This article covers the thirteen commands that control what’s visible in the GDI Display and how it looks — the Color Display and Text Display settings screens, on/off toggles for customer, node, pipe, and User Graphic/Text visibility, the color legend and crosshairs, and the three background-image commands (turning images on or off as a group or individually, and rescaling one to match a known real-world distance). Most of these are simple on/off toggles with no confirmation prompt — running the command again just flips it back.
GDI Commands
Color Display Settings
Opens a screen for setting default feature colors, defining a query-based highlight color, and building a value-based color range.
- With a model open and the GDI Window displayed, select Color Display Settings from the Display Settings branch of the GDI Command Tree.
- On the Default Colors tab, left-click a color panel to set that feature’s default color; for pipes, choose whether the color comes from the Facility Table, Pipe Property Table, or Selected Color. Click Apply Default Colors.
- On the Color By Query tab, left-click the color panel to set the highlight color, click Define Query Specifications to build the query, then click Apply Query Colors.
- On the Range Colors tab, choose an Item and Units, left-click each range’s color panel, then click Allocate (equal feature counts per range), Calculate (uniform ranges from the highest/lowest values), or type range boundaries into the To fields manually. Click Apply Range Colors.
- Click Save Feature Colors to save the applied colors, Reset Feature Colors to return everything to defaults, or Close to exit.
Also runs from the Settings & Actions panel or GDI Command List, or by typing SETCOLORS.
Notes
- Default color values only apply to features whose Symbol Color (or Pipe Line Color) item is set to “Default” in the Graphic Data Items section of the Data Panel.
Text Display Settings
Opens a screen for setting the text display options — size, rotation, display limit, and color — for customer, node, and pipe data text.
- Select Text Display Settings from the Display Settings branch of the GDI Command Tree.
- Choose the Pipe Items, Node Items, or Customer Items tab.
- Set the Text Size (absolute, in the Coordinate Values units, or relative, as Printer Points), Text Rotation (degrees from north), and Display Limit (diagonal display extent below which the text is visible; zero shows it at every zoom level).
- Left-click the Text Color panel, choose a color, and click OK.
- Click Apply to save your changes and close the screen, or Cancel to discard them.
Also runs from the GDI Command List, or by typing SETTEXT.
Notes
- Display Customer Symbols and Display Node Symbols must be on for that feature’s text items to show at all, regardless of this screen’s settings.
- Text items appear at preset locations; use each feature type’s “Move” text command to reposition or rotate an individual item.
- Use each feature type’s “Edit” command to turn text items on or off for one specific feature; the Display Text Items option here must still be selected for that feature type overall.
Display The Customer Symbols
Toggles the display of customer symbols on or off.
- With at least one customer in the model, select Display Customer Symbols from the Display Settings branch of the GDI Command Tree.
- If customer symbols are displayed, they are turned off; if hidden, they are turned on.
Also runs from the GDI Command List, or by typing DISPLAYCUSTOMER or DISPCUST.
Notes
- If this is on but symbols still don’t show, check the Customer Symbol Display Limit on the Graphics tab of Options & Settings — zoom in, raise the limit, or set it to zero to display at every scale. Customer Symbol Size and Style are set on the same tab.
Display The Node Symbols
Toggles the display of node symbols on or off.
- With at least one node in the model, select Display Node Symbols from the Display Settings branch of the GDI Command Tree.
- If node symbols are displayed, they are turned off; if hidden, they are turned on.
Also runs from the GDI Command List, or by typing DISPLAYNODE or DISPNODE.
Notes
- If this is on but symbols still don’t show, check the Node Symbol Display Limit on the Graphics tab of Options & Settings — zoom in, raise the limit, or set it to zero to display at every scale. Node Symbol Size and Style are set on the same tab.
Display The Pipe Symbols
Toggles the display of pipe symbols — compressors, regulators, valves, and wells — on or off.
- With at least one pipe feature whose Hydraulic Type is other than “Pipe” in the model, select Display Pipe Symbols from the Display Settings branch of the GDI Command Tree.
- If pipe symbols are displayed, they are turned off; if hidden, they are turned on.
Also runs from the GDI Command List, or by typing DISPLAYPIPE or DISPPIPE.
Notes
- If this is on but symbols still don’t show, check the Pipe Symbol Display Limit on the Graphics tab of Options & Settings. Pipe symbols can be solid or hollow (Display Solid Pipe Symbols option) and their size is set by Pipe Symbol Size, also on that tab.
Display The Flow Arrows
Toggles the display of flow direction arrows on or off.
- With at least one pipe with non-zero flow in the model, select Display Flow Arrows from the Display Settings branch of the GDI Command Tree.
- If flow arrows are displayed, they are turned off; if hidden, they are turned on.
Also runs from the GDI Command List, or by typing DISPLAYFLOW or FLOWARROW.
Notes
- If this is on but arrows still don’t show, check the Flow Arrow Display Limit on the Graphics tab of Options & Settings. Pipe segments with zero flow or pressure drop never display an arrow.
- Flow Arrow Size (entering 0 matches the Node Symbol Size) and Style are set on the same tab. Use Display Flow Arrow Once Per Polyline Pipe to show one arrow per polyline pipe instead of one per segment, and Suppress Flow Arrow Where Flow Is Less Than Convergence Tolerance to hide arrows on very low-flow pipes.
Display The User Graphics
Toggles the display of User Graphic Images, Lines, and Symbols on or off, all together.
- With at least one User Graphic Image, Line, or Symbol in the model, select Display User Graphics from the Display Settings branch of the GDI Command Tree.
- If User Graphics are displayed, they are turned off; if hidden, they are turned on.
Also runs from the GDI Command List, or by typing DISPLAYGRAPHICS.
