Section Tools


When a Quick Section is generated, the “Section Tools” ribbon will become available which provides tools and settings for controlling the Quick Section, such as the Template, Paper Size and Horizontal/Vertical Scales that you want to use.

Note that when you have configured your Quick Section to your liking, it is possible to save these settings to the Section Details Group in order to easily re-generate Quick Sections later.

Table of Contents

Actions

Reload Data

This will reload a new version of the Quick Section. If you have changed any settings in the ribbon, or if data has changed within the project, you will need to reload to see the updated Quick Section.

Save as PDF

This can be used to save a local PDF version of the Quick Section.

Save Section

This can be used to attach a PDF version of the Quick Section to the cloud Project.

The PDF can be accessed by going to Project>View Documents.

Save Details

This can be used to save the various Section Tools ribbon settings to the Section Details Group so that the Quick Section can be easily regenerated later using the same settings.

Note that you first need to save the Section Line you are working with before you can save the Section Details. If you don’t, you will get an error telling you that "Section details could not be created. The section line referenced does not exist.":

The Section Line can be saved under Map Tools>Save:

Parameters

Parameters is where values are entered if your Quick Section template uses Dynamic Text objects.

Parameters need to be re-entered every time the Quick Section is generated. This is a somewhat obsolete feature.

Often it will be preferable to create custom Headers in the Section Details Group that are used instead. The advantage with using Section Details is that the values are persisted and do not need to be re-entered every time the Section is generated.

Settings

Template

The Template drop-down can be used to select the Quick Section Template that you’d like to use.

The default Template can be set under System>Configuration Packs>Manage Templates.

Strip Profile

A Strip Profile can be selected for the Quick Section.

Strip Profiles can be used to define the Strips that you’d like to use on your Quick Section. For example, it’s possible to have a Strip Profile that uses different Strips for different Location Types, such as Boreholes vs. CPT’s vs. Test Pits vs. Wells.

If Strip Profiles are not set up within the project or configuration that is being used, the Quick Section will use the default Strip set for the Quick Section template.

Paper Size

A Paper Size can be selected.

It is possible to select a different Paper Size than used for the Quick Section template, and the generated Section will be scaled accordingly. This does not always work perfectly, and it’s generally recommended to configure different Quick Section templates intended for different Paper Sizes.

Scale

Horizontal

This is the Horizontal Scale used for the Quick Section expressed as a ratio. For example, a 1:100 scale would mean that 1 m on the Section would represent 100 m in real life (or similarly, 1 ft on the Section would represent 100 ft in real life).

When the Quick Section is generated, it will utilize a best-fit scale depending on the length of the Section and paper space available. 

It is possible to enter a larger value for the Horizontal Scale than the best-fit scale, but not a lower value (unless you adjust the Horizontal Start/End values – see below). If you enter a lower value, it will default back to the best-fit scale because the full Section can not fit into the available space.

Here the Section is generated with the best-fit Horizontal Scale (1:473):

Here the Section is generated with a larger value entered for the Horizontal Scale (1:500) so that a more-typical scale is used:

Note that space is also allocated to offset the Strips from the vertical axes, which will impact the scale. This offset is based on the width of the left-most and right-most Strips on the Quick Section. 

Resetting to the Best-Fit Horizontal Scale

In the course of adjusting your Section settings, you may want to regenerate the Section using the best-fit scale. A trick is to set the Horizontal Scale value to 1:1, which will cause the Section to generate using the best-fit scale when reloaded.

For example:

Which would cause the Horizontal Scale to generate using the best-fit Scale:

Vertical

This is the Vertical Scale used for the Quick Section expressed as a ratio, similar to the Horizontal Scale.

The Quick Section will first generate with a best-fit Vertical Scale. But unlike the Horizontal Scale, the Vertical Scale is not restricted to a minimum value. Entering a smaller value will trim the profile vertically.

For example, here the Section is generated with a smaller value entered for the Vertical Scale ratio and note that the Strips are trimmed instead of extending to the full depth for each Location:

The difference in behavior compared to the Horizontal Scale is to accommodate zooming in on a specific portion of the vertical profile, which can also be done in-conjunction with the Vertical Top/Base settings (see below for more information).

Increment

This value controls the interval for the vertical scale ticks and labels:

Horizontal Start/End

The Horizontal Start and End settings can be used to trim a Section horizontally instead of showing the full length of the Section Line.

For example, here the Horizontal Start and End are set to 0 m and 90 m, which shows the Section trimmed to the first part of the Section Line:

Note that the Horizontal Start/End settings respect the initial Chainage value (see above) for the Section Line. For example, if initial Chainage is set to 1000 m, Start/End would need to be set to 1000/1090 m show a similar portion of the Section Line as the example above:

Pagination Interval

The Pagination Interval can be used to break up a long Section Line into multiple pages.

For example, here a Pagination Interval of 60 is entered, and the Section is broken up into 3 pages each showing 60 m along the Section Line:

When a Pagination Interval is set, a best-fit Horizontal Scale will always be used, and the scale cannot be adjusted.

If you’d like to break a Section Line into multiple pages horizontally and also use a specific Horizontal Scale, this can be done using the Horizontal Start/End settings instead of a Pagination Interval. Multiple records can be created in Section Details Group with the Horizontal Start/End and Horizontal Scale specified.

For example:

Vertical Top/Base

The Vertical Top and Base settings can be used to trim a Section vertically to show a specific range in the profile.

If you enter both a Vertical Top and Base, the Quick Section will be drawn with a best-fit scale that cannot be adjusted:

If you enter just a Vertical Top or just a Vertical Base, the entered Vertical Scale will be respected:

Locations

Location Group

A Location Group can be selected. Only Locations within the selected Location Group (and within the Buffer) will be shown on the Quick Section.

For example, below a "Phase 1" Location Group (indicated by red dots on the map) has been selected and only those Locations are shown on the Quick Section.

Select Locations

The Select Locations button will open an interface for selecting any Locations that you want to Exclude (hide) from the Quick Section.

The initial list of "Included Locations" will be the Locations within both the Section Line Buffer and Location Group (if selected).

Locations can be selected and toggled back and forth between the "Included Locations" grid and "Excluded Locations" grid using the Exclude Selected, Include All, and Include Selected buttons.

Note that the grids contain all Headers from the Location Details grid and are filterable to potentially make Location Selection easier if you have a lot of Locations to manage.

When you are finished with your Location selection, there are three options:

Edit Locations

The Edit Locations button will open the Section Locations Group.

This can only be used if the current Section has been Saved to the Section Details Group (see Save Details above).

The Grid will be filtered to the records for the current Section (rather than showing all records for every Section). For example, below there is only the single Excluded Location BH9:

Data Presentation

Scale Horizontally

The Scale Horizontally setting will plot Strips at their actual position along the Section Line. This setting is selected by default.

If de-selected, Strips will be evenly spaced along the Section Line. For example:

Hide Chainages

This setting applies if the Quick Section template uses a Chainage Horizontal Scale.

By default, Chainages will be shown on the Horizontal Scale for each Location, as well as for any points along the Section Line:

Using the Hide Chainages option will hide the Chainages for the points along the Section Line, but still show them for each Location:

Fix Log Width

This option can be used when generating a Quick Section on a different Paper Size than the template was designed for. It will scale the Strips proportional to the change in Paper Size. As mentioned in the Paper Size topic above, the automatic scaling doesn’t work perfectly for certain template designs, and it often may be better to design different templates intended for different paper sizes.