Contents
Note: This is a work in progress (Uploaded: 2018-04-05). Check
for updates).
Introduction
Capabilities
Files Needed and Installation
Version Changes
General Operating Procedures
Tutorials
Screen Information
Screen Scale
Slide Show
Mouse Operations
Selecting Structures
Keystrokes
Starting a New Drawing
Multipage Drawings
Frames
Undo/Redo
Frequently Asked Questions
Adjustable Parameters
Drawing Lines
Drawing Lines
Alt-Bonds
Double Bonds
Triple Bonds
Rings
Curves
Labelling, Text and Orbitals
Adding Text
Formatting Text
Label Formatting
Label Position
Search and Replace
Special Characters
Editing the Drawing
Undo
Moving Points and Labels
Editing Lines
Editing Labels
Search and Replace
Modify - Copy, Cut, Rotate
Printing and Exporting
Positioning a Drawing on the Page
Exporting Files, HTML
File Operations
Saving PLT Files
Opening PLT Files
Exporting Files, HTML
File Location
File View
INI file
PLT File Structure
Templates
The Template Database
Editing the Template DataBase
Editing TEM Files
Scales and the X Y Graph Routine
Scales
X Y Graph
Simulations
NMR Spectra
Tracing NMR Spectra
Importing Images in PLT
Capabilities
Below a WMF of a one-page PLT drawing that illustrates some of the capabilities:
WINPLT is a program for the production of high quality chemical structure drawings with IBM-compatible computers using a Windows operating system.
Drawings can be edited easily with no restrictions.
PLT Drawings can be printed on the currently selected Windows printer or other output device.
Exporting: Windows metafiles (WMF or EMF) can be produced for incorporation into word processing and other graphics programs. The drawings included in this WINHELP file are Windows Metafiles produced with WinPLT (e.g., Bisect??)
GIF, BMP and JPG files of PLT drawings can be produced, for addition of graphics material to WEB sites, or for incorporation into other programs.
Encapsulated PostScript (EPS) files can be produced for transfer of high quality graphics images to other devices.
HTML files of PLT drawings can be produced for presentation of information on the web.
Drawings and text can be produced with exact dimensions, specified in mm. Line thickness can be varied.
Text material can be produced in various fonts, colors, sizes or styles (bold, italic, underline, superscript, subscript). Multiline text material will automatically word-wrap according to Line Length Parameter and Line Spacing Parameter settings.
Bitmaps images (JPEG, BMP or GIF) or metafiles (WMF, EMF) can be inserted into PLT drawings.
Simple X Y Graphs can be produced easily as an integral part of a PLT drawing. The graph routine will also produce least squares lines and plots of functions (y = f(x), where f(x) can be defined by the user).
NMR spectra in the Lybrics or NUTS format can be incorporated into PLT drawings. Scanned NMR spectra (BMP or GIF format) can be converted to vector format ("traced") and incorporated into PLT drawings. NMR spectra can be arbitrarily scaled, integrated, peak-picked and Section expansion can be prepared.
A single drawing can thus include graphics material (chemical drawings), atom labels, paragraphs of text, X Y graphs, NMR spectra and bitmap images.
PLT can be used to present Slide Shows (a la Power Point) using multipage PLT drawings.
Introduction
PLT is Free Shareware. We ask you to register by sending an e-mail to . For download instructions see the PLT web site at:
Capabilities
Files Needed and Installation
Missing Features
Known Bugs
Version Changes and Correction to Manual
File Compatibility
General Operating Procedures
Screen Information
View
Screen Scale
Mouse Operations
Keystrokes in MAIN, Modify
Starting a New Drawing
Multipage Drawings
Windows and PLT ClipBoards
Docking
Slide Show
Making Web Pages
Menus ??
Adjustable Parameters
Undo
Files Needed and Installation
The following files are needed to run WINPLT version 7.1. First PLT itself:
PLT71.EXE Code
PLT71.DAT Default values of parameters, other data used internally
PLT71.INI (Not essential on startup) Custom configuration information
PLT71.HLP The help file
The programs below are required and should be in theWINDOWS\SYSTEM folder
Cimage.dll
FreeImage.dll
Grid32.dll
COMDLG32.OCX
The files below are also needed, but should already be in the WINDOWS\SYSTEM or WINDOWS\SysWOW64 folder.
ComCat.dll
Ctl3d32.dll
MFC40.dll
MSVBVM60.dll
MSVCRT40.dll
OleAut32.dll
OlePro32.dll
StdOle2.tlb
For Windows versions before Windows 7:
The setup program (PLT71SET.EXE) will install all of the necessary files, and create a WIN71PLT folder (or another name you choose) for the executable and support files, and PLTTEM subfolder for the template files. It will also create a program group with three icons: the executable, the HLP file, and an Uninstall icon. If you wish to uninstall PLT, simply click on the Uninstall icon and follow the prompts. Note that an uninstall operation can remove files needed by another program that was installed later than PLT was.
