gbFloorPlanner is an easy to use tool for creating layouts of any kind - house floor plans, garden areas, party decorations, etc.. If the task involves figuring out how to place items in an area, gbFloorPlanner is the tool for the job! Using a simple set of drawing tools, library images and floor plan templates, you can create a custom floor plan in just a few minutes. And while easy to use, gbFloorPlanner provides features comparable to existing commercial and online floor planning applications.

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The next few screenshots show various ways in which gbFloorPlanner can be used to create layouts.

This first screenshot shows a layout consisting of tables, chairs, and a bar - such as might be in a small party. Simple block symbols and colors are used to represent the items in the layout.

gbFloorPlanner uses a single main window, consisting of two toolbars and a layout area where the current floor plan is displayed. Two optional display features are available - a Library and a Layout Content listing. In the fist two screenshots above, the Library is shown. The Layout Content listing is discussed further down this page.

Feature List

1. Create layouts quickly using only a mouse
2. Save/restore layout sessions (return to where quit last session)
3. Save/Open layouts to file
4. Save Selected items to file
5. Rectangle/ellipse/line drawing shapes
6. Control of Layout item properties (Borders, colors, fill styles, images, ...)
7. Resize items using mouse
8. Import saved layouts/templates into current layout
9. Image Library - items which may be easily added to layout
10. Add your own images to the Image Library
11. Layout Content Listing - all items in current layout
12. Layout Summary Report - summary of unique items in current layout
13. Cut/Copy/Paste items in the layout
14. Undo/Redo (maintained in saved file and across sessions)
15. Groups (multiple items treated as one)
16. Select/move/delete multiple items
17. Duplicate selected items
18. Place items in front/behind other items
19. Rotate rectangle and line items
20. Control position of description with item boundary
21. Border, Text, Background Color and Fillstyle properties for each item
22. Pixel or Inch measurements
23. OnScreen ruler
24. Grids (dots or lines)
25. 4 Zoom Factors
26. Snap To Grid (or half-grid)
27. Copy layout image to clipboard
28. Print layout image (portrait/horizontal)
29. Online Help (this page)

Features in work include onscreen resize, item rotation, save selections to Image Library, semi-circle shapes, symbols and additional layout editing tools.

Using gbFloorPlanner

1. Draw Items - create layout items, which may be drawn as rectangles, ellipses, or lines
2. Edit Properties - text, images, colors, and fillstyles may be edited for each layout item

Those two steps alone are sufficient to easily and quickly create a wide range of floor plans. For additional, colorful visual content and to quickly create more complicated floor plans, these two design features are provided

1. Image Library - import your own images, pre-defining sizes and other properties
2. Import Layouts - content of saved layouts may be added to the current layout design

Once items are placed in the floor plan, a number of editing capabilities are available with which to fine-tune the layout and item properties.

1. Select - draw a rectangle around items to select the items for subsequent actions
2. Move - simply use the mouse to drag selected items to a new location
3. Groups - multiple items may be grouped, so that user actions are taken against all items in a group
4. Cut/Copy/Paste/Delete - standard editing features
5. Duplicate - duplicate all selected items
6. Send to Front/Back - place items in specified top-to-bottom order
7. Zoom - get up close to the layout to inspect/fine-tune layout results

Many of the gbFloorPlanner features are optional, including the Image Library, Layout Content Listing, the grid/ruler, and item text/image display,

Session Capture

This feature is on by default. It can be turned off via the Setttings dropdown menu.

Library

Once a Library items is placed in the layout area, it cannot be resized. To do so would invalidate the size information found in the library, making it difficult to know whether the available layout area is sufficient to hold the total number of items in the layout.

Custom sized items, which can also have an associated image, can be drawn using the gbFloorPlanner editing tools.

Layout Content

Double-clicking on an item in the Layout Content list, or in the Layout Area, will open a dialog for editing the item properties.

This next image shows gbFloorPlanner with the Layout Content list displayed.

