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About
About ArcView

Displays the version number of ArcView, the licensed user name, organization, and serial number of the software.


Adding Route Events

Creates a theme in a view using route events based on an existing theme that contains an associated route system in an ARC/INFO coverage or a measured PolyLine shapefile. The events can be point, line or continuous events. Choose the Points option to add point events. Choose the Lines option to add linear or continuous events.

Dialog box options

Route theme    The theme that contains a route system or a measured PolyLine shapefile.

Route field    The field in the active route theme's attribute table that contains the route key.

Points

Table    The drop-down list shows all the tables in your project. Select the table that contains point events. When you select a table, ArcView reads the field names in the table to find likely defaults for the options below it.

Event field    The field in the table that contains the event key.

Location field    The field in the table that contains the measurement data.

Lines

Table    The drop-down list shows all the tables in your project. Select the table that contains line events. When you select a table, ArcView reads the field names in the table to find likely defaults for the options below it.

Event field    The field in the table that contains the event key.

From field    The field in the table that contains the "start" measurement data for the linear events. If the events are continuous events, identify the measurement field for this option.

To field    The field in the table that contains the "end" measurement data for the linear events. If the events are continuous events, choose <None> for this option.

Offset field    Identify a field that contains offset values. The offset values should be expressed in the same units as the route theme's feature table. If no field is selected, the events will be placed on top of the route.

Press OK. ArcView will create a spatial index for the event theme and add the theme to the view.

Notes

 If you want to select a field in the table but you can't see the field in the drop-down list, it is possible that the field has been hidden or renamed with an alias. In either case, you can open the table's properties to reveal the field and make it visible.

 ArcView cannot match point and line events to library route systems. The dynamic segmentation event button on the Add Event Theme dialog box does not become available when the route theme is in a library.

 If you know that the route field has been edited in a route theme's attribute table, you should refresh the event theme by making the event theme's attribute table active and then choose Refresh from the Table menu.

 ArcView always creates a spatial index for a new route event theme to improve display and selection performance.


Add button

Click this button to add an existing table to a project.


Add Event Theme

Adds a new theme to a view using a table containing events in your project as the data source. Events are point features the location of which is defined in a table, one feature per record. An event can either be at a known X,Y coordinate, or a known position along a route in an ARC/INFO route system. If you are adding route events, the theme containing ARC/INFO route features must be active in the Table of Contents before you can add the events to the view.


Add Event Theme (Dialog box)

Adds a new theme to a view using a table containing events in your project as the data source.

Dialog box options

Category   Click the type of events you want to add to the view.

 XY - each record in your table represents a point feature located at a X, Y coordinate point. XY events are added to the active view as a theme based on the map extent and map unit specified for the view in the View Properties dialog.

 Routes - each record in your table represents a point feature located at a position on a route system in an ARC/INFO coverage or a measured PolyLine shapefile.  Route events are added to a view based on whether the active theme contains a  measures. The route category button is disabled if the active theme does not contain measures. To make the route category button available, add a route theme and make it active.

See Adding route events and What are measures?

When you select any of these categories the panel on the dialog box will change to reflect appropriate fields for the type of event chosen.

Adding XY Events

Table    The drop-down list shows all the tables in your project. Select the table that contains XY events. When you select a table, ArcView reads the field names in the table to find likely defaults for the options below it.

X field    The field in the table that contains the X-coordinate or longitude data.

Y field    The field in the table that contains the Y-coordinate or latitude data.

Press OK to add the event source to the view.

Note   If you want to select a field in the table but you can't see the field in the drop-down list, it is possible that the field has been hidden or renamed with an alias. In either case, you can open the Table Properties dialog to reveal the field and make it visible.


Add Field

Adds a new field to the table you are working on. Before you can add a field, you should choose Start Editing from the Table menu. See Adding and deleting fields in a table


Add Record

Adds a new record to the active table if you are editing the table.


Add Table

Lets you bring an existing tabular data file into your project as a table. You can import an INFO, dBASE III, dBASE IV or text file delimited with tabs or commas, to make an ArcView table. See Adding tabular data.

If your tabular data is stored in a database, use the SQL Connect option in the Project menu instead of Add Table to bring this data into ArcView. See Connecting to a database to create a table.


Add Table (Dialog box)

Add Table lets you bring existing files into the active project.

Dialog box options

File Name    Type or select the name of the file you want to open. ArcView lists files in the current directory of the type you select in the List Files of Type box. You can use wildcard characters to specified files you want to display.

Files Type list   Select the type of file you want to list:

dBASE (*.dbf)  -  dBASE version III and IV files.

INFO  -  INFO database files. The INFO files for a particular directory or folder are stored in a subdirectory called "info". To list the INFO files in this subdirectory, navigate to it and double-click on its name.

Delimited text (*.txt)  -  Text files with fields separated by either tabs or commas.

Drives    Select the drive containing the file you want to open.

Directories    Select the directory containing the file you want to open. Double-click a directory name to see a list of the sub-directories it contains. When you double-click on a directory, any files it contains of the type you choose in the List Files of Type box are shown in the File Name list.

See Adding tabular data.


Add Theme

 Lets you add one or more themes to the current view from existing data sources such as shapefiles, ARC/INFO coverages, ARC/INFO libraries, images, etc. Once you add a theme it appears in the view's Table of Contents, where you can click its check box to draw it in the view.


Add Theme (Dialog box)

Lets you add one or more themes to a view from existing data sources. To add several themes to a view at once, hold down SHIFT and click on them in the list of files. If you are adding themes to a new view, the map and distance units will be set for you.

Data Source Type    The type of data you can add.

Feature Data Source    Shows the available vector data sources: ARC/INFO coverages, ArcView shapefiles (.shp file), CAD drawings (if ArcView’s CAD Reader extension is loaded), and data layers in ARC/INFO Map Libraries or ArcStorm databases (to see the available data layers, choose the Libraries option and choose the library you want to access from the drop-down list of available databases).

Click the feature data source you wish to select. If an ARC/INFO coverage or CAD drawing contains more than one class of features, it is shown with a folder icon in the list of coverages. In these cases, click the name of the coverage to select the default feature class, or click the folder to display a list of available feature classes and choose the one you want to use. The default feature class is the first one listed.

Notes

If the feature data source is on a UNIX workstation, ensure the pathname and the data source name contain no capital letters, or you will get an error and the theme will not be added.

Windows only: If the data source is on a drive which is not mounted but shared, you may use the UNC convention to navigate to the data source you want to add. For example, to access data on the C drive of a machine called SAYERS, you can type \\SAYERS\C in the Directory field. The folders available on SAYERS' C drive will appear in the list.

Image Data Source    Shows the available raster image data such as aerial photographs, satellite images, etc. Files containing image catalogs are also listed. ARC/INFO grids are listed in this category so they can be added to the view as single band image themes.

Grid Data Source    Shows the available ARC/INFO grid data so they can be added to the view as grid themes (if ArcView's Spatial Analyst extension is loaded).

StreetMap Data Source    Shows the available StreetMap data so they can be added to the view as BaseMap themes (if ArcView's StreetMap extension is loaded).

Directories    Data sources are loaded from the directory you navigate to.

Libraries    Data sources are layers in an ARC/INFO Map Library or ArcStorm database. When you choose this option, a Database drop-down list appears in the dialog box.

If you want to add a layer from an ARC/INFO Map Library, choose the ARC/INFO*LIBRARIAN option from this list. The libraries available to you will be listed in the dialog box. Double-click the Library you want to use and its layers will be listed.

If you want to add a layer from an ArcStorm database, choose the name of the ArcStorm database you want to use from the Database drop-down list. ArcView will list all the libraries in the ArcStorm database you chose. Double-click the library you want to use and its layers will be listed.

Drives    (Windows only) Allows you to navigate to other drives mounted on your PC.

 Related topics


Align

Aligns the selected graphics in the view or layout you are working on relative to each other. You can align graphics to the left, right, top, bottom or middle of the area in which the graphics are located. See Aligning Graphics


Align (Dialog box)

Aligns the selected graphics in the view or layout you are working on.

Alignment buttons

 Align the left edge of the selected graphics with the horizontal guide. If Equal Spacing in the horizontal direction is set, start with the left most graphic and equal space to the right.

 Align the center of each selected graphic with the horizontal guide. If Equal Spacing in the horizontal direction is set, start at the center of the selected graphics and space outward in both directions.

 Align the right edge of the selected graphics with the horizontal guide. If Equal Spacing in the horizontal direction is set, start with the right most graphic and equal space to the left.

 No change. This is the default in both directions.

 Align the top edge of the selected graphics with the vertical guide. If Equal Spacing in the vertical direction is set, start with the top most graphic and equal space downward.

 Align the center of each selected graphic with the vertical guide. If Equal Spacing in the vertical direction is set, start at the center of the selected graphics and space outward in both directions.

 Align the bottom edge of the selected graphics with the vertical guide. If Equal Spacing in the vertical direction is set, start with the bottom most graphic and equal space upward.

Align with Margins (layout only)     When you click Align with Margins on, ArcView aligns graphics to the layout page margins. When you click Align with Margins off, ArcView aligns graphics to the corresponding guide based on the  Selected Bounds.

Vertical Alignment

Same Height    Make the height of each selected graphic be the same. The default height is the average height of the selected graphics.

Equal Spacing    Leave the same vertical distance between each of the selected Graphics. The default spacing is the average vertical distance between the selected graphics.

Guide    The y coordinate that the selected graphics are aligned to. You control the guide's position, depending on whether you press the top, center or bottom alignment button. Or you can specify the guide's location by typing it in.

Horizontal Alignment

Same Width    Make the width of each selected graphic be the same. The default width is the average width of the selected graphics.

Equal Spacing    Leave the same horizontal distance between each of the selected graphics. The default spacing is the average horizontal distance between the selected graphics.

Guide    The x coordinate that the selected graphics are aligned to. You control the guide's position, depending on whether you press the left, center, or right alignment button. Or you can specify the guide's location by typing it in.

See also

Aligning Graphics


Area Chart Gallery (Dialog box)

 Displays the options of area chart format and allows you to change the format of the active chart to the new selected format. Press OK to display the chart in the selected format.

An area chart requires at least two or more data groups to generate an area. Open the Chart Properties dialog box to add data groups to the chart.

Dialog box options

List of area chart formats

1. Simple area chart with values of one data series stacked on top of another

2. 100% area chart

3. Area chart with gridlines

Next    Displays the next chart gallery in the Gallery menu.

Previous    Displays the previous chart gallery in the Gallery menu.

See also

Bar Chart Gallery

Column Chart Gallery

Line Chart Gallery

Pie Chart Gallery

XY Scatter Chart Gallery

Choosing a chart format


Area Of Interest (Dialog box)

Dialog box options

Set AOI To    A drop-down list provides the options you can set the area of interest of map library-based themes to.

Display - Sets the area of interest to all tiles within the extent of the view’s display. Note that when you choose this option, the values in the Left, Right, Top, and Bottom fields are displayed.

View - Sets the area of interest to the extent of the view, which equals the extent of all themes in the view. This option selects all tiles in the library. Note that when you choose this option, the values in the Left, Right, Top and Bottom fields are displayed.

Current - Provides a way for you to revert your area of interest choice, should you select an extent setting from the drop-down list, then decide you don't want to change it.

Theme - Sets the area of interest to the extent of the theme. When you choose this option, a drop-down list appears from which you can pick a theme.

Specified - Allows you to enter the coordinates of the lower left corner and the upper right corner of the area of interest in the appropriate fields. Note that even if you choose one of the other options, then type in one of the coordinate fields, the option list will revert to the Specified option.

See also

Accessing ARC/INFO libraries


Area Of Interest tool

 Use this tool to set the area of interest for a view containing library-based themes. The area of interest controls which library tiles are accessed.

To set an area of interest for a view

Choose the Area Of Interest tool and define the area by dragging a box with the mouse. ArcView will determine which tiles of the library themes overlap the area you defined, and will redraw the view with only those tiles.


Arrange Icons

Arranges all the icons representing minimized windows in a line at the lower left corner of the ArcView screen. Use this to tidy up your ArcView screen if you have lots of windows open, some of which are minimized.


Attach Graphics

Use this control to attach all or selected graphics to the active theme in a view. You can attach a graphic to only one theme.

If you attach a graphic to a theme

 the graphic inherits the theme's scale property.

 the graphic will be displayed when the theme is turned on, and disappears when the theme is turned off.


Auto-label

Opens the Auto Label window where you can set rules for labeling the features of the active theme. If there is more than one active theme, the highest active theme in the Table of Contents is auto-labeled. Before you auto-label your theme, you should verify that the current default font is correct and the size is appropriate for labeling the features of your theme at the current scale. To check your font, choose Show Symbol Window from the Window menu, and click the font palette button [image].


Autolabel Dialog box
Auto-Label (Dialog box)

ArcView’s Auto-label window allows you to set rules for labeling the features of one theme. If there is more than one active theme, the highest active theme in the Table of Contents is auto-labeled. Before you auto-label your theme, you should verify that the current default font is correct and the size is appropriate to label the theme's features at the current scale. To check your font, choose Show Symbol Window from the Window menu, and click the font palette button [image].

Label Field

Use this to select the field you wish to use to label your theme’s features with. The initial field will reflect the label field that is currently set in the Theme Label Properties.

Use Theme's Text Label Placement Property

When this is activated, ArcView will place a label for each feature and position it according to the preferences specified in theme's Text Label property. To set the Text Label preferences for your theme choose Properties from the Theme menu.

Find Best Label Placement

When this is activated, ArcView will evaluate each feature’s shape and the area surrounding it. ArcView will attempt to place a label in an optimal position for each shape. ArcView uses the following criteria to determine whether a label is optimal:

 For Point themes, the label cannot intersect its own point symbol, any other point's symbol, or another label. The primary position for point labels is above and to the right of the point, but if that space is not available, the label will be placed in whatever space is available.

 For Line themes, the label rarely intersects its own line, never intersects any other labels, but may intersect other lines. See the section below for line label position options.

 For polygon themes, the label will be placed at least partially within the polygon as the outline of the shape permits, and as near the geometric center as possible. The labels may intersect the perimeter, but not other labels.

If a label did not meet the above criteria, it will not be placed unless you choose Allow Overlapping Labels (below).

If the Find Best Placement option is not checked, the Remove Duplicates and Allow Overlapping Labels will not be available. The settings in the theme’s Label Properties will be used. (This is effectively the same as previous versions of ArcView, but the Scale Labels and Label Only the View Extent are available.)

Allow Overlapping Labels

ArcView may not place labels for all features because of conflicts with other labels or if the label fits poorly (e.g., the label is many times longer than the length of the line). This may result in labels that are crucial for identifying features in your theme not being placed. By allowing overlapping labels, you ensure that every feature that has a unique label will be labeled. Labels that overlap with well placed labels will be drawn in text symbol that is green, but otherwise the same as the text symbols for the well placed labels. For best results use the Remove Duplicates option in conjunction with Allow Overlapping Labels.

Remove Duplicates (For Line Themes Only)

With this option, ArcView will place only unique label strings. Thus, if your data contains features that have the same label, i.e., you have 40 line features that have the label ‘Main St.", only one line will receive a label. However, ArcView does determine whether features with the same label are contiguous, or are all connected, if not, then each separate component will be labeled. For example, if somewhere along the 40 Main line features there is an interruption like a shopping mall that forced two blocks of Main St. to be removed, then the contiguous portions of Main St. on either side of the mall will be labeled, provided there is space to place the label.

Line Label Position Options

Use these buttons to indicate whether ArcView will place labels for line features above, below, or on the line feature. In general, ArcView considers all space along a line to be potential locations for a label with the center of the line being optimal. If there isn't sufficient space at the center of the line, ArcView will slide the label along the line in either direction, searching for a clear space to locate the label.

Scale Labels

When this is checked, your labels will scale when you change the View’s scale, i.e., they stay the same size on your screen no matter what the View’s scale is. In the example below, the left side shows an example of text when Scaling is not used. If you added text so it looked like it does on top (your theme's features are gray), and then zoomed out, your theme's features scale (get smaller) but the text does not. The example on the right side shows the same scenario when scaling is used. Note that in both instances the insertion point of the text (lower left) is in the same place relative to the features.

Label Only Features in View Extent

When checked, ArcView only auto-labels the features that are currently shown within the View’s extent. If Label Only Features in View Extent is not checked, ArcView will label all features in your theme, including those that may not fall in the area shown by the View.


Bar Chart Gallery (Dialog box)

 Displays the options of bar chart format and allows you to change the format of the active chart to the new selected format. Press OK to display the chart in the selected format.

Dialog box options

List of bar chart formats

1. Simple bar chart with data markers of the same series displayed with the same color.

2. Stacked bar chart

3. Overlapped bar chart

4. Stacked 100% bar chart

5. Bar chart with vertical gridlines

6. Bar chart without space between data groups.

Next    Displays the next chart gallery in the Gallery menu.

Previous    Displays the previous chart gallery in the Gallery menu.

See also

Area Chart Gallery

Column Chart Gallery

Line Chart Gallery

Pie Chart Gallery

XY Scatter Chart Gallery

Choosing a chart format


Bring to Front

 Brings a selected graphic to the front of other graphics.

To make a graphic fully visible that is partially visible behind another graphic, first select the graphic with the Pointer tool [image] and then click the Bring to Front button. If the graphic is completely behind another, select the visible graphic and choose Send to Back from the Graphics menu.


Bring to Front

Brings a selected graphic to the front of other graphics.

To make a graphic fully visible that is partially visible behind another graphic, first select the graphic with the Pointer tool [image] and then click the Bring to Front button. If the graphic is completely behind another, select the visible graphic and choose Send to Back from the Graphics menu


Calculate

 Calculates the values of the active field when you are editing the table by letting you define an expression. Works on the active field (click on a field's name in the table to make it active). Use this option to update a field or fill in a new field based on the values of other fields in the table.

See Also

Calculating field values


Field Calculator (Dialog box)

Lets you calculate the values of the active field based on an expression you specify.

Dialog box options

Fields    If the active field's values will be calculated from another field in the table, double-click the field name you want to insert into the calculation expression. ArcView inserts the field name in the expression surrounded by brackets.

Type    Select the type of field whose requests you want to list. The type defaults to the field type of the active field:

Number - Lists all requests that work on number fields or numbers.

String - Lists all requests that work on string fields or strings.

Date - Lists all requests that work on date fields or dates.

Requests   Double-click the request to use in the expression. ArcView inserts a required dot (.) in front of certain requests.

Note  If your table is the feature table of a theme and it has a length, area or perimeter field, you can write an expression where ArcView will calculate the values for these fields based on the Shape field. The calculated values will be in the same units as the data source of the theme.

For length, type the following into the expression box:

[Shape].ReturnLength

For area:

[Shape].ReturnArea

For perimeter:

[Shape].ReturnLength


Cascade
Cascade Windows

Arranges the windows in your ArcView session in an overlapping pattern so that the title bar of each window remains visible. Use this to tidy up your ArcView screen if you have lots of windows open, some of which may be hidden behind each other.


Chart Axis Properties (Dialog box)

Every chart, with the exception of a pie chart, contains an x- and y- axis. A pie chart only has a pie label that is similar to the x-axis. Each axis possesses an axis property dialog box. If the chart axis is hidden, choose Show/Hide X Axis or Show/Hide Y Axis from the Chart menu to display the axis.

The x-axis property dialog box options are different from those of a y-axis property dialog box depending on the type of chart.

X-Axis Properties

Axis    Toggle checking the box to hide or show the axis on the chart. Show/Hide Y Axis in the Chart menu provides a similar function that it displays or hides both axis and tick-mark labels.

Axis label    Toggle checking the box to hide or show the axis label.

Tick-mark label    Toggle checking the box to hide or show the tick-mark labels.

Group labels    Edit the text to change the group names.

Axis label text    Type a label you want to identify the axis.

Axis Position    Change the position of the x-axis along with tick-mark labels by clicking once on the top or bottom position of the column chart symbol.

The x-axis properties of an xy scatter chart are the same as its y-axis properties. Refer to the description in the y-axis properties below.

Y-Axis Properties

Axis    Toggle checking the box to hide or show the axis on the chart. Show/Hide Y Axis in the Chart menu provides a similar function that it displays or hides both axis and tick-mark labels.

Axis label    Toggle checking the box to hide or show the axis label.

Tick-mark label    Toggle checking the box to hide or show the tick-mark labels.

Major grid    Toggle checking the box to display or hide the gridlines extended from the major tick marks on the axis.

Minor grid    Toggle checking the box to display or hide the gridlines extended from the minor tick marks on the axis.

Axis label text    Type a label you want to identify the axis.

Scale min    Specify the lowest value of the axis. Negative values are acceptable, but a number that is bigger than the value specified in Scale max makes no effect to the chart. Data values that are smaller than this number are not displayed in the chart. The default takes the smallest value from the selected data set as the minimum value of the axis. If you want to set 0.0 as the minimum value, you need to specify the Scale max value larger than 0.0.

Scale max    Specify the highest value of the axis. A number that is smaller than the value in Scale min makes no effect to the chart. Data values that are larger than this number are not displayed in the chart. The default takes the largest value from the selected data set as the maximum value of the axis. If you want to set 0.0 as the maximum value, you need to specify the Scale min value smaller than 0.0.

Major unit    Specify the increment between major tick marks. ArcView calculates the number of increments based on the range of values between the minimum and maximum along the axis. The default creates 10 major tick marks. Not more than ten increments are displayed if the unit is too small. Also note that not to enter invalid values, including negative number and value that is bigger than the Scale max.

Minor unit    Specify the increment between minor tick marks. ArcView calculates the number of increments based on the major unit increment. The default is 5 increments. Not more than ten increments are displayed if the unit is too small. Note that not to enter invalid values such as negative number, indivisible number and value that is bigger than the major unit increment.

Axis Position    Change the position of the y-axis along with tick-mark labels by clicking once on the right or left position of the column chart symbol.

See also

Adding axis labels


Chart Color tool

 Changes the color of any chart element (data marker, chart legend, chart title, axes, tick-mark labels, and axis labels).

To change the color of a chart element

1	Choose the Chart Color tool. In a moment the Symbol window will be displayed.

2	Click the Color Palette [image] button in the Symbol window.

3	Choose Foreground in the Color drop-down list if it is not already selected.

4	Select the color you want or create a customized color by pressing Custom in the color palette.

5	Click on any element in the chart to apply the new color. If you are changing the color of a data marker, click on the data marker in the plot. Any other data markers in the same series and the color box in the legend will be automatically updated.


Chart Element Properties tool

 Sets the properties of the chart elements in the active chart. Use this tool to review and change the properties of:

 name and location the chart title

 names of data series  that appear in the chart legend, and location of the chart legend

 names of data groupthat appear on the x-axis

 visibility of axes, axis labels and tick-mark labels

 text of axis labels

 maximum and minimum values, and major and minor units on the axis

 position of x- and y-axes

Each chart element possesses a property dialog box. After you choose the Chart Element Properties tool, click on the element you want in the chart to open the dialog box for editing. A chart has the following element properties:

Chart Title Properties

Chart Legend Properties

Chart Axis Properties

See also

Chart Properties


Chart frame tool

Use this tool to add a chart frame to a layout. Select the chart frame tool and draw a rectangle to create a frame to display a chart.

Dialog box options

Charts    Contains a list of charts in the project. Select the name of the chart to create the chart frame from. You can also select the choice: <Empty Chart> which will create a chart frame that does not contain any data. This frame can be assigned a chart later by the user or by Avenue. Empty chart frames are often used to create cartographic templates.

Display    There are two different parameters you can define.

When should the chart frame refresh itself. The choices are:

When Active - The chart frame will redraw only when the layout is the active project component.

Always - The chart frame will refresh whenever there is any change to the chart.

You can also choose the "quality" of the display. The choices are:

Presentation - The chart frame will display the chart.

Draft - The chart frame will be a shaded box, placeholding where the chart will be drawn. This is often used to increase the speed of working with the layout.

The chart frame will contain the same data contained in the chart document. Changes in the chart will be shown in the chart frame. For example, if you change the chart type from column to bar, the chart frame will change accordingly. A chart frame will only display the data contained in a chart that is currently open. Creating a chart frame from a closed chart will result in a solid rectangle filling the frame. When the chart document is opened the chart frame will show the chart. The time when this occurs is dependent on the refresh property of the chart frame.

After you create a chart frame, you can see the Chart Frame Properties dialog box at any time by double-clicking the chart frame.

See also

Adding a chart to a layout

Frame tool

Types of frames


Chart Legend Properties (Dialog box)

This dialog allows you to edit the names of the data series and select a preferred location for the legend.

If the chart legend is hidden, choose Show/Hide Chart Legend from the Chart menu to display the legend.

Dialog box option

Series Labels    Edit the names of the data series. Click once on the box you want to edit. Type a new name and then press RETURN.

Legend position    Move the legend to a preferred location by clicking once on one of the five positions - top, bottom, right, left and middle of the column chart symbol. The default position is right. The first four positions are fixed positions. Placing the legend symbol in the middle allows you to move it anywhere you want on the chart. If you select to place the legend symbol in the middle of the column chart symbol, choose OK and then drag the box of legend shown on the active chart to any preferred position.

ArcView displays the legend keys horizontally if the legend is placed at either top or bottom of the chart. They are otherwise arranged vertically.

See also

Changing series and group names


Chart Map Legend Editor (Dialog box)

  Show help for general Legend Editor features.

Fields

Shows the data fields that you may use to construct your charts.

Symbols

Shows a symbol that will be used in each of the charts to depict the value of a field

Add

Adds the selected field(s) in the field column on the left to the columns on the left.

Remove

Removes the selected field(s) in the right column.

Normalize By

Use this to set a normalization field or to normalize by percent of total.

 Column Chart button

When this is pushed down, your charts will be shown as column charts.

 Pie Chart button

When this is pushed down, your charts will be shown as pie charts.

Background Symbol

Indicates the symbol that will be applied behind the charts. You may double click on this to choose a new background symbol.

Properties...

Displays the property window for either pie charts or column charts depending on which button is depressed.


Chart Properties

 Lets you modify the properties of the chart you are working on.  You can add and delete data from the chart, select a field for labeling the chart, and change the order in which data is displayed.

See also

Selecting the data to chart


Chart Properties (Dialog box)

Sets the properties of the active chart. ArcView allows you to:

 Add data series or groups to a chart.

 Aelete data series groups from a chart.

 Aelect a field for labeling each item of the data series or group.

