Toolspace

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Introduction

From the Toolspace, users can view, create, edit, delete and manage display of all Stringer data in the drawing

The Toolspace provides a centralised location for all object data created with Stringer Topo. 

The Toolspace displays as a traditional CAD panel, able to be docked, anchored, auto-hidden and repositioned like any other panel in the CAD platform.

AutoCAD/BricsCAD Platform

Civil 3D Platform

Toolspace Tabs

Along the edge of the Toolspace panel are the following tabs:

• Data tab: contains all the object data contained in the drawing

• Resources tab: contains help and getting started resources.

Data tab

The Data tab is organised in a tree structure and complete with context menus and object icons:

• Project Settings (right click on the drawing name)

• Object Collections (Object types that contain Objects below it), logically grouped in creation order from top to bottom. Object Collections include Point Groups, Surfaces, Alignments and Profiles.

• Stringer Objects.  These are individual objects in the drawing able to be edited or deleted via right click.

Wherever shown, users can click on the + or - symbol to expand or collapse a collection to see objects for that collection.

At the bottom of the Toolspace are quick access commands related to overall import, creation, editing and output processes.

Point Groups

Point Groups create filtered lists of points, from which Survey Strings can be created and points managed.

In Civil 3D, users can create a Link between the Civil 3D points in a Point Group to enable editing, creation of survey strings and output.  Linked Point Groups are displayed in the Point Groups object collection.

Alignments

Alignments provide the plan geometry for creating long and cross section outputs, as well as creation of Cogo points along an alignment.  All alignments are listed in this Object collection, including Civil 3D alignments (when operated in a Civil 3D environment).

Right click on any alignment to use it for creating a String.

Alignments that are in use will display an icon with a small green circled tick.

Object Collections

Object Collections are organised from top to bottom in the Toolspace to match the design workflow.  Objects are shown under each group:

• Point Groups

  • Point Groups provide contain filtered collections of points.

  • Each Point Group contains Cogo Points and Survey Strings

  • Point Groups can be used to create surfaces including the points and survey strings contained in the Point Group

  • Point Groups, Cogo Points and Survey Strings can be managed here

  • In Civil 3D, Point Groups listed here may be Linked to Point Groups in Civil 3D.  In this case, the linked point group provides functionality to manage the Civil 3D point geometry and properties using Stringer

• CSA Surfaces

  • Surfaces created by Stringer are displayed here.

  • Surfaces can be created here by the user.

  • Pasted surfaces and surface volumes will be displayed here (these require both Surfaces to be Stringer (CSA) Surfaces as opposed to Civil 3D surfaces

  • Surfaces created via satellite data will be displayed here

  • A default surface named TotalModel may be displayed here.  This surface supports design objects created using an associated application, Civil Site Design.

  • Civil 3D surfaces are not displayed here.  In Civil 3D, it is usual to Link to a Civil 3D Point group and add breaklines from Survey Strings to a Civil 3D Surface.

  Alignments

  • Alignments represent horizontal geometry and may be used for many purposes, such as to describe design elements, provide comparison to survey data..

  • Alignments can be selected for creation of Profile Strings for creation of existing ground long sections and cross sections, as well as stakeout.

  • The Alignments object collection is not displayed in Civil 3D.  Users may use the Civil 3D alignment, profile view and section view tools.

• Profile Strings

  • Profile Strings use alignment geometry and store vertical information extracted from a surface

  • Profile Strings can be used to generate profile view and cross section outputs.

  • The Profile Strings object collection is not displayed in Civil 3D.  users may use the Civil 3D, profile view and section view tools.

Object Highlighting

Hover on an a Point or Survey String to highlight that object in the drawing.  For many objects, a double click will act as a zoom to the object - right click Zoom is also available. 