A context menu is also available from within the Layout Content list, with the following menu options:

• Select All
  Selects/checks all items in the Layout Content list

• UnSelectAll
  UnSelects/UnChecks all items in the Layout Content list

• Copy List
  Copies the Layout Content list to the clipboard

• Print List
  Prints the Layout Content list

• Display Summary
  Displays a popup summary of the unique items/item count in the layout

• Copy Summary
  Copies, to the clipboard, a summary of the unique items/item count in the layout

• Print Summary
  Prints a summary of the unique items/item count in the layout

• Show Selected Item Properties
  For the item selected (not checked) in the Layout Content list, displays a read-only popup dialog listing the item's properties.

Pre-Existing Models

Library Items
As noted before, library items consist of an image that is displayed at a specific size. When using Library items in a layout (as opposed to custom drawn items), you can be accurately assess the size of the floor needed to accommodate items placed in the layout area.

gbFloorPlanner Layouts
Each of the items in the image above are also available as a saved gbFloorPlanner Layout file. These can be inserted into a layout area. The items (chairs/tables) within each layout have been "grouped" to allow the user to work with the items as thought they were a single item. However, the grouped items can be ungrouped and the resulting individual items can then be edited/moved as desired.

Toolbars

Layout Settings (Top Toolbar)
The top Toolbar primarily provides file open/save options and various layout settings.

• Open
  Opens a dialog for selecting a layout file to open in gbFloorPlanner. The adjacent dropdown list lists all files in the "layouts" subfolder, providing an easier way to select a file to open.

• New
  Creates a new, empty layout. The user is first asked to save any changes in the current layout.

• Save
  Saves the current layout without asking the user for confirmation. Uses the current filename.

• SaveAs
  Opens dialog for specifying the name of file to save

• Import
  Opens dialog for selecting a layout file to import. The dropdown list provide an easier way to select a file to import.

• Library
  Displays the Image Library (thumbnails of images available for insertion into the layout)

• Content
  Displays a listing of all items in the current layout

• Ruler
  Displays a ruler along the top/left edges of the layout

• Grid
  Displays a grid (dots or lines) in the layout area

• Snap
  Constrains item placements and sizing to increments of the grid size

• Desc
  Allows display of the text description of layout items

• Images
  Allows display of the images associated with layout items

• Settings
  When pressed, toggles display of the grid as dots or as lines. The associated Settings dropdown menu provides the following menu options:
  
  • Ask Confirmation
    Before opening a new file, asks the user to save any changes made to the current layout.
  • Save Session
    Enables saving work status between sessions. This is on by default.
  • Landscape Printing
    Enables landscape mode for printing the layout image
  • Grid Lines
    By default, grids are made up of dots. This menu item cause the grid to be drawn as lines
  • Snap To Grid
    Enables forced placement of moved items at grid points. On by default
  • Snap Half Grid
    When Snap To Grid is on, allows snapping at half grid positions
  • Rounded Boxes
    Draw rectangles with rounded corners
  • Auto Select Mode After Draw
    After drawing a shape, go into Select mode
  • Show Ruler
    Displays a ruler along the left/top edges of the layout area
  • Minimal Ruler
    Reduces the number of numbers displayed in the ruler. In smaller zoom factors, this makes for a cleaner layout area.
  • Background Color
    Sets the default background color, which is applied to all created items
  • Foreground Color
    Sets the default foreground color, which is applied to all created items (color of the border surrounding the items)
  • Ruler Color
    Opens a color dialog for selecting the color used to draw the ruler
  • Grid Color
    Opens a color dialog for selecting the color used to draw the grid
  • Set Colors to Default
    Sets all colors to the default values
  • Edit Library File
    Opens the Library file (in Notepad). After closing, you can see the results in gbFloorPlanner by using the Re-Load Library File menu option or by restarting gbFloorPlanner.
  • Re-Load Library File
    Refreshes the library information
  • Open Library Image Folder
    Opens Windows Explorer to the library image folder
  • Open Layout File Folder
    Opens Windows Explorer to the layout file subfolder

• Help
  Opens the online Help page (this page). The Help dropdown menu provides the following menu options:
  
  • Local Help
    
  • Online Update
    

Layout Editing (Bottom Toolbar)
The middle toolbar provides all actions for creating and modifying layout items.