 Apecify the order of displaying the data series or groups on the chart.

Dialog box options

Name    The name of the chart. Until you change the name of a chart, ArcView names new charts in numerical order: Chart1, Chart2, Chart3, etc. according to when you create them.

Table    The name of the table that is currently used for creating the chart.

Fields    The list of available numeric fields of the selected table that can be plotted on the chart. The list of fields reflects the changes made to the table's properties. Fields defined invisible in the Table Properties will not be available for plotting. If an alias is given, the alias is used for naming the series or group. Select the field you want to plot on the active chart. Hold down SHIFT and click on the fields if you want to select more than one field. Choose Add to add the fields to the Groups/Series list box.

Label series using    A field used to label each series or group. The default is <None> which means no field is selected. You can select a field you want in the drop-down list. The field used for labeling can be numeric or non-numeric. The list of fields reflects the changes defined to the table's properties. Fields defined as invisible are unavailable for labeling.

Groups/Series    The fields that are selected to plot on the active chart. The field names become the group labels as shown on the x-axis if data series are plotted from fields. Or they become the series names displayed in the chart legend if data series are plotted from records.

The order of fields as listed controls the display of data on the chart. For example, data from the first field are always plotted on the left of the second field in a column chart. In an xy scatter chart, ArcView projects data from the first field on the x-axis and plots data from the second field on the y-axis. You can drag the field name up or down to change the order.

Add    Click on this button after you have selected the field(s) in the Fields list box that you want to add to the chart.

Delete    Click on this button after you have selected the field(s) in the Groups/Series list box that you want to remove from the chart.

Comments    Type comments to document the chart.


Chart Title Properties (Dialog box)

This dialog allows you to edit the title and select a preferred location for the title.

If the chart title is hidden, choose Show/Hide Chart Title from the Chart menu to display the title.

Dialog box options

Text entry box    Click once on the box. Edit the title and press RETURN.

Title position    Move the label TITLE to a preferred position by clicking on one of the five positions - top, bottom, right, left and middle of the column chart symbol. The default position is top. The first four positions are fixed positions. Placing the label in the middle allows you to move it anywhere you want on the chart. If you select to place the label in the middle of the column chart symbol, choose OK and then drag the title shown on the active chart to any preferred position.

See also

Changing the title


Circle Edit
Circle (Dialog Box)

This dialog is shown instead of the Shape Properties dialog box when you have selected a circle shape. This is because circles don’t vertices, but rather a center point and a radius. You can either edit the coordinates for the center point, or change the radius by typing in new values, or you can click on your view to move the center to the location you click.


Clear All Breakpoints

Removes all breakpointsin the script.

To clear all breakpoints in the script

 From the Script menu, choose Clear All Breakpoints.

ArcView clears all breakpoints in the script.

Note  ArcView doesn't save breakpoints set in scripts when you save a project. Closing a project or quitting ArcView automatically clears them.

See also

Examining variables in a script


Clear Selected Features

 This control deselects any selected features in the active theme(s). To make a theme active, click on its name in the view's Table of Contents.

Use Clear Selected Features to start again with no features selected as you select features on a view.


Close

Closes the active view, table, chart, layout, or script. To close the project itself, make the Project window active and choose Close Project from the File menu.


Close All

Closes all the active views, tables, charts, layouts, and scripts. The Project window remains open. To close the project itself, make the Project window active and choose Close Project from the File menu.


 Close Project

Closes the active project and all its components.

If you have made changes to the project, and haven't saved, ArcView asks if you want to save those changes. If the project is currently untitled project, ArcView will also display the Save Project As dialog box so that you can specify a name and directory location for the project before closing.


Code Page

Displays the code page of the active document.

For more Information regarding code page support in ArcView, please refer to the ArcView’s Code Page Support chapter in the ArcView book.


Color Palette (Dialog box)

 The Color Palette contains a scrolling palette of colors you can assign to fill, pen, marker, and text symbols.

Dialog box options

Color   Sets the target for the color you choose. Specify this target before choosing a color.

Foreground -  Sets the foreground color of a symbol.

Background -  Sets the background color of a symbol.

Outline -  Sets the color for the outline of a fill.

Text -  Sets the color for the font.

Custom   Displays a dialog box in which you can create the color you want. In the dialog box, drag the Hue, Saturation, and Value slider bars or type in the values to create the color you want. Then click OK.

Hue is the basic color; red, green, blue, etc. Saturation is a measure of how pure the color is; in other words, how different it is from gray. Value is the amount of white (lightness) or black (darkness) in the color.

Note   Several system-supplied color palettes are available in the installation symbols directory or folder. You can load a palette with the Palette Manager. See ArcView Palette Files.


Column Chart Gallery (Dialog box)

 Displays the options of column chart format and allows you to change the format of the active chart to the new selected format. Press OK to display the chart in the selected format.

Dialog box options

List of column chart formats

1. Simple column chart with data markers of the same series displayed with the same color.

2. Stacked column chart

3. Overlapped column chart

4. Stacked 100% column chart

5. Column chart with horizontal gridlines

6. Column chart without space between data groups

Next    Displays the next chart gallery in the Gallery menu.

Previous    Displays the previous chart gallery in the Gallery menu.

See also

Area Chart Gallery

Bar Chart Gallery

Line Chart Gallery

Pie Chart Gallery

XY Scatter Chart Gallery

Choosing a chart format


Combine Features

Combines the selected features together into a single feature.

If the selected polygons share a common boundary, the common boundary is removed to create one continuous polygon. If the selected polygons overlap, the area of overlap is removed from the resulting combined polygon, resulting in a hole. If the selected polygons are not adjacent or overlapping, the result is one feature with multiple parts. When a set of features is combined, the records of those features are removed from the feature attribute table and one new record is added to the table to represent the new feature.

Combine Graphics only works on polygon features.

To Combine Features

1	Click on the shapefile theme in the Table of Contents to make it active, if it is not already.

2	From the Theme menu, choose Start Editing.

3	Use the Pointer tool [image]  to select the set of features you want to combine.

4	From the Edit menu, choose Combine Features.


Combine Graphics

Combines the selected set of graphics together into a single graphic.

If the selected polygons share a common boundary, the common boundary is removed to create one continuous polygon. If the selected polygons overlap, the area of overlap is removed from the resulting combined polygon. If the selected polygons are not adjacent or overlapping, the result is one graphic with multiple parts.

Combine Graphics only works on polygon, circle, and rectangle graphics.

To Combine Graphics

1	Use the Pointer tool [image]  to select the set of graphics you want to combine.

2	From the Edit menu, choose Combine Graphics.


Compile

 Compiles the script in the active window.

Once you compile a script you can debug it or run it. If a script is the active window, clicking Step or F8 lets you step through the script to detect errors; if you click Run or F5, ArcView executes the current script. Run-time errors may still occur, in which case, ArcView generates appropriate error messages. See Compiling a script


Convert Overlapping Labels

Use this to convert the text symbol of the selected green overlapping labels to the text symbol of a well placed label that is also selected.


Convert to Shapefile

Converts the active theme into an ArcView shapefile and lets you add the shapefile as a theme to your current view. If some features are selected on the theme you convert, only these features will be converted. If several themes are active, this option will convert them all into shapefiles. Spatial indexes are built automatically for the new shapefiles.

This menu choice is dimmed out if you are using ArcView's Database Access extension and the active theme is a database theme that does not have a selected set of features.


Convert to Shapefile (Dialog box)

Converts the active theme into a ArcView shapefile, builds a spatial index for the new shapefile, and lets you add the shapefile as a theme to your current view. If some features are selected on the theme you convert, only these features will be converted. If your view is projected, you will be asked if you want to convert the shapefile into projected units.

Dialog box options

File Name    Type name of the shapefile you want to create. If you type a file name and don't give a file name extension, ArcView will automatically add the extension .shp.

Drives    Select the drive on which you want to save the file.

Directories    Select the directory location where you want to save the file. Double click a directory in this box to see a list of sub-directories it contains.

Also see Converting a theme to a shapefile for more information.


Copy

Copies the selection to the system clipboard.

On a table, this control copies the data in the active cell.

On a layout, this control copies the selected graphic.

On a script or table, this control copies the selected text.

Use Paste to paste the selection you copy.


Copy Graphics/Copy Features

Copies the selected graphics or features onto the clipboard.

Use Paste to paste the graphics into the same view or a different view in your project, or paste features into the same theme or a different theme you are editing.


Copy Themes

Copies the active theme(s) in your view to the clipboard. You can paste the themes into the same view, a different view in your project, or you can open a different project and paste the themes into a view that project contains.


Create Chart

 Lets you creat a chart from data in the active table.

To create a chart

1	Click on a table to make it active.

2	Click the Create Chart button [image].

3	In the Chart Properties dialog box, select the field(s) you want to plot on the chart, and the field you want to use to label the data series.

4	If desired, modify the set of data plotted on the chart and the look of the chart.

Notes

 You can select a set of data to the chart before you create the chart. See Selecting the data to chart.

 You can create more than one chart from the same table by repeating the steps described above.

See Also

Overview of creating a chart


Create/Remove Index

Creates or removes an ArcView index.

An ArcView index is a form of cross-reference to data that speeds access to data by ordering the values in a field.

To create a field index

1	Make the field you want to index the active field.

2	Choose Create Index from the Field menu.

To remove a field index

1	Make the field whose index you want to remove the active field.

2	Choose Remove Index from the Field menu.

See Also

Indexing a table


Create Buffer Choice
Create buffers

Opens the Create Buffers wizard, which steps you through the process of placing buffers around features.


Create buffers

What do you want to buffer?

Here you choose whether to create buffers around graphics or, features of a theme in your view.

Number of Graphics/Features

This shows the total number of graphics or features that can be buffered.

Number of Graphics/Features selected

This is the number of selected graphics or features.

Use only the selected Graphics/Features

This option is available if there are selected graphics or features. Choosing this option means buffers will only be created around selected graphics or features, otherwise all graphics or features will be buffered.

Help

Opens this help topic.

Cancel

Dismisses the Create buffers around features wizard without creating any buffers.

<< Back

Is disabled for the first step.

Next >>

Continues to the next step.


Create Buffers - Step 2
Create buffers

How do you want to create buffers?

You have three options for creating your buffers:

At a specified distance

All buffers for your graphics or features will be created at the distance you enter here. This option is always available.

At a distance from an attribute field

The buffer distance for each feature in your theme will be determined based on the value of the field name you choose. This option is available only when you have chosen to buffer base on a theme

As multiple rings

This will create one or more buffers around your graphics or features. This creates a ‘bulls-eye’ effect. This option is always available.

Distance units are

Choose the distance units to be used when your buffers are created.

Help

Opens this help topic.

Cancel

Dismisses the Create buffers around features wizard without creating any buffers.

<< Back

Goes back to the first step.

Next >>

Continues to the next step.


Create Buffers - Step 3
Create buffers

Dissolve barriers between buffers?

If you choose no here, then each buffer will be a single shape. If you choose yes, then a single shape will be created representing all the buffers except if you have chosen multiple rings, which will result in a single shape for each of the rings.

Create buffers so they are

These options are only available if you are buffering the features of a polygon theme.

inside and outside the polygon(s)

This will create buffers inside and outside the polygon(s). This option will be initially selected.

only outside the polygon(s)

This will create buffer(s) only outside the polygon(s).

only inside the polygon(s)

This will create buffer(s) only inside the polygon(s).

Where do you want the buffers to be saved?

There are three options for saving your buffers.

as graphics in the view

Adds the buffers as graphics in your view.

In an existing theme

Adds the buffers to an existing theme that you choose.

in a new theme

Adds the buffers to a new theme. You can change the filename of this theme by typing a new name, or by clicking the Browse button.

Help

Opens this help topic.

Cancel

Dismisses the Create buffers around features wizard without creating any buffers.

<< Back

Goes back to the second step.

Finish

Starts creating buffers.


Cursor Manager
Cursor Manager (Dialog box)

When you double-click the Cursor propertyin the Properties list of the Customize dialog box, ArcView displays the Cursor Manager. The Cursor Manager displays an illustrated list of all the cursors available in ArcView. You can use the Cursor Manager to specify a new tool's cursor or change the cursor of an existing tool.

How to select a cursor

Double-click the name of the cursor in Cursor Manager or select the cursor name and press OK. Its name appears in the Properties list of the tool that's selected in the Customize dialog box and the graphic appears when you apply the tool.


Customize

Lets you customize ArcView's user interface. You can delete and rearrange menus, menu choices, buttons and tools. You can rename menu choices and give them new keyboard shortcuts and you can change the icons used on buttons and tools. You can create new menu choices, buttons and tools and assign Avenue scripts to them. You can also perform advanced customization, such as modifying the document types available in the Project window. See Customizing ArcView.

You can also access the Customize option by double-clicking ArcView's button bar or tool bar.


Customize (Dialog box)

Use the Customize dialog box to change the user interface you see when working with ArcView. Changes can be applied just to your current project or can be made into your local default so that they always appear whenever you use ArcView.

ArcView defines the standard types, or document user interfaces, you use to interact with different kinds of documents (Views, Layouts, Charts, Tables, Script Editors, Project). These standard types provide a broad range of general purpose functions. Through Customize, you can easily change these types so that you can interact with your data in ways unique to your needs. For example, you can simplify the interface by eliminating unnecessary controls or you can enhance the interface by creating new controls that define functionality specific to your particular tasks.

When you work with the Customize dialog, you first select the type to alter, then you select the category of controls (Menus, Buttons, Tools, Popups) and then you edit these controls. You can reorder controls by dragging and dropping, you can add and delete controls with the appropriate buttons, and you can alter control properties by selecting a control and double clicking on the property of interest. Changes you make to controls reflect immediately in the actual user interface.

Besides altering the standard types, you can create new types in effect creating your own “virtual document type”. To learn more, see Customizing the project window and Virtual Documents.

Note  You can undo your last change by pressing <Control Z>.  Undo restores the state of the last change you made and works for all properties, new or deleted controls and moved controls. The "undo state" remains until you initiate a new command. There is no "redo" operation to "undo the undo".

Dialog box options

Type    This drop-down list shows the different types or document user interfaces you can customize in the Customize dialog box. Select a type to customize its controls and its properties. The list includes standard types for each kind of document (View, Table, Layout, Chart, Script Editor, Project), and Application (the Application user interface appears when you close the current project - you can customize it, too). Any new types you create appear automatically in this list.

Edit    This button displays the Customize Types dialog box. With this dialog box, you can create new types (document user interfaces), copy or delete existing types and change properties of types. You can change the icon and the name that appears in the project window, add or delete a type to the project window, rearrange the icon ordering and define or change the behavior of the three buttons on the project window.

Category    This drop-down list shows the kinds of controls to customize. When you select a category, ArcView displays those controls of the selected type in the Control Editor panel. When you choose Menus, ArcView displays the Menu bar. When you choose Buttons, ArcView displays the Button bar. When you choose Tools, ArcView displays the Tool bar. When you choose Popups, ArcView displays the set of popup menus.

Control Editor panel    This panel displays the controls you can customize. You can switch from one control set to another by choosing a different category in the Category list. For more information, see Customizing Menus, Customizing Buttons, Customizing Tools, and Customizing Popups.

Reset    This button resets the appearance, controls and associated scripts of all categories for all types back to the initial installation settings. These settings are stored in a file named default.apr in the etc subdirectory of the installation directory.

Note  The Reset button will be disabled if there are any extensions loaded.

Make Default  This button makes the current appearance, controls and associated scripts of all categories for all types in your project your new local default setting. Make Default creates or replaces the file named default.apr in your HOME directory. Your local default.apr file defines your own customized ArcView environment and is opened each time you invoke ArcView. You can easily change your local default environment by using Make Default or you can eliminate it altogether by deleting your local default.apr file.

Note  The Make Default button will be disabled if there are any extensions loaded.

The Properties list    Located at the bottom of the Customize window, this two-column list shows all the properties associated with the selected control and their current settings. You can change a setting by double-clicking on the property name or value.

For properties that consist of the name of a project or system component, double-clicking displays a manager window, such as the Cursor Manager, the Icon Manager, or the Script Manager. You can use a manager window to select from the available choices. For properties with only two choices, such as True or False, double-clicking toggles between the two choices. For properties that consist of a string, such as Help, double-clicking displays a window in which you can type.  To clear the value of a property, click on the property and press DELETE or BACKSPACE.  You cannot clear the value of an Icon or Cursor property.

The content of the Properties list differs depending on the type of the current control. See Control Properties for a list of all the properties and what they mean.


Customize Types (Dialog box)

Use the Customize Types dialog to change which types appear in the project window, to reorder the list of types in the project window, to alter the appearance or function of each type in the project window and to create new types.

A type, or document user interface, is the collection of controls you use to interact with documents. ArcView defines the default types: Appl, Chart, Layout, Project, Script, Table, View - one type for each kind of document and then one for the application itself (you see Appl when you close a project).

The project window contains a scrolling list of types which by default contains View, Table, Chart, Layout and Script. With Customize Types, you can remove some of these types (e.g., your clients never make Charts - so remove it), you can change their names (e.g., change "Layouts" to "Maps"), you can change the icon that appears in the scrolling list, and you can reorder the types (e.g., move Scripts before Views). You can also create new types.

New types or Virtual Documents are useful for managing and working with your data. For example, suppose your project had 8 view documents where 3 views had data for cities (e.g., Chicago, Elmhurst, Naperville), 3 views had data for counties (e.g., DuPage, Cook, Wayne) and 2 had data for states (e.g., Illinois, Wisconsin). You can create "Cities", "Counties" and "States" types that appear in the project window and associate the view documents with cities data to the Cities type, view documents with counties data to the Counties type, etc.. Then when you select Cities in project window only the views Chicago, Elmhurst and Naperville display in the list. You can then customize each type to perform functions and analysis specific to the data. Use the Customize dialog to alter the controls (Menus, Buttons, Tools, Popups) in the type.

New types are created from the standard default types or copied from existing types. Types are associated with only one particular kind of document. For example, if you create a new type from a type for View, that new type can be associated ONLY with View documents - not Charts or Layouts.

New

1	Click New. ArcView displays the list of standard default types: Appl, Chart, Layout, Project, Script, Table, View.

2	Select a default type and hit OK or double click on the default type's name. ArcView creates a new type, adds it to the scrolling list of on the left side of the dialog and makes it active. The default name for the new type is <DefaultTypeName><number> where DefaultTypeName is the name of the selected type and number is the first number that makes a unique name (e.g., "View1").

3	Customize the new type by changing its Name, DocBaseName, Show in Project Window, Title, Icon and script properties.

Copy

1	Select the type to copy in the scrolling list on the left side of the dialog box by clicking on the appropriate icon; the selected type's title highlights.

2	Click Copy. ArcView copies the selected type, adds the new copy to the scrolling list and makes it active. The new type has the name <defName><number> where defName is the Name of the type you copied and number is a value starting at 1 that makes that name unique. For example, if the original type was named "Test" and there was already a type  named "Test1", ArcView names the new type "Test2".

3	Customize the new type by changing its Name, DocBaseName, Show in Project Window, Title, Icon and script properties.

Delete

1	Select the user interface to delete in the scrolling list on the left-hand side of the dialog box. Click on the appropriate icon and its title will highlight.

2	Click Delete. ArcView deletes the selected user interface. Do NOT delete the Project’s user interface. If you do accidentally delete it, you can create a new project user interface using the New button.

Note  You can delete or rename standard default types, but the next time you load ArcView, they will appear in the project. Types defined in either the system default.apr or your local default.apr file are reloaded the next time you invoke ArcView. If those types have unique names, those types will appear. When you alter a type, you create a version of it in your project file and your local version overrides any default versions.

The delete button will be disabled if the project contains any documents that reference the selected user interface.

Show in Project Window

 When the toggle button Show in Project Window is set, the type appears in the list of icons in the Project Window. In the Customize Types dialog, types shown in the project window have a gray background in the icon list - types not in the project window have a light background. The properties listed below Show in Project Window describe the appearance and function of the type in the project window; these are enabled only when the type is shown in the project window.

You can specify the Show in Project Window state through Avenue with the DocGUI request SetVisible.

To reorder the types in the project window

 Reorder the types in the project window by dragging and dropping icons in the scrolling list on the left side of the dialog. Click on an icon in the scrolling list and drag it to the desired position.

You can reorder types through Avenue by reordering the Project's VisibleGUIs list.

To resize the width of the icon scroll bar

 Change the width of the icon scroll bar in the project window by changing the number under the scrolling icon list in the Customize Types dialog. By default, the width is 70 pixels, but you can change it to accommodate longer title names or larger icons. You can also change this value in a script with the Project request SetVisibleGUIsWidth.

To change values in the Properties List

 Type properties appear in the 2 column list on the right side of the dialog. Change a setting by double clicking on the property.

For properties that consist of the name of a project or system component, double-clicking displays a manager window, such as the Icon Manager, or the Script Manager . You can use a manager window to select from the available choices. For properties that consist of a string, such as Name or Title, double-clicking displays a window in which you can type.  To clear the value of a property, click on the property and press DELETE or BACKSPACE. You cannot clear the value of an Icon property.

Some properties can be changed only when the type shows in the project window. For a detailed description of each property, see Type Properties.

To undo your last change

 Undo your last change by hitting <Control Z>. ArcView keeps the undo state until the next command begins.

Note   You cannot undo changes to Show in Project Window.


Cut

Cuts the selection and places it in the system clipboard.

On a table, this control cuts the data from the active cell.

On a layout, this control cuts the selected graphic.

On a script or table, this control cuts the selected text.

Use Paste to paste the selection you cut.


Cut Graphics/Cut Features

Cuts the selected graphics or features to the clipboard.

Use Paste to paste the graphics into the same view or a different view in your project, or paste features into the same theme or a different theme you are editing.


Cut Themes

This control cuts the active theme(s) from the Table of Contents and places them in the system clipboard.

Use Paste to paste the theme(s) you cut into the Table of Contents of the same or a different view in your project.


Default settings for text and label tools

This dialog is where you change how new text and label objects will appear. On the left side of this dialog is a box that contains each of the text and label tool icons. To change the default settings for a text or label tool, click its icon (the dialog will always open with the defaults for the text tool shown). When you click on the tool icons, the rest of the dialog will change to reflect that tool’s current default settings. Also, the title for the control panel will change to reflect the name of the currently selected tool.

An easy way to tell the text tools from the label tools is the difference in their icons. The text tools just have a “T” while the label tools have a “TL” on their icons.

All the label tools are dependent on having the appropriate label field chosen in the active theme’s properties.

The following are descriptions of each of the settings you may change:

Use Symbol Window settings for text

When this option is selected ArcView will used the default text symbol that has been set in the Symbol Window and you will not be able to change the settings for Font, Color, Size (pts), or Style.

Font

This is where you choose the font you want assign as the default for the selected tool. If you have chosen to use the Symbol Window settings for text, you will only see the name of that font in this list.

Color

This is where you choose the text color you want to assign as default for the selected tool. This option is not available when Use Symbol Window settings for text is selected.

Size (pts)

This is where you choose the size for the text you want to assign as default for the selected tool. This option is not available when Use Symbol Window settings for text is selected.

Style

This is where you choose the style of the text you want to assign as default for the selected tool. This option is not available when Use Symbol Window settings for text is selected.

Use outline

This option is only available for the callout, bullet leader, and banner text and label tools. When you select this option, you are indicating that the background rectangle that will be placed behind your text or label will have an outline. When the bullet leader text or label tool is selected, this option also controls the availability of the Fill color because this tool does not have a background rectangle until you select Use outline.

Width (pts)

If Use outline is selected, then you can choose how wide the outline should be. All widths are in points (1/72 inch).

Outline color

If Use outline is selected, then you can choose the color of the outline.

Fill color

This option is only available for the callout, bullet leader, and banner text and label tools. This sets the color of the rectangle that is placed behind your text.

Use drop-shadow

This option is only available for the callout, bullet leader, and banner text and label tools. When this option is selected, you have indicated that the resultant label or text will have a drop-shadow.

Shadow color

This option is only available for the callout, bullet leader, and banner text and label tools and the shadow text tool. This is the color that will be used for the drop-shadow.

Size (pts)

This option is only available when you have selected one of the highway label tools. This is the size of the entire highway shield, not just the text. When you are using highway shields for a view that will just be used within ArcView, consider a fairly large setting here like 30 or 36, as that will make a legible representation of your highway shields. If your view will be used in a layout to make a printed map, then a size of 12 or 14 is more appropriate because most people are accustomed to seeing highway shields at this size.

Show only numbers

This option is only available when you have selected one of the highway label tools. This means that ArcView will sift through the characters in the label field for the theme you are labeling and just use the numeric characters when labeling with the selected highway shield tool.  When this option is not selected, ArcView is still smart enough to weed out irrelevant characters in the values of your feature’s label field, for instance “Interstate 29” becomes “I29”.

OK

Clicking OK commits any changes you have made and closes the dialog.

Cancel

Clicking Cancel negates any changes you have made and closes the dialog.


Delete

Deletes the currently selected graphics on the layout. The graphics removed with Delete are not placed into the clipboard. The existing contents of the clipboard, if any, are preserved.


Delete Component
Delete

Removes the selected project components without placing them on the Clipboard. Choose Delete when you don't want to place the selected components in another project.

To delete project components

1	Make the project the active window.

2	Select the components to delete.

3	From the Project menu, choose Delete.

ArcView removes the components from the project. You won't be able to undo this operation.

Note   Deleting a component of a project is not the same as deleting a control from a menu bar, button bar, or tool bar in the Customize dialog box. When you delete a project component you remove the entire component, whereas deleting a control removes only the control from the component.


Delete Field

Use this control to delete the active field from the table you are editing.

There is no "Undo" to this operation; once a field is deleted it is no longer accessible in the table.


Delete Graphics/Delete Features

Deletes currently selected graphics or features without placing them on the clipboard. The existing contents of the clipboard, if any, are preserved. You can't paste deleted graphics or features back into your view.


Delete Left

Deletes all the text to the left of the cursor in the line you are currently working on in your script.


Delete Records

Deletes the currently selected record(s) in the table you are editing.


Delete Themes

Deletes the active theme(s) from the Table of Contents. You are prompted to see if you really want to delete the theme(s).

Deleted themes are not placed onto the clipboard. The existing contents of the clipboard, if any, are preserved. You can't paste deleted themes back into your view.


Detach Graphics

Use this control to detach graphics from the active theme(s) in a view. All graphics that have been attached to the theme(s) will be detached.