For Windows 7 and later:
Microsoft decided to no longer support traditional setup programs so the files above have to be manually installed. See instructions on the PLT web page:
After you have installed PLT, make any changes desired in the various Options Menu items and save these to the INI file.
Screen Information
Title Bar - Shows the name of the currently edited file (see File View) and whether the drawing has been modified. The initial file is called UNNAMED1.PLT.
Page Navigation Bar. On the top right corner of the screen is the page navigation bar to help moving around multipage PLT documents. There are also three buttons (Titles, Page, Close) which also help with navigation (see Multipage Documents.
Status bar - at the bottom of the screen there are four panels which provide information about current operations. The left panel provides general information about program actions (e.g., text of the currently selected label, save and open operations, x, y coordinates), as well as tool-tip help information about the function of buttons when the mouse cursor passes over them.
The second panel gives the current step, the total number of steps, and identifies the line type of the current step (if any). Try to keep drawings below 2500 steps (absolute maximum is 2800).The third panel gives the current distance that the drawing cursor moves (in mm) when the number-pad keys are pressed. The Cursor Length Parameter can be changed using the <+> and <-> keys (the magnitude of thechange is determined by the Cursor Multiply Parameter (usually 3x), i.e., 0.33, 1.0, 3.0, 9.0, 27.0 etc. mm). The properties of the cursor (Length, Multiply, and Direction) can be changed globally in the Options | Line Drawing menu, but we recommend keeping the default values.The right panel gives the current page and total pages of multipage drawings (p. 15 / 40).
X Y Coordinates - One of the entries in the Options Menu is Show Cursor XY. When this is checked, the status bar continuously shows the XY coordinate of the current cursor position for measuring distance. There is an option in the Options | Screen Setup menu: Scale mm to Printer which determines whether the distances shown are in absolute PLT units, or in paper distance at the current print scale. You can initialize the coordinates to X = 0, Y = 0 by pressing the key <0> (number zero).
Context Sensitive Help - a <Right-Mouse-Click> on most buttons will give pop-up help for using the button (in versions of Windows that support Microsoft hlp files - up to and including Win7).
Grid. PLT can display either a dotted grid (dots at the grid points), or a lined grid (a square lined grid). Turn the grid display on or off in the Options | Show Grid menu. The distance between grid points or lines is set by the Grid (mm) Parameter in the Options | Screen Setup menu. Select the type of grid with the Grid Type Parameter in the same menu. You also select whether to scale the grid points in absolute units (select Dots or Lines), or in physical distance on the current output device, i.e., distance on the paper (select Dots Scaled or Lines Scaled). The grid is passive - you cannot align drawing points with the grid
File Options Dialog
File Locations can be set using the Options | File Options menu. For each type, click on the appropriate selection button (Templates, Initial Directory, NMR Spectra or Save To..), find the proper drive and folder using the drive and folder boxes, and click on the Save button to make the change permanent (save to the INI file).
Templates. This is the folder where the PLT template files are stored (extension TEM). If you have used the default installation, then this will be c:\winplt32\plttem.
Initial Directory. This is the folder that will be set when PLT first starts. The default is the folder containing the EXE file. If you store all of your PLT files in one location, then it is convenient to choose the path to these files for Initial Folder.
NMR Spectra. This is the folder where File Open dialog will start when NMR spectra are loaded into PLT (menu Insert | NMR Spectrum).
Save To.. Directory. This is a list of disk locations (path names, a maximum of 15) to which you can directly save the current file using the Files | Save To..menu. This feature allows you to quickly save a file to multiple locations for backup or transportation purposes, without having to manipulate a file dialog. The same list is used for the Files | Open From..menu. Place in this list the disk locations holding your PLT files. The Save To/Open From menu can also be obtained by <Right Click> on the Open, Save As and File View buttons.
To add names to the list, find the proper drive, folder and subfolder and click on the Add button. You can only add drives that are currently accessible (e.g., to add a removable drive such as [a:] you must have a diskette in the drive, and the drive door closed). To remove entries from the list of path names, click on the name, and then on the Remove button. Clicking on Save and Exit will write the list to the INI file.
Use PLT Open/Save Dialog CheckBox. Check this box if you want to use the custom PLT file dialog, rather than the standard Windows dialog. The PLT dialog has some useful features such as separate drive, folder and filename lists, a file history list and the Save To/Open from list to speed up folder navigation. It lacks some of the features of the standard dialog, such as in-place editing of filenames (although filenames can be edited and deleted easily).
