Introduction

String data is one of the basic types of 3D data understood by your application, along with points, drillholes, wireframes and block models. Strings are lines (traces) defined by the end-points of their component segments.

At its simplest, a string file has the following minimum data. Typically, however, it will also contain fields to define color, symbol style and line style, as well as other attributes.

Field	Numeric or Alphanumeric	Implicit or Explicit	Description
XP YP ZP	N	E	The coordinates of the String vertex.
PTN	N	E	The String vertex number.
PVALUE	N	E	The String number.

String data can exist in a number of guises and locations:

As a strings file - saved to a disk as a Datamine format file (.dm) or in another format (e.g. AutoCAD).
Archived - saved in the Project File.
As 3D Objects - new strings or existing strings loaded into memory from a file.

Creating a New String

Using the Table Editor - Create a table with the fields listed above, using the Table Editor, then add records and values until the string has been defined completely. When saved, this will be a Datamine file saved to disk.
Interactively - use the New String commandthen digitize the points of the string using the mouse. This method will create a strings 3D object in memory, which can be saved to disk as a Datamine file, or saved within the Project File as archived data.

Editing String Data

When a string has been created, it can be subject to a host of string manipulation commands. For example, you can condition a string so that nodes (points) are automatically added at a specified interval, or you can fillet a string, allow nodes to be added so that a minimum angle is set for each coincident angle. The majority of these commands can be found using the Design drop-down menu.

For more information on the Design menu commands, see Menu Overview: Design.

You can use string data as a basis for more complex data objects, such as wireframes. A simple wireframe can be created by linking two strings, for example. Wireframe data is comprised of strings linked to form triangulated data.

Strings can also be used to define boundaries for other operations, such as blast design layouts, model evaluations, block model creation etc. Refer to the Table of Contents on the left for more information on these concepts.

Whenever snapping is activated for a particular object type, that object/type will become selectable, regardless of the options set in the Home ribbon's selection options. Conversely, if you have selected an object type to select in the same menu, but an object is not available for snapping (according to the settings in this dialog) - selection of the allocated object will not be permitted.

In short, the settings in this box control how data is both 'snapped to' and selected, whereas the Select on Click menu options provide (amongst other things) the ability to turn on/off the selection of data types globally.