Display (Theme Properties dialog box)

Sets the range of map scales at which the theme may be drawn on the view.

Minimum scale  The scale at which the theme will be drawn on the view when the view's scale is smaller. For example, to set the property so the theme is only visible when the scale is smaller than 1:30,000, enter "30000". The theme is visible at 1:50,000, but not visible at 1:20,000.

Maximum scale   The scale at which the theme will be drawn on the view when the view's scale is larger. For example, to set the property so the theme is only visible when the scale is larger than 1:100,000, enter "100000". The theme is visible at 1:50,000, but not visible at 1:150,000.

See also

Setting a theme's display properties


Doc_frame_tool

Table and Chart frame tool

Use this tool to add a table or chart frame to a layout. Select the table or chart frame tool and draw a rectangle to create a frame to display a table or chart.

Dialog box options

Tables/Charts    Contains a list of tables or charts in the project. Select the name of the table or chart to create the corresponding frame from. You can also select the choice: <Empty Table/Chart> which will create a frame that does not contain any data. This frame can be assigned a table or chart later by the user or by Avenue. Empty table or chart frames are often used to create cartographic templates.

Display   When should the frame refresh itself. The choices are:

When Active - The frame will redraw only when the layout is the active project component.

Always - The frame will refresh whenever there is any change to the table or chart.

Quality   How the data displays in the frame.  The choices are:

Presentation - The frame will display the table or chart.

Draft - The frame will be a shaded box, placeholding where the table or chart will be drawn. This is often used to increase the speed of working with the layout.

The frame will contain the same data contained in the table or chart document. Changes in the table or chart will be shown in its corresponding frame.  The frame will only display the data contained in a table or chart that is currently open. Creating a table or chart frame from a closed table or chart will result in a solid rectangle filling the frame. When the document is opened, the frame will show the table or chart. The time when this occurs is dependent on the refresh property of the frame.

After you create a table or chart frame, you can see the Table/Chart Frame Properties dialog box at any time by double-clicking its frame.

See also

Adding a table to a layout

Adding a chart to a layout

Frame tool

Types of frames


Dot Legend Editor (Dialog box)

  Show help for general Legend Editor features.

Density Field

Determines which field’s values are used in the legend.

Normalize By

Use this to set a normalization field or to normalize by percent of total.

Null Values button

This button opens the Null Values window.

Dot Legend: 1 dot =

Enter a dot value here.

Calculate button

Used to calculate an optimum dot value. This calculation accounts for the size of your map on the screen and the size of your dot symbol.

Dot Symbol

Indicates the dot symbol that will be used. This is a marker symbol and you may double click on this to choose a new dot symbol.

Background Symbol

Indicates the fill symbol that will be applied behind the dots in each of the polygons.  You may double click on this to choose a new background symbol.


Drawing_and_editing_tools
Drawing and editing tools

Use these tools to add graphics to a view or layout. When you click on the Draw tool, ArcView drops down a column of tools; pick one to:

 Draw a point

 Draw a straight line

 Draw a line with two or more vertices

 Draw a rectangle

 Draw a circle

 Draw a polygon

The following tools are only active if you are editing a theme and are not present for layouts:

 Draw a line to split line features

 Draw a line to split polygon features

  Draw a line to append a new polygon adjacent to other polygons

When you draw polygons, lines with two or more points, or are splitting or appending a polygon, you must double-click when entering the last point to tell ArcView that you are finished entering vertices.

When you draw a graphic on a view or a layout, its dimensions are displayed in the ArcView status bar. On a view, dimensions are displayed in the current distance units of the view (choose Properties from the View menu to review). On a layout, the dimensions are displayed in the current page units (choose Page Setup from the Layout menu to review).

To set the properties of graphics (such as color or line style) before you draw them, choose Show Symbol Window from the Window menu. Set symbol properties that you want your graphics to be drawn with and then begin making them.

To change the properties of a graphic after you have drawn it, double-click on it with the Pointer tool [image] to access the Symbol Window. Set symbol properties as required. To change the properties of more than one graphic, select them with the Pointer tool and then choose Show Symbol Window from the Window menu. Set symbol properties as required.


Drive Code Page Profile (Dialog box)

Lets you set the code page for each drive and/or directory from which ArcView will read data. By default, ArcView assumes that data on all drives and directories uses the system’s native code page. If you specify that a drive or directory should use another code page, ArcView will automatically perform code page conversion when you read or write data from that drive. See Setting up the Drive Code Page Profile.

Dialog box options

Set  Sets the new drive/directory and code page setting in the Code Page Information window.

Remove  Removes the drive/directory and code page setting from the Code Page Information Window

Load  Load Drive Code Page Profile from disk.  Load Drive Code Page dialog box (figure 3)  will pop up.

Save  Save the current Drive Code page Profile  to disk for future use.  Save Drive Code Page dialog box will pop up. Drive Code Page Profile dialog box closed.

Restore  Restore the contents of the default Drive Code page Profile.  This is either the default.dcp specified by “Make Default” or the default.dcp in the installation <arcview>/etc directory.

Make Default  Creates a file named default.dcp in $HOME.  This files becomes the Default Drive Code page Profile.  This will be the profile that “Restore” command restore to. Drive Code Page Profile dialog box closed.

OK  Satisfied with current setting and exit the Drive Code Page Profile dialog box.  Note, unless you make default the current code page setting, all changes will be lost when you exit ArcView.

Cancel  Closes the Drive Code Page Profile dialog box. Any changes made in the dialog box are ignored.


Editing (Theme Properties dialog box)

Sets the theme’s attribute update rules and the theme’s snapping environment.

Attribute Updating

You can set attribute update rules to specify how data in the theme's attribute table is handled when you split features with the Line Split tool [image] or the Polygon Split tool [image], or merge features with the Union Features option. For each field in the attribute table, you can choose a union rule and a split rule.

Field

Choose the field in the table you want the union and split rules to be applied to. If you want to set a union and split rule for each field in the table you must choose each field individually to set the rules.

Field type

Single  Any field in the attribute table. Only the values in this field will be considered when determining the new values for the field.

Range  A field that is paired with another field in the attribute table to hold range type data. Both fields will be considered together when determining the new values for this field.

Attribute update rules for Single fields

Union Rule

Blank value in the resulting record will be blank

Copy  value in whichever record is first in the table will be assigned (the default)

Proportion value will be proportional to the areas of the merged polygons or proportional to the lengths of the merged lines

Add  values will be added together in the resulting record

Average  values will be averaged in the resulting record

Shape Area  value will be the area of the resulting polygon

Shape Perimeter  value will be the perimeter of the resulting polygon

Shape Length  value will be the length of the resulting line

Split Rule

Blank  value in both records will be blank

Copy  original value will be assigned to both records (the default)

Proportion  values will be proportional to the areas of the new polygons or proportional to the length of the new lines

Shape Area  values will be the area of the resulting polygons

Shape Perimeter  values will be the perimeter of the resulting polygons

Shape Length  values will be the length of the resulting lines

Attribute update rules for Range fields

Paired Field

Choose the field that should be paired with the selected field.

Range type

Address  For address values, the parity of the values is maintained, so if the address range is even the results will be even values, and if the address range is odd the results will be odd values.

Continuous  For continuous values, parity is not maintained, so resulting values can be even or odd.

Reset

Sets the attribute rules back to the default.

Snapping

General

To turn on general snapping, click the General check box. With general snapping, vertices and boundaries of the new feature get snapped to vertices and boundaries of existing features within a specified distance, the tolerance. This feature-to-feature snapping gets applied as soon as you have created a new feature.

Tolerance

Specify a tolerance distance in map units within which general snapping operates. When you specify a tolerance, you are specifying the search radius measured from the edited vertex. The default value is 0. You can also set this tolerance interactively on the view using the Snap tool.

Interactive

To turn on interactive snapping, click the Interactive check box. Snapping rules will be available on the View’s popup menu. While you are creating a line or polygon, you can choose a snapping option from the popup to specify that the next vertex you add will be snapped to an existing feature with one of the following rules: Snap to Vertex, Snap to Boundary, Snap to Endpoint (lines only) and Snap to Intersection.

Tolerance

Specify a tolerance distance in map units within which interactive snapping operates. When you specify a tolerance, you are specifying the search radius measured from the edited vertex. The default value is 0. You can also set this tolerance interactively on the view using the Interactive Snap tool.

Show snap tolerance cursor

By default, the snap tolerance cursor is turned on when snapping is enabled. The snap tolerance cursor is a circle representing the snap tolerance that is displayed with the cursor while you are creating  polylines, polygons, or editing vertices. If general snapping is turned on, the circle represents the general snap tolerance. If interactive snapping is also turned on, the circle will change to the interactive snap tolerance when you chose an interactive snap rule. To turn off the snap tolerance cursor, click the Show snap tolerance cursor checkbox. Note, this checkbox is only visible when general and/or interactive snapping is turned on. You can also turn the snap tolerance cursor on or off in the view by holding down the right mouse button to display the popup menu, and choose Show/Hide Snap Tolerance Cursor.


Edit_Legend
Edit Legend

 Lets you change how the active theme is displayed. Before using this button, make the theme you want to change active by clicking on its name in the view's Table of Contents. Clicking this button displays ArcView's Legend Editor. With the Legend Editor, you can change the colors and symbols used to display the theme's features. You can also classify the features and display them with different symbols according to their tabular attributes. If the active theme is an image, you can choose the bands and colors used to display the image. Shortcut to display the Legend Editor: Double-click the name of the theme you want to change.

  Related topics


Edit Standardization (Dialog box)

This dialog box allows you to view and modify the results of standardization on the current address. ArcView uses the standardization values to find candidates and compute the matching scores. To increase the likelihood of finding a match or improve the score, you can either edit the address if there are mistakes or edit the standardization values if the values do not match with those in the reference file.

Address     The address that is being geocoded. You can edit the address and ArcView will generate the new standardization values. The edited address will be updated in the Geocoding Editor.

Standardized Address:    The standardized address is displayed with a "|" separating each address component.

Field    The field names of the address components that an address is standardized into. The list will be updated based on the address style.

Value    The value of each address component. You can edit the value and ArcView will use the value for searching and computing scores for the candidates. The values will not be saved.

See also

Geocoding Editor


Edit tool

 Edits the data values in a table. To start editing, choose Start Editing from the Table menu.

After selecting the Edit tool, place the cursor in the field of the record you want to edit. Type the new value into the field. When using the Edit tool in the table, the following keyboard accelerators are supported for the editable cell:

TAB   Moves to the cell to the right

SHIFT-TAB   Moves to the cell to the left

RETURN   Moves down a cell

SHIFT-RETURN   Moves up a cell

To finish editing and commit your changes, choose Stop Editing from the Table menu.

You cannot edit tables whose source data is a delimited text file or the result of a SQL query to a database. To edit data in these tables you should first export them to dBASE or INFO format and then add them back into your project.

You can only edit the values of fields in the destination table if the active table is composed of one or more joined tables. See Joining tables.


Embed Script

Inserts the contents of a script into the current project and deletes the component in which you compiled it.

If you are preparing a project whose scripts you don't want to display as project window components, you can embed the scripts in the project. You can still access the scripts from the Script Manager to load them in order to make modifications.

To embed a script in a project

1	Compile the script.

2	In the Script menu choose Embed Script. ArcView inserts the script into the current project.

Notes

 When you embed a script, rename it to something other than Script1, Script2, etc.

 To remove an embedded script from a project, use Unembed.


Erase tool

 Removes data markers from a chart and unselects the records from the table.

Depending on how the chart is plotted, data markers of the same data series or the same data group are erased from the chart.

To erase data markers

1	Choose the Erase tool.

2	Click on the data marker you want to erase.

3	If the chart containing more than one data group was plotted from records, all data markers of the same series will be erased. If the chart was plotted from fields, all data markers of the same group will be erased.

Notes

 You can reverse the last erase you made to the chart by choosing the Undo Erase [image] button.

 If you unselect the records from the table, the data markers on the chart will be erased. Selecting the records again can recover the plot of data markers on the chart.

See also

Adding and erasing data markers on a chart


Erase with polygon tool

 Lets you remove one or more data markers from an XY scatter chart by defining a polygon around the markers.

See Adding and erasing data markers on a chart


Examine Variables

 Displays the name, class, and value of all local and global variables.

To examine the value of a variable

1	Compile the script.

2	Set the breakpoints.

3	Run the script.

The breakpoint interrupts the script at the breakpoint.

4   From the Script menu, choose Examine Variables...

ArcView displays a dialog box that lists all the local variables, their class, and their value at the current breakpoint. To see the global variables, choose Globals from the dropdown list at the top of the dialog box.

See also

Examining variables in a script


Exit

Ends your ArcView session. If you've made changes to your project, ArcView asks if you want to save the project.


Export

Exports the view or layout you are working on to a file. You can choose from a number of different file formats. If you export a view, the Table of Contents is not exported.


Export (Dialog box)

Exports a view or layout to a file.

ArcView allows you to export a view or layout to a system file in a number of different formats. If you export a view, the Table of Contents will not be exported.

Dialog box options

File Name    Type the name of the file you wish to save the view or layout into, or select the name of an existing file in the list you wish to replace. The list shows the files in the current directory of the type shown in the List Files of Type box.

List Files of Type    Select the type of file you want to list. The file type for the exported file is determined by this setting. The list is platform dependent:

All platforms

PostScript New (EPS) (*.eps)    Lists all files in the current directory that were saved with a .EPS extension.

PostScript (EPS) (*.eps)    Lists all files in the current directory that were saved with a .EPS extension.

Adobe Illustrator (*.ai)      Lists all files in the current directory that were saved with a .AI extension.

CGM Binary, CGM Clear Text, CGM Character (*.cgm)      Lists all files in the current directory that were saved with a .CGM extension.

JPEG (*.jpg)     Lists all files in the current directory that were saved with a .JPG extension.

Additional types offered on Windows

Placeable WMF, Windows Metafile (*.wmf)     Lists all files in the current directory that were saved with a .WMF extension.

Windows Bitmap (*.bmp)      Lists all files in the current directory that were saved with a .BMP extension.

Drives (Windows only)    Select the drive on which you want to save the file.

Directories    Select the directory location where you want to save the file. Double-click a directory in this box to see a list of sub-directories it contains. When you double-click on a directory, any files it contains of the type you choose in the List Files of Type box are shown in the File Name list.

Options    When available, offers an additional setting for exporting.

See also

Using Exported Files in other Software Packages


Export Table

Exports the table you are working on to a file. You can choose from a number of different file formats.  If any records have been selected, only these records will be exported. Fields that have been hidden are not exported. If you have sorted or promoted the table's records in ArcView, these changes are not reflected in the exported table.


Export Table (Dialog box)

Exports the active table to a file. If any records have been selected, only these records will be exported. Fields that have been hidden are not exported.

Dialog box options for export type

dBASE -  dBASE format (*.dbf).

INFO - INFO database files.

Delimited text -  Text files with fields separated by commas (*.txt).

Dialog box options for export file location

File Name    Type the name of the file you wish to export the table into or select the name of an existing file in the list you wish to replace. This list shows the files of the type chosen in the current directory .

Drives (PC only).    Select the drive on which you want to save the file.

Directories    Select the directory location where you want to save the file. Double-click a directory in this box to see a list of sub-directories it contains. When you double-click on a directory, any files it contains of the type you choose are shown in the File Name list.

Note   INFO files will be saved to a directory as a numbered pair of files (for example, arc0001.dat and arc0001.nit). Another pair of files will be created that the INFO database requires called arc.dir and arc.nsp. These files are created only once for a given directory. In order to use INFO files exported from ArcView in ARC/INFO, users should name the directory that the files are written to "info".

See Also

Exporting a table


Extensions

Lets you load and unload extensions. Extensions allow you to add-on additional functionality in ArcView. When you load an extension, ArcView’s user interface may change to reflect the functionality in the extension. New menus, menu items, buttons and tools may appear, and new options may be available in existing dialogs. You can load and unload extensions at any time during an ArcView session. You can load different extensions for different projects or make your choice of extensions the default for ArcView. If you open a project that uses an extension that is not currently loaded, ArcView will automatically load the extension for you. See Working with Extensions.


Extensions (Dialog box)

The Extensions dialog allows you to load and unload extensions. Extensions extend ArcView "on the fly" allowing you to enhance your working environment with additional objects, scripts and customization independent of the current project. You can use extensions provided by ESRI and you can also create your own. Extensions are a great way to share your favorite button or an interesting View document with your colleagues and because the extension installs its own components, even beginning ArcView users can easily use them.

Available Extensions list

The available extensions list includes all the extension files in the directory identified by $AVEXTand in the directory identified by $USEREXT (defaults to $HOME).

Each extension in the list has a check box to the left of its name. You load and unload extensions by checking and unchecking the box.

What do the check marks and check boxes mean?

 No check mark in the check box means that extension is NOT loaded.

 A check mark in the check box means that extension is loaded.

 A solid check mark means that extension can be unloaded.

 An outlined check mark means that extension cannot be unloaded because of dependencies upon it.

To load an extension

1	Drag the mouse over the check boxes to the left of the extension name in the Available Extensions list. Notice the cursor turns into a check mark.

2	Click on the check box for the desired extension. When you check the box, a check mark will appear.

3	When you hit OK, that extension will be loaded.

NOTE: If the extension you checked is dependent upon another extension, the other extension will also be loaded. If the required extension is in your Available Extensions list, its check mark will be an outline instead of a solid - an outline check mark indicates the extension cannot be unloaded because of dependencies. If a required extension is not listed in your Available Extensions list, it will NOT be added to the list, but the extension will be loaded.

To unload an extension

1	Drag the mouse over the check boxes to the left of the extension name in the Available Extensions list. Notice the cursor turns into a check mark.

2	Click on a checked check box to remove the check mark. If a check mark is an outline (not solid), you cannot unload the extension because there are dependencies on it.

3	When you hit OK, ArcView unloads that extension.

OK

 OK applies any changes and closes the dialog box.

Cancel

 Cancel closes the dialog box, but does not apply changes .

Reset

 Reset restores the loaded and unloaded states of all extension to the system default settings.

Make Default

 Click Make Default to create or update your local default.apr file with the set of extensions currently defined in your project saving the extension's loaded state. The saved state will be the set of loaded extensions when you hit OK. Each time you load ArcView, these extensions will automatically be loaded.

About:

 Click on an extension in the Available Extensions list highlighting its name and a brief description of the extension appears in the About box.

See Also

Working with Extensions


Definition (Theme Properties dialog box)

Shows how the contents of the theme are defined. If your theme is an image, see Image Definition Theme Properties.

Dialog box options

Name    The name of the theme. Theme names may include multiple words along with spaces, numbers and punctuation. By default, a new theme is given the name of the data source that the theme represents.

Use Suffix    Check the box if you want to show the name of the field used to classify the theme when the theme’s legend has been edited so that its features are symbolized based on the values of a field. That field name will be appended to the theme name and displayed in the Table of Contents. For example, a theme called USA that is classified on its Area field will appear in the Table of Contents named USA by Area.

Source    The name of the data source and the class of features from that data source that the theme represents. You can't change the source definition for an existing theme.

Definition    The definition of what features from the Source are represented in the view. If no definition is shown, all the features from the data source are represented in the theme.

 Lets you specify a feature definition for the theme using the Query Builder. For example, if the data source is the polygon features in an ARC/INFO coverage representing land use, you can specify that only polygons with a particular land use type will be represented in the theme. In this way you can control exactly what features the theme represents. See Defining a feature selection for a theme.

Clear    Clears the feature selection definition shown in the Definition box. All the features in the source will be represented in the theme.

Comments    Comments documenting the theme. Lets you leave a note describing what the theme represents, why it was created, etc.


Field Definition (Dialog box)

Adds a new field to the table you are currently editing.

Dialog box options

Name    Type in the name of the new field. Field names cannot contain square brackets ( [ ] )

Type    Use this box to choose the type of field you wish to add to the table. The possible types are:

Number. Specify the width of the field in digits in the Width field, and the number of decimal places in the Decimal Places  field. Typing 0 will make the field an integer.

String. Specify the width of the field in characters in the Width field

Boolean. Each value in a Boolean field is either True or False. When you type values into a Boolean field you can either type True or False in full, or just type t or f which ArcView will immediately convert to True or False for you.

Date. Each value in a date field is eight digits in the format YYYYMMDD. For example, the 2nd of May 1961 would be represented as 19610502. When you type dates into a date field they must be in this format.


Fill Palette (Dialog box)

 The Fill Palette presents a variety of patterns you may use to fill polygons. The pattern at the upper left corner of the scrolling list of patterns represents an empty fill. The pattern to its immediate right represents a solid fill. Once you've selected a fill pattern you can switch to the Color Palette to set its foreground and background colors.

Fill Palette options

Outline   To specify a width for the polygon's outline enter a width in points, or choose a value from the drop-down list. You can enter a number like 0.1 to create a fine line for hardcopy output. There are 72 points per inch. To display a polygon without an outline, select None from the list. To set the color of the outline, switch to the Color Palette and choose Outline from the Color drop-down list. Then select the color you want. In this version of ArcView, you can't alter the outline symbol of polygons.


Find

 Finds a feature in a view, table, or chart that has the attribute value you type in. Find works by searching the features to find the first feature with the value you specified, in any of its text attribute fields (i.e., fields containing text strings as opposed to numeric values). Find doesn’t search in numeric fields. You don't need to enclose the text you specify in quotes. Find is not case-sensitive. You can enter part of the text. For example, just typing Afgh will also find Afghanistan. Wildcard characters are not supported by Find.

When you are working on a view, it searches the active theme(s) for the feature you specify. When a feature is found, ArcView selects it and pans the view so that the feature is in the center of the view.

When working with a table, ArcView searches for a matching record, selects it and scrolls the table so that the selected record is displayed.

When working with a chart, the matching chart symbol flashes.

This button is dimmed out if you are using ArcView's Database Access extension and the active theme is a database theme.


Find (Dialog box)

Find a particular feature in a view, table, or chart.

Find works by searching the features to find the first feature with the value you specified, in any of its text attribute fields (i.e., fields containing text strings as opposed to numeric values). Find doesn’t search in numeric fields. You don't need to enclose the text you specify in quotes. Find is not case-sensitive. You can enter part of the text. For example, just typing Afgh will also find Afghanistan. Wildcard characters are not supported by Find.

Finding a feature on a view

When you press OK on the Find dialog box, ArcView will search through the active theme(s) in the view, in the order they appear in the Table of Contents, until it finds the first feature that matches the value you specified. When a feature is found, ArcView selects it and pans the view so that the feature is in the center of the view.

Finding a record in a table

When you use Find on a table, ArcView searches through the records in the table until it finds the first one containing the specified attribute value. This record is selected and highlights. ArcView will scroll the table to ensure that the selected record is visible. If the table belongs to one of the themes in a currently open view, the feature on the view represented by the record is automatically selected too.

Finding a data marker on a chart

When you use Find on a chart, ArcView searches the chart until a data marker is found that represents a record containing the specified attribute value. The data markers plotted from the record will blink on the chart.

Note  When using Find on a chart, Find only searches among the records that were used to generate the chart.

To find the next feature that matches the specified value

If the first feature that ArcView finds is not the one you want, you can find the next one by using Find again. The value you previously specified will still be shown in the Find dialog box. If ArcView can't find any more features matching the value, you are notified.


Font Palette (Dialog box)

 The Font Palette lets you choose the font with which you can display text and labels.

Font Palette options

Size   In addition to choosing the font you can specify its size in points by selecting from the list of sizes or type in the size you want. If you resize selected text with the mouse, its size in points will be reflected in the dialog box. There are 72 points per inch.

Style   You can set the formatting style that the selected font supports by choosing from the Style list.

Create Markers   Converts the characters of the selected font into marker symbols so you can use individual characters as marker symbols when you draw point features. The marker symbols are appended to the end of the Marker Palette [image].

Note   To set the color of the font, switch to the Color Palette and choose Text from the Color drop-down list. Then select the color you want.


Frame tool

Use this tool to add frames to a layout to contain other ArcView components (i.e., views, charts, and tables), common map graphics (i.e., legends and scale bars), and imported graphics.

 Creates a view frame

 Creates a legend frame

 Creates a scale bar frame

 Creates a north arrow frame

 Creates a chart frame

 Creates a table frame

 Creates a picture frame


Geocoded Theme

A geocoded theme is a theme added by geocoding in the form of a shapefile. The shapefile contains point features, one for each address. ArcView copies all data that are visible in the event address table into the geocoded theme's attribute table and appends new fields created by the address geocoding process such as the matching score and matching status to the attribute table. Events that did not find matches are indicated by an "U" in the field of matching status and no points will be displayed on the view. They are treated as null shapes.

These are the fields generated by geocoding in ArcView:

Av_add - The actual address used for matching. If you correct the address in the Geocoding Editor, the edited address will be saved in this field.

Av_zone - Only available if the reference theme is made matchable using an address style that contains a zone field. This field lists the zone value used for matching. If you correct the zone in the Geocoding Editor, the edited value will be saved in this field.

Av_status - The matching status of an event. It is either M (successfully matched) or U (not matched).

Av_score - The matching score, i.e., the matching confidence. In a range of 0 to 100, 0 is unmatch (U in Av_status) and 100 is a highly confident or exact match.

Av_side - The side in relation to the reference street segment where the event is successfully matched to. The options are L (Left), R (Right), and blank if the event is not matched. This field is only available when the event table is geocoded against a matchable theme using US Streets with Zone or US Streets address style.

You can edit the theme to create point features or edit the addresses if they are incorrect, ambiguous or non-existent. ArcView also allows you to Re-match the addresses in the geocoded theme. See Re-matching a geocoded theme.

See also

The geocoding process


Geocode Addresses

Geocodes a list of address events in batch or interactive mode. After a theme's geocoding properties are set, you can choose this option to open a Geocode Addresses dialog box to geocode a table of addresses. A geocoded theme will be added to the view. The geocoded theme contains point features that indicate the locations of the successfully matched addresses.

See also

What is geocoding

Overview of address geocoding


Geocode Addresses (Dialog box)

This dialog box allows you to geocode a list of addresses stored in a table and add a geocoded theme to a view.

Dialog box options

Reference theme    The theme in the view that is used as a reference theme for matching.

Join Field    A field from the reference theme's attribute table that can be joined to the output geocoded theme. The selected field will be added to the geocoded theme’s attribute table. It is useful to use a Join Field if you want to join the geocoded point with the feature in the reference theme that the point is geocoded against.

