<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE language SYSTEM "klayout_doc.dtd">

<doc>

  <title>Loading A File</title>
  <keyword name="Load layout"/>

  <p>
  In the "File" menu, choose
  </p>
  <ul>
    <li>"Open" to close the current view and open a new layout instead
        of the currently loaded one</li>
    <li>"Open in Same Panel" to open a new layout in addition to the
        currently loaded one</li>
    <li>"Open in New Panel" to open a new layout in a new view</li>
  </ul>
  <p>
  Either way, a file selection dialog will appear where a file can be
  chosen for loading. After choosing the file and clicking "Ok", the
  file is loaded.
  </p>
  <p>
  The program will automatically determine the type of the file. Currently,
  OASIS, GDS2, DXF, CIF, LEF/DEF and a text version of GDS2 are supported.
  Gerber PCB data can be read with some preparations too (see <link href="/manual/import_gerber.xml"/>). 
  If the file is gzip/zlib compressed, it will be uncompressed automatically.
  </p>

  <p>
  Certain options can be specified for the file loader using the 
  reader option pages. To open the reader options dialog, choose
  "Reader Options" from the "File" menu. This dialog allows specification of
  certain options for all "Open" actions, for example:
  </p>

  <ul>
    <li>Confine the reader to a certain set of layers. All other layers are not read.</li>
    <li>Disable reading of text objects. Text objects don't carry geometrical information 
        for masks and can be discarded this way.</li>
    <li>Disable reading of user properties. If properties are not required, the memory consumption can be reduced by disabling 
        properties.</li>
    <li>Certain GDS specific options which mainly control the level of compatibility with other tools.</li>
    <li>Other formats may offer other options too. Specifically rich formats such as DXF or LEF/DEF can 
        be configured in manifold ways. Different tabs show options for different formats or format groups.</li>
  </ul>
  
  <p>
  Using "File/Reload", the currently loaded file can be re-read from disk. 
  Usually this is not required, because KLayout will automatically check whether
  the file has changed and offer to load it.
  </p>

  <p>
  By picking a file from the "Open Recent" list in the "File" menu, a previous
  file can be loaded again. 
  </p>

  <p>
  Files can be given to KLayout on the command line and are loaded 
  automatically. Multiple files can be specified. They are shown in different
  pages by default. To load multiple files into the same page, add a "-s" option
  to the command line. "http:" or "https:" can be specified on the command line
  as well. In this case, KLayout will download the files from the given URL.
  </p>

  <p>
  Files and URL's can be dragged and dropped on the KLayout main window. 
  KLayout will then load and show these files.
  </p>

  <p>
  Layout files can be associated with technologies. Technologies allow 
  associating a layout with additional data, such as libraries, macros,
  net tracer settings, layer properties etc.
  Read <link href="/about/technology_manager.xml"/> for details.
  </p>

</doc>

