list based on the filter options. Right now, there are no filter options, so the Filter Preview
list shows all the layers.
3. In the Filter Definition list box, click the blank box just below the Color label. A button
appears in the box.



4. Click in the blank box again; then, enter red↵. The Filter Preview changes to show only layers
that are red. In the current drawing, only one layer has been assigned the color red.
5. Click twice in the blank box below the one you just edited. Again, a button appears.
6. This time, enter green↵. The layers that are green appear in the Filter Preview list.
TIP You can also select a color from the Select Color dialog box by clicking the button that appears
in the box.
7. In the Filter Definition list, click in the Name column in the third row down. A cursor
appears, followed by an asterisk.
8. Enter F↵. Two new layers are added to the Filter Preview list that have names beginning
with F.
9. In the Filter Name text box at the upper-left corner of the dialog box, change the name
Properties Filter 1 to My List. Then, click OK.
Now you see the My List filter in the list box on the left side of the Layer Properties Manager
dialog box.



The layer list shows only the layers that have properties conforming to those you selected in the
Layer Filter Properties dialog box. Notice that My List is highlighted in the filter list to the left. This
tells you that My List is the current layer property filter being applied to the layer list to the right.
You can change the layer list display by selecting different options in the filter list. Try these steps:
1. Click the All option in the filter list at the left side of the dialog box. The layer list to the right
changes to display all the layers in the drawing. Also note that a brief description of the
current layer filter is displayed at the bottom of the dialog box.



2. Click the All Used Layers option in the filter list. Now only layers that contain objects are
displayed.
3. Click My List. The layer list changes back to the limited set of layers from your filter list.
4. Double-click My List. The Layer Filter Properties dialog box opens and displays the list of
layer properties you set up earlier for My List. You can edit the criteria for your filter by making
modifications in this dialog box.
5. Click Cancel to exit the Layer Filter Properties dialog box.