Using Address Style    The Address Style that is applied to the reference theme. You can specify an address style by setting the theme’s geocoding properties or pressing the Change Address Style button to change the address style.

Change Address Style   Press this button to open the theme’s geocoding properties dialog box for changing the address style.

Address Table    The drop-down list shows all the tables in your project. Select the table that contains address events you wish to geocode. When you select a table, ArcView reads the field names in the table to find the likely defaults for the next two options. If you want to select a new address file, you can press [image] to open a file. This file will not be added as a table to the project.

Address Field    The field in the table that contains the addresses, street intersections or place name aliases that you want to geocode. The Batch Match and Interactive Match buttons will be disabled if no field is selected.

Zone Field    (Only available if the reference theme is made matchable using an address style that contains a zone field.) The field in the table that contains the zone information of the event. The Batch Match and Interactive Match buttons will be disabled if no field is selected.

Display Field    An optional field in the table that will be shown in the Geocoding Editor. Displaying an additional field of information such as the name of customer or business can help you identify the address you are geocoding particularly when you are running geocoding interactively.

Note   If you want to select a field in the table but you can't see the field in the drop-down list, it is possible that the field has been hidden or renamed with an alias. In either case, you can open the Table Properties dialog box to reveal the field and make it visible.

Offset Distance    (Only available if the reference theme is made matchable using the address style that contains information of parity and side.) The offset distance from the street segment where a point representing the location of the event is placed. A positive value places the point in the specified distance on the matched side. A negative value places the point on the opposite side.

Aliases Table    The table that contains place name aliases and addresses associated with the aliases. If you want to select a new alias file, you can press [image] to open a file. This file will not be added as a table to the project.

Geocoded Theme    ArcView provides a default theme name for the output geocoded theme. You can press [image] to specify a new path and file name.

Geocoding Preferences    Press this button to open the Geocoding Preferences dialog box for setting the preferences such as spelling sensitivity and minimum match score.

Batch Match    Press this button to invoke the Batch Match geocoding process. When it is done, it will display the Re-match Addresses dialog box.

Interactive Match    Press this button to invoke the Interactive Match geocoding process. ArcView will display the Geocoding Editor for you to control the geocoding process. It allows you to review the matching candidates for each address and edit the address if no matching record is found.

Cancel    Press this button to cancel the geocoding process and dismiss this window.

See also

Address geocoding

Working with place name aliases

Geocoded theme


Geocoding Editor (Dialog box)

This is a dialog box for:

 Controlling geocoding in batch or interactive mode.

 Opening the Geocoding Preference dialog box for setting the candidate review conditions and matching preferences.

 Displaying each address and its possible candidates for matching, and allowing you to manually match the address to the selected candidate.

 Editing the address if there are errors, and generating appropriate matching candidates based on the new address.

There are three different ways to display the Geocoding Editor

1.    Geocoding address

2.    Re-matching a geocoded theme

3.    Locating an address on a view

Dialog box options

Address # of #    Shows the current event number and the total number of events in the event table or selection set. It is always 1 of 1 if the Editor is opened using Locate Address.

Match: # Unmatch: #    Shows the number of events that are matched and unmatched.

Display field:    The name and value of the Display field you specified in the Geocode Addresses dialog box for the current address. If you haven’t specified one, the place is blank.

Status:    Displays the matching status of current address. If the addresses are being matched the first time, they are given an Unmatched status.

Address text box     Displays an event's address specified in the Locate Address dialog box, the address in the current working event in the event table, or geocoded theme if geocoding is performed in an interactive mode. Addresses will not be updated for display during batch mode matching. When you edit the address and press ENTER, ArcView will generate a new set of candidates. Highlight the one you want to geocode. Press Match or double-click the candidate in the candidate list. The edited address will be saved in the ArcView generated field [Av_add] in the geocoded theme's attribute table. If you are locating an address, the edited address will not be saved.

Standardized Address:    The standardized address is displayed with a "|" separating each address component.

Candidate table    Displays the number of candidates that are generated from the matchable theme. The table lists their address information based on the chosen address style and the candidate's match score. If one or more candidates are found, ArcView will highlight the candidate with the highest score and geocode the address event to it by default. To control the list of candidates, adjust the matching score preferences in the Geocoding Preferences dialog box.

If you prefer to match an address interactively, you can highlight the candidate you want and double-click it or press Match. Use the Sort Ascending and Sort Descendingbuttons to sort records by a selected field for easy viewing.

Start/Stop/Continue    This button changes during geocoding. It is at Start when the Geocoding Editor is opened. Press it to start geocoding in a batch mode by default. It changes to Stop when you have pressed the button once and it allows you to stop geocoding at any time. If you press Stop, the button will be changed to Continue. You can re-invoke batch mode geocoding for the remaining records by pressing Continue or exit geocoding by pressing Done. The Continue button will be disabled when geocoding reaches the end of the file or selection set.

Match    Match an address with the highlighted candidate listed in the candidate table. If no candidates are found, this button is disabled.

Unmatch    Unmatch the current address regardless if candidates are found or not. By default, ArcView sets all addresses to UNMATCH the first time geocoding is performed for the event table.

Next    Go to the next address regardless whether candidates are found or not. The matching status of the current address remains unchanged. Note that ArcView, by default, sets all addresses to UNMATCH the first time geocoding is performed for the event table.

Previous    Display the previous address. You can change its matching status or match it with another candidate.

Edit Standardize    Displays the Edit Standardization dialog box. You can edit the address and the value of each address component generated by ArcView’s address standardization. ArcView uses the new values to search for candidates and compute the matching score.

Show Candidates    Displays the Show Candidates dialog box. It lists the feature attributes of the candidates. The left panel of the Show Candidates dialog indicates the candidate by its score and its record number in the feature attribute table. You can flash the highlighted candidate on the view by pressing the Flash Candidate button. This Show Candidates button is disabled when no candidates are found.

Preferences    Open the Geocoding Preferences dialog box to set the candidate review conditions and matching preferences including spelling sensitivity, minimum match score, and minimum score to be considered a candidate. You can open this dialog box to change the preferences any time during geocoding.

Done    Exit the Geocoding Editor.

If the Geocoding Editor is opened using Locate Address, the following two conditions apply.

1.    If a candidate is found and being highlighted, pressing Match and Done will close the dialog box with a point marker drawn on the location in the view. If you double-click the candidate, ArcView will activate Match and Done by itself.

2.    If a candidate is found, pressing Done without pressing Match will just close the dialog box. No address is located. If no candidate is found, pressing Done will also dismiss the dialog box.

If you are geocoding addresses in a file, a geocoded theme will be added to the Table of Contents after the geocoding process is done. You can exit the Editor any time during geocoding. If you exit before the end of the file or selection set is reached, unprocessed records will be assigned an UNMATCH status and written to the geocoded theme as null point shapes. But if geocoding is reprocessed on a geocoded theme, the matching status of unprocessed records remains unchanged.

See also

Address geocoding

Address matching

The geocoding process

Locating an address on a view


Geocoding Preferences (Dialog box)

This dialog box allows you to specify

 review candidate options

 spelling sensitivity

 minimum match score

 minimum score to be considered a candidate

Review candidates during interactive matching when...

If you want to see the address when multiple matches are found or the address when no candidate is found in the Geocoding Editor during geocoding, check the box next to Review candidates during interactive matching when... to display the review conditions listed underneath it. Choose any combination of conditions by checking the boxes:

 More than one candidate has the highest score

 Multiple candidates score higher than the minimum match score

 No candidates found for the current address

Uncheck Review candidates during interactive matching when... to cancel reviewing candidates.

The default is DO NOT review candidates. ArcView by default sets geocoding in a batch mode. That means geocoding does not prompt you for decisions if multiple or no matches exist.

If you choose Batch Match in the Geocode Addresses dialog or Batch Re-match in the Re-match Addresses dialog, ArcView ignores the review conditions.

Spelling Sensitivity

This setting controls how much variation in spelling ArcView will allow when it searches for likely match candidates in the reference theme. A low value will allow "Mane", "Maine", "Man" to be treated as match candidates for "Main". A higher value will restrict candidates to exact matches. The spelling sensitivity does not affect the match score of each candidate, it only controls how many candidates ArcView considers. ArcView then computes the match score of each candidate and ranks the candidates by score. Set the value between 0 and 100. The lower the value, the more likely additional candidates will be retrieved, and vice versa. The default is 80.

Minimum match score

This setting lets you control how well addresses have to match their most likely candidate in the reference theme, in order to be considered matched. A perfect match yields a score of 100. A match score between 75 and 100 can generally be considered a good match. The batch match process will not match the address if it yields a match score below the minimum match score. Set the value between 0 and 100. The default is 60.

Minimum score to be considered a candidate

When ArcView searches for likely match candidates in the reference theme, it uses this threshold to determine whether a potential candidate should be considered. Candidates that yield a match score lower than this threshold will not be considered.

Increasing this setting can speed up geocoding because ArcView will ignore candidates that yield low match scores, and therefore process a smaller number of candidates. Increasing this setting also results in a smaller number of likely candidates being displayed in the Geocoding Editor for each address when you perform interactive matching. Set the value between 0 and the minimum match score specified above. The default is 30.

The default values can be redefined in the Matching Preference definition file.

Reset      Reset the preferences to the default values.

See also

Address geocoding

Address matching

Geocoding Editor

The geocoding process

Locating an address on a view


Geocoding (Theme Properties dialog box)

Establishes an appropriate address style for a theme and makes it a matchable theme prior to performing address geocoding or locating an address on a view.

Address Style:    There are eight address styles available in ArcView. Each address style consists of a list of address components that reference a theme's attribute table. A check mark in front of the address component indicates that the component is required. This component needs to be filled with a data field from the attribute table. A component without a check mark is an optional component. Each address style contains a list of preferred field names for each component. Using the preferred field names, ArcView will determine a probable field from the attribute table for each component. You can change an automatically determined field by selecting another field from the drop-down list. If no suitable data fields are found from the attribute table, <None> can be set to the non-required components.

The following address styles are available in ArcView:

 US Streets with Zone

 US Streets

 US Single Range with Zone

 US Single Range

 US Single House with Zone

 US Single House

 Zip+4

 Zip+4 Range

 5-digit ZIP

 Single Field

Aliases    Select a table that contains place name aliases and addresses, if there are any. This becomes the theme's default alias table and will be referenced by the Locate Address dialog box. Associating an alias table to the theme allows you to locate an address using place name aliases. Select <None> if you don't want to use place name aliases.

To make a theme matchable

Press OK to make the theme matchable. ArcView will display a message box prompting you to confirm building the geocoding indexes using the selected address style. Press Yes to begin indexing. Press No to close the dialog box without building the geocoding indexes. If a theme has been made matchable and no changes apply, no indexes will be rebuilt if OK is pressed in the Theme Properties dialog box.

Notes

 If <None> is selected for a required component of an address style, pressing OK will not make the theme matchable. Choose another address style or use a suitable data set.

 If you want to select a field in the table but you can't see the field in the drop-down list, it is possible that the field has been hidden or renamed with an alias. In either case, you can open the Table Properties dialog box to reveal the field and make it visible.

See also

Setting a theme's geocoding properties


geoproc choice
GeoProcessing Wizard

The GeoProcessing Wizard choice opens the GeoProcessing Wizard where you can choose one of six geoprocessing operations to perform on your data.


geoproc clip
GeoProcessing, Clip

This process creates a new Shapefile by overlaying the features of two themes. One of these themes must be a polygon theme (called the “overlay” theme), which will be used to define the clipping region. The clip process uses the clipping region as a cookie cutter. Only those features in the other theme (called the “input” theme) within the clipping region are stored in the new Shapefile. The features of the Input theme can be polygons, lines, or points. The features in the new Shapefile will be of the same type as the input theme’s features. The feature attribute table for the new Shapefile contains the same items as the input theme’s attribute table.

Select a theme to clip: Choose from the list of themes, which includes all feature themes in your view, the theme you want to use as the input theme. The features of this theme will be clipped by the feature of overlay theme. You will see the number of features in this theme displayed once you select it.

Use selected features only: If the input theme has some selected features, you can check this box to only use the selected features in the clip operation.

Select the overlay theme: Choose an overlay theme from the list of polygon themes. You will see the number of features in this theme displayed once you select it.

Use selected features only: If the overlay theme has some selected features, you can check this box to only use the selected features as the clip region.

Specify the output file: Here you browse for, or enter a shape filename to that will be used to store the results of the clip operation.

Help: Opens this help topic.

Cancel: Dismisses the GeoProcessing wizard.

<< Back: Goes back to the first panel of the GeoProcessing wizard.

Finish: Starts the clipping process based on the settings you have chosen.


geoproc dissolve
Dissolve features based on attributes

This process will dissolve features in one theme based on the value of an attribute you choose. Technically this is the same as showing the attribute table for a theme, then choosing to Summarize an attribute where you elect to merge_shapes.

Step 1 of 2

Select a theme to dissolve: Choose from the list of themes, which includes all feature themes in your view, the theme you want to dissolve

Select an attribute to dissolve on: Choose the attribute from the selected theme containing the values you want to use to dissolve the theme’s features. One feature will be created in the resulting theme for each unique value in this field.

Specify the output file: Here you browse for, or enter a shape filename to that will be used to store the results of the dissolve operation.

Help: Opens this help topic.

Cancel: Dismisses the GeoProcessing wizard.

<< Back: Goes back to the first panel of the GeoProcessing wizard.

Next >>: Continues to the next step

Step 2 of 2

Choose one or more additional fields and operations to be included in the output file: You can choose to add one or more fields from your theme’s attribute table. These fields will be summarized as specified. To select more than one, or a range of themes and summary operations, use the Control or Shift keys in conjunction with your mouse click.

Help: Opens this help topic.

Cancel: Dismisses the GeoProcessing wizard.

<< Back: Goes back to step 1 of the Dissolve features based on attributes wizard.

Finish: Starts dissolving features based on the settings you have chosen.


geoproc intersect
GeoProcessing, Intersection

This process computes the geometric intersection of two themes and adds it to your view as a new theme. The overlay theme must be a polygon theme. Its features will split the input theme. Any features in the input theme that are not overlaid by features in the overlay theme will be ignored. Only the areas that are in common to the overlay and input themes will be included in the output theme. The input theme’s features can be polygons or lines. The output Shapefile’s features will be of the same type as the input theme features.. The attribute table for the output Shapefile includes the attributes from the input and overlay theme.

Select a theme to intersect: Choose from the list of themes, which includes the polygon and line feature themes in your view, the theme you want to use as the input theme. The features of this theme will be intersected by the feature of overlay theme. You will see the number of features in this theme displayed once you select it.

Use selected features only: If the input theme has some selected features, you can check this box to only use the selected features in the intersect operation.

Select the overlay theme: Choose an overlay theme from the list of polygon themes. You will see the number of features in this theme displayed once you select it.

Use selected features only: If the overlay theme has some selected features, you can check this box to only use the selected features in the intersect operation.

Specify the output file: Here you browse for, or enter a shape filename to that will be used to store the results of the intersect operation.

Help: Opens this help topic.

Cancel: Dismisses the GeoProcessing wizard.

<< Back: Goes back to the first panel of the GeoProcessing wizard.

Finish: Starts the intersect process based on the settings you have chosen.


geoproc main
GeoProcessing Wizard options

The GeoProcessing Wizard offers six geoprocessing options you can use to create or augment feature themes. If you’re not sure what geoprocessing operation you need click here.

Dissolve This process will dissolve features in one theme based on the value of an attribute you choose. Technically this is the same as showing the attribute table for a theme, then choosing to Summarize an attribute where you elect to merge_shapes.

Merge This process will create one theme that contains the features of two or more themes. The new theme will contain the fields of one of the input themes. If each of the other input themes have at least the same fields, then all cells in the new theme’s attribute table will be populated. If any of the other input themes have additional fields, that data will not be included. If any of the other input themes are missing the fields then no data will be added to those fields for the features of that other theme.

Clip This process creates a new Shapefile by overlaying the features of two themes. One of these themes must be a polygon theme (called the "overlay" theme) which will be used to define the clipping region. The clip process uses the clipping region as a cookie cutter. Only those features in the other theme (called the "input" theme) within the clipping region are stored in the new Shapefile. The features of the Input theme can be polygons, lines, or points. The features in the new Shapefile will be of the same type as the input theme’s features. The feature attribute table for the new Shapefile contains the same items as the input theme’s attribute table.

Intersect This process computes the geometric intersection of two themes and adds it to your view as a new theme. The overlay theme must be a polygon theme. Its features will split the input theme. Any features in the input theme that are not overlaid by features in the overlay theme will be ignored. Only the areas that are in common to the overlay and input themes will be included in the output theme. The input theme’s features can be polygons or lines. The output Shapefile’s features will be of the same type as the input theme features. The attribute table for the output Shapefile includes the attributes from the input and overlay theme.

Union The Union process creates a new theme by overlaying two polygon themes. The output theme contains the combined polygons and attributes of both themes. The polygons of the input theme are split at their intersection with polygons of the overlay theme. The feature attribute table for the output theme contains attributes from the input and overlay themes’ attribute tables.

Assign data by location The assign data by location operation will perform a spatial join between the two selected themes. A spatial join is similar to an attribute join; however it is based on the spatial relationship between the features in the two themes. For each feature represented in the destination table, ArcView looks to see if it has one of the following spatial relationships with any feature represented in the source table, and if it does, that feature's record from the source table is joined into the destination table:

When the spatial join is based on the 'nearest' relationship (i.e., neither of the two themes involved contains polygons and one of them contains points), ArcView adds a Distance field to the destination table. This field is automatically calculated by ArcView and contains the distance to the nearest feature represented in the source table for each feature represented in the destination table. The distance is calculated in the view’s map units.

When the spatial join is based on the 'part of' relationship (i.e., both themes involved contain line features), the line features represented in the destination table have to be sub-strings of the line features represented in the source table to satisfy the spatial join. In other words, the lines in one theme are part of the lines in the other theme. For example, if you had the Rio Branco river in one theme, and all the rivers in the Amazon basin in another theme, all the features in the first theme are considered to be 'part of' the features in the second theme. This is because the Rio Branco is a tributary of the Amazon, and features representing the Rio Branco are present in the second theme.


geoproc merge
GeoProcessing, Merge

This process will create one theme that contains the features of two or more themes. The new theme will contain the fields of one of the input themes. If each of the other input themes have at least the same fields, then all cells in the new theme’s attribute table will be populated. If any of the other input themes have additional fields, that data will not be included. If any of the other input themes are missing the fields then no data will be added to those fields for the features of that other theme.

Select themes to merge: Choose two or more themes that are of the same geometry type. The Finish button will not be enabled until you have two or more themes of the same type selected.  You can use the Control and Shift keys in conjunction with your mouse click to select more than one or a range of themes.

Use fields from: Choose the theme that contains the fields you want to appear in the resulting merged theme.  Only the themes you have selected above will appear in this list.

Specify the output file: Here you browse for, or enter a shape filename to that will be used to store the results of the merge operation.

Help: Opens this help topic.

Cancel: Dismisses the GeoProcessing wizard.

<< Back: Goes back to the first panel of the GeoProcessing wizard.

Finish: Begins merging the features of the selected themes.


geoproc spatial join
Assign data by location

The assign data by location operation will perform a spatial join between the two selected themes. A spatial join is similar to an attribute join; however it is based on the spatial relationship between the features in the two themes. For each feature represented in the destination table, ArcView looks to see if it has one of the following spatial relationships with any feature represented in the source table, and if it does, that feature's record from the source table is joined into the destination table:

When the spatial join is based on the 'nearest' relationship (i.e., neither of the two themes involved contains polygons and one of them contains points), ArcView adds a Distance field to the destination table. This field is automatically calculated by ArcView and contains the distance to the nearest feature represented in the source table for each feature represented in the destination table. The distance is calculated in the view’s map units.

When the spatial join is based on the 'part of' relationship (i.e., both themes involved contain line features), the line features represented in the destination table have to be sub-sets of the line features represented in the source table to satisfy the spatial join. In other words, the lines in one theme are part of the lines in the other theme. For example, if you had the Rio Branco river in one theme, and all the rivers in the Amazon basin in another theme, all the features in the first theme are considered to be 'part of' the features in the second theme. This is because the Rio Branco is a tributary of the Amazon, and features representing the Rio Branco are present in the second theme.

Select the theme to assign data to: Choose from the list of themes the theme you want to use to join data to as a result of the assign data by location operation. You will see the number of features in this theme displayed once you select it.

Select the theme to assign data from: Choose from the list of themes the theme you want to use to join to the theme that you chose to assign data to. You will see the number of features in this theme displayed once you select it

Data will be assigned based on: The spatial relationship for the spatial join will be displayed here, based on the types of themes you have selected.

Help: Opens this help topic.

Cancel: Dismisses the GeoProcessing wizard.

<< Back: Goes back to the first panel of the GeoProcessing wizard.

Finish: Starts the union process based on the settings you have chosen.


geoproc union
GeoProcessing, Union

The Union process creates a new theme by overlaying two polygon themes. The output theme contains the combined polygons and attributes of both themes. The polygons of the input theme are split at their intersection with polygons of the overlay theme. The feature attribute table for the output theme contains attributes from the input and overlay themes’ attribute tables.

Select first theme to union: Choose the theme you want to use as the input theme for the union operation. You will see the number of features in this theme displayed when you select it.

Use selected features only: If the first theme has some selected features, you can check this box to only use the selected features in the union operation.

Select second theme to union: Choose a theme from the list of polygon themes. You will see the number of features in this theme displayed when you select it.

Use selected features only: If the second theme has some selected features, you can check this box to only use the selected features in the union operation.

Specify the output file: Here you browse for, or enter a shape filename to that will be used to store the results of the union operation.

Help: Opens this help topic.

Cancel: Dismisses the GeoProcessing wizard.

<< Back: Goes back to the first panel of the GeoProcessing wizard.

Finish: Starts the union process based on the settings you have chosen.


Getting help about Avenue script components
Script Help button

 Gets help about the currently selected class, request or enumeration in the script you are currently working on. Double-click or drag-select the term you want help for, then click this button.


Graduated Color Legend Editor (Dialog box)

  Show help for general Legend Editor features.

Classification Field

Use this to set a classification field.

Classify

This button opens the Classification window.

Normalize By

Use this to set a normalization field or to normalize by percent of total.

Tabular Display

Use this to:

 Select a class by Clicking on the symbol.

 Unselect a class by Ctrl-Clicking on a selected class.

 Select more than one class. To select an inclusive set of classes Click on the first class you wish to select, and then Shift-Click on the last class. If you want to select more than one class, but not a continuous range, then Ctrl-Click on each class you want to select.

 Change a class’s value by Clicking on the cell of the value you want to change and enter the new value range. You can enter discontinuous value ranges by placing a comma between ranges, i.e., “10 - 20, 30 - 35” or “10, 12 - 15”.

 Change a class’s label by Clicking on the cell of the label you want to change. If you have just changed the value, then it will automatically update, or you have the option of typing in your own label.

 The Value and Label buttons are used in conjunction with the Sort Ascending and Descending buttons. You must click on either the Value or Label button before using the Sort buttons.  Clicking the Symbol and Value button will produce the same results for sorting.

 Add Class button

Use this button to add a class to your theme’s legend.  Note that in the Unique Value Legend Editor, the count field will not be calculated for added classes.

 Delete Class button

Use this button to delete a class from you theme’s legend.  Note that in the Unique Values Legend Editor, the count field values will not be recalculated when you delete a class.

 Sort Ascending button

Sorts the order that elements in your legend appear by either the values in the Values, Labels, or Count fields in ascending fashion.

 Sort Descending button

Sorts the order that elements in your legend appear by either the values in the Values, Labels, or Count fields in descending fashion.

Null Symbol button

This button opens the Null Values window.

 Flip Symbols

This button reverses the order symbols appear in your legend. Flipping the order of your symbols does not change the order of the values or labels.

 Ramp Colors

This button to makes a ramped sequence of colors between the first and last colors in your legend. If you want to ramp from the first color to one or more colors in the middle of you legend, select those symbols that you do not want to change, and then click the Ramp Colors button.  This will ramp from the first color to the first selected color, from the first selected color to either the next selected color, or the end color if no other colors are selected.

Color Ramps

Use this to choose a predefined color ramp.


Graduated Symbol Legend Editor (Dialog box)

  Show help for general Legend Editor features.

Classification Field

Use this to set a classification field.

Classify

This button opens the Classification window.

Normalize By

Use this to set a normalization field or to normalize by percent of total.

Tabular Display

Use this to:

 Select a class by Clicking on the symbol.

 Unselect a class by Ctrl-Clicking on a selected class.

 Select more than one class. To select an inclusive set of classes Click on the first class you wish to select, and then Shift-Click on the last class. If you want to select more than one class, but not a continuous range, then Ctrl-Click on each class you want to select.

 Change a class’s value by Clicking on the cell of the value you want to change and enter the new value range. You can enter discontinuous value ranges by placing a comma between ranges, i.e., “10 - 20, 30 - 35” or “10, 12 - 15”.

 Change a class’s label by Clicking on the cell of the label you want to change. If you have just changed the value, then it will automatically update, or you have the option of typing in your own label.

 The Value and Label buttons are used in conjunction with the Sort Ascending and Descending buttons. You must click on either the Value or Label button before using the Sort buttons.  Clicking the Symbol and Value button will produce the same results for sorting.

 Add Class button

Use this button to add a class to your theme’s legend.  Note that in the Unique Value Legend Editor, the count field will not be calculated for added classes.

 Add Class button

Use this button to add a class to your theme’s legend.  Note that in the Unique Value Legend Editor, the count field will not be calculated for added classes.

 Delete Class button

Use this button to delete a class from you theme’s legend.  Note that in the Unique Values Legend Editor, the count field values will not be recalculated when you delete a class.

 Sort Ascending button

Sorts the order that elements in your legend appear by either the values in the Values, Labels, or Count fields in ascending fashion.

 Sort Descending button

Sorts the order that elements in your legend appear by either the values in the Values, Labels, or Count fields in descending fashion.

Null Symbol button

This button opens the Null Values window.

 Flip Symbols

This button reverses the order symbols appear in your legend. Flipping the order of your symbols does not change the order of the values or labels.

 Ramp Symbols

This button to ramps the sizes of your legend’s symbols between the size of the first symbol and the size of the last symbol.

Symbol

Indicates the base symbol that will be used to construct the ramp. Click here to learn how this works.