In the CAD platform, hover over an alignment or profile string in the tooslpace to highlight it in the drawing

Running Commands from the Toolspace

To run commands from the toolspace, right click on any Object Collection (eg: Alignment heading) or an individual Design Object (eg: Alignment) to obtain a context menu of relevant commands:

Object Collection Commands

Object Commands

Point Groups - Managing Cogo Points, Survey Strings and Surfaces

The Point Groups are central to the management of Cogo Points, Survey Strings and Surfaces.

Both Points and Survey Strings are subsets of Point Groups.

Expand a Point Group to see Cogo Points and Survey Strings belonging to that group.

Initial Toolspace Display for new projects

Where the software has never been started on a drawing, the user will be invited to 'Launch' Stringer Topo.  This will generate program settings for the drawing to support the software.  A data folder will be created to store data.

After clicking Launch Stringer Topo, the Toolspace will display the object list.

Refreshing the Object List - Civil 3D

If it is desired to do a full update of the point groups, points, survey lines, surfaces and plan labels, click on the Refresh button to update.

Civil 3D and Stringer Topo

It is usual to work with the Civil 3D Cogo points and surfaces when importing survey data and producing survey surfaces and survey strings. 

COGO Points and Point Groups - Linking to Civil 3D Point Groups

It is critical to create a Link to a Civil 3D Point Group to enable creation and editing of Civil 3D points using Stringer, the creation of Survey Strings and the addition of breaklines to Civil 3D surfaces.

In the Civil 3D platform, Importing points using Stringer Connect will create Civil 3D Cogo Points and automatically Link to Civil 3D Point Groups.  If points are otherwise imported into Civil 3D, users need to run the Civil 3D Points Link (Civil 3D Point Group Link in the toolspace) command to enable Stringer to manage the Civil 3D points and Civil 3D surface breaklines.

When Survey Strings are created, the breaklines can be added to any Civil 3D surface (usually the point group and survey strings are contained in the same surface), either as a Breakline File (fastest) or as individual Breaklines (slowest - this adds a named Breakline entry per Point Code/String combination)

Stringer (CSA) Surfaces vs Civil 3D Surfaces

Stringer does incldue a Surface (DTM) engine, however most customers will opt to directly use the Civil 3D Surfaces.

Surfaces created by Stringer are known as CSA Surfaces, and are often referred to a 'Quick Surfaces'.  It is common in associated applications, such as Civil Site Design, to create dynamic 'quick surfaces' while designing, then to output them as Civil 3D surfaces for presentation and output.

Some commands in Stringer may be used to create CSA Surfaces instead of Civil 3D Surfaces.  CSA Surfaces will be displayed under the CSA Surfaces object collection group in the Toolspace.

Details

After selecting the command, the Toolspace will display (CAD Platform left and Civil 3D Platform right):

