Table of Contents
Area Style
The Area Style allows you to define how area (polygon-based) features will be rendered on the map. Area styles offer numerous controls for fill and outline colors, dash patterns and many other properties.
Video Overview
Properties
Name - The name of the area style. Choosing a descriptive name can help you quickly identify styles when you are compositing many of them together.
Fill - Sets the style of the fill of each area feature. The fill can be a color, gradient, hatch pattern or bitmapped texture.
Outline Color - Sets the style of the border around each area feature. The outline can be a color, gradient, hatch pattern or bitmapped texture.
Outline Thickness - Sets the thickness, in pixels, of the border around each area feature.
Dash Pattern
The options in this section control the appearance of the outlines around your area features. (If you have selected an Outline Thickness of 0, then these options do not apply.)
Pattern Type - Selects whether to use a basic (predefined) dash pattern or create your own custom pattern. This selection governs the behavior of the Dash Style control.
Dash Style - Allows you to choose the dash style to be used.
- If you have chosen a Basic Pattern Type, a dropdown menu will be presented that lets you select from one of the following options:
| Option | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Solid | Draws a solid outline without dashing. The default setting. |  |
| DashDot | Draws a dashed outline with a “dash-dot” pattern. |  |
| DashDotDot | Draws a dashed outline with a “dash-dot-dot” pattern. |  |
| Dot | Draws a finely dotted outline. |  |
| Dash | Draws a dashed outline. |  |
- If you have chosen a Custom Pattern Type, then the Dash Style property will be displayed as a text box where you can enter your own custom dash pattern. Dash patterns are expressed as a comma-delimited list of pixel lengths. The first number represents the length of the first dash in the pattern. The next number represents the length of the first space after that dash, and so on. When the end of the sequence is reached, it repeats.
As an example, a custom Dash Style of 3,1,8,1 would produce a dash pattern consisting of a 3-pixel dash, a 1-pixel space, an 8-pixel dash and then a 1-pixel space, repeated infinitely. The result would look like this: Dash Pattern - Custom Example.png Dash Cap - For lines thicker than 1 pixel, the Dash Cap controls how each end of a dash is capped.
| Option | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Flat | Applies a flat cap to each end of a dash. |  |
| Round | Applies a rounded cap to each end of a dash. |  |
| Triangle | Applies a triangular (pointed) cap to each end of a dash. |  |
Advanced
X Offset - Sets the X offset of this style. A positive X offset will draw the style that many pixels to the right of the actual feature. A negative X offset will draw the style that many pixels to the left of the actual feature.
Y Offset - Sets the Y offset of this style. A positive Y offset will draw the style that many pixels below the actual feature. A negative Y offset will draw the style that many pixels above the actual feature.
Start Cap and End Cap - For lines thicker than 1 pixel, the Start Cap controls how the beginning of a line is capped, and the End Cap controls how the end of each line is capped. The following cap types are available:
| Option | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Flat | Applies a flat cap. | |
| ArrowAnchor | Applies an arrowhead cap that is larger than the line thickness. |  |
| DiamondAnchor | Applies a diamond-shaped cap that is larger than the line thickness. |  |
| Round | Applies a rounded cap. | |
| RoundAnchor | Applies a circular cap that is larger than the line thickness. |  |
| Square | Applies a square cap. The effect is that the line appears slightly extended. |  |
| SquareAnchor | Applies a square cap that is larger than the line thickness. |  |
| Triangle | Applies a triangular (pointed) cap. | |
Line Join - Determines what type of joint to draw at the point where one line ends and another begins. The following joint types are available:
| Option | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Miter | Joins lines with a mitered (sharp) edge. |  |
| Bevel | Joins lines with a beveled (squared off) edge. |  |
| Round | Joins lines with a rounded edge. |  |
Miter Limit - The maximum distance that a mitered joint can extend from the endpoints of a line. Reducing the miter limit may produce clipped corners. Only applies if a Line Join of “Miter” is selected.
Drawing Level - Forces this style to draw on a specific drawing level. The GIS Editor has a set of internal drawing levels that can be used to set rendering priority for certain styles. For example, labels are set to use the highest drawing level by default, so that they always appear on top of other map features regardless of what layer they're on. This enables you to add styles to any layer without worrying about them being covered up by other layers above them.