• Clear
  Removes all items from the layout

• Truncate
  Removes all items from the Remove/Restore item stack

• Delete
  Deletes selected items (placed on remove/restore stack)

• Zoom
  Cycles between the 5 supported zoom factors

• Duplicate
  Duplicates selected items (places them onscreen with a slight offset)

• Remove
  Removes the last added layout item

• Restore
  Restores the last removed layout item

• Select
  Enters Select mode (draw a rectangle around items to select them)

• Box
  Enters Box drawing mode

• Circle
  Enters Circle drawing mode

• Line
  Enters Line drawing mode

• Copy
  Copies an image of the visible portion of the layout to the clipboard

• Print
  Prints an image of the visible portion of the layout

• 3D
  Displays a simplified 3D model of the layout

gbFloorPlanner Layout Context Menu

• Enter Select Mode
  Allows use of the mouse to select items by drawing a rectangle around/through the items

• Delete Selected items
  Deletes all selected items (placed on Restore list)

• Align Selected Item
  Places the top/left corner of selected items at the nearest grid coordinates

• Left Align Selected Item
  Align all seleted items with the leftmost selected item

• Top Align Selected Item
  Align all selelcted items with the rightmost selected item

• Select All
  Selects all items in the layout

• UnSelect All
  UnSelects all items in the layout

• Group Selected Items
  Places all selected items into a common group

• UnGroup Select Items
  Removes all selected items from all groups

• Duplicate Selected Item
  Places a copy if the selected items in the layout, slightly offset in position from the currently selected items

• Save Selected Items As
  Creates a Layout file containing only the selected items. The current layout continues to contain the same file as before (not the newly saved file).

• Replace Descriptions of Selected Items
  Opens an InputBox in which a specific description, from within all selected items, can be replaced with a new text string (including a zero-length string)

• Set BG Color of Selected Items
  Opens the color dialog for selecting a common background color for all selected items

• Serialize Selected Items
  Changes the description of each selected item to a number, starting with 1 through however many items are selected.

• Reset Angle of Selected Items
  Set the rotation angle of all selected items to zero

• Bring Selected Items to Front
  Draws the selected items prior to all other layout items

• Send Selected Items to Back
  Places the selected items at the back of the drawing order

• Show Item Properties
  Opens a readonly dialog box which gives the properties of the selected item

Keyboard Shortcuts

• F1 - Help
• Ctrl-A - Select all items
• Ctrl-C - Copy Selected Items
• Ctrl-D - Duplicate selected items
• Ctrl-E - Clear (remove) all items
• Ctrl-F - Send selected items to front
• Ctrl-G - Align selected items to grid
• Ctrl-H - Opens InputBox for entering Z-value (height) of a layout item
• Ctrl-I - Capture next selection as *.BMP file. Places in the tempFile subfolder.
• Ctrl-L - List all items (in temp file, opened in Notepad)
• Ctrl-N - Sequentially number selected items
• Ctrl-P - Print layout image
• Ctrl-R - Toggle text orientation between vertical and horizontal
• Ctrl-S - Save layout as current filename with no user confirmation
• Ctrl-T - Toggle location of text within item boundary
• Ctrl-V - Paste
• Ctrl-W - Rotate item (rectangle/line) by 45 degrees counterclockwise
• Ctrl-X - Cut selected items
• Ctrl-Z - Remove most recently added item
• Del - Delete selected items

Other Comments

INI File
gbFloorPlanner application settings are saved in an INI file, kept in the same folder as the gbFloorPlanner application.

Comments and suggestions are welcome!