Display The User Text
Toggles the display of User Text features on or off.
- With at least one User Text feature in the model, select Display User Text from the Display Settings branch of the GDI Command Tree.
- If User Text is displayed, it is turned off; if hidden, it is turned on.
Also runs from the GDI Command List, or by typing DISPLAYTEXT.
Display The Color Legend
Toggles the Color Legend on or off in the lower-left corner of the GDI Window.
- With a color range already set, select Display Color Legend from the GDI Command List.
- If the Color Legend is displayed, it is removed; if not displayed, it appears in the lower-left corner of the GDI Window.
Runs by typing DISPLAYCOLOR or DISPCOLOR.
Display The Crosshairs
Toggles the mouse cursor crosshairs on or off.
- Select Display Crosshairs from the GDI Command List.
- If crosshairs are enabled, they are turned off; if not enabled, they are turned on.
Runs by typing DISPLAYCROSSHAIRS or CROSSHAIRS. Useful for aligning objects horizontally or vertically, or when the cursor itself is hard to see.
Display A Background Image
Toggles the display of every attached background image on or off, as a group.
- With at least one background image attached to the model, select Display Background Image from the Display Settings branch of the GDI Command Tree.
- If background images are displayed, they are turned off; if hidden, they are turned on.
Also runs from the GDI Command List, or by typing DISPLAYBACKGROUND or DISPBACK.
Notes
- Individual images can be shown or hidden one at a time from the Background Image Settings screen (Graphics menu > Background Settings) — but if this master toggle is off, no background image will display even if its checkbox there is selected.
- If this is on but an image still isn’t visible, it may simply be elsewhere in the model — use Zoom To Fit or the other view controls to locate it.
Scale A Background Image
Rescales a background image using two reference points and a known real-world distance between them.
- With at least one background image in the model, select Scale Background Image from the GDI Command List.
- At the Background Image File To Scale prompt, select the image from the GDI Prompt List and right-click.
- At the Select A Known Point On The Background Image prompt, left-click a reference point on the image.
- At the Select Another Known Point On The Background Image prompt, left-click a second reference point whose real-world distance from the first is known.
- At the What Is The Actual Distance Between The Selected Points prompt, type the known distance in the default Prompted Length Values units and press Enter.
- Respond Yes to apply the reported Scale Factor to the image, or No to end the command.
Runs by typing SCALEBACKGROUND or SCALEBACK.
Notes
- Use Measure A Distance afterward to verify the image was rescaled correctly.
Turn A Background Image Display On Or Off
Toggles a single background image’s display on or off, without affecting any others.
- With a background image attached to the model, select Turn Background Image Display On/Off from the GDI Command List.
- At the Background Image File To Turn Off/On prompt, select a file from the list.
- If Graphically Select It is chosen, at the Select The Image To Turn Off/On prompt, left-click the background image.
- If the image is currently on, it’s turned off; if it was off, it’s turned on.
Runs by typing IMGOFF. Also reachable from the Background Image Settings screen’s individual checkboxes (Graphics menu > Background Settings) — but Display A Background Image must be on overall for any individual image to show.
Notes & Considerations
- Most of the toggle commands in this article flip immediately between on and off with no confirmation message — run the same command again to switch back.
- Symbol, flow arrow, and image toggles each depend on a matching Display Limit (Graphics tab, Options & Settings). If a toggle is on but nothing appears, the view may simply be zoomed out past that feature’s limit — zoom in, raise the limit, or set it to zero to always display.
- Related size and style settings for customer, node, and pipe symbols, and flow arrows, all live on the Graphics tab of Options & Settings; sizes can be entered as an absolute value in the default Prompted Length Values units or as a relative percentage of display width.
- If Allow Undo Of Data/Graphic Changes is enabled (Utilities > Options & Settings > Environment), click the Undo icon to reverse the last data or graphic change.
See Also
- Adding Customers & Services
- Adding Pipes & Nodes
- Adding Equipment (Compressors, Regulators, Valves & Fittings)
- Adding User Graphics & Text
- Editing Customer, Node & Pipe Data
- Moving Text, Graphics, Legends & Views
- Views, Panning, Zooming & Plotting
- Measuring Distances & Angles
- Example: Color-Coding & Display Limits
- Example: Selecting, Moving & Viewing Features
- Example: Adding Background Images (BMP, DXF, SHP)
- Example: Fittings, Panels & Palettes
FAQ
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This subcategory covers how the model looks and how you move around it on screen — colors, symbol and text sizes, the Tool Palette, coordinate and snapping settings, what’s visible or hidden in the GDI Display, distance and angle measurements, layer and log toggles, and panning, zooming, and plotting the GDI image itself.
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Start with Display & Visibility Settings — it controls whether customer symbols, node symbols, pipe symbols, flow arrows, User Graphics, User Text, and background images are turned on or off. If the feature type is visible but hard to spot, Colors, Symbols, Sizes & Tool Palette covers adjusting colors and symbol sizes to make things stand out.
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Views, Panning, Zooming & Plotting is about controlling what part of the model you’re looking at — saving views, zooming in and out, plotting the image. Coordinates, Projection & Snapping is about precision while you work within that view — setting coordinate systems, snapping to features, and measuring along specific axes, which matters more when you’re placing or aligning features than when you’re just navigating the drawing.
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Measuring Distances & Angles covers exactly that — Measure A Distance and Measure An Angle let you click points in the GDI Display and get a real-world measurement back, without needing to calculate it separately.
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Toggling Layers, Logs & GeoMapping covers both. It includes Turn The GeoMapping Functions On Or Off and Turn A DXF Layer Off, along with commands for turning the Change Log on or off and viewing or clearing it.