Update Layer

Click the Grid Editor | Options | Update Layer command or the button to update the map layer from which the grid was opened. The grid must by opened by selecting the map layer and clicking the Map Tools | Edit Layer | Grid command or right-clicking the map layer and clicking Edit Grid in the context menu to use the Update Layer command. The Update Layer command is disabled when viewing a grid opened with the File | Open or Grids | Editor | Grid Editor command.

To edit a map layer,

  1. Select the map layer you wish to edit in the plot document Contents window.
  2. Click Map Tools | Edit Layer | Grid in the plot window.
  3. Use the Grid Editor | Tools commands to make the desired adjustments to the grid.
  4. When you are done editing the grid, click the Grid Editor | Options | Update Layer command to update the map layer in the plot document with your grid.
  5. If you wish to save your edits to a file, click File | Save | Save As to create a new grid file. Click File | Save to overwrite the existing grid file. It is necessary to save your edits to a file with Save or Save As if you wish to update all layers in your map to use the edited grid.
  6. To close the grid editor window, click the File | Close command or click the X in the grid editor document tab. To view an existing window and keep the grid editor window open, click on another document tab.

After clicking the Update Layer command, view the map layer by clicking the document tab for the plot window that contains the original map layer. Notice that only the map layer that was selected in step 1 was changed. The Update Layer command does not overwrite the grid file used to create the map layer. The Update Layer command does not save a new grid file. The Update Layer command only changes the grid for the original map layer.

Undo Update Layer

The Update Layer command changes the map layer in the plot document. Therefore to undo the Update Layer command, click the document tab for the plot window that contains the original map layer. Next click the Home | Undo | Undo command or press CTRL+Z. The map layer will return to the unedited state. The grid in the grid editor can be reapplied to the map layer by clicking Home | Undo | Redo in the plot document or Grid Editor | Options | Update Layer in the grid editor.

If you did not overwrite the original grid file, you can also revert back to the original grid by clicking Map Tools | Reload | Map Data.

You can discard the edited grid by closing the grid editor. Click No in the Surfer dialog when asked to save the grid.

Saving the Edited Grid

When you have finished making changes to the grid you can overwrite the original grid file or save a new grid file. You must save the grid file to use the edited grid in other map layers. To overwrite the original file, click the File | Save command in the grid editor. To save the edited grid to a new file, click the File | Save | Save As command in the grid editor.

If you closed the grid editor without saving changes, but you decide later you wish to save the grid, click the layer that was updated with the Update Layer command. Next, click Map Tools | Edit Layer | Grid to open the grid in the grid editor. The edited grid will be opened in the grid editor and you can overwrite the original grid file or create a new grid file.

Updating All Map Layers

Only the originally selected map layer is updated when you click the Grid Editor | Options | Update Layer command, even when multiple map layers use the same grid file in the plot document. You must save the grid to a file to use the grid in new or existing map layers.

To update the other map layers after overwriting the original grid with the File | Save command,

  1. Return to the plot document by clicking the document tab for the plot window.
  2. Click the Map Tools | Reload | Map Data command.

All map layers that were created from the same grid as the one that was edited are automatically updated to the new grid.

To update the other map layers after creating a new grid file,

  1. Return to the plot document by clicking the document tab for the plot window.
  2. Click one of the map layers that is still using the original grid file in the Contents window.
  3. Click the General tab in the Properties window.
  4. Click the button in the Grid file property field.
  5. Locate and click the new grid file in the Open Grid dialog.
  6. Click Open in the Open Grid dialog.
  7. Repeat steps 2 through 6 for each map layer you wish to update.

All the maps layers that were created from the same grid as the one that was edited are now updated to the new grid.

See Also

Grid Editor

Map Types

Tabbed Documents