Deleting or renaming default drawing tools?

So, I made another topic recently, about restoring a style's default drawing tools later, if I modify them. That's all well and good, but after getting my answer, I went back and tried to delete one of the default drawtools of the Modern City annual style, only to find that I can't. I assume this is BECAUSE they are the default, i.e. they are what comes with the style, thus they cannot be deleted? I can of course delete any drawtool that I create, just not the ones that came with the style. Alternatively, I could rename the default tools after changing their properties, but there doesn't seem to be a rename option for drawtools.

So, is there any way to either delete or rename drawtools that came with a style? The reason being: as I mentioned in my other thread, I'm making changes to quite a few of them, and in some cases I want to change how they are named so that I can quickly reference which tool is for what purpose after making my changes. But since I can't seem to change the names of the tools, if I want a tool with my own specified name, I need to just create a brand new tool with my custom name... but since I can't delete the default tools either. doing this will have the effect of duplicating the tool. Now I have two of them, one with my modifications and the name I want, and another that is still there only because it can't be deleted. I find having my drawtool list cluttered with many tools I will never use on the map in question to be very annoying.

So, any way to rename or delete the default tools? Thanks!

Comments

  • DogtagDogtag Moderator, Betatester Traveler
    edited January 2017
    I cannot reproduce this using CC3 and Cartographer's Annual (CA) 09 Modern Cities.
    1. As far as I know, there is no "rename" option for renaming drawing tools directly. You rename them the way you've been doing (listed here for folks who may not know the steps themselves yet).
      1. Click the All city drawing tools image button.
      2. Click Advanced>>
      3. Select a drawing tool.
      4. Click New (either before or after making changes to the properties).
      5. Save the tool with a different name. The New button is essentially a "Save As" button.
    2. I am able to delete every Modern City drawing tool. What happens when you try to delete one of the tools that comes with the style?
    Cheers,
    ~Dogtag
  • CielCiel Traveler
    So wait, this is unexpected behavior? Hmm...

    I seem to be having another drawtool problem as well all of a sudden (see the thread titled: "Drawing tools going to wrong sheet" ). The timing is odd.

    What happens is: I click delete, the "are you sure?" box comes up, I click Yes, and the box kind of blinks, but then the tool is just still there. No error messages or anything, it just doesn't get deleted. But when I delete my own custom-made tools, the tool is removed from the list instantly upon clicking "yes".

    Have my drawtools gone haywire?? This is very odd, haha. All help is appreciated!
  • LoopysueLoopysue ProFantasy 🖼️ 39 images Cartographer
    Why don't you prefix the names of all your own tools with "A", or "1" (if that's possible), then you can just ignore the default ones, which are part of the software (which means I'm not surprised that you can't delete them)
  • DogtagDogtag Moderator, Betatester Traveler
    edited January 2017
    That's a great idea for keeping your tools organized and separate from the other drawing tools.

    However, you can delete drawing tools. At the very least, you can delete the ones from the annuals. I created a map using the same issue of the annual Saito S mentioned, and then I proceeded to delete every drawing tool in the style (27 in all) from the Custom drawing tools dialog box.

    It appears there's something else going on here, possibly gremlins.
  • CielCiel Traveler
    edited January 2017
    The other problem (with entities going to the wrong sheet) seems to have fixed itself, at least, so I guess it was just some kind of weird fluke thing. May it never return! In any case...

    Thanks (again) Loopysue, that's a good suggestion. Then at least my custom tools can all appear at the top of the list. If all else fails, I will do this, in order to keep myself from having to scroll up and down through this huge list of tools every time I need to use on of my custom ones!

    Still, knowing that I should be able to delete the default ones makes me want to not give up on trying to figure out why I can't, though... hopefully further brain-storming will help us find the gremlins and get them to shoo.

    For whatever it's worth: it's not just the Modern City style. I opened up my country map made in the "Modern Political" style, from the 2010 annual - I can't delete default drawtools there, either. So it seems to be an issue that affects my CC3, regardless of what style is in use. I'm still hoping there is somehow some kind of setting that could be ticked on or off, that is preventing these tools from being deleted...
  • MonsenMonsen Administrator 🖼️ 46 images Cartographer
    This is probably windows UAC at work. CC3 is installed with all it's tools in the program files folder by default, and Windows doesn't let programs modify files in there unless they explicitly was started using run as administrator (even if already logged into the admin account). Windows virtualizes writes to that directory, so when you make new files, they aren't actually stored there at all (even if they appear so), and can therefore also be deleted, but the files the installer put there can't be touched.
  • DogtagDogtag Moderator, Betatester Traveler
    Easy enough to test. Try running CC3+ by right-clicking the icon and selecting Run as administrator from the pop-up menu.
  • CielCiel Traveler
    Yep, Monsen has it right. When I open as administrator, I can delete any of the default tools and it ACTUALLY gets deleted. Also when I run as Admin, none of the custom tools I had already made and saved show up at all.

    When I open CC3 normally, without running as admin, my custom tools are back and I can no longer delete the default tools.

    So... I guess one solution could be to open the folder where the virtualization has been going, and copy all those drawtools (which include all my custom ones) into the ACTUAL folder in Program Files, thus when I run as Admin, I'll see my custom tools + can delete default tools. I already saved a backup of the original, out-of-the-box Modern City drawtools, and will also create a backup of the current set, which has all the default tools and my custom ones, before I give this a try. Thanks guys!
  • DogtagDogtag Moderator, Betatester Traveler
    edited January 2017
    If you want to run CC3+ as an administrator as easily as you used to run it before, you may be interested in these simple instructions.

    Cheers,
    ~Dogtag
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