Common Rule Properties
All rule types support a set of common properties that defines the appearance of the rule. Each rule type then has its own properties to govern the behavior of the rule once it is applied to an object.
• Thickness
fRule.thickness and fTextRule.thickness — represents the height of the line being drawn.
Rule thickness can be a positive value, which works inwards into the area bounded by the rule. If given a negative thickness value, the rule works outwards. You can use negative rule thicknesses to move subsequent rules to different locations.
If the pattern specified for the line does not use the full height of the rule, the rule still takes up the specified amount of space.
Thickness is a required property.
• Line style
fRule.lineStyle, fTextRule.lineStyle — defines the style in which the line is drawn
The most common line style is a solid line. PTC Arbortext Layout Developer provides support for a number of different patterns such as dots, dashes, waves, vertical bars, and other shapes. The line style is provided in FOM by the fRuleLine.LineDefinitions constant.
PTC Arbortext Layout Developer also allows the creation of a custom line style, but this is not available through the FOM. Custom line styles must be created in PTC Arbortext Layout Developer— Desktop.
When applying a line style, PTC Arbortext Layout Developer tries to fit whole copies of the line pattern. Internally, PTC Arbortext Layout Developer applies a stretch factor for both the marks (where appropriate) and the space between the marks. This justifies the pattern over the length of the rule.
Line style is a required property.
• Color
fRule.lineColour, fTextRule.color — represents the color applied to the marks created by the line style
For example, the line color property colors the dots in a dotted line and the dashes in a dashed line.
Line color is a required property.
• Background color
fRule.lineBackground, fTextRule.lineBackground — represents the color applied to the background of the rule
The line color applies to the marks in a line style. The line background color applies to the background of the rule, the parts of the rule not covered by the marks from the pattern.
By default, this is set to none.
Background color is not required.
• Start and end patterns
fRule.startPattern. fTextRule.startPattern, fRule.endPattern, fTextRule.endPattern — represent the shapes that can be added to the beginning and/or the end of a line
The possible shapes are listed in the EndPatterns constant of the fRuleLinePattern FOM object — arrow heads, boxes, triangles, or bullets.
By default, no start or end pattern is applied to a rule.
Start and end pattern properties are not required.