Insert New Object

Stardraw A/V Lite conforms to the OLE 2 (Object Linking and Embedding) standard. This means that objects (e.g. spreadsheets, charts etc.) created in other OLE applications (e.g. Excel, Word for Windows etc.) can be embedded and displayed in a Stardraw A/V Lite document without any complex import routine.

Click on Insert New Object to reveal the dialog shown here. You have the choice to create a new OLE object, or you can create one from file, in which case you simply select an existing file using the “Browse” button and insert it into your document. OLE objects are inserted into the centre of your drawing. They can be moved and scaled just like any other object.

The list of Object Types in the dialog describes all of the OLE applications available on your system and the objects they produce. If you do not have the appropriate OLE application installed or if the filetype of the OLE object you wish to install is not entered in your system registry (see your Windows documentation) you will be unable to insert it.

When an OLE object is embedded in your document you can edit it using the application that created it. When this occurs the editing application is referred to as the OLE server application and Stardraw A/V Lite is the OLE client. There are three ways to edit an OLE object:

• Doubleclick on the OLE object

• Display the Quickmenu and select Edit from the OLE Object sub-menu.

• Display the Edit menu and select Edit from the OLE Object sub-menu.

To create a new OLE object in your document select “Create New” from the Insert New Object dialog and choose the appropriate OLE server application, e.g. to create a spreadsheet within your document select "Microsoft Excel Worksheet". In this case you will see an area created within your Stardraw document which behaves exactly like the primary window of the OLE server application (Excel). You will also see that menus and toolbars change to provide the commands and functionality of the server application. You can now create the OLE object just as if you were using only the OLE server application. This is called inplace editing.

When editing or creating new OLE objects within Stardraw A/V Lite, click outside the inplace editing window or press the Escape key on your keyboard to return you to Stardraw. If you have been taken into the OLE server application (some OLE server applications do this as they don’t support inplace editing) just close the file to update your document and return to Stardraw A/V Lite.

The other option from the Insert Object dialog is to "Create from File". This means that you can embed any existing file into your Stardraw document and, as long as it is a registered filetype with an association to an application, it can be displayed and edited within your document. If the "Link" box is not checked a copy of your chosen file will be made within the Stardraw A/V Lite document and any changes you make to it will not affect the original file. If the "Link" box is checked a link will be created between your Stardraw document and the external file, but a copy of the file will not be made. Any changes that are made to the external file (in the example here it is an Excel spreadsheet) will be reflected in your Stardraw A/V Lite document whenever you update the link, and any change you make to the object within Stardraw will affect the original external file.

Note that embedding files within documents can, in some cases, dramatically increase your document’s filesize.

OLE objects are displayed with a black outline. This outline does not print and you can verify the way your document will print by using Print Preview.