File View. See File View Dialog
File View Dialog
Accessed with the button or the Files | File View menu, for viewing, opening, deleting and capturing from PLT files.Use the Drive and File boxes to locate the appropriate folder. The default folder is the one specified in the Initial Directory File Location. All files which satisfy the filter (select *.PLT, *.TEM, or *.* from the pull-down list) will be shown in the file list box. Click on any of the names and the file will be shown on the screen, if a PLT file. To Open, Rename or Delete the file, click the appropriate button, or use the Files menu. If the PLT file has multiple pages, you can flip through the individual pages with the Page Navigation Bar or the Page Up and Page Down buttons (lower right of screen, below the right scroll bar).
Cut and Paste Structures from Disk. Any portion of the drawing shown in File View can be boxed and captured with a <Right-Mouse-Drag> (same move as used to select a MODIFY box). The box can be repositioned with <Shift-Right-Mouse-Drag>. When you release the right mouse button, the structure will be pasted into the current drawing, and you will be in MODIFY. This allows you to position the structure (<Left-Mouse-Drag>) or DELETEit.
Tip: To abort a capture, simply move the mouse so that the box contains no graphics material.
If the file being viewed is a Template file, then double clicking on any Tagged structure causes it to be copied and pasted into the current drawing.
Parameter Dialogs (Options Menu)
The Parameter dialogs (Options | Letter Parameters, etc)are used to set various parameters which control the operation of PLT. For each parameter it is possible to directly type in a new value, or select from the options in a drop-down list box.
OK Button. Accept the currently set values of the parameters. Changes are not automatically saved to the INI file, will apply to this session of PLT.
Save Checked Button. If the parameter is preceded by a check box, then it will be automatically checked when a parameter is edited. If you click the Save Checked Button, then these values will be saved in the [Preferences] section of the INI file, and the change will become permanent.
Reset Default Button. Click on this button to reset the default value of those parameters which are checked. These parameters will be removed from the INI file.
Cancel Button. Leave parameter values as originally set. However, parameter values saved to the INI file are not restored to their initial value.
Set for all Pages Checkbox. For a few of the parameters there is a checkbox marked "Set for all pages" (e.g., Print Scale, Line Length, Line spacing). These parameters are maintained independently for each page of a multipage drawing. If you want all pages to be set to the same value, click the checkbox, then click OK.
Multipage Drawings
Each PLT document can contain multiple pages (there is no real limit on the number of pages, but over 60 pages the navigation becomes a little more cumbersome). The largest PLT document prepared and maintained by the author is currently 550 pages long. Each page can be a complete drawing, and each will maintain its own page orientation (Landscape, Portrait), text size and Print Scale. There are several features that provide assistance in handling large documents:
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Page Navigation Bar. Click on the page number to go directly to that page. A <Right-Click> on the navigation bar or on the Page-Up Page-Down buttons on the right bottom corner of the main PLT dialog (below the scroll bar) presents a menu of page operations which allows pages to be named, inserted, moved, created, copied, pasted, and reordered.See below for a description of the options. Some of these items are also in the Edit and Insert menus. The navigation bar also appears in Fileview. The slider allows rapid movement between pages, even past the 60 page page-number display. If there are more than 60 pages, a small box indicating the page number appears next to the navigation bar.
Right-Click Menu of Navigation Bar
InsertPgAfter Create a new page after the current one
InsertPgBefore Create a new page before the current one
Insert File Insert a file from disk after the current page (file can contain a multi-page drawing - all pages will be inserted)
Go To Page... Move to another page - type page number
Copy Page Copy the current page to the clipboard
Cut Page Copy the current page to the clipboard and delete the page
Paste Page Paste the clipboard page(s) after the current page
Delete Page Delete the current page
MovePg Up 1 Swap the current page with the one before it
MovePg Down 1 Swap the current page with the one after it
Navigation: by Page Name or Titles: Next to the Navigation bar are two additional buttons that can help with navigation: Titles and Page. Clicking Titles gives a list of headings (Style = 5) and subheadings (Style = 4) (if you have used these styles to define sections of your document). Clicking on Page gives a list of page numbers and page names (if you have named your pages). Double click on one of the entries to go to that part of your document. Click the Close button to dismiss the lists.
Document Properties. The Options | Document Properties dialog provides another way to rapidly manipulate the pages of a large document. It presents a list of all the pages in a document, with page names. You can navigate through the pages, quickly delete individual pages, and edit the Page Names. The small up/down arrows will move the currently selected page up and down in the page sequence, allowing you to easily reorganize a drawing.
This dialog is the preferred way to split a very large document into two separate documents - make a duplicate copy of the drawing, then delete half the pages from this one, and the other half of the pages from the original document.
Keystrokes
To navigate among pages use the following operations:
ctrl-PgUp Go to previous (lower) page number (or click the PgUp button)
ctrl-PgDown Go to next (higher) page number (or click the PgDown button)
ctrl-Home Go to first page
ctrl-End Go to last page