Launch	If this is a new project, click on this button to initialize the Toolspace to display the object listing./td>
Refresh (Update)	If Civil 3D points are added or removed from a linked Point Group, use this button to update all Linked Civil 3D Point Groups. In other platforms, this button will force a full update of surfaces, including paste and volume surfaces, as well as updating of the created profile strings (for when the base surface changes). This command also executes the Update All command.
Panel Tabs	Tabs are displayed along the edge of the Toolspace.
Data tab	Contains all Stringer Topo data, listed in a tree view arranged by object type.
[Drawing Name]	Right click commands: Drawing Settings Manages the overall behaviour of Stringer Topo.   Click to open the Active Drawing Settings command. Toolspace Settings Includes functionality to manage the display of the Toolspace.  Inputs include:   Load Toolspace when opening Stringer Projects If toggled on, when a drawing is opened it is scanned for Stringer Topo data.  If the drawing contains Stringer Topo data, the toolspace will open. Object Highlighting Tick on to enable object highlighting in the drawing when hovering on an object.   Maximum Cogo Points The Toolspace redraw and display can slow when there are a large number of objects listed.  It is highly recommended to limit the number of Cogo Points displayed in the Toolspace to prevent unacceptable lag.  The additional points will not be represented in the Toolspace. OK Apply and exit. Project Storage Enables saving of the Stringer Topo data inside the drawing (.dwg) file and management of where the data is stored during editing. Click to open the Pack Data Settings command. String Defaults Sets defaults for Point Code Settings, Survey String Settings and Default Point Style for alpha and numeric coded COGO points.   Click to open the String Defaults form. Template Editor Templates (multiple offsets) can be added to any Survey String - useful to represent standard sectional infrastructure such as curbs.  This will open the Template Editor to enable creation, editing and management of Templates. Click to start the Create/Edit Templates command. Point Code Set Sets up Point Code Settings to establish layers and point styles to apply based on COGO point descriptions. Click to open the Point Code Settings form. Point Styles Point Styles set how COGO points are displayed as well as available point properties Click to open the Point Styles form. Point Formats Establishes the file format for importing/exporting points and controls how COGO point descriptions are interpreted as Code, String Number and other point properties Click to open the Point Formats form. Point Property Display [Not available in Civil 3D] Allows select point display properties to be hidden for all points in the drawing. Click to open the Point Property Display form. Survey String Settings Establishes how survey strings are connected based on COGO point descriptions. Click to open the Survey String Settings form. Survey String Parameters Set parameters that may be applied to Point descriptions to change the way survey linework is connected between points. Click to open the Survey String Parameters form. Replace Code Settings Applies bulk changes to point codes.  This establishes the code pairs. Click to open the Replace Code Settings form. Group Table Styles Table settings for output of Cogo Point and Survey String tables for selected Point Groups. Click to open the Point Group Table Settings command. Image from Satellite Import a background image from the web and add as a .png XREF. Click to open the Image from Satellite form.
Point Groups Collection	Right click commands: Point Groups Point groups provide filtered lists of points that can be used to manage display and create surfaces Click to open the Point Groups form. Create Survey Strings Survey Strings connect like points in a Point Group (points that have the same description and, optionally, String number) together with 2D and/or 3D polylines, and can be applied as breaklines to a surface. Click to Create Survey Strings. If already created, this command allows editing of the survey string group behaviour. Delete Survey Strings Deletes all Survey Strings added to a Point Group. Click to Delete Survey Strings. Survey String Manager Opens a dedicated interface to select points and survey strings for editing. Click to open the Survey String Manager form. Update Survey Strings Forces an update to survey strings.  Click to Update Survey Strings. Code Report Reviews the Codes (descriptions) of Cogo points in the drawing and compares to the Point Code Set and Survey String Set table. Click to open the Code Report form. Update Cogo Points Forces an update to cogo points.  Click to Update Cogo Points. Replace Codes Enables bulk replacement of Point Codes in the drawing.  Click to start the Replace Codes command. Compare Report Generate comparison reports between points, surfaces, alignments and polylines. Click to run the Compare Report command. Point Inquiry Starts the Point Inquiry command.  Obtain information comparing two points. Manage Point Group Settings [Civil 3D only] Manages how breaklines are added to the surface from Stringer. Click to open the Manage Point Group Settings form. Civil 3D Point Group Link [Civil 3D only] Link to Civil 3D point groups to enable management of the Civil 3D point geometry. Click to open the Civil 3D Point Group Link form.
