2.10.7 Preferences Dialog

This dialog controls some parameters which likely will not be changed frequently.

Angles - controls the angle system. Polar: 0° is up and angles are measured clockwise, or Cartesian: 0° is to the right and angles are measured counter-clockwise.

Auto Pan - if enabled, dragging near the edge of the Main Canvas (Section 3.1) will cause the canvas to move to follow the mouse.

Check-Point - how often the layout is automatically saved to the checkpoint file (Section 1.8.3). Setting this value to 0 disables writing the Checkpoint file.

Connection Angle - as above for the angle between endpoints.

Connection Distance - the maximum distance between endpoints that can be connected. This affects the Join (Section 2.2.6) command and auto-connection during Parallel (Section 2.1.5) commands and placing Turnouts (Section 2.7). The default value for this field is 0.100 inches or 0.254 CM. Changing this value is not recommended.

Drag Distance - controls how far you can move the cursor (in pixels) before XTrkCad considers the action to be a drag instead of a click.

Drag Timeout - controls how long you can hold a mouse button down (in milliseconds) before XTrkCad considers the action to be a drag instead of a click.

Length Format - controls how lengths are displayed. Combinations of feet and inches (or meters, centimeters and millimeters) with support for decimal or fractional measures. Note: lengths can be entered in any format and are converted on entry.

List Labels - controls the format of titles for turnouts and structures displayed in lists (such as the Parts List (Section 2.9.5)).

Maximum Track Grade - Tracks with more than this grade are drawn in the exceptional (Section 2.10.1) color.

Minimum Track Length - specifies the minimum length of a track. Shorter tracks will not be created.

Minimum Track Radius - Curved tracks with less than this radius are drawn in the exceptional (Section 2.10.1) color.

Train Update Delay - number of milliseconds between updates in the Train Simulation (Section 2.9.7) mode. A lower value will generate a smoother display but reduces system responsiveness.

Units - choose between English (inches) or Metric (centimeters) measurements.