Troubleshoot Mouse and Cursor Issues

While working with your designs, you might encounter the following mouse- and cursor-related issues.

• Pointer Changes Shape
• Cursor Sticks to Objects
• Cursor Snaps to the Wrong Object
• Cursor Does not Snap to a Point
• Right Mouse Button Does not Work

Pointer Changes Shape

The mouse pointer changes shape to show you how you can use it to select, move, or stretch objects. If you see the pointer change shape, this is not an error.

Cursor Sticks to Objects

If the mouse cursor seems to jump to or stick to objects in your cellview, the gravity setting is most likely on.

Gravity causes the mouse cursor to automatically snap to objects and grid points in the cellview. You typically use gravity when you want to snap the cursor to specific types of objects as you create them.

To turn gravity off:

• Move the mouse pointer to a layout window and press G.
  If this does not work, your system administrator changed the default key bindings. Use the Layout Editor Options form to set gravity.

Cursor Snaps to the Wrong Object

If you want to use gravity but the cursor snaps to the wrong object, you might need to change the gravity settings. Use the Layout Editor Options form to change gravity settings.

Cursor Does not Snap to a Point

If gravity is disabled and the cursor does not snap to the grid point you want, the snap spacing might be set too wide. The X and Y snap spacing settings control the number of units at which the cursor snaps to the grid. Use the Display Options Form to change the snap spacing settings.

Right Mouse Button Does not Work

By default, the right mouse button works as follows:

• Displays the shortcut menu when you click the right mouse button once.
• Zooms in when you press and hold the right mouse button and create a box on the canvas.
• Zooms out when you press the Shift key and hold the right mouse button and create a box on the canvas.

If the right mouse button does not do any of these tasks, it is probably set to create strokes. A stroke is a pre-programmed figure you can create to start a command.

• To cancel the stroke-creation capability, you must exit and restart the software.

If strokes are still on when you restart, then the commands to load strokes are included in your .cdsinit file.

To remove the stroke commands from your .cdsinit file:

1. Use a text editor such as vi to open your .cdsinit file, which is usually located in your current or working directory.
2. Look for these lines in your .cdsinit file:
   

   load(prependInstallPath( "etc/sted/stroke.il"))
   load(prependInstallPath( "etc/sted/defstrokes.il"))
   hiLoadStrokeFile("def.strokes" "Layout")

3. Type a semicolon (;) in front of each line to comment it out.
4. Save the edited .cdsinit file.
5. Exit and restart the software.

Related Topics

Layout Editor Options Form

Display Options Form

Troubleshoot Basic Editing Issues in Layout XL

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