Point Group         Point Group [Civil 3D Linked]	Right click commands: Point List Click to open the Point List of all points in the Point Group. Apply Styles from Code Set Click Apply Styles from Code Set to change the applied Point Style for every point in the point group based on the point descriptions, to match with the Point Code Set selected.  This is useful when the Point Code is changed and it is desired to change the display of the point and/or the stored point properties. Note: In Civil 3D, this command will not alter the point display - this is managed by Civil 3D Point Styles.
Points Collection	Right click commands: Code Editor Click to open the Point Code Editor. Enables editing of multiple point codes, string numbers and parameters. Update Cogo Points Forces an update to cogo points.  Click to Update Cogo Points.
Points	Right click commands: Edit Cogo Point Edit the currently selected Cogo Point.  Click Edit Cogo Point. Zoom To Click to zoom to the Cogo Point in the drawing.
Survey Strings Collection	Right click commands: Create Survey Strings Survey Strings connect like points in a Point Group (points that have the same description and, optionally, String number) together with 2D and/or 3D polylines, and can be applied as breaklines to a surface. Click to Create Survey Strings. If already created, this command allows editing of the survey string group behaviour. Survey String Manager Opens a dedicated interface to select points and survey strings for editing. Click to open the Survey String Manager form. Update Survey Strings Forces an update to survey strings.  Click to Update Survey Strings. Update Cogo Points Forces an update to cogo points.  Click to Update Cogo Points. Code Editor Click to open the Point Code Editor. Enables editing of multiple point codes, string numbers and parameters.
Survey Strings	Right click commands: Survey String Manager Opens a dedicated interface to select points and survey strings for editing. Click to open the Survey String Manager form. Update Survey Strings Forces an update to survey strings.  Click to Update Survey Strings. Update Cogo Points Forces an update to cogo points.  Click to Update Cogo Points. Code Editor Click to open the Point Code Editor. Enables editing of multiple point codes, string numbers and parameters. Split by Distance Splits Survey Strings for string segments longer than a user input value.  Click to Split by Distance. Zoom To Click to zoom to the start of the Survey String in the drawing.
CSA Surfaces Collection	Right click commands: Surface Manager Click to open the Surface Manager form. The Surface Manager is used to manage the inputs to a CSA Surface as well as the display in the drawing: contours, triangles, slopes, slope arrows, elevations and directions. Create/Update from LAS Click to open the Surface from LAS form. The Surface from LAS command imports LAS files directly to create surfaces. Toggle Display Click to open the Toggle Display form. The Toggle Display form provides a single interface for managing the display of contours and triangles for multiple CSA Surfaces Volumes Undertake Surface-to-Surface volume comparisons for CSA Surfaces.  Click to start the Surface Volume command. Paste Surfaces CSA Surfaces can be pasted together.  Click to start the Paste Surfaces command. Update Paste Surfaces This command rebuilds/updates all pasted surface objects.  Click to Update Paste Surfaces. Update Water Drops If the Water Drop command has been run, this command redraws the water drop paths - useful if the surface has been edited. Model Viewer Click to open Model Viewer.
CSA Surface	Right click commands: Surface Manager Click to open the Surface Manager form. The Surface Manager is used to manage the inputs to a CSD Surface as well as the display in the drawing: contours, triangles, slopes, slope arrows, elevations and directions. Toggle Display [Civil 3D only] Click to open the Toggle Display form. The Toggle Display form provides a single interface for managing the display of contours and triangles for multiple Surfaces Toggle On/Off Contours Toggles on/off the display of the contours for the selected Surface Toggle On/Off Triangles Toggles on/off the display of the triangles for the selected Surface Add Water Drop Starts the Water Drop command. Delete Surface Deletes the selected Surface
Alignments Collection        [Not Civil 3D]	Right click commands: Create Alignment Click to start the Create Alignment command. Best Fit Alignment Opens the Best Fit Alignment form to create an alignment best fit using COGO Points or a polyline.
/ Alignment                   [Not Civil 3D]	Icon display changes if the alignment is being referenced by a String Right click commands: Create Profile Create a Profile String from the alignment. Click to start the Profile String command. Edit Alignment Click to open the Edit Alignment form for the selected alignment. [Not available for Civil 3D alignments] Grid Editor Opens the grid editor to edit alignment geometry. Click to open the Alignment Grid Editor form. Delete Alignment Click to delete the current alignment.  A message will display to confirm deletion. If the alignment is being used as a String, the alignment will not be deleted and a message will display.
