Maintaining Catalog Files
I apologize if this is documented somewhere. I looked and wasn't able to find anything on this other than how to create a catalog and add a symbol to it.
I'm on a quest to learn all there is to know about catalog files:
Create a catalog
Add a PNG image to a catalog
Remove a symbol from a catalog
Rename a symbol in a catalog
Move a symbol from one catalog to another
Edit the path to the art file for a symbol in a catalog
The first two are pretty basic but the rest involve editing a catalog file and I haven't found anything about how to do that.
One of the things I want to do is move the CSUAC and SMAC art files to a directory outside the cc3 structure (I use various programs that all want to access those files and it makes sense, to me, to separate them from cc3). Editing paths for each symbol individually would be a nightmare so I hope there is a way to do some sort of global search and replace.
Thanks in advance for any assistance anyone can offer.
I'm on a quest to learn all there is to know about catalog files:
Create a catalog
Add a PNG image to a catalog
Remove a symbol from a catalog
Rename a symbol in a catalog
Move a symbol from one catalog to another
Edit the path to the art file for a symbol in a catalog
The first two are pretty basic but the rest involve editing a catalog file and I haven't found anything about how to do that.
One of the things I want to do is move the CSUAC and SMAC art files to a directory outside the cc3 structure (I use various programs that all want to access those files and it makes sense, to me, to separate them from cc3). Editing paths for each symbol individually would be a nightmare so I hope there is a way to do some sort of global search and replace.
Thanks in advance for any assistance anyone can offer.
Comments
Make sure you delete the old catalogs; once the art files are moved they will no longer work.
Keep in mind that once you do this you will not be able to share .fsc map files with other users while using these symbols.
I have separate copies of the art for each software package that uses it. While this eats up a lot of hard drive space, with the size of newer hard drives, whats 10 or 20 gigs of space?
Separate copies of art files isn't that big a deal in terms of hard drive space. But that means every addition has to be made multiple times. And if you add files to one set but forget another, later when you discover this you will wonder how many other times you've done this. Maintaining a single set just makes my life easier.
I still can't find how to add symbols to, or delete symbols from, an existing catalog. Am I simply missing it? It's probably right in front of me but I just can't find any info on how to do that.
To delete a symbol:
Start a new Symbol Catalog Map.
Import the catalog using Draw>Insert File.
Open the Symbol Manager
Select the symbol you want to delete and click the Delete button.
Select all of the symbols and save the catalog.
To Insert a symbol:
Add the art file to the appropriate folder
Start a new Symbol Catalog Map.
Import the catalog using Draw>Insert File.
Open the Symbol Manager
Click the Import PNGs button
Browse to the art folder
Check the Add Symbol Information box and set any properties (CSUAC and SMAC use only Force Sheets>>SYMBOLS*)
Make sure Update is ticked under methods.
Click OK
Then select and save all symbols as a catalog.
The main thing to remember is that anytime you make changes to a symbol through the Symbol Manager, you must save the all of the symbols to a catalog for the changes to take effect, otherwise the changes only effect the current map.
Campaign Cartographer no longer requires symbol catalogs. You can open a folder of PNGs right into the symbol viewer. The PNGs can be located anywhere on your hard drive.
Navigate to the art folder using the button above the symbol viewer that has a folder and a column of white squares.
Click on any PNG in the art folder, then click open.
All PNGs in that folder will now function as symbols and will be placed on the currently selected Sheet and Layer.
The method of adding and deleting symbols seems a bit cumbersome but I'm sure that once I've used them more, they'll feel more natural. I am so pleased to know how to do it now.
Accessing the PNGs directly is a good way to avoid making all the new catalogs while still being able to relocate the art files. Thanks for the idea. I'll play with that some more and see how it goes. I think I may be too spoiled already though with the handy little menu buttons for the CSUAC and SMAC (I made my own for the later based on what Monsen did). I'll probably go ahead and relocate the art and just make new catalogs. It should be good practice and I may learn something useful along the way.
Thanks for all the help!