Size Range

Indicates the minimum and maximum size in points (1/72 inch) for the size range.  The first symbol in the table display of your legend’s classes will be given the minimum size and the last symbol, the maximum size.  ArcView interpolates a size ramp between these and assigns an appropriate size to all intervening symbols


Graphic Properties

Lets you review and edit the properties of the selected graphics (boxes, lines, and circles, etc. drawn on the view with the Drawing tools) to change their colors and symbols. Also lets you change the text, alignment, spacing and angle of the selected text labels. To change the font, style, or color of the selected text labels, choose Show Symbol Window from the Window menu.

 You can also double-click graphics and text labels on your view to edit their properties.


Group

 Groups selected graphics into a single graphic so you can manipulate them as one object.


Group

Groups selected graphics into a single graphic so you can manipulate them as one object.


Help button

 Lets you get help about any of ArcView's buttons, tools or menu choices. Click the Help button and then click any other button, tool or menu choice to get help about it.

Clicking the Help button changes the cursor to a question mark. To cancel this without getting help, press the ESC key on your keyboard.

The Help button can only get help about buttons, tools and menu choices. To get help about a dialog box, press F1 on your keyboard when the dialog box is displayed.

Note If a menu choice is not available (dimmed out) you can't use the Help button to get help about it. You can still move the cursor over it to see a short description of it in the status bar at the bottom of the ArcView window.


Help on Help Topics

Displays the Help Topics dialog so you can access ArcView's help system. This dialog has these tabs:

Contents tab - browse the help contents to find the topic you want.

Index tab - look through the help index to find the topic you want.

Find tab - search the entire help system for a particular word to find the topic you want.


Help on How to Get Help

Displays information about how to get on-line help from ArcView.


Hide/Show Legend

Lets you hide the legend of the active theme(s) in your view's Table of Contents. Hiding a theme's legend saves space in the Table of Contents, especially when your theme's legend has a large number of classes. When a legend is hidden, the name of the theme and its check box remain visible so you can still turn the theme on and off, double-click it to edit its legend, drag and drop it to change drawing order, etc.


Hot Link (Theme Properties dialog box)

Specifies what happens when the Hot Link tool is used on the theme.

Field   The name of a field in the theme's attribute table that is used to supply a value to the hot link when the user clicks on one of the theme's features with the Hot Link tool. The value is usually a file name which is then opened and displayed.

Predefined Action    The action (actually an existing Avenue script) that will be performed when a hot link is followed. The action is executed as soon as one of the theme's feature is clicked on with the Hot Link tool. The input to the action is that theme's value for the Field, e.g., the name of a text file that can be displayed with the Link to Text File action. The available actions are:

Link to Text File -   displays the ASCII text file named in the specified Field.

Link to Image File -   displays the image named in the specified Field. For a list of the supported image formats, see Defining a hot link for a theme

Link to Document -   opens the view, table, chart, layout or script named in the specified Field. The document must exist in the current project.

Link to Project -   imports the ArcView project file (.apr file) named in the specified Field.

Script    This box lets you choose an Avenue script instead of one of the Predefined Actions that will execute when a hot link is followed on the theme. For examples of such a script, look at the system scripts which are used for the Predefined Actions (these scripts have a “Link” prefix), or see the Hot Link script example. You can choose a script that you have created in your project by clicking on the Script Manager button [image].

See also

Defining a hot link for a theme

What are hot links?


Hot Link tool

 Use this tool to follow a hot link by clicking on any feature in the active theme. Before using this tool, make the theme containing hot links active by clicking on its name in the view's Table of Contents. If this tool remains dimmed out after you make a theme active, that theme does not contain any hot links.

Using the Hot Link tool you can access virtually any data or application by clicking on a feature in a theme, depending on how the theme's hot link property has been defined. For example, you might click on a building to display its floor plan, access a document describing it, or even play a video showing it.

See Defining a hot link for a theme.


Icon Manager (Dialog box)

When you double-click the Icon propertyin the Properties list of the Customize dialog box, ArcView displays the Icon Manager. The Icon Manager displays an illustrated list of all the icons available in ArcView. You can use the Icon Manager to specify a new button's or a new tool's icon or change the icon of an existing button or tool. In addition, you can load an icon from disk that's not part of the ArcView distribution software.

How to select an icon

Double-click the name of the icon in Icon Manager or select the icon name and press OK. Its name appears in the Properties list of the button or tool that's selected in the Customize dialog box and the graphic appears on the face of the button or tool.

See also

Loading an icon


Identify tool

 Use this tool to display the attribute values of a feature shown in a view, table, or chart.

Before using Identify on a view, click on the theme in the Table of Contents that contains the feature you wish to identify, to make the theme active. If you are not sure which theme the feature is in, make all the themes it might be in active.

Choose the Identify tool and then click on the feature in the view, the record in the table or the data markers in the chart, that you wish to identify.

The Identify tool displays its results in a dialog box. The dialog box has two panels: the left side contains a list of all of the features, records, or chart data markers you have identified so far. The right side of the dialog box displays the results of each Identify.

To switch among the results of Identify

Click on a name on the left side of the dialog box. If you have identified a feature on a view ArcView will also highlight or flash the feature represented by that record.

To clear the current Identify result

Click Clear in the dialog box. ArcView removes the current record displayed in the dialog box.

To clear all the Identify results

Click Clear All in the dialog box. ArcView clears all results from the dialog box.

When themes overlap

When you click on a location with the Identify tool, ArcView will display the attributes of any features belonging to active themes that it finds there. So for example, if you have two active themes, Roads and States, and the Roads are drawn on top of the States, then when you click on a road with the Identify tool both the road and the state at that location will be identified.

In this way you can use Identify to get a 'cross section' of the attributes at any location on a view.

When features of the same theme overlap

When you click on a location with the Identify tool that is the site of more than one feature, the attributes of all overlapping features will be displayed.

Choosing which fields will be displayed

By default, Identify displays all the attributes of the feature you identify. If you only want some of the attribute fields to be displayed, you can hide the ones you don't want to see before using Identify. See Specifying which fields are displayed in a table.

Labeling the results of Identify

By default, the results of Identify are labeled with the name of the theme, chart, or table that was identified and the value from a field you can specify. If you didn't specify a label field, ArcView uses the first character field in the theme's attribute table. In the absence of a character field, ArcView uses the feature’s internal record number. See Specifying the label field.

Specifying how field names are displayed

When you specify an alias for a field in a table, this alias is used when Identify displays the attributes of a feature. By specifying aliases for field names, you can make the results of Identify easier to understand. See Specifying an alias for a field in a table.

Note   If the active theme represents a data source containing ARC/INFO regions or routes and you click on a location with the Identify tool where regions or routes overlap, all the regions or routes at that location will be identified.


Image Colormap (Dialog box)

Provides tools to manipulate the image colormap for single band images.

Colormap

You can manipulate the individual colors of the colormap by double-clicking on the color to display the Symbol Window from which you can select the Color Palette to choose a color, a transparent color, or create a custom color. The transparent color is marked by an X at the upper left of the Color Palette. Note that you can't set the fill or outline of a color.

Properties buttons

The buttons to the right of the colormap list present various ways to manipulate the colormap properties.

Adjust    Displays the Adjust Colormap dialog box that you can use to adjust the degree of red, green, or blue in the colormap. In addition, you can use this dialog box to adjust the saturation and intensity of the colormap. The dialog box manipulates the selected category. Percentage Change is relative to the current setting. Press OK to apply the changes.

Ramp    Establishes a ramp of colors that takes as its initial color, the color in the lowest-numbered class, and sets the color of all intervening classes so that it terminates at the color in the highest-numbered class.

Random    Assigns a random color to each member of the colormap.

Gray    Establishes a grayscale colormap.

Nominal    Establishes a color for each member of the colormap that corresponds to the nominal distribution, i.e., 16 unique colors, repeated.

Settings buttons

Apply    Applies any settings you make.

Revert    Returns any colormap settings to the same state they were in when you last clicked Apply.

Note  The default colormap for a grid is initialized from a colormap if one is found on disk. Given a grid named soils, ArcView looks for a colormap file named soils.clr. If no colormap file is present, ArcView assigns the default nominal colormap for integer grids and the default gray scale colormap for floating point grids.

See also

Editing an image's legend

Image data


Definition (Theme Properties dialog box)

Shows how the contents of the image theme are defined.

Dialog box options

Name    The name of the theme. Theme names may include multiple words along with spaces, numbers and punctuation. By default, a new theme is given the name of the data source that the theme represents. For image catalogs, it is the name of the file which defines the image catalog.

Source    The name of the data source that the theme represents. You can't change the source definition for an existing theme.

Extent Limit    You may want to define how a theme based on an image displays in a view by specifying a different spatial extent. By defining a spatial extent less than the actual extent, you can effectively constrain what portion of the image displays in the view. If you have a large image you can greatly reduce the time it takes to draw the image in the area of interest by setting the extent in this manner. Several options are available from the drop-down box. The settings of the Left, Right, Bottom and Top fields are affected by which Extent Limit you’ve selected.

Image default - Uses the extent of the entire image, or in the case of image catalogs, the extent of all the images in the catalog. This is the default.

Display - Uses the extent of the view’s current display. If you have zoomed in, the image will be clipped to the area you are zoomed in to.

View - Uses the full extent of the view, which includes the extents of all themes in the view.

Theme - Uses the extent of another theme in the view, which you specify from the drop-down list which appears.

Specified - Uses the extent of coordinates you specify. Enter the coordinates of the lower left corner and the upper right corner of the area of the image you want to display in the Left, Right, Bottom and Top fields.

Theme    By default, this field is empty. If you select the Extent Limit to match that of another theme, a drop-down list will appear here of al themes in the view from which you can select the theme you want to use. The image’s extent will be clipped to that of the selected theme.

Left    The minimum X coordinate of the extent. This value will update when the Extent Limit field setting is changed.

Right    The maximum X coordinate of the extent. This value will update when the Extent Limit field setting is changed.

Bottom    The minimum Y coordinate of the extent. This value will update when the Extent Limit field setting is changed.

Top    The maximum Y coordinate of the extent. This value will update when the Extent Limit field setting is changed.

Comments    Comments documenting the theme. Lets you leave a note describing what the theme represents, why it was created, etc.


Image Legend Editor (Dialog box)

Provides controls to modify and manipulate the colormap and lookup tables of single- and multi-band images.

ArcView can display a single band or multiple bands of images in several image formats. When you add an image to a view you can edit its legend by double-clicking its name in the Table of Contents or by choosing Edit Legend in the Theme menu when an image is the active theme.

Multi-Band

If the image has multiple bands, ArcView displays them by default, identifying the three bands that will be used to represent the red, green and blue color components. By default, ArcView assigns the first band of the image to red, the second band to green, and the third band to blue. Use the drop-down lists to change the band assignments.

Single Band

If an image has only one band, or you want to display only one band of a multi-band image, click Single Band and then select the band to display from the drop-down list of bands.

Lookup tables

ArcView uses lookup tables to represent a function that transforms input pixel values into output pixel values. The output pixel values are usually treated as indices into a colormap. You can use ArcView's transparent color to map any input pixel value to a transparent color. This is especially useful for representing no-data values or for bi-level or black and white images that you get from scanning a document.

Lookup table types

Linear    This displays the Linear Lookup dialog box in which you can perform a piecewise linear stretch. A linear lookup table has the broadest scope of application of all the lookup table types. It may be used for discrete and continuous data.

Interval    This displays the Interval Lookup dialog box in which you can perform an equal interval classification of the range of pixel values. An equal interval lookup table is useful for images that represent continuous data, such as elevation.

Identity    If you click this button, ArcView performs an identity transformation on the range of pixel values. If another lookup table dialog box is visible, ArcView removes it. An Identity lookup table outputs the same value that is put into it. ArcView uses an Identity lookup table as the default lookup table for images that have their own colormap. An identity lookup table is useful for images that represent discrete or categorical data, such as a soil map.

When you click on the Linear or Interval lookup table buttons you display the dialog box for the corresponding lookup table type. Each color component has a corresponding widget to manipulate its lookup table. The color-coded icon corresponds to the component that you manipulate.

By default, a pseudocolor image with a colormap uses an Identity lookup. If an image has statistics but no associated colormap, a default +/- 2 standard deviation stretch is used. If an image is a grayscale image with no colormap, a default 255 color ramp from black to white is used.

Colormap

If you display a single band image, ArcView lets you manipulate the colormap directly. See Colormap.

Settings buttons

Apply    Applies any settings you make, such as changing from multi-band to single band or choosing a different band to correspond to a color component of the display. If you click Apply in the Image Legend Editor, any changes you have made in a lookup dialog box that haven't been applied in that dialog are applied to the view.

Revert    Returns any settings to the same state they were in when you last clicked Apply and displays the previously applied Lookup dialog box.

Default    Returns the image to its default lookup table settings. Note that any band settings remain in effect.

See also

Editing an image's legend


Import

Import lets you bring components from other projects, and ArcView 1.0 views into the project you are working on. When you import another project, all the components it contains are added into your current project.


Import (Dialog box)

Import lets you bring components from other projects, and ArcView 1.0 views into the project you are working on.

Dialog box options

File Name    Type or select the name of the file you want to open. ArcView lists files in the current directory of the type you select in the List Files of Type box. You can use wildcard characters to specify the files you want to display.

List Files of Type    Select the type of file you want to list:

View (*.av)  -  Views created with ArcView version 1.0.

Project (*.apr)  -  ArcView projects.

Directories    Select the directory containing the file you want to open. Double-click a directory name to see a list of the sub-directories it contains. When you double-click on a directory, any files it contains of the type you choose in the List Files of Type box are shown in the File Name list.


Intersect Features

Creates a new polygon from the area that is shared between the selected overlapping polygons. When a set of features are intersected, the records of those features are removed from the feature attribute table and one new record is added to the table to represent the new feature.

Intersect Features only works on polygon shapefiles.

To Intersect Features

1	Click on the shapefile theme in the Table of Contents to make it active, if it is not already.

2	From the Theme menu, choose Start Editing.

3	Use the Pointer tool [image]  to select the overlapping features you want to intersect.

4	From the Edit menu, choose Intersect Features.


Intersect Graphics

Creates a new polygon from the area that is shared between the selected overlapping polygons.

Intersect Graphics only works on polygon, rectangle and circle graphics.

To Intersect Graphics

1	Use the Pointer tool [image]  to select the overlapping graphics you want to intersect.

2	From the Edit menu, choose Intersect Graphics.


Interval Lookup (Dialog box)

Provides a means to establish an equal interval classification lookup table for single and multi-band images. The lookup table provides indices into the image's colormap.

The Interval Lookup table dialog box displays a gauge that sets the number of equal interval classes of the range of pixel values of the specified band. The minimum and maximum number of classes appear at the extremes of the gauge. If you use Interval with a multi-band image, the gauge next to each color-coded icon sets the corresponding color component of the image and its associated band.

Settings buttons

Apply    Applies any settings you make.

Revert    Returns any settings to the same state they were in when you last clicked Apply and displays the previously applied Lookup dialog box.

See also

Editing an image's legend

Image data


Join

 Joins another table to the table you are currently working on, based on the values of a common field found in both tables. Join establishes a one-to-one or many-to-one relationship between the destination table (the active table) and the source table (the table you are joining into the active table).

To perform a join, both the source table and the destination table must be open. The table that is active when you choose Join is the destination table. The last table that was active is the source table. The Join option is dimmed out until you have selected a field in the source table and a corresponding field in the destination table that it can be matched to, and made the destination table active. Join is not affected by what features are currently selected in either table when you use it.

When Join is used, the fields in the source table are appended onto the destination table, so that all the records are displayed in the destination table's window. The common field that the join was based on is displayed only once (the instance of the common field from the source table is hidden but can be displayed if required by changing the table's properties). The source table is automatically closed.

See Joining tables.


Label tool
Label tools

ArcView provides several tools for placing labels on features. The text for labels is taken from the label field specified in the Theme Properties dialog box. This can be any field in the theme's attribute table. The default settings for the text style and display options for all types of labels are available from the Graphics menu by choosing Text and Label Defaults. The following tools are available in ArcView to label features:

Label Tool

 Places a simple text label for the feature in the topmost active theme that you click on. To edit this label, choose the [image] and click on the label you want to edit. A dialog box containing the existing text will appear. Make the changes desired and click OK when finished.

Callout Label Tools - These tools not only place text, but surround the text with graphic elements. Thus, you will not be able to edit these graphics in the same fashion as a piece of plain text. You can use the Symbol Window to change the foreground, background, outline, and text colors. However, if you want to change the text, you will find it easier to delete what you have and start again.

 Places a callout box with a leader pointing back to the feature it labels. To use this tool click on the feature you want to label and drag in the direction you want the callout box to be located. The length of the line you drag denotes the starting point for the callout box. This tool will also function with more than one theme active by placing the labels for each active theme on an additional line. Thus, you could make your customer points, city polygons, state polygons, and ZIP code polygons active and use this tool to create a box that contains the customers name and address.

 Places a small dot on the feature, and then a leader line that points to the label text. To use this tool click on the feature you want to label and drag in the direction you want the text to be located. The length of the line you drag denotes the starting point for the callout box. This tool will also function with more than one theme active by placing the labels for each active theme on an additional line.

 Places a banner with a drop-shadow on the feature you click on. To use this tool click on the feature you want to label, the label will be placed such that the lower left corner of the text is located on the point you clicked. This tool will also function with more than one theme active by placing the labels for each active theme on an additional line.

Highway Shield Label Tools -These tools function a little differently than the text label tools. The representation of the highway shield and the highway number are not actually text, but multi-layered graphic group. So the only thing you can edit is the foreground color. Generally, if you need to edit one, delete it and try again. If you do not click a feature in the active theme, you will be prompted for a highway number, enabling you to place a highway shield anywhere

 Places a U.S. Interstate highway shield with the highway number that is derived from the theme’s label field.

 Places a U.S. Route highway shield with the highway number that is derived from the theme’s label field.

 Places a generic State highway shield with the highway number that is derived from the theme’s label field.

 Places a generic square highway shield with the highway number that is derived from the theme’s label field.

 Places a generic oval highway shield with the highway number that is derived from the theme’s label field.


Custom Legend Wizard

The Custom Legend wizard is designed for those who care about more than just whether their map has a legend on it. When creating a map, one of the most important considerations is the arrangement of the graphical elements on the page. A great amount of flexibility can be obtained when elements can be arranged to create the appropriate amount of balance between graphical elements on a map.

You only need to have a layout and one or more views in your project to use this tool. Unlike core ArcView you do not need to have a viewframe in your layout to add a legend. You only need to click a point at the location where you want the lower left corner of the legend to be located and your legend will be created from the view you choose.

Initial Panel

This panel describes the basic procedure for using the Custom Legend Wizard.

Step 1 of 5: Basic Settings

This second panel is where you choose the view that will be used to create a legend. Once you have chosen a view, its themes will be shown in the box on the left. You can select one or more of these themes and click the add button ">>", which will move those themes into the listbox on the right. These are the themes that will be shown in the legend.

Once you have a theme in the box on the right, the Preview button will become enabled. At any point from now on, you can click the Preview button to see what this legend will look like based on the properties you have set so far. Because there are so many properties to set in the Custom Legend wizard, you will find it convenient to preview your legend. Once you click Preview, the name of that button will change to Finish, and the name of the Next button will change to Remove. If you're not happy with what you see then click the Remove button, but if you're happy with what you see, then click the Finish button.

Last, you choose the number of columns that your legend will be shown with. The first option is always One per theme. The other choices are numbers up to the maximum possible based on the themes you have chosen. The Custom Legend wizard will attempt to use the number of columns you choose, but there are certain combinations of symbols and labels that defy looking good at a particular number of columns. You can either try a different number of columns, or ungroup the legend and move some of the graphical elements until you are completely satisfied with their position and appearance.

Tip:  When you add a theme to be included in your legend, it doesn't matter whether its legend is hidden in its view's table of contents or if that theme is currently visible in the view. This tool will show that theme's symbols.

Step 2 of 5: Title Settings

You can enter whatever text you want to use as the title for your legend. If you don't want a title, just erase the default text, which is the name of your view. If you want a title, you can set the font, size, and style, and the location of that title relative to the rest of the legend.

Tip:  The font that you choose here will be used for the rest of the labels in your legend, however, the size and style will only be applied to your title. If you want to change the size or style, you can ungroup the resulting legend and edit the properties of the individual labels using the Symbol Window.

Step 3 of 5: Border Settings

Here, you choose the line style you want to use as a border for your legend. You can choose the width, color, and background color (everything within the legend border, but behind the legend elements), and whether to use special effects like a drop shadow or rounded corners.

Tip: For the border styles that have more than one line, you should use a width of at least two points, otherwise it may be difficult to see your border distinctly.

Step 4 of 5: Symbol Settings

You can select whether your area symbols will be represented with rectangles, squares, or ovals and whether the line symbols will be represented with horizontal lines, zigzag lines, or "S" curves (on their side).

Tip: The flatness of the zigzag or "S" curve lines will be the same as set in the TOC Defaults for your project.

Step 5 of 5: Spacing Settings

You can change the

 amount of space between the title (if you have one) and the rest of the legend.

 amount of space between columns (if you have more than one)

 amount of space between themes

 amount of space between theme names and their symbols and labels (only for legends that aren't single symbol)

 amount of space between symbols and labels

 amount of space between each row of symbols

 the length of the symbols column


Graticule and Grid Wizard
Graticule and Measured Grid Wizard

Once you have a viewframe in your layout that has a view the graticule and grid wizard button will become enabled. You don’t need to select anything, the tool is smart enough to know whether you have one or more viewframes in your layout.

Initial Panel

This first panel introduces the wizard and gives you options to create a graticule, measured grid, or both. ArcView has already evaluated the first in the list view and made a guess as to the settings you might want to use. So there is a Preview button, which you could immediately click. This will place what ArcView has determined to be acceptable settings. Once you click the Preview, that button will change to Finish, and the Next button will change to Remove. If you like what you see, then click Finish and you are done. If not, click Remove, and then click Next to customize the settings for the grid or graticule. If the view you chose is not projected, but contains projected data, the option to create a graticule will be disabled.

Choosing options for a graticule

Here you can choose the display settings for your graticule. The default option is to show graticule lines and labels for them, but you can choose to show only labels, which will be placed just outside of the viewframe’s border, with tic marks to indicate exactly what the labels are referencing. ArcView will make a best guess as to what the best interval (space between graticule lines) is, but you can adjust this to be whatever you like by changing the settings for degrees, minutes and seconds. If you are showing the graticule lines, you will be able to set the line width, and color for them. You can also choose the font, size, and style for your labels (your labels will be the same color as the graticule lines).

Tip: If you will also be showing a grid with your graticule, you may want to choose a different font, style, size, and color so that those people reading your map will be able to easily distinguish these elements.

Choosing options for measured grids

Just like graticules, ArcView initially estimates the grid interval. The units for the interval are the number of meters from the equator and central meridian of your view's projection. You can choose to display your grid as tics that look like plus signs "+", or as a mesh of intersecting lines. You can choose the line weight and color of the grid tics/lines. You can also choose the font, size, and style of the labels.

Choosing border options

Here you can elect to place a border around the viewframe, and/or a border that will enclose all the labels around your graticule or grid. You can choose the line color, label alignment, and style for these borders.


Layout

Puts the view you are working on into a layout. You use a layout to create and print finished maps. A layout lets you arrange project components such as views, charts, and tables on a page and add a title, legend, north arrow, scale bar, etc. You first choose the layout template you wish to use. If your project already contains layouts, you can choose whether a new layout is created or whether an existing layout will be used.


Neatline Settings (Dialog box)

Opens the Neatline Settings dialog box where you choose settings for a neatline that is placed on your layout when you click OK.


Neatline Settings (Dialog box)

Gives you three options for displaying a neatline. You can place a neatline around some graphics that are selected, around all the graphics on the layout, or inset from the margins of the layout.

Dialog box options

Group neatline with graphics

If you check this option, your neatline will be included as part of a new graphic group. If you are placing a neatline around just the selected graphics, then only the selected graphics will be included in the group.  If you are insetting a neatline from the margins, then all graphics will be included in the group.

Positioning Information

You can choose to have the distance that your neatline will be offset (or inset, if you are insetting the neatline from the margins) from your graphics to be equal on all four sides, or you can customize the distance for each side.

Border Style

You can choose from one of five border styles.

Round the corners

You can choose to round the corners of your neatline, and choose the radius or rounding distance.

Width (pts.)

This refers to the overall width of the border, it is measured in points (1/72 inch).

Fill color

You can choose to have the background of your neatline to be solid rather than transparent. The default setting is transparent.

Drop-shadow

If you have elected a non-transparent fill color, then you will be able to choose whether or not your neatline has a drop-shadow, and a color for that drop-shadow.


Layout Properties

 Lets you display and edit layout properties, such as the name of the layout, the characteristics of its grid, and whether graphics and frames placed on the layout will snap to the grid.


Layout Properties (Dialog box)

Lets you display and update the name of the layout, and grid characteristics like spacing, and snapping.

Dialog box options

Name

Type in the name of  the layout.

Grid Spacing

Type in a horizontal and vertical spacing (in page units) for the layout grid. The page units and size can be set by choosing Page Setup from the Layout menu.

Snap to Grid

If this button is checked on, new layout graphics will be snapped to the grid when they are created or moved (this is the default). If the button is checked off, layout graphics can be placed anywhere on the page, and will not be snapped to the grid, even if it is showing.


Legend Editor (Dialog box)

Legend Type

Displays the current type of legend. You can choose a legend type and the central portion of the Legend Editor window will change to provide you with options for creating a legend.  See Types of thematic maps.

Theme

Displays the theme name for the legend that is currently being edited. Contains theme names for other themes that you have edited.

Save

This button saves your legend to a file (.avl). You will be shown a Save Legend dialog box where you may navigate to where you would like to save your legend file.

Load

This button enables you to load a previously saved legend from a file (.avl). You will be shown a Load Legend dialog box where you may navigate to the legend file you wish to load. You will then be shown a dialog where you may choose options for loading your legend.

Default

This button reverts your legend to its default type and symbol(s).  For most themes this is the Single Symbol legend type.

Advanced

Displays the Advanced options window, where you can set a reference scale that ArcView will use to scale the size of your symbols when you change scales in your View’s display.  You can also set a rotation angle field for point data, which will independently rotate each feature according to the value in the rotation field.

Statistics

Displays the Statistics window that you can use to learn the statistics of the fields in your theme’s attribute table.  Statistics for Minimum, Maximum, Count, Sum, Mean, and Standard Deviation can be viewed in the Statistics window.

