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Overview : Aethera : kamera : KDB : KDE Studio : Kivio : Korelib : Kugar : MARS : tkJabber
VeePee
Kivio: A Tutorial
Location / Home / Projects / Kivio / Tutorial
 Getting Started
The following is a small guide to getting you started using Kivio. Please keep in mind that Kivio is currently in beta form, and does not contain all the features listed on the features page. Kivio is still in development and new features are constantly being added.
Starting Kivio
Once you install Kivio, the program can be started by running
kiviopart from a shell prompt,
or by clicking it's icon in your window manager. Kivio will start
up and display a dialog box to you asking if you'd like to create
a new document, or open an existing one. Make sure 'Create new'
is selected, and click OK. You should now have a window like
the following:
This is the basic Kivio screen. On the top are your toolbars, used for
performing the most common tasks. In the center is the page. All
documents start with one page, of size A4.
What Are All Those Icons!?
Subsequent releases of Kivio will have a more refined set of toolbars.
However, here are the icons as they are right now, and as they are in
the screenshot above (left to right, top to bottom).
- New Document
- Open Document
- Save Document
- Print Document (Disabled)
- Load Stencil Set
- Set Zoom Percentage
- Show Page Borders
- Show Margins
- Show Rulers
- Show Grid
- Set Ruler Unit Format
- Cut Selected Stencils
- Copy Selected Stencils
- Paste Selected Stencils
- Group Selected Stencils
- Ungroup Selected Stencils
- Send Selected Stencils To Back
- Bring Selected Stencils To Front
- Set Line Color
- Set Fill Color
- Set Line Width
- Set First Selected Stencil Position
- Set First Selected Stencil Dimensions
- Set End Arrow Head Dimensions (not implemented)
- Set End Arrow Head Type (not implemented)
- Set Start Arrow Head Type (not implemented)
- Set Start Arrow Head Dimensions (not implemented)
- Set Text Of Selected Stencils
- Set Font Of Selected Stencils
- Set Text Size Of Selected Stencils
- Set Text Color Of Selected Stencils
- Toggle Selected Stencils' Font Bold Setting
- Toggle Selected Stencils' Font Italics Setting
- Toggle Selected Stencils' Font Underline Setting
- Horizontally Align Selected Stencils' Text
- Vertically Align Selected Stencils' Text
- Select Tool
- Magnification Tool (displays another toolbar)
- Text Tool
- Connector Tool
Selecting A Stencil Set
The first thing you need to do to get anything done, is load a set of
stencils. Stencils are little shapes you can place on the page to
represent objects. They are stored in groups of similar stencils,
called stencil sets. To load a stencil set, locate the toolbar
button for it shown in the picture above and click it. A menu will
pop up displaying a list of categories to choose from. Currently,
there is only one category, so select it, and it will display a list
of stencil sets for that category. Select the only one available
and some new objects will appear on the left side of your window.
You should now have a window looking similar to the one shown below, without
the stencils on the page of course.
Adding Stencils To The Page
Each of these icons represents a stencil you can drop onto the page. Icons
with a grey background are plain stencils. You can resize them, set their
colors, and fill them with text. Icons with yellow backgrounds are
connector stencils. You can use them to link two stencils together.
Adding stencils to a page is done by drag and drop. Simply click on an
icon in the stencil dock, and drag it over to where you want it on the page.
As you drag over the page, you will notice a shape will be drawn under
the mouse cursor representing the stencil you are going to add to the page.
Release the mouse button when you get the stencil to where you want it.
Voila, you have added your first stencil to the page.
Notice the green boxes around the stencil (similar to the picture on
the left). This means the stencil is
currently selected. Most of the toolbars have buttons which
make changes to the selected stencils.
For example, lets change the color of the stencil you just dropped
on the page. If the stencil is not selected, select it by clicking
on it. Now locate the fill-color toolbar button like the one shown
in the picture on the left. Click the little arrow and a variety
of colors will be shown in a menu. You can either choose one of the
colors there, or click other color and it will give you a
color chooser where you can create your own color. Once you select
a color, the stencil you selected will now be that color.
Play around with the other buttons on the toolbar, such as line
color and line width.
Tools
Tools are what you use to change the document. There are currently 4
tools. The first is the Selection Tool. It is used to select,
move, and resize stencils. Next is the Zoom Tool. With it you can
zoom in on various spots of the page, zoom to view the whole page, etc. The
third tool is the Text Tool. You can add text to most stencils with
this, and even place floating text anywhere on the page. Finally, we have the
Connector Tool which you can use to connect stencils together.
Connecting Stencils
To connect two stencils, click on the Connector Tool. Your mouse
cursor will change to an 'A' with a +. Click on a stencil's blue 'X' and
drag to another stencil's blue 'X'. A line should be drawn from stencil to
stencil. If you clicked the 'X's, you will notice the endpoints of the line
are red, which means they are connected to a
stencil. If you drag the other stencils around, the endpoints of the
connector will follow. If you did not click the 'X', the endpoint will be
green meaning it is not connected.
Now that the connector is connected to another stencil, drag the stencil
you connected the connector to around. Notice how the straight connector
moves around with it. There is no need to reposition the connector when
you move the other stencil around, it takes care of that for you.
Adding Text
There are two ways to add text to a page in Kivio. The first is to select a
stencil on the page, and click the Text Tool (or hit Ctrl+T). This
will add text directly to a stencil. You can then change the
size/font/color/style of the text by selecting various buttons on the toolbar.
The second way is to unselect all stencils and select the Text Tool.
The mouse cursor should change to an 'A' with a +. Click anywhere on the
page and drag a rectangle. When you release the mouse button, a dialog box
will pop up with space for you to enter text. This will place floating text
on the page. There is no border, just text.
The End
This is not a complete tutorial of the feature in Kivio, but it should be
enough to get you started. Remember, this is a tech-preview, so I
personally would not go creating any large documents with it seeing as
the file formats are likely to change and may not be compatible with other
releases. You also cannot print right now.
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