#6: Macro - "Rotator". - Eskimo's Macros and More - Blogs

Eskimo

Sun, May 5 2019

What is Rotator?

Rotator is a macro for rotating selected objects.

One can of course rotate objects natively in CorelDRAW, but this macro offers some additional features. These include:

Showing more decimal places for the angle (the Transformations docker in recent versions of CorelDRAW only shows one place past the decimal for rotation).
Having user-configurable comboboxes with user-controlled lists of values.
Being able to automatically calculate the rotation angle needed to make a specified number of duplicates "span" a specified angle.

See Rotator in use:

Screenshots:

Using the macro.

Basic use of this macro is probably fairly obvious. If you have questions, then please ask in the comments section.

Although some sections of the demo video show the macro being used on single shapes, the selection it works with can be a range of shapes.

If Rotate Objects Individually is not checked, then the range of shapes is rotated "as a whole". Rotation is carried out around the center of rotation of the whole selection.

If Rotate Objects Individually is checked, then each object in the range of shapes is rotated individually around that object's center of rotation.

The macro has two ways of specifying how rotation is to be done - by specified angular increment, or to span a specified angular extent.

The By Increment tab rotates by the specified incremental angle. It can optionally - by setting "New Copies" to a value greater than 1 - create duplicates of the content.

The To Span Angle tab rotates by an angle calculated from the specified angular extent to span and the total number (which includes the original content). For example, a set of markers for a clock face might be produced from one marker by specifying a total number of 12 spanning 360 degrees.

Using the Comboboxes.

The drop-down list for each combobox can contain “most recently used” values. If the combobox is not locked, then when a value in that combobox is used by the macro, that value is added to the top of the list. If an existing value is used from the list, then that value is moved to the top of the list.

For comboboxes that represent distances, values are applied by the macro in whatever units (inches, millimeters, etc.) are currently in use in the document for the horizontal ruler. If those units are changed, then the macro automatically changes values in those comboboxes to reflect that change.

Ctrl+clicking on a combobox sets that combobox to its default value.

Right-clicking on a combobox brings up a menu of options that allow one to manage the default value for that combobox and the list that is associated with that combobox.

These options include:

Setting the value in the combobox to its default value.
Defining a new default value for the combobox.
Adding a value to the list.
Deleting a value from the list.
Sorting the list.
Clearing the list.
Locking the list. When locked, the list is still available for use, but new values are not added, and the order of values within the list is not changed when an existing value from the list is used.
Setting whether trailing zeros are shown.
Changing the number of decimal places used for values in the combobox.
Enabling or disabling Auto-select for the combobox. When Auto-select is enabled, then the text in the box is automatically selected when the box is entered.

A Video Describing and Demonstrating the Special Features of My ComboBoxes:

Subs in the Macro Manager.

Start_Rotator launches Rotator if it is not already open.
Toggle_Rotator launches Rotator if it is not already open, and closes it if it is already open. Assign this sub to a command button or shortcut key to have a one-click or one-keystroke way to call/dismiss Rotator.
Remove_Rotator_Registry_Entries removes all Registry entries that have been created by Rotator. The next time that Rotator is used, these entries will be created again, so this sub can be used to get a “fresh start” with default values and settings.
Rotator normally remembers the position of the form on the screen. If the computer display configuration has been changed in such a way that the remembered position is “off the screen”, then Reset_Rotator_StartUpPosition can be used to reset the position to “Center Owner”.

Compatibility.

Rotator was put together in a CorelDRAW X7 environment, and should work in versions X7-2020.

OK, where's the macro?

JQ_Rotator_Current.zip (most recently updated on 2021-07-16).

That includes the .GMS file and a simple icon that can be used on a CorelDRAW Toolbar.

Please note that, starting with the version released on 2020-05-10, this macro uses a different scheme for storing combobox value lists and some preferences in the Registry. If you have been using an older version of this macro, those "old" value lists and preferences will not be there when you use the newer version. If you want to "clean out" those old entries that are not used by the newer version of the macro, the best way to do so is to run the Remove_Rotator_Registry_Entries sub, which will set the macro back to its default values.