Undo

The Undo button becomes active when you Apply a new legend. By clicking Undo, you can retrieve up to five previous legends that you have applied while the Legend Editor was open. The result of clicking Undo is retrieving and applying the previous legend.

Apply

Updates the legend with your most recent changes. Both the Table of Contents and theme will be redrawn when you click Apply.

  Related topics


Legend Editor Advanced Options (Dialog box)

Rotation Field

Shows the field within your theme’s feature attribute table that point symbols will be rotated by.

Line Offset

Enter the distance in points (1/72 inch) that you want to offset the symbols of your line theme by when it is displayed on the screen and printed.

Scale Symbols

Determines whether point or line symbols for your theme will scale when you change scales in your view window.

Reference Scale

If the Scale Symbols is enabled, the symbols in the legend editor will be at their current size at the reference scale.  Thus, a marker symbol can be set to be 12 points at 1:24000—then if you zoom in to 1:12000, the marker symbol’s size will be 24 points


Legend Editor Classify (Dialog box)
Legend Editor Classify Window (Dialog box)

Type

Displays the classification method that is currently selected.

Number of classes

Shows the number of classifications that will be generated when you classify a field.

Round values at

Shows the rounding scheme that will be used to determine where class breaks are placed.

Break Classes at

This option is shown only for standard deviations classification.  You may set class breaks at 1, ½, or ¼ standard deviations.

Minimum

This option is shown only for the Manual Equal Interval Classification.  Enter the minimum data value you want to consider in your equal interval classification.

Maximum

This option is shown only for the Manual Equal Interval Classification.  Enter the maximum data value you want to consider in your equal interval classification.


Legend Editor Column Chart Properties (Dialog box)

Minimum Height

Indicates the height, in points, for the column representing the lowest data value.

Maximum Height

Indicates the height, in points, for the column representing the highest data value.

Column Width

Indicates the width, in points, of each column.


Load Legend (Dialog box)

Field

If the saved legend file contains a list of fields, i.e., a legend file saved in ArcView 3.0 or newer, and your current theme has a field of the same name, it will be shown. If your current theme does not have the field name that is in the saved legend file, <None> will be shown. In either event, you may select another field, which will become the classification field.

If the saved legend does not contain a list of fields, i.e., a legend from ArcView 2.0 or 2.1, the All option will not be available.  If you do not select a field, only the Symbols option will be available.

All

Loads both the classes and symbols of the saved legend.

Classes

Loads only the classes from the saved legend. If your current legend does not have the same number of classes, the saved legend will not be loaded.

Symbols

Loads only the symbols from the saved legend, If your current legend does not have the same number of classes, the saved legend will not be loaded.

Note   If both Classes and Symbols are selected, a new legend will be generated using the values from the saved legend, regardless of the number of classes and symbols you currently have in your legend.


Legend Editor Null Values (Dialog box)

Field

Initially shows the current classification, value or density field.  You may also scroll to other fields that you might need to set null values for, e.g., the normalization field.

Null Value

Enter the Null Value for the field that is shown in Field, above.

Note   You can set null values for as many fields as you need to.

Display No Data Class

If this option is enabled, an additional class will be shown in the legend editor, and after you apply your legend this class will be visible in your theme’s Table of Contents panel.


Legend Editor Pie Chart Properties (Dialog box)

Size Field

Scroll to locate a field that will determine the size of the pie charts.

Minimum Size

Shows the radius, in points, of the chart that represents the smallest value in the Size Field.

Maximum Size

Shows the radius, in points, of the chart that represents the largest value in the Size Field.


Statistics (Dialog box)

The Statistics dialog box provides summary statistics about the data you are using in the Legend Editor.  These statistics are for the field name that is currently in the Classification field, Density field, or Value field.  You can select any field and the statistics for that field will be displayed.


Legend frame tool

 Use this tool to add a legend frame to a layout.

Select the legend frame tool and draw a rectangle to create a frame in which to display the legend. The frame will display a legend that is tied to a specific view frame.

Dialog box options

View Frame    The name of the view frame to create the legend from. ArcView will display the names of existing views prefaced by the text "ViewFrame#" (where # is a number starting at 1). You can also select the choice: <Empty Legend> which will create a legend frame that does not contain any data. This frame can be assigned a legend later by the user or by Avenue. Empty legend frames are often used to create cartographic templates.

Display   When should the legend frame refresh itself. The choices are:

When Active    The legend frame will redraw only when the layout is the active project component.

Always    The legend frame will refresh whenever there is any change to the view.

Quality   How the data displays in the frame.  The choices are:

Presentation    The legend frame will display the legend.

Draft    The legend frame will be a shaded box, placeholding where the legend will be drawn. This is often used to increase the speed of working with the layout.

The legend frame will contain the same data contained in the Table of Contents. If the associated view frame is Live linked, changes in the Table of Contents will be shown in the legend. For example, if you reorder the themes in the Table of contents, the new order is reflected in the legend. If you turn a theme off (so it is not drawn), it will be removed from the legend.

After you create a legend frame, you can see the Legend Frame Properties dialog box at any time by double-clicking the legend frame.

To change the font of the legend frame, see To change a graphic's font

See also

Adding a legend to a layout

Adding a view to a layout

Frame tool

Types of frames


Linear Lookup (Dialog box)

Provides a means to establish a linear piecewise contrast stretch for single and multi-band images.

The Linear Lookup table dialog box displays a panel, or series of panels for multi-band images, each of which contains a graph that maps input pixel values on the horizontal axis (x-axis) to output pixel values on the vertical axis (y-axis). A curve that represents the mean input pixel value at the peak of the curve and the mean +/- 2 standard deviations at the ends of the curve appears in the panel background.

If you use Linear with a multi-band image, the color-coded graph sets the corresponding color component of the image and its associated band.

To perform a contrast stretch

Click and drag one of the three graph handles to the left or to the right. Then press Apply.

To increase the contrast

Manipulate the graph so that it has a steeper slope.

To soften the image

Manipulate the graph so that it has a flatter slope.

To increase the brightness

Move the middle handle of the graph toward the left.

To darken the image

Move the middle handle of the graph toward the right.

Settings buttons

Apply    Applies any settings you make.

Revert    Returns any settings to the same state they were in when you last clicked Apply and displays the previously applied Lookup dialog box.

Note   Curves representing the mean input pixel values only appear if an image has a statistics file, e.g., .STA file for an ERDAS image, and .STX file for an BIL image. These statistics files contain the image's mean and standard deviation. With Avenue you can use the following script to create a statistics file for an active image theme in a view:

theTheme = AV.GetActiveDoc.GetThemes.Get(0)

theImageTheme = theTheme.GetImgSrc

theImageTheme.BuildBandStatistics

See also

Editing an image's legend

Image data


Line Chart Gallery (Dialog box)

 Displays the options of line chart format and allows you to change the format of the active chart to the new selected format. Press OK to display the chart in the selected format.

A line chart requires at least two or more data groups to generate a line or lines. Open the Chart Properties dialog box to add data groups to the chart.

Dialog box options

List of line chart formats

1. Line chart with lines and data point markers

2. Line chart with lines only

3. Line chart with data point markers only

4. Line chart with lines, markers and horizontal gridlines

5. Line chart with lines, markers, and vertical and horizontal gridlines

6. Line chart with lines, markers, and logarithmic scale and gridlines

Next    Displays the next chart gallery in the Gallery menu.

Previous    Displays the previous chart gallery in the Gallery menu.

See also

Area Chart Gallery

Bar Chart Gallery

Column Chart Gallery

Pie Chart Gallery

XY Scatter Chart Gallery

Choosing a chart format


Link

Links a table to the active table based on the values of a common field found in both tables. Link establishes a one-to-many relationship between the destination table (the active table) and the source table (the table you are linking to the active table). One record in the destination table is related to one or more records in the source table.

To perform a link, both the source table and the destination table must be open. The table that is active when you choose Link is the destination table. The last table that was active is the source table. The Link option is dimmed out until you have selected a field in the source table and a corresponding field in the destination table that it can be matched to, and made the destination table active. Link is not affected by what features are currently selected in either table when you use it.

After a Link is performed, selecting a record in the destination table will automatically select the record or records related to it in the source table. If the destination table is the feature attribute table of a theme, selecting one of the theme's features in the view selects that feature's record in the attribute table, and therefore automatically selects the records related to it in the source table. Selecting a record in the source table does not select the corresponding record in the destination table. This is because the link only exists in the destination table.

See Linking tables.


Load System Script

 Copies the contents of one of ArcView's system scripts into the script you are working on, at your current cursor location. Use this when you want to base your own script on an existing script, or include an existing script in your script.


Load System Script (Dialog box)

 Copies the contents of a system script into the script at the insertion point.

To load the contents of a system script

1	Click the Load System Script button or menu item.

2	In the Script Manager, navigate to the name of the system script that you want to load.

You can type the name or drag the scroll bar until you've found the script.

3   Double-click the name of the script you want to load or choose the name of the script and press OK.

ArcView inserts the contents of the file at the insertion point.

Note Loading a system script replaces any selected text, so to append the contents of the system script, make certain that there is no selection, by clicking where you want to insert the script.

See also

Editing a script

Formatting a script

Writing a script to a text file


Load Text File

 Copies the contents of a text file into the script you are working on, at your current cursor location. Use this, for example, when you want to load a script contained in an ASCII file into a script.


Load Text File (Dialog box)

 Copies the contents of a text file into a script at the insertion point.

To load the contents of a text file

1	Click the Load Text button or menu item.

2	Navigate to the directory that contains the file you want to load.

3	Choose the file you want to load.

4	Double-click the file you want to load or choose the file and press OK.

ArcView inserts the contents of the file at the insertion point.

Note Loading a text file replaces any selected text, so to append the contents of the text file, make certain that there is no selection, by clicking where you want to insert the text.

See also

Editing a script

Formatting a script


Locate Address

 Lets you locate a specific address in the active theme(s). If ArcView can find the address, it places a point symbol at that location. To make a theme active, click on its name in the view's Table of Contents. This option is available when the active theme(s) contain street data or other data that can be used as a base for geocoding. If the active theme contains this sort of data, but the Locate Address button is still dimmed out, you need to build a geocoding index for the theme by choosing Properties from the Theme menu and, in the dialog that appears, choosing Gecoding Properties.

See also

Address geocoding

Locating an address on a view


Locate Address (Dialog box)

Find a specific address on a view in the active theme. Locate is only available for themes whose geocoding properties have been set. The location you specify will be indicated on the view with a point symbol. See Setting a theme's geocoding properties.

Dialog box option

Type the address or street intersection you want to search for into the Address box. Text does not have to be enclosed in quote and it is not case sensitive.

If you are locating an address and ArcView finds several candidates that match your specification, ArcView will choose the first one with the highest matching score. If you choose to review candidates in the Geocoding Preferences dialog box, a Geocoding Editor will appear enabling you to choose a candidate. You can interactively edit the addresses in the Geocoding Editor and also adjust the matching parameters by pressing Preferences to display the Geocoding Preferences dialog box.

See also

Address geocoding

Locating an address on a view

Finding features on a view


Locking (Theme Properties dialog box)

Sets whether the theme is locked or unlocked.

Locked   If this check box is checked, the theme will be locked. To unlock the theme, but retain the password, uncheck the check box.

Set Password   Click this button to set a password for the theme.

See also

Locking a theme


Manage Data Sources

Allows you to delete, copy, and rename data sources such as shapefiles, grids, and TINs. Because each of these data sources is made up of multiple files, make sure you use this utility to perform these tasks - don't use your computer's file system commands.

By default, Manage Data Sources lets you delete, copy, and rename shapefiles. Choose a data source from the list on the left, then click the button for the action you wish to perform.

Copy	You'll be prompted to enter the new name and location for the copy of the data source.

Rename	You'll be prompted to enter the new name for the data source.

Delete	You'll be prompted to see if you really want to delete the data source.

If the Spatial Analyst extension is loaded, you can also manage grids. Just change the Source Type to Grid.

If the 3D Analyst extension is loaded, you can also manage TINs. Just change the Source Type to TIN.


Marker Palette (Dialog box)

 Presents a variety of markers with which to display points and represent point features. Once you've selected a marker you can switch to the Color Palette to set its foreground and background colors.

Dialog box options

Size  You can set the size of a marker in points. Choose from the list of sizes or type in the value. You can enter a number like 6.25. There are 72 points per inch.

Angle  You can specify a rotation angle for a marker symbol. You can enter values between 0 and 360. The rotation angle is counter clockwise.

   Use this button to delete the selected marker symbol from the palette. If you accidentally delete a marker, you can use the Reset button in the Palette Manager to reload the default palette of marker symbols.

Notes

   There are a great many more marker symbols available in palette files located in the installation symbols directory or folder. You can load a palette with the Palette Manager. See ArcView Palette Files.

  You can import a bitmap as a marker with the Palette Manager's Import option. You will not be able to rotate this type of marker symbol.

   You can also use the Create Markers button in the font palette in order to use the characters of a font as marker symbols.

   You can make a single, specific color (including black or white) of a marker that is based on an imported bitmap file transparent. Select the color that you want to change to transparent as the background color in the Color Palette. That color's RGB values must match the RGB values of the color in the Color Palette exactly.


Measure tool

 Measures distance on a view.

To measure distance on a view

1.    Choose the Measure tool from the View tool bar.

2.    Use the mouse to draw a line representing the distance you wish to measure. The line can have one or more line segments.

3.    Double-click end the line.

The length you measured is displayed in the ArcView status bar. These measurements are displayed in the current distance units of the view.

See also

Measuring features on a view


New button (Project window)
New button

Click this button to create a new component of the selected type.


New Project

Creates a new project. A project is the file that will contain all the views, tables, charts, layouts, and scripts you'll work with.

To create an ArcView project

1	From the ArcView window, choose New Project from the File menu. ArcView displays the Project window with the name Untitled where you can create the components of your project.

2	You can give the project a name when you save it or give it a name prior to closing or opening another project.


New Theme

Creates a new, empty theme in your view. You can create a theme containing point, line or polygon features. You are prompted to specify a name and location for the new shapefile that ArcView will create to store features you add to your new theme. Once you've created your new theme, you add features to it with the Drawing and Editing tools.


North arrow frame tool

 Use this tool to add a north arrow frame to a layout.

Select the north arrow frame tool and draw a rectangle to create a frame in which to display the north arrow. The North Arrow Properties dialog box will now appear. Select a north arrow from the scrolling list. If desired, you can set a rotation angle for the north arrow. The angle specified will be in degrees counterclockwise, with the top of your screen as 0 degrees (the default).

You can delete north arrows from the list by clicking the Delete button. If you would like to do this permanently, you can click the Store button. This causes ArcView to write the current list of north arrows to a new file called north.def located in your HOME directory.

ArcView will read this file any time you invoke the North Arrow Properties dialog box. To return to using the system default north arrows, simply delete your north.def file.

After creating a north arrow frame, you can see the North Arrow Properties dialog box at any time by double-clicking the North arrow frame.


Open button (Project window)
Open button

Click this button to open the view, table, chart, layout, or script currently selected in the Project window.


Open Project

Opens an existing project. A project is the file in which work you do in ArcView is stored. A project typically contains all the view, tables, charts, layouts and scripts that you use for a particular ArcView application.


Open Project (Dialog box)

Opens an existing project. A project is the file in which work you do in ArcView is stored. A project typically contains all the view, tables, charts, layouts and scripts that you use for a particular ArcView application.

Dialog Box Options

File Name    Select the project you want to open. ArcView lists files in the current directory of the type you select in the List Files of Type box. You can use wildcard characters to specify the files you want to display.

File Type list    Select the type of file you want to list:

Projects (*.apr)  -  Lists all files in the current directory that were saved with an .APR extension.

Drives    Select the drive containing the file you want to open.

Directories    Select the directory containing the file you want to open. Double-click a directory name to see a list of the sub-directories it contains. When you double-click on a directory, any files it contains of the type you choose in the List Files of Type box are shown in the File Name list.


Open Theme Table

 Use this to open the attribute table for the active theme(s) in the view you are working on. A theme's attribute table contains one record of descriptive information about each feature in the theme. If any features are currently selected on the view, the records for these features are highlighted in the table that is displayed.

While a theme's attribute table is open, selecting or deselecting features on the view will automatically select or deselect their records in the table, and selecting records in the table will automatically select the features they represent on the view. In this way you can work with geographic features simultaneously in both graphic and tabular form.


Page Setup

Defines the characteristics of the layout page, such as the size of the page that will be printed, the units you want to use for laying out the page, page orientation, margins, and whether the resolution you'll be printing or exporting to will be low, normal or high.


Page Setup (Dialog box)

Defines the characteristics of the layout page.

Dialog box options

Page Size    The size of the layout page. There are a number of standard sizes to choose from:

Same as Printer

Letter     8.5 x 11.0 in

Legal     8.5 x 17.0 in

Tabloid     11.0 x 17.0 in

C    17.0 x 22.0 in

D    22.0 x 34.0 in

E    34.0 x 44.0 in

A4    21.0 x 29.7 cm

A3    29.7 x 42.0 cm

A2    42.0 x 59.4 cm

A1    59.4 x 84.1 cm

A0    84.1 x 118.9 cm

Camera    11.0 x 7.33 in

Custom

If you need to define your own page size, select "Custom" and enter a page size into the Width and Height fields. The default "Same as Printer" choice will set the page size to that of your printer.

Units   The units used for operations on the layout page. Default units are inches. Changes to the units will also change the units used for grid spacing. Units can be:

Inches

Millimeters

Centimeters

Meters

Feet

Yards

Width    Define the page width in page units. If you select a standard page size, this field will be filled in for you. If you need a page size not shown in the Page Size field you can type in the width needed.

Height    Define the page height in page units. If you select a standard page size, this field will be filled in for you. If you need a page size not shown in the Page Size field you can type in the height needed.

Orientation   These buttons allow you to set the orientation of the layout page to portrait or landscape The default orientation is derived from your printer. If you change the orientation, any new layouts will use the new orientation as the default.

Margins    These fields allow you to set the margins for the page. The margins will use the chosen units for the layout.

Use printer border    Checking this box will define the margins by using the default margins specified by the printer.

Output Resolution    Select an output resolution used for display, export and printing. Output resolution can be set to:

Low

Normal

High

These settings affect how image data in the layout appears on the screen, exports to a file or prints.


Palette Manager (Dialog box)

 Use this to load, save, clear, create a default palette, or reload the system palette.  In addition, you can use the Palette Manager to import your own bitmap markers.

Dialog box options

Type    Specifies the type of symbol on which to perform actions.

All -  If the current palette file, or a target palette file contains heterogeneous symbol types, actions will occur on all symbol types in the file. For example, if you click Save you'll save all symbols in the current palette to a file; if you click Clear you'll remove all symbols from the current palette; Load appends all the symbol types present in the specified palette file.

Fill -  Actions occur on fills only. For example, Save will only save the fills of the current palette to a file; Clear will only remove a palette's fills; Load appends only a palette's fills.

Pen -  Actions occur on pens only. For example, Save will only save the pens of the current palette to a file and Clear will only remove a palette's pens; Load only appends a palette's pens.

Marker -  Actions occur on markers only. For example, Save will only save the markers of the current palette to a file; Clear will only remove a palette's markers; Load only appends a palette's markers.

Color -  Actions occur on colors only. For example, Save will only save the colors of the current palette to a file; Clear will only remove a palette's colors; Load will only appends a palette's colors.

Load   Displays a file dialog box you use to browse to the location of files that contain symbols that ArcView can use. Select which type of symbol file from the Files of Type list--ArcView Palette (*.avp) is the default. ArcView appends the symbols of the specified type into your palette. ArcView comes with several additional palettes that are specific to various applications. These are located in the symbols directory or folder.

Tips

 If you specify an ARC/INFO lineset or shadeset, you can save these symbols to a ArcView palette file by using Save after you are done loading.

Save   Saves the current symbols of the specified type to an ArcView palette file.

Clear   Clears the current symbols of the specified type from the palette. Clear does not delete the symbols from the palette file. To restore cleared symbols, reload the palette from which they originated or import the symbol again.

Make Default   Creates a file named default.avp in your HOME directory. (On Windows, if a HOME has not been set, the file will be saved in your TEMP directory.) This file becomes the default palette in lieu of the system symbol palette, default.avp, in the installation symbols directory or folder. If All is not selected in the Type list, only the current symbol type is saved.

Note   Avoid clicking clear and then Make default if All is selected in the Type list. This will save an empty palette that will be loaded each time you start ArcView until you delete the empty palette file.

Reset   Restores the contents of the default symbol palette. If you have created a new default palette using Make Default, this file will be loaded when you use Reset.

Import   Available only when Type is set to Marker. Displays a file dialog box that you can use to import an icon file of one of the following bitmap formats:  GIF, MacPaint, Windows Bitmap, Sun Rasterfile, TIFF, and X Bitmap.


Pan tool

 This tool lets you pan a view or a layout by dragging the display in any direction with the mouse. To pan, move the cursor anywhere over the view or layout, hold down the mouse button, and drag in any direction. Release the mouse button to leave the display in your desired position. ArcView will update the display to fill in any blank areas revealed in your pan.


Paste

Pastes data that has been copied or cut onto the clipboard.


Pen Palette (Dialog box)

 Presents a variety of pen styles with which to display lines and represent linear features. Once you've selected a line style you can switch to the Color Palette to set its color.

In addition, you can set the three other properties of the pen: size, cap, and join.

Dialog box options

Size   Specify the width of the line in points. There are 72 points per inch.

Cap   You can use the Cap property to determine how ArcView draws the end of a line.

Butt -  specifies that ArcView will square off the line flush at its start and end points. This is the default.

Round -  specifies that ArcView will round off the line and extend it by its radius distance around its start and end points.

Square -  specifies that ArcView will square off the line and project it by half the line width beyond its start and end points.

Join   You can use the Join property to determine how ArcView draws the line at its vertices.

Miter -  specifies that ArcView will extend the line and miter it at its vertices.

Round -  specifies that ArcView will round the line by half the line width at its vertices.

Bevel -  specifies that ArcView will bevel the line at its vertices.


Picture frame tool

 Use this tool to add a picture frame to a layout.

Select the picture frame tool and draw a rectangle to create a frame in which to display a "picture". When you are done creating the frame, the Picture Frame Properties dialog box will appear, enabling you to browse your file system and select the file to import into the picture frame.

The following formats are supported for import into a picture frame:

All platforms

Band Interleaved by Line (*.bil)

Band Interleaved by Pixel (*.bip)

Band Sequential (*.bsq)

CompuServe GIF (*.gif)

Encapsulated PostScript (*.eps)

ERDAS GIS (*.gis)

ERDAS LAN (*.lan)

IMPELL Bitmap (*.rlc)

MacPaint (*.mcp)

Nexpert Object Image (*.nbi)

Postscript (*.ps)

Sun Raster (*.rs)

TIFF Bitmap (*.tif)

Windows Bitmap (*.bmp)

X-Bitmap (*.xbm)

Windows

Placeable Windows Metafile (*.wmf)

Windows Metafile (*.wmf)

Dialog box options

File    Enter the name of the file to import. If you do not know the name or location of the file, select the Browse button. This will present you with the file browser. To use the file browser,

1	Navigate to the directory that contains the picture file you want to add. Double-click on the directory name to list the supported image data sources it contains.

2	Select the type of file you are importing from the List Files of Type list.

3	Click the image data source you wish to add, or click once on it and press OK. ArcView will put the image name in the File field.

Display    There are two different parameters you can define.

When should the picture frame refresh itself. The choices are:

When Active - The picture frame will redraw only when the layout is the active project component.

Always - The picture frame will refresh whenever there is any change to the picture.

Quality	    How the data displays in the frame.  The choices are:

Presentation - The picture frame will display the picture.

Draft - The picture frame will be a shaded box, placeholding where the picture will be drawn. This is often used to increase the speed of working with the layout.

After you create a picture frame, you can see the Picture Frame Properties dialog box at any time by double-clicking the picture frame.

See also

Frame tool

Types of frames

Adding imported graphics to a layout


Pie Chart Gallery (Dialog box)

 Displays the options of pie chart format and allows you to change the format of the active chart to the new selected format. Press OK to display the chart in the selected format.

ArcView allows multiple pie charts. The number of pie charts to be plotted is determined by the number of data groups. Each slice of a pie represents one value of a data group.

Dialog box options

List of pie chart formats

1. Simple pie chart with each slice displayed in different color

2. Pie chart with the first slice exploded

3. Pie chart with all slices exploded

4. Multiple pie charts in varied size, for each is proportional to the sum of values of all data series  in the chart

Next    Displays the next chart gallery in the Gallery menu.

Previous    Displays the previous chart gallery in the Gallery menu.

See also

Area Chart Gallery

Bar Chart Gallery

Column Chart Gallery

Line Chart Gallery

XY Scatter Chart Gallery

Choosing a chart format


Pointer tool

 Use this tool to select, move, and resize graphics.

Graphics include lines, boxes, shapes and text labels that have been drawn on the layout or view. On layouts they also include frames that have been placed on the layout to contain data such as views or charts.

When you select a graphic in the view or layout, selection handles appear around it, at the extent (bounding box) of the graphic.

To select a particular graphic

 Choose the Pointer tool and click on the graphic with the mouse.

To select a number of graphics

 Choose the Pointer tool and drag a box over them with the mouse. All the graphics falling completely inside the box will be selected

To select additional graphics

 Follow the instructions above but hold down SHIFT while you make your selection with the mouse. The additional graphics will be selected.

To unselect all the selected graphics

 Click anywhere on the view or layout where there is not a graphic.

To select all graphics at once

 Choose Select All Graphics from the View Edit menu or  Select all from the Layout Edit menu.

To access the properties of a graphic

 Double-click on a graphic to access its properties, or select the graphic and choose Properties from the Graphics menu.

To move a graphic

 Choose the Pointer tool, click on the graphic and then drag it. You can also select the graphic and choose Size and Position from the Graphics menu. This allows you to enter an exact position on the page for the graphic.

To move a number of graphics

 When a number of graphics are selected you can move them all at once by dragging any one of them. When one is moved, all the others will move as well.

To resize a graphic

 Choose the Pointer tool, click on the graphic and then drag one of its handles. Dragging a corner handle lets you preserve the aspect ratio of the graphic. Dragging a side handle lets you resize either vertically or horizontally.

