Autodesk 00308-011408-9F30A User Guide - Page 140

Lines and polylines are different in several ways, even though they look similar. A polyline is a single entity regardless of the number of segments. A series of lines with common endpoints may look like a polyline, but they are actually multiple line entities. If you need to store independent information about the individual components of a series of line segments, use lines. If you delete part of an entity created using lines, you can delete the lines one at a time. If you perform the same procedure on an entity created with a single polyline, the entire figure is deleted. Tools for drawing lines can be accessed from the Draw menu or the Line toolset on the All-In-One toolbar. You can also activate the Line toolbar (which contains the same commands but can be docked anywhere onscreen) by right-clicking a toolbar, then clicking Toolbars on the pop-up menu that appears. Simply check the Line check box in the Toolbars dialog box, then click OK to make the Line toolbar visible onscreen. Edit bar controls allow you to directly modify the length, startpoint, endpoint, or associated angle of the entity by entering new values. You can join lines to convert them to polylines. For more information on joining lines, see the chapter titled "Converting & Exploding Entity Types," which begins on page 313. Drawing Single Lines A line is a straight entity that begins at a startpoint and ends at an endpoint. Lines can represent real world items, such as the edge of a wall or the top of a bolt, or they can draw attention to other parts of a drawing, such as the leader line in a dimension. You draw single lines by entering two points with the Draw menu's single line command. You can also use the Line Segment tool, which allows you to draw a line whose width, length, and angle are entered using the keyboard. Use single lines when you need to draw lines that are not connected. 130 | Chapter 11 Lines