Profile Strings Collection        [Not Civil 3D]	Right click commands: Update String Elevations Resamples all created Profile Strings against the sampled surface set in each Profile String.  Elevations of the Profile Strings are updated to match the elevations of the Sampled Surface set in each Profile String.
Profile String             [Not Civil 3D]	Right click commands: Edit Proilfe Opens the Profile String command. Insert Sections Starts the Insert Sections command to add sampling to the String. Plot Profile View/Profile View Starts the Plot Profile View (or Plot profile Views for imperial) command. Plot Cross Section/Section View Starts the Plot Cross Sections (or Section Views for imperial) command. Delete String Deletes the selected String. Zoom To Zooms to the start of the alignment in the drawing
Hover Text Panel	Displays information text as each Object Collection or Object is hovered over
Stringer Connect	Import and reduce survey data. Click to open the Stringer Connect form.
Point Tools	List of Cogo Point commands. Import Cogo Point File Use a file to import coordinated point geometry (Cogo) into the drawing.  Click Import Cogo Points. Import Cogo Point File (by alignment) Use a file to import station/offset input files (Cogo) into the drawing, referencing an alignment.  Click Import Points by Alignment command Import XML Import Trimble JXL Import a Trimble XML file to create coordinated points and/or add Data Tables and attribute data Fields to COGO Points Import Leica XML Import a Leica XML file to create coordinated points and/or add Data Tables and attribute data Fields to COGO Points Create Cogo Points Create Cogo Points in the drawing. Create by Reference Create points that have a dynamic reference (horizontal and/or vertical) to other objects. Click Create by Reference. Create by Polyline Creates points along a polyline.  Click Create by Polyline. Create on Grid Creates points in a gridded pattern in the drawing.  Click Create on Grid. Draw Cadastral Lines Create linework and points with bearing and distance input.  Click to open the Draw Cadastral Lines form. Convert Objects to Cogo Convert 2D and 3D objects in the drawing (Text, Mtext, Points and Blocks) into Cogo points.  Click Convert Objects to Cogo. Multi Symbols Creates multiple blocks over a single point pickup, with scaling extracted from the point description. Click to add Multi Symbols to the drawing.
Create Survey Strings	Survey Strings connect like points in a Point Group (points that have the same description and, optionally, String number) together with 2D and/or 3D polylines, and can be applied as breaklines to a surface. Click to Create Survey Strings.
Project Database Tools	List of commands supporting the attachment of Data Tables (attributes) to COGO Points and Survey Strings. Setup Project Database Establishes a Project Database for storing Data Tables and attribute Field data on COGO Points and survey Strings in your project/s Create Object Tables Starts the Create Object Tables comand.  Attach Data Tables to objects in the drawing. Sync to Survey Strings Starts the Sync to Survey Strings command. Transfers COGO Point Data table information onto associated Strings. Sync COGO Point Properties Starts the Sync to COGO Points command. Creates Point Properties for each data table field on each COGO Point. Sync to Property Sets (Civil 3D Only) Sync to Property Sets Transfers the Data Table field information to Property Sets Sync From Property Sets Transfers the Property Set information to the Data Table Fields. Editors Schema Editor Starts the Schema Editor command.  The Schema Editor manages the Data Tables and Fields included in a Schema. Field Validator Editor Starts the Field Validator Editor command.  Field Validators set allowing field inputs for data fields. COGO Point Table Map Starts the COGO Point Table Map command. Automates the assignment of Data Tables to COGO Points based on the point Code. Survey String Table Mape Starts the Survey String Table Map command. Automates the assignment of Data Tables to Survey Strings based on the point Code of the string. Table Viewer Opens the Table Viewer to review all data attached to objects. Edit Tables COGO Point Table Starts the COGO Point Table command to edit data attached to each COGO Point Survey String Table Starts the Survey String Table command to edit data attached to each Survey String. Export Database ESRI Shapefile Starts the Export to GIS command.
Create Point Group Table	Generate point and survey string tables.  An example would be a legend table for created points. Click to start the Create Group Table command.
Cadastral Tools	List of cadastral tools Traverse Editor Open the Traverse Editor. Transform Points Apply Helmert or Affine transformations, as well as Datum adjustments, to points. Click to start the Transform Points command.
Model Viewer	Click to start the Model Viewer command.
Resources tab	The Resources tab includes help resources for new and existing users