To resize a number of graphics

 When a number of graphics are selected you can resize them all at once by first grouping them usinf Group from the Graphics menu and then dragging one of the handles that appear around the area in which the graphics are located.


Print

Prints the active view, table, chart, layout or script.


Print button (Project window)
Print button

Click this button to print a project component.


Print (Dialog box)

ArcView allows for native printing or print spooling. Project components can either be printed by a native printer driver or translated by ArcView into one of its supported file formats and spooled to a local printing queue.

Dialog box options

Print    The project component you want to print. The default is the component that is active. For example, if you choose Print from a layout, "Layout" will be the default component. When printing a view, you can print either the view display or the Table of Contents.

Printer    The name of the printer to send the output to.

Setup    The Setup button allows you to define output characteristics like number of copies, dpi, etc. (Windows).

To file    The name of the file that you would like to create.  Typing a file name into this field checks the "Print to File" box.  A file will be created and no output will be sent to a printer.

Browse    Clicking this button will start the file browser allowing you to select a name and location for the “To file”.  When a file is selected, the "Print to File" box is checked.

Print to file    Checking this box opens the file browser and allows you to type in a file name in "To file".

Print Format(UNIX)     Selects the appropriate format to spool the data.  The choices include Enhanced Postscript, Basic Postscript and CGM.  This replaces the "Setup" button.

Postscript Interface(Windows)     The postscript interface is available only when a postscript printer is setup as the ArcView selected printer.  You can select which postscript driver will be used to print the data.  Choices include ArcView's enhanced postscript, ArcView's basic postscript, and the driver used to setup the printer, Native OS.

Number of Copies     Specifies the number of copies to print.  This option is only available when the enhanced postscript driver is selected.

Resolution    The resolution at which the data will be printed.  On windows, resolution is an option available only when the enhanced postscript driver is selected.  On UNIX, it can be set for both enhanced postscript and CGM.  You can select from a list of resolutions or enter your own value.  In windows, the default resolution is the printer's resolution setting.  In UNIX, the default is 300.

See also

Printing Tips and Tricks


Print Setup

Defines the output characteristics for printing.


Projection Properties (Dialog box)

Displays the properties of a view’s projection in the Projection Properties dialog box. Use this to review and change the projection parameters used for the view.

Projection properties can be modified at any time, whether or not your view contains any themes yet.

Dialog box options

Standard    Use standard projection parameters. Standard projection parameters are those defined by ArcView. The standard projections panel is displayed by default. You can toggle between standard and custom projection parameters. The options available on this panel are described below.

Custom    Use custom projection parameters. From the custom projection parameters panel you can set your own parameters for any supported projection. The options available on this panel are described below.

Set your projection parameters from either the standard or the custom panels, then press OK to accept the projection properties. Press OK on View Properties to apply the projection parameters to the view.

Standard Projection panel options

Category    The categories the projections are divided into. You can set the category to:

Projections of the World

Projections of a Hemisphere

Projections of the United States

State Plane - 1927

State Plane - 1983

UTM

National Grids

Type    The type of projections available. When you select a category, the choices in this list update to reflect the appropriate types for the category you have selected. For example, when you set the category to Projections of the World, all the projections appropriate for use with global-level data, such as Robinson and Hammer-Aitoff,  are listed in the Type dropdown. Select the type you are interested in from this list.

For State Plane. this field will show the state name and division.

For UTM, the zone.

For National Grids, this field will show the country name.

Projection    The name of the projection. For many projections, this field may contain the same information as the Type of projection. This field cannot be changed. For help about a specific map projection, use the help index.

Ellipsoid    The type of ellipsoid (spheroid) used for the projection. This field cannot be changed.

Other parameters of the projection will appear below the Ellipsoid field, such as Central Meridian, Reference Latitude, Standard Parallel, Scale Factor, etc. These fields cannot be changed.

Custom Projection panel options

Projection    The name of the projection. Select the projection you wish to use and customize.

Ellipsoid    The type of ellipsoid (spheroid) used for the projection. This field can be changed if the projection allows it.

Other parameters pertinent to the projection you have chosen, such as as Central Meridian, Reference Latitude, Standard Parallel, Scale Factor, etc., will appear below the Ellipsoid field. Any or all of these fields can be changed to meet your needs.

Note    For Custom projections, the values for False Easting  and False Northing  appear in the units of the projected view. If you change the units, as from meters to feet, the values in the False Easting and False Northing fields will be converted for you on the fly.

See also

Map projections

Map scale and accuracy

Setting view properties

Setting the map projection

Unsetting the map projection


Project Properties

Lets you review and change the properties of the project you are working on, such as the working directory that the project will use as the default when you save files, the color with which ArcView displays the selected features in views and tables, comments describing the project, and if required, the name of Avenue scripts that will be run when the project starts and is shutdown.


Project Properties (Dialog box)

Lets you review and change various properties of the project you are working on.

Dialog box options

StartUp    The name of the script to execute when you open the project. You can type in the name of the script or click the button to display the Script Manager. The Script Manager lists all the scripts available in the project.

ShutDown    The name of the script to execute when you close the project. You can type in the name of the script or click the button to display the Script Manager. The Script Manager lists all the scripts available in the project.

Work Directory    The pathname to the directory or folder in which ArcView writes files for the current project. The various dialog boxes that ArcView presents to save files use the Work Directory as their default location.

Creator    Name of who created the project.

Creation date    The date and time the view was created. This is recorded automatically and can't be edited.

Selection Color...Click this button to display a dialog box to set the selection color. You can set the hue, saturation, and value of the selection color by adjusting the slider bars in the dialog box. Then press OK in the color dialog box and the Project Properties dialog box. The new selection color applies to selected records in active tables immediately. The new selection color applies to selected features in views when you refresh their display.


Promote

 Use this control to display the selected records in a table at the top of the table. Promote enables you to see the selected records in a table together by placing them at the top of the table, above any unselected records.

When you close a table or close the project that contains it, any reordering of records that you have carried out by promoting or sorting is not saved. The next time you open the table the records will be in their original order.


Query Builder

 Lets you query data according to tabular attributes by building a query expression.

If you are working on a view, lets you select features in the active theme. To make a theme active, click on its name in the view's Table of Contents. Features selected by your query will be highlighted in the view.

If you are working on a table, lets you select records in the table. Records selected by your query will be highlighted in the table, and, if the table represents features in a theme, the features represented by the selected records will also highlight in a view containing this theme.


Query Builder (Dialog box)

Lets you select features by defining a query based on their attributes.

Building a query

To build a query, choose a Field, then an Operator, then a Value. You build a query by double-clicking on these options with the mouse or by typing your query directly into the query text box. By default, the query is contained within parentheses, but the parentheses may not be required, depending on the complexity of your query. If the Update Values choice is on, click once on a field name to list its values in the Values list. Field names are always enclosed in square brackets ([ ]). If the value you want to use in the query is not in the Values list, type it into the query text box.

For example, to select all the houses of more than 1,500 square feet, you could use the query:

 ( [area] > 1500 )

 Strings such as names are always quoted in queries. Queries on non-indexed fields are case insensitive, so you can select California with:

 ( [state_name] = "california" )

Use * as a multiple character wildcard. For example, to select Mississippi you could use the query:

 ( [state_name] = "missi*" )

Use ? in a string as a single character wildcard. For example, to find Catherine Smith and Katherine Smith, use:

 ( [owner_name] = "?atherine smith" )

To select all the cities with names starting with the letters M to Z, you could use:

 ( [city_name] >= "m" )

 Values in date fields contain eight digits in the format YYYYMMDD. For example, the 10th of February 1972 would be represented as 19720210. Dates are handled as date objects. So when you are querying a date field you can select all dates before today by using:

 ( [date] < Date.Now )

To select all the dates before a specific date, you could use:

 ( [date] < 19920717.AsDate )

If you double-click a date in the Values list in the Query Builder dialog .AsDate is entered into your expression automatically. It tells ArcView that the eight digit number is to be treated as a date in the expression.

Another way to specify a date in an expression is to give the date as a string and then tell ArcView what format you have given it in, so ArcView can convert it to a eight digit date for you:

 ( [date] > Date.Make("03/15/1993", "MM/dd/yyyy") )

The month format is given as "MM" to distinguish it from "mm" for minutes. Date.Now and Date.Make in the above expressions are actually Avenue statements. They use Avenue's object.request syntax. You can include Avenue statements in query expressions in order to perform operations on dates, times, strings, numbers and boolean fields. See Performing operations on date fields for more information.

 Values in boolean fields are either True or False. So when you are querying a boolean field you can select all the true values by using:

 ( [Wetland] = True )

To select all the records that are true you could also use:

 ( [Wetland] )

To select all the records that are false you could also use:

 ( [Wetland].not )

See Performing operations on boolean fields for more information.

 Complex queries can be built by combining expressions together with the And and Or operators. For example, to select all the houses that have more than 1,500 square feet and a garage for three or more cars, use the query:

 ( [area] > 1500) and ( [garage] > 3 )

Use the Not operator to exclude. For example, to select all the New England states except Maine, use the query:

 ( [sub_region] = "N Eng") and ( not ( [state_name] = "Maine") )

Queries can compare the values of two fields. For example to find all the counties with a declining population, use the query:

 ( [pop1990] < [pop1980] )

 Calculations can be included in queries. For example, to find the counties with a population density of less or equal to 25 people per square mile, you could use the query:

 ( [pop1990] / [area] <= 25 )

Normally ArcView evaluates a query from left to right, but expressions that you enclose in parentheses are evaluated first. For example, the query:

 ( [netvalue] > [area] * [price] + [tax] )

will be evaluated differently from:

 ( [netvalue] > [area] * ( [price] + [tax] ) )

Avenue scripts can also be executed from the query builder. The script is executed for each record in the table and if it returns True, the record is selected otherwise it is not selected. For example, a field is passed to the following script which returns True if the current record’s value is divisible by three. All records whose value is divisible by three will be selected:

av.run("Divide by 3",[Anint])

Divide by 3 script: return(self mod 3 = 0)

Dialog box options

Fields    This lists the fields in the theme or table you are querying. If the Update Values choice is on, click once on a field to see all its values listed in the Values list. Double-click on a field to place it into the query text box. If you type in the name of a field instead of clicking in this list, field names are not case sensitive, so typing Area, area or AREA are all allowed.

Fields that have been hidden do not appear in the Field list. If field name aliases have been defined these aliases appear in the Fields list.

Operators    Use these operators to specify relationships between Fields and Values in a query. Either click or double-click an operator to place it into the query text box.

=	equals

>	greater than

<	less than

<>	not equal to

>=	greater than or equal to

<=	less than or equal to

 ( )	expressions enclosed in parentheses are evaluated first.

and	both expressions are true, e.g. [area] >= 100 and [area] <= 200

or	at least one expression is true, e.g. [rainfall] < 20 or [slope] > 35

not	excludes, e.g. not [name] <= "california"

The mathematical operators + - * / and arbitrary Avenue expressions can also be used in queries.

To enclose an expression in parentheses, select it in the query text box by dragging over it with the mouse, and then click the ( ) operator. Parentheses will enclose the selected part of the query.

Values    This lists the values for the chosen Field. Only unique values are listed. So for example if 5 features or records in the theme or table you are querying have the same value for the chosen field, this value is only listed once in the Values list. Double-click a value to place it into the query text box. If the value you want to use is not in the list, type it into the query text box. Values cannot be displayed for tables containing more than 32765 records.

Update Values    By default, the Values list updates each time you choose a field. If there are a lot of values, it may take a moment for the values to be updated. Click this choice off if you don't want to update the values. This is particularly helpful if your query compares one field to another and you don't need to see their values, or if want to type specific values into the query text box instead of choosing them from the Values list.

Query text box    This is where your query is displayed as you build it.

Performing a query on a view or a table

If you are using the Query Builder to select features on a view or records in a table, the following options are available for performing your query:

New Set   Makes a new selected set containing the features or records selected in your query. Features or records not in this set are deselected.

Add To Set    Adds the features or records selected in your query to the existing selected set. If there is no existing selected set, the features or records specified in the query become a new set. Use this option to widen your selection.

Select From Set    Selects the features or records in your query from the existing selected set. Only those features or records in this existing set that are selected in your query will remain in the selected set. Use this option to narrow down your selection.

Performing a query to define a feature selection for a theme

If you are using the Query Builder from the Theme Properties dialog box to define a feature selection for a theme you will see OK and Cancel buttons instead of New Set, Add To Set and Select From Set.

OK    Selects the features in your query and makes this query the feature selection definition for the theme. Only those features that meet this definition will be represented in the theme. The query is added to the Theme Properties dialog box.

Cancel    Closes the Query Builder without running the query.

You can copy and paste queries. For example, you might use the Query Builder on a view to query a theme then decide to use this query as the theme's feature selection definition. In this case, you can copy the query, open the Query Builder from the theme's Theme Properties dialog box, and paste the query in. To copy all or part of a query, select what you want to copy and then press CTRL+C. To paste, press CTRL+V. There may be additional keyboard shortcuts on your platform, e.g., in Windows you can also copy with CTRL+INS and paste with SHIFT+INS.


Redo Edit to a table
Redo Edit

Reapplies the last edit that was undone. Choosing this option repeatedly enables you to successively redo all the edits you undid since you started editing.


Redo Feature Edit to a theme
Redo Feature Edit

Reapplies the last edit that was undone. Choosing this option repeatedly enables you to successively redo all the edits you undid since you started editing.


Refresh

This control "refreshes" the active table.

Choosing the Refresh control causes ArcView to reread the source data for the active table. Any changes that have occurred to the source data from other applications will appear in the table. For example, changes like the addition of removal of fields or records as well as changed data values will be shown in the table.


Remove All Joins

This control removes all the joins from a table and therefore removes all the fields in the active table that are from tables that have been joined to the active table.


Remove All Links

This control removes all the links to other tables from the active table.


Remove Comment

Removes the first selected comment character and the subsequent leftmost comment characters of the selected text in a script.

As part of writing a script you may want to remove the comment characters that you added to your code to skip over certain lines during the debugging or run phases of your work.

To remove comment characters from a script

1	Select the comment characters you want to remove.

2	In the Edit menu choose Remove Comment.

ArcView removes the first comment character it encounters and any other comment character at the beginning of each line.


Remove Labels

Use this to remove the labels from the active theme(s). The labels don't need to be selected in order to be removed.


Remove Overlapping Labels

Removes all overlapping labels from all active themes that are still the original green color.


Rename

Renames the selected project component. Use this control to provide any project componentwith a more descriptive or distinctive name.If you have selected more than one project component in the project window, ArcView disables the menu Rename choice. Select one component to rename.


Rename (Dialog box)

Renames the selected project component.

To rename a project component

1	In the Project window select the component from the appropriate component list.

2	From the Project menu choose Rename. ArcView appends the name of the selected file to the Rename choice.

3	Type a new name for the component and click OK. ArcView renames the component.


Re-match Addresses

Opens the Re-match Addresses dialog box. It shows you the results of geocoding and provides you options to re-match the unmatched or selected records in the geocoded theme. See Re-matching a geocoded theme.


Re_match Addresses (Dialog box)

Displays the results of geocoding of the current geocoded theme and allows you to re-match the addresses.

Results    The results of geocoding in terms of the number of records and the percentage out of the total number of records that have been geocoded. They are sorted in the following three categories:

Good Match	records that are matched with the score of 75 or above.

Partial Match	records that are matched with the score below 75.

No Match	records that are unmatched. The score for an unmatched address is zero.

Re-match    The options you can choose for re-matching the addresses:

All Records	all records in the geocoded theme.

Partial Match	records that are listed as partial match.

No Match	records that were not able to be matched (default option).

Selected Records	selected records in the geocoded theme. If no record is selected, ArcView re-matches all records.

Geocoding Preferences    Open the Geocoding Preferences dialog box to set the candidate review conditions and matching preferences including spelling sensitivity, minimum match score, and minimum score to be considered a candidate. Candidate review conditions will be ignored by Batch Re-match.

Batch Re-match    Complete the matching process without invoking the Geocoding Editor.

Interactive Re-match    Display the Geocoding Editor for you to control the geocoding process. It allows you to review the matching candidates for each address and edit the address if no matching record is found.

Done    Dismiss this dialog box.


Run

 Runs the compiled script.

Once you compile a script without getting any error messages, you can run it. If a script is the active window, clicking Run executes the current script. Run-time errors may still occur, in which case, ArcView generates appropriate error messages.

See also

Error messages

Running a script


Run button

A button you click in the Project windowto run the selected script. If a script is the active window, clicking the Run button in the button bar executes the script.

See also

Running a script


Save edits as

Allows you to save your edits out to a new file rather than changing the original file. The edited version of the original table will be written out to the new file, editing will be disabled on the original table, and the edits will not be written to the original file. The new file will be opened as a new table and editing will be started on the new table automatically.


Save edits as

Allows you to save your edits out to a new shapefile rather than changing the original shapefile. The edited version of the original theme will be written out to the new shapefile, editing will be disabled on the original theme, and the edits will not be written to the original shapefile. The new shapefile will be added to the view as a theme, the same editing environment and legend will be set up for this theme, and editing will be started on the new theme automatically.


Save_edits
Save edits

Allows you to save all edits made to the table during the current edit session. Once you save the edits, you can continue to edit the table but you are not able to undo or redo any edits that were made prior to choosing Save Edits.


Save edits

Allows you to save all edits made to the theme during the current edit session. Once you save the edits, you can continue to edit the theme but you are not able to undo or redo any edits that were made prior to choosing Save Edits.


Save Project

 Saves the project you are working on. If your project hasn't been saved yet, ArcView displays a dialog to let you choose a name and location to save your project to.


Save Project As

Saves the active project under the name and directory location you specify. Use this option to specify the name and location of a new, untitled project, or to create a copy of an existing project under a new name. Any unsaved changes made to your existing project are saved into the new project you create. To simply save the project you are currently working on, choose the Save option.


Save Project As (Dialog box)

Saves the active project under the name and directory location you specify.

Use Save Project As to specify the name and location of a new, untitled project, or to create a new version of an existing project under a new name. Any unsaved changes made to your existing project are saved into the new project you create with Save Project As.

Dialog box options

File Name    Type the name of the file you wish to save the project into or select the name of an existing file in the list you wish to overwrite. If you type a file name and don't give a file name extension, ArcView will automatically add the extension .apr.

Drives    Select the drive on which you want to save the file.

Directories    Select the directory location where you want to save the file. Double-click the directory in this box to see a list of sub-directories it contains.


Scale bar frame tool

 Use this tool to add a scale bar frame to a layout.

Select the scale bar frame tool and draw a rectangle to create a frame in which to display a scale bar tied to a specific view frame. The origin of the frame is the lower left corner of the rectangle, the width is the width of the rectangle, and the height is based on the current font size in the Symbol Window.

Dialog box options

View Frame    The name of the view frame to create the scale bar from. ArcView will display the names of existing views prefaced by the text "ViewFrame#" (where # is a number starting at 1). When you select a view frame, the Units field on the dialog box will be set to whatever units were defined as Distance Units in the View Properties dialog box. Selecting a view frame will also change the value in the Interval field. You can also select <Empty Scale bar> which places a scale bar frame on the layout that does not contain any data. This frame can be assigned a scale bar at a later time. Empty scale bar frames are often used to create cartographic templates.

Preserve Interval     The preserve interval checkbox determines if the user defined interval will remain constant.  When this option is checked, if the view frame scale changes, the scale bar frame  will adjust size based on the interval.   When this option is disabled, if the view frame scale changes, the interval will be recalculated and the scale bar frame will remain the user defined size.

Style    There are five scale bar styles to choose from. The graphical scale bars all have a zero value within the bar and divisions on the left and right side. The scale bar choices are:

 Numeric

 Bar scale

 Filled bar scale

 Split filled bar scale

 Split bar scale

Units    The type of units the scale bar will represent. Default units will be displayed when you select a view frame. Changes to the units will also change the Interval value. Units can be:

Inches

Feet

Yards

Miles

Millimeters

Centimeters

Meters

Kilometers

Interval    This field defines the number of units per division on the right side of the zero value. For example, if your units were set to miles, and you set the Interval to be 20, every division on the right side would be 20 miles. This value will change (by default) if you change the scale bar units or the number of Intervals.

Intervals    This field defines the number of divisions on the right side of the zero value. For example, if your units were set to miles, and you set the Interval to 20, and Intervals to 4, the right side of the scale bar would have four divisions from 0 to 80. This value will change (by default) if you change the scale bar units or if you change the Interval value.

Left Divisions    This field defines how many divisions will be to the left of zero on the scale bar. To continue the example above, if the units are miles, the Interval is 20, and you set the number of Left Divisions to be 4, each division on the left side of zero would be 5 miles.

Resizing the scale bar frame will alter the number of Intervals shown, but not the interval value. If you change the number of Intervals from the Scale Bar Frame Properties dialog box, the Interval will automatically be recalculated to preserve the size of the scale bar created by the user. The reverse is also true (i.e. you change the Interval and the number of Intervals automatically changes).

The scale bar frame cannot be resized to a size smaller than one interval.

After you create a scale bar frame, you can see the Scale bar Frame Properties dialog box at any time by double-clicking the scale bar frame.

You can resize scale bar frames with the Pointer tool. Changing height of the frame changes the font size. Changing the frame width increases or decreases the number of intervals (right divisions).

You can change the scale bar's shading and font by using the Symbol Window.

Note In order to create a scale bar, the view must have its map units defined. See Setting map units.

See also

Adding a scale bar to a layout

Adding a view to a layout

Frame tool

Types of frames


Scatter Chart Gallery (Dialog box)
XY Scatter Chart Gallery (Dialog box)

 Displays the options of xy scatter chart format and allows you to change the format of the active chart to the new selected format. Press OK to display the chart in the selected format.

An xy scatter chart generates data points from two related data series or data groups as xy coordinates. By default, ArcView projects data from the first data series on the x-axis and plots data from the second data series on the y-axis as the order is defined in the Chart Properties dialog box.

Dialog box options

List of scatter chart formats

1. Scatter chart with data point markers only

2. Scatter chart with data point markers, vertical and horizontal gridlines

3. Scatter chart with data point markers, logarithmic y-axis and gridlines

4. Scatter chart with data point markers, logarithmic x-axis and gridlines

5. Scatter chart with data point markers, logarithmic x- and y-axes and gridlines

Next    Displays the next chart gallery in the Gallery menu.

Previous    Displays the previous chart gallery in the Gallery menu.

Notes

 XY scatter chart requires two data series. XY Scatter is disabled (dimmed) if fewer than or more than two data series are selected.

 XY scatter chart only plots data pairs from the two selected fields of the table, the form of data series plotted from records or fields has no effect in this chart. The Series From Records/Fields menus choice and button are thus disabled (dimmed) for XY scatter charts.

See also

Area Chart Gallery

Bar Chart Gallery

Column Chart Gallery

Line Chart Gallery

Pie Chart Gallery


Script Find

Finds the next occurrence of the specified string and selects it. The find string is either the selected text in the script editor or, if there is no selected text, the string you specify in the message box that requests a Find string. The search begins at the current cursor position in the script. If the string cannot be located from the current cursor position to the end of the script, you are offered a chance to start searching from the beginning of the script. If it locates the string, ArcView selects that string and sets the cursor position to the end of the string. If it does not locate the string, ArcView leaves the cursor at its original position.


Script  FindNext

Finds the next occurrence of the last find string. The find string is the string you specified when you performed the last Find operation on that Script Editor. The search begins at the current cursor position in the script. If the string cannot be located from the current cursor position to the end of the script, you are offered a chance to start searching from the beginning of the script. If it locates the string, ArcView selects that string and sets the cursor position to the end of the string. If it does not locate the string, ArcView leaves the cursor at its original position.

This choice is enabled only when the Script Editor has a current find string.


Script Manager (Dialog box)

The Script Manager lists all the scripts available in the project. It lists the scripts defined in your project, in your user default project ($HOME/default.apr), in any loaded extensions and in the system default project ($AVHOME/etc/default.apr).

You can select a script from the script manager by scrolling to the name and clicking on it or by typing in letters that uniquely identify the script of interest.  You can subset the list of scripts by using a wild card. For example, to shorten the list of scripts to only those that begin with the "View.", you type "View.*".

You invoke the script manager when you click on the system script button. You also bring up the script manager when you double-click the Apply property, the Click property, or the Update property in the Properties list of the Customize dialog box.

To select an existing script

 Double-click the name of the script in the Script Manager.

To create a new script

 If you bring up the script manager from the customize dialog or from a property sheet, the dialog shows a New button in the bottom right hand corner. To create a new script from the Script Manager, click New.

ArcView first displays a dialog box in which you enter the name for the new script, then ArcView opens a script window. The name of the script appears in the Properties list of the control that's selected in the Customize dialog box or the property sheet.


Script Properties

Lets you review and change the properties of the script you are currently working on, such as the name of the script, comments describing what it does, and whether or not the script's window will active during execution. From the Script properties dialog, you can change the text size in that particular script or for all scripts in your system.

Script properties can be modified at any time, whether or not your script contains any code yet.


Script Properties (Dialog box)

Displays the properties of the script you are currently working on.

Dialog box options

Creation date    The date and time the script was created. This is recorded automatically and can't be edited.

Creator    Name of who created the script.

Comments    Type any comments you want to store to document the script.

Remain active during execution    Click the check box to make the window in which you are working the active window. When you leave this check box unchecked, the window below the window in which you're editing becomes the active window during execution of the script. This default behavior is especially useful when testing a script that references a window other than the window in which you're editing.

Text size    Select the text size for this script editor or for all script editors in your system. Size selections are small, medium and large.

Apply to all    If you check Apply to all, then the text size selection will be applied to all script editors.  If Apply to all is not checked, then the text size selection applies only to the active script editor.


Script Replace

Replaces the specified find string with the specified replace string. The find string is either the selected text, or if there is no selected text, the string you enter when prompted by a message box. You specify the replace string through a message box.

Replace offers you the option of replacing all occurrences of the find string or only the next. If you choose to replace only the next occurrence, ArcView begins the search from the current cursor position. If the string cannot be located from the current cursor position to the end of the script, you are offered a chance to start searching from the beginning of the script. If it locates the string, ArcView replaces the find string with the replace string and sets the cursor position to the end of the string. If it does not locate the find string, ArcView leaves the cursor in its original position.

If you choose to replace all occurrences, ArcView displays how many occurrences were replaced.


Script Unembed

Restores an embedded script to a Script Editor so that you can make further edits on it. Suppose after you've embedded a script you discover an error in it. Unembed allows you to retrieve an embedded script from the Project's script list restoring it to a Script Editor for your edits. Unembed gives the Script Editor the name of the embedded script and then removes the embedded script from the project's script list so when you test your script, ArcView executes the one you are modifying (an embedded script overrides a Script Editor). When you have completed your edits to the script, you can embed it once more with the Embed option.


Select All

 Selects all the records in a table or all the graphics that have been drawn on a layout.

Table

Records highlight in the table when they are selected. If the table belongs to a theme, all the features in the theme will be selected on the view.

Layout

Graphics include lines, boxes, shapes and text labels that have been drawn on the layout. They also include frames that have been placed on the layout to contain data such as views legends, or charts.

Once graphics have been selected, operations can be performed on them, such as resizing, copying and pasting, and, grouping and re-ordering.

To select one or more specific graphics, use the Pointer tool.


Select All Graphics

Selects all the graphics that have been drawn on a view. Graphics are lines, boxes, shapes and text labels that have been drawn on the view with the Draw tools..

To select one graphics individually, use the Pointer tool [image].

To unselect all the selected graphics, click anywhere on the view where there is not a graphic.


Select All in a script

 Selects all text in a script window. You can use Select All before performing other operations such as cutting, copying, or formatting on the entire script.


Select By Theme

Selects the features of the active themes that are completely within, completely contained by, have their center in, contain the center of, intersect, or are within a specified distance of the features of the theme you specify. Selecting the features of one theme with the features of another helps solve many problems. See Spatial relation types


Select By Theme (Dialog box)

Selects features in the active theme(s) based on their location in relation to the selected features in another theme. You can also use this dialog to select features in the active theme based on their location in relation to the selected features in the same theme.

To select a theme using another theme

1.     Make the theme active that contains the features you wish to select.

2.     In the Theme menu, choose Select By Theme.

3.     Choose the spatial relation type.

This phrase qualifies the selection. ArcView provides several spatial relation types. The types you see depend on the selector theme's feature type. In some cases, you may want to pick the selector theme before choosing the spatial relation type.

4.     Pick the theme whose features to use to make the selection.

This is the selector theme. ArcView selects features in the target themes using the selected features of the selector theme. If no features in the selector theme are selected, ArcView uses all the selector theme's features to select.

5.     If you chose Are Within Distance of, specify the selection distance.

ArcView selects the features in the target themes whose distance to any of the features in the selector theme is less than or equal to the selection distance.  The selection distance units are the distance units of the view. These units are set by choosing Properties from the View menu.

6.     Choose a selection method.

ArcView provides three selection methods. New Set creates a new set of selected features from all candidate features. Add to Set adds new features to the existing selected set of features. Select from Set selects features only from candidates in the currently selected set of features.

Notes

  Specifying a selection distance essentially creates a buffer polygon around the features of the selector theme; however, the buffer polygon is not visible.

  If you specify a selection distance of 0, ArcView selects the features that intersect the selector theme's features. A selection distance of 0 selects all points in the target themes that fall within a polygon, all lines that intersect, and all lines that intersect the selector theme's polygons and all polygons that intersect the selector theme's lines.

  ArcView uses the selected features of a theme to make the selection; therefore, if the active theme is the same theme as the selector theme, and you choose Intersect, you can select features that are adjacent to the selected features.

See also

Performing spatial analysis with ArcView

Theme on theme selection


Select Features Using Graphic

  Selects features from the active theme(s) located under the currently selected graphic(s) drawn on the view. Before using this button, make the theme containing the features you wish to select active, by clicking on its name in the view's Table of Contents, and then either draw graphics on the view with the drawing tools [image], or select existing graphics.

Features highlight on the view when they are selected. If more than one theme is active, features from all of these themes will be selected if they fall inside the selected graphic(s).


Select Feature tool

 Lets you select features from the active themes in the view. Before you use this tool, make the theme from which you wish to select features active, by clicking on its name in the view's Table of Contents. You select features by clicking on them individually or defining a box around them. Hold down SHIFT when you click on features to select more than one. Features that you select are highlighted on the view.


Select None in a table
Select None

 Clears the current selection in a table.


Select tool

 Use this tool to select records in a table. If the table belongs to a theme, features in the theme represented by the selected records will be selected and highlighted on the view.

Records highlight in the table when they are selected.

To select a record in a table using the mouse

1	Choose the Select tool, if it is not already chosen.

2	Click on the record you want to select.

To select additional records using the mouse

 Hold down SHIFT and click on the records one by one or drag own over the records. These records will be added to the selected set.

To deselect records that are currently selected

 Hold down SHIFT and click on the records one by one or drag down over them.


Send to Back

 Puts a selected graphic behind other graphics.

To put a graphic behind other graphics, select it with the Pointer tool [image] and then click the Send to Back button.


Send to Back

Puts a selected graphic behind other graphics.

To put a graphic behind other graphics, select it with the Pointer tool [image] and then choose Send to Back from the Graphics menu.


Series from Records/Fields

 Toggles plotting of chart data series from records or fields on a chart when your chart represents two or more data fields.

When you create a new chart, ArcView by default treats the data from each selected record as an individual data series and each selected field becomes a data group in the chart. ArcView thus by default plots data series from records. You can also plot data series from fields, which makes each record a group.

This option has no effect if your chart is an XY scatter chart.


Set Working Directory

Allows you to change the project's working directory. By default, new files you create are written to the project's working directory. You can change the project's working directory through the project's property sheet, through this choice in the View user interface or through the Avenue request SetWorkDir.


Shape Properties
Shape Properties (Dialog Box)

The Shape Properties dialog box shows the properties of the currently selected shape

Shape Type

This shows the geometric class of shape you have selected.

# of Vertices

This shows the number of vertices in the selected shape. Each vertex’s coordinates are listed in the box below. If the shape has Z values or Measures, then this will be indicated in the list below by a label that shows what kind of additional value is associated with the shape.

Edit Button

This opens the Vertex Point Edit dialog box which contains the information for the currently selected vertex. You can either enter the coordinates that the vertex should be repositioned to, or click on your view at the location you want the point moved to.  Then click OK and the shape will be updated. However, remember that even if you click OK the Vertex Point Edit dialog box, you can still click Cancel in the Shape Properties dialog box to undo all edits that have occurred while it was open.

Add Button

This opens the Vertex Point Edit dialog box which contains the information for the currently selected vertex. You can edit this information or click in the View to insert a new vertex in the shape just after the currently selected vertex. Then click OK and the shape will be updated.

Delete Button

This removes the currently selected vertex from the shape.

Update Shape Attributes

When this option is checked, the Shape Properties dialog box will update the Area, Length, or Perimeter fields of the shapes attribute table, if they exist, with new information.


Shift lines left or right

  Shifts the line you are currently working on, or the selected lines, two spaces to the left or right.


Shortcut Manager (Dialog box)

When you double-click the Shortcut propertyin the Properties list of the Customize dialog box, ArcView displays the Shortcut Manager. The Shortcut Manager displays a list of all the keyboard shortcut key combinations available in ArcView. You can use the Shortcut Manager to specify a new menu item's keyboard shortcut or change the keyboard shortcut icon of an existing menu item.

To select a shortcut

 Double-click the keystroke combination in the Shortcut Manager or select the icon name and press OK. The combination name appears in the Properties list of the menu item that's selected in the Customize dialog box and the keystroke combination appears appended to the menu item text in the menu.


Show Candidates (Dialog box)

This dialog box displays the attribute values of the geocoding candidates.

The dialog box has two panels: the left side contains a list of candidates indicated by their scores and record numbers in the feature attribute table. The right side of the dialog box displays the attribute values of the highlighted candidate.

Flash Candidates   Press this button to flash the highlighted candidate on the view.

See also

Geocoding Editor


Show/Hide Chart Legend

Toggles the display of legend on a chart. ArcView by default shows the chart legend every time you open a new chart or change the format of the chart.


Show/Hide Chart Title

Toggles the display of title on a chart. ArcView by default shows the title every time you open a new chart or change the format of the chart.


Show/Hide Chart X Axis
Show/Hide Chart X-Axis

Toggles the display of x-axis with tick-mark labels on a chart. ArcView by default shows the x-axis with tick-mark labels every time you open a new chart or change the format of the chart.

If the active chart is a pie chart, this Show/Hide Chart X Axis control will toggle the display of the pie labels.


Show/Hide Chart Y Axis
Show/Hide Chart Y-Axis

Toggles the display of y-axis with tick-mark labels on a chart. ArcView by default shows the y-axis with tick-mark labels every time you open a new chart or change the format of the chart.

Show/Hide Chart Y Axis has no effect on a pie chart.


Show/Hide Grid

Displays or hides the layout grid.

The Layout menu will display the applicable choice to show or hide the layout grid. If the grid is showing, the menu choice will be Hide Grid. Selecting this will turn the grid off. If the grid is not visible the menu choice will be Show Grid. Selecting this will turn the grid on. Graphics will continue to snap to the grid even if the grid is not visible.


Show/Hide Margins

Displays or hides the layout page margins.

The Layout menu displays the applicable choice to show or hide the layout margins. If the margins are showing, the menu choice will be Hide Margins. If the margins are not visible, the menu choice will be Show Margins.

By default, the margins are equal with the borders of the page and do not appear. If you change the margins from this setting you will see them as a box at the specified margin locations.

To change magins, choose Page Setup from the Layout menu. You can place graphics outside of the layout page margins but they will not appear when the layout is printed.


Show Symbol Window

Opens ArcView’s Symbol Window. Use the palettes in the Symbol Window to change the properties of graphics, text, and other items like symbols in the legend editor or chart elements.


Simplify

Converts layout frames into simple graphic shapes that you can then rearrange or redesign individually. For example, you can simplify a legend frame into a set of points, lines, rectangles, and text graphics. Once they are simplified, you can manipulate these shapes in the same as any other graphic shapes.

It is important to note that once you convert a frame into simple graphics, the link to its associated source document is lost. In other words, if you change the symbology in the view, the simplified legend frame in the layout document will not change. Similarly, when you simplify a chart frame, the modifications to the chart document will not update the simplified chart frame in the layout document. This feature may be useful when you want to create multiple charts in a layout document from a single table document.

Once you simplify a frame you cannot restore it back to its original state. Simplifying a view frame causes its associated legend and scalebar frames to turn into empty frames. So, when you have a view frame and an associated legend and scalebar frames, simplify the legend and scalebar frames first and then simplify the view frame.

Limitations

 Simplifying a view frame with vector and raster data (a view containing feature themes and image themes) preserves only the vector data. It removes the raster data.

 Simplifying a view frame with annotation theme removes the annotation from the view frame.

 Simplifying a picture frame behaves differently based on its associated data source; i.e., simplifying a picture frame with an image data source (for example, a TIFF image) removes the picture frame from the layout document. However, simplifying a picture frame with vector data (for example, an EPS file), simplifies the frame into simple graphic shapes.

 You cannot use Undo after you have simplified a ChartFrame or TableFrame. You will have to recreate the ChartFrame or TableFrame in order to update its contents.


Single Symbol Legend Editor (Dialog box)

  Show help for general Legend Editor features.

Symbol

Double-click the symbol to open the Symbol Window where you can change the properties of this symbol.

Label

Type a label here that will appear in the Theme’s table of contents to describe the symbol.


Size and Position

Let you change the size and position of graphics of the selected graphics

One of five versions of the Size and Position menu is displayed when you make the menu choice. The window that is displayed is depends on the type of graphic selected:

Point

Line

Circle

View frame (layouts only)

All other graphics (i.e. Line, Rectangle, Polygon, all other Frame types)

The menu contains fields that allow you to edit the size and position of a graphic. All values are in units that are document specific.


Size and Position (Dialog box)

Let you change the size and position of graphics.

For Layouts:

 Positions are relative to the page and are displayed in page units.

 Sizes are displayed in page units.

For Views:

 Positions are absolute map coordinates and are not displayed in distance units.

 Sizes are displayed in distance units.

Point

from left - Distance from the left side of the point to the left edge of the page.

height - Height of the point.

from bottom - Distance from the bottom of the point to the bottom edge of the page.

Line

length - Length of the line.

Left coordinate fields (top coordinate if the line is perpendicular to the bottom of the page):

from left - Distance from the leftmost coordinate of the line to the left edge of the page.

from bottom - Distance from the leftmost coordinate of the line to the bottom edge of the page.

Right coordinate fields (bottom coordinate if the line is perpendicular to the bottom of the page):

from left - Distance from the rightmost coordinate of the line to the left edge of the page.

from bottom - Distance from the rightmost coordinate of the circle to the bottom edge of the page.

Circle

from left - Distance from the left side of the circle to the left edge of the page.

radius - Radius of the circle.

from bottom - Distance from the bottom of the circle to the bottom edge of the page.

View frame (on layout)

Scale - Scale of the view frame. This field is available only if the view frame does not have Preserve View Scale checked on.

from left - Distance from the left side of the view frame to the left edge of the page.

width - Width of the view frame.

from right - Distance from the right side of the view frame to the right edge of the page.

from top - Distance from the top of the view frame to the top edge of the page.

height - Height of the view frame.

from bottom - Distance from the bottom of the view frame to the bottom edge of the page.

Preserve Aspect Ratio - If this choice is checked on, any changes to the width field will cause the height field to change (and visa versa), so the graphic preserves the ratio between width and height.

All other graphics

All other graphics use a similar menu as used with the View frame. All fields are identical except there is no Scale field.

Editing any of these fields will alter the size and/or position of the graphic on the layout or view.


Snap tools

 Use the General Snap tool to set the tolerance for general snapping. With general snapping, vertices and boundaries of the new feature get snapped to vertices and boundaries of existing features within the tolerance. General snapping gets applied after the entire new feature has been created.

This tool is only available when a theme is editable and General snapping is turned on in the theme’s Editing Properties dialog box.

 Use the Interactive Snap tool to set the tolerance for interactive snapping. This tolerance is used for the interactive snapping rules available on the View’s popup menu. While you are creating a line or polygon, you can choose a snapping option from the popup menu to specify that the next vertex you add will be snapped to an existing feature. The interactive snapping options are Snap to Vertex, Snap to Boundary, Snap to Endpoint (lines only) and Snap to Intersection.

This tool is only available when a theme is editable and Interactive snapping is turned on in the theme’s Editing Properties dialog box.

To set the snapping tolerances

1	Click on the theme you want to edit in the Table of Contents to make it active, if it is not already.

2	Open the Theme Properties dialog box. Choose the Editing Property and check General snapping and/or Interactive snapping.

3	Choose Start Editing from the View’s Theme menu. The snap tools will appear on the View’s tool bar in a drop down tool menu.

4	To set the general snap tolerance, click the General Snap tool. To set the interactive snap tolerance, click the Interactive Snap tool.

5	In the View, hold down the left mouse button and drag the cursor to draw a circle. The radius of the circle being displayed on the status bar indicates the tolerance value for general snapping if you are using the General Snap tool or the tolerance value for interactive snapping if you are using the Interactive Snap tool.

Note   When you stop editing the theme, the snap tools will disappear.


Sort table
Sort Ascending / Sort Descending

Sort Ascending

 Sorts the table based on the values in the active field starting with the lowest number, the beginning of the alphabet or the earliest date depending on the type of field you are sorting on.

Sort Descending

 Sorts the table based on the values in the active field starting with the highest number, the end of the alphabet or the latest date depending on the type of field you are sorting on.

Tip    Sorting always occurs on all the records in a table. If you want to sort the selected records, sort the table first and then click the Promote button [image]. This will display the selected records at the top of the table in the order in which they occurred in the sorted table.

See Sorting a table.


Source Manager Get Dialog
Get Data Source (Dialog box)

Allows you to specify a data source to work with. Data sources can be either grid or shapefile data sets depending on the purpose of the operation you are performing. Both data source types can not be shown at the same time. This dialog can be presented as part of an operation by itself or as a part of the Source Manager dialog and will look slightly different depending on how it is being used.

Dialog box options as part of the Source Manager dialog

Data Source Name   The data source you want to manage. You can type the name of the data source in the type-in box or select it from the list below the type-in box.

Directories   Shows data sources for the directory you navigate to.

Drives   The drive containing the directories you want to navigate to.

Copy   Copies the selected data source to a new location. You can only copy one data source at a time. After the Copy button is pressed you will be prompted for a new location and data source name.

Rename   Renames the selected data source in the current directory. You can only rename one data source at a time. After the Rename button is pressed, you will be prompted for a new data source name.

Delete   Deletes the selected data source. You can delete several data sources at a time. To select data sources, hold the shift key down as you select from the data source list. After you press Delete, you'll be prompted with a dialog to verify that you actually want to delete the data source.

Dialog box options when presented by itself

Data Source Name   The data source you want to work with. You can type the data source in the type-in box or select it from the list of data sources under the type-in box.

Directories   Data sources will be shown for the directory you navigate to.

Drives   The drive containing the directories you want to navigate to.


Source Manager Put Dialog
Put Data Source (Dialog box)

Allows you to enter the path and name for a new data source. Data sources can be either grid or shapefile data sets depending on the purpose of the operation you are performing. Both data source types can not be shown at the same time. This dialog can be presented as part of an operation by itself or as a part of the Source Manager dialog. It will look the same in both cases.

Dialog box options

Data Source Name   The new data source name. You can type a new name in the type-in box or choose a current data source from the list below the type-in box. If a current data source is chosen, it will be overwritten. Grid data source names must be less than 14 characters long and can not contain the character "." or a space.

Directories   Data sources will be written to the directory you navigate to.

Drives   The drive containing the directories you want to navigate to.


Spline Text Properties

You use this dialog to change the text for a spline text object, and its graphical properties.

Horizontal Alignment

This specifies whether your text will start drawing at the left or right side of the polyline you created. If you specify the text should start at the left, then the text will be placed, beginning with the leftmost character until either all the characters are placed, or until there is no more room on the right end spline baseline to place characters. If you specify the text should start at the right, then the text will be placed, beginning with the rightmost character until either all the characters are placed, or until there is no more room at the left end of the spline baseline.

Character Spacing

This is the number of space characters that will be inserted between each of the letters you type. In addition to choosing one of the available numbers, you can type in the number you need if it is not in the list. The next two examples show what your text will look like with a character spacing of 0, then with a character spacing of 1.

Draw Quality

There are two possible settings, presentation and draft. Presentation, the default, means that each letter in your spline text will be rendered on the screen. Draft means that instead of drawing each character, a gray box will be drawn around each character. Draft mode is a nice alternative when you have a lot of spline text objects on your display because they take longer to draw than other text objects. When you are editing the base line of spline text that has draft quality specified, you will see the text in presentation mode, the text will return to draft quality as soon as you stop editing it. This is what your spline text will look like if draw quality is set to draft:

Tips:

 The text you enter should not contain new line characters (returns) because multi-line text is not supported in a traditional sense for the spline text object. The only time a new line character will be useful is when an Avenue programmer creates a spline text object using a multi-part polyline object, and then the new line characters will signify that the subsequent text is to be placed on the next part of the multi-part polyline.

 The text that doesn’t fit on the spline baseline is still available if you edit the baseline so that it becomes longer.


SQL Connect

Lets you establish a connection to a database server and give an SQL query to retrieve records from the database. Records retrieved by your query become a table in your project. You can work with this table like any other ArcView table. See Connecting to a database to create a table.


SQL Connect (Dialog box)

Lets you establish a connection to a database server and give an SQL query to retrieve records from the database. Records retrieved by your query become a table in your project.

Dialog box options

Connection    This drop-down list displays the names of the valid data sources to which you can connect.

If you are using the Windows version of ArcView, this list reflects the ODBC (Open Database Connectivity) data sources configured for your system. ODBC data sources are configured using the ODBC Administrator program or ODBC option in the Control Panel on your system. See Setting up a database connection with ODBC.

If you are using the UNIX version of ArcView, this list reflects the databases specified for  use with ESRI's DATABASE INTEGRATOR technology in the default.db file in ArcView's etc directory. See Logging into a database with the DATABASE INTEGRATOR.

Connect    Displays the Login dialog box in which you enter the required connection information for the database server to which you want to connect.

Disconnect     Terminates the current database connection. Contents of any tables created as a result of a query will be erased.

Tables    Provides a list of tables in the current database. If you click on a table name, ArcView displays all the tables columns in the Columns list box. When you double-click a table name, ArcView inserts the table name into the From text box. ArcView inserts commas between the names of multiple tables. There is no significance to order of the table names.

Columns    Provides a list of columns in the selected table. When you double-click on a column name ArcView inserts the column name, prepended by its table prefix, into the Select text box. ArcView inserts commas between multiple column names. If you select <All Columns>, ArcView inserts the wild card character asterisk (*) into the From text box.

Owner    Specifies the owner(s) of the database tables that are listed in the Tables list. If you don't specify a name, only the tables owned by the current user are listed.

Select    Specifies the columns to retrieve. If you include more than one column in the Select clause, separate the column names with commas. List the columns in the order you want to retrieve them. If a column name appears in more than one table listed in the From clause, precede the column name with the table name and a dot (.).

From    Specifies the tables that contain the columns to retrieve.

Where    Indicates which records to retrieve. You can use the Where clause to determine which records from the tables listed in the From clause will appear in the results of the Select statement. Records are selected according to the conditions listed in the Where clause. For example, you can select all stores in the Midwest region whose sales have increased since the previous year (Sales93 > Sales92 ). The Where clause is optional. If you don't include Where, the query will select all records.

Output Table name    The name of the table ArcView creates to display the results of the query.

Clear    Clears all text entry areas of the dialog box.

Query    Sends the query to the named database server.

You don't have to add the keywords SELECT, FROM, or WHERE; ArcView adds them for you when you send the query. ArcView does not check the Where clause for syntax, it simply 'packages it' and sends it to the selected database.

For more information, see Connecting to a database to create a table


Start/Stop Editing

This controls whether you can edit data in a table. By default, editing is not allowed.

If you have write permission to the active table and you wish to edit it, you can choose Start Editing. The field names will become non-italic when you are editing the table.

If you do not have write permission to the active table, Start Editing will be unavailable. This option is also unavailable if your table's source data is a delimited text file or the result of a SQL query to a database. To edit data in such a table, first export the table to dBASE or INFO format, then add the new table back into the project.

Choose Stop Editing from the Table menu to end your editing session. You'll be prompted to save or discard the edits. You do not have to stop editing if you want to edit another table, you just make the other table the active table and use Start Editing.


Start/Stop Editing

Use this option to make the active theme editable or finish editing it if it is already editable. When you stop editing a theme you are prompted to commit or discard your edits. Only themes based on shapefiles can be edited.

A dashed line around a theme's check box in the Table of Contents indicates that editing is enabled for that theme. If you want to edit another theme, you must first stop editing the editable theme because you can only edit one theme at a time in a view.


Statistics

Use this option from the Field menu to obtain statistics about a numeric field in a table.

Select the name of the numeric field you wish to obtain statistics about and then choose Statistics from the Field menu. ArcView displays a window containing the sum, count, mean, maximum, minimum, range, variance, and standard deviation for that field's values for the currently selected records, or, if there aren't any selected records, all records.

Example

To find the total area of some particular polygon features in a theme

1	Click on the theme in the Table of Contents to make it active.

2	Select the polygon features on the view.

3	Open the table for the theme by choosing Table from the Theme menu or clicking the Open Theme Table button. The theme's table will be displayed, with the records for the selected polygons highlighted.

4	Click on the field called Area to make it active.

5	Choose the Statistics control. Read the total area for the selected polygons from the value next to the word Sum.

See Also

Getting statistics about a table


Step

 Lets you debug a script by stepping through the compiled script.

When you choose this option or press F8, ArcView's debugger moves through your script one object and request at a time.

See also

Debugging a script

Error messages


Store As Template

Creates a layout template from the current layout. See Using a layout as a cartographic template


Store North Arrows

Creates north arrows from the selected grouped graphics. In addition to a set of standard system default north arrows, you can design your own north arrows and store them in the North Arrow Manager. Once you create them, you can use these north arrows in any project using the North Arrow Frame tool [image].

To create a north arrow

1	Open a new layout document.

2	Use the appropriate Draw tools to design your own north arrows.

3	If appropriate, select all components of the north arrow.

4	Use Group to group the selected graphics into a single graphic.

5	Select the grouped graphic, if it isn't already selected, and pick Store North Arrows from the Layout menu. You may select multiple grouped graphics to create multiple north arrows.

ArcView writes the selected graphics to a file called north.def located in your HOME directory.

ArcView reads north.def each time you invoke the North Arrow Properties dialog box. To see the newly created north arrows, use the North Arrow Frame tool. To return to using the system default north arrows, simply delete your north.def file or remove selected north arrows from the North Arrow Manager using the North Arrow frame tool.

Notes

 You may use a single graphic or group of graphics to create north arrows. You must group multiple graphics together prior to storing them as north arrows; otherwise, ArcView stores every selected graphic as a new, separate north arrow.

 You may use layout frames to create north arrows. For example, you can bring in your own north arrow into a picture frame and store it as a new north arrow. ArcView stores the path name to the picture frame's data source in the north.def file and uses it to recreate the north arrow correctly. It is important that you maintain the original data source (for example, the image file that you used to create the picture frame) in order to use the north arrow associated with frames. If you move the source file, the North Arrow Manager turns the picture frame into an empty frame.

 ArcView does not support rotating layout frames associated with north arrows. For example, when you attempt to rotate a north arrow made out of some simple graphic shapes and a picture frame, only the graphic shapes rotate to the specified rotation angle. The picture frame remains in its original position.


Subtract Features

Subtracts one overlapping feature from another feature. The feature on the top gets subtracted from the feature on the bottom. The portion of the bottom feature that is overlapped by the top feature is removed and the top feature remains unchanged.

Subtract Features only works on polygon shapefiles.

To Subtract Features

1	Click on the shapefile theme in the Table of Contents to make it active, if it is not already.

2	From the Theme menu, choose Start Editing.

3	Use the Pointer tool [image]  to select the two overlapping features you want to subtract.

4	From the Edit menu, choose Subtract Features.

Note   If you want to reverse the order of this operation, that is, subtract the bottom feature from the top feature, hold down the SHIFT key as you choose Subtract Features from the Edit menu.


Subtract Graphics

Subtracts one overlapping graphic from another graphic. The graphic on the top gets subtracted from the graphic on the bottom. The portion of the bottom graphic that is overlapped by the top graphic is removed and the top graphic remains unchanged.

Subtract Graphics only works on polygon, rectangle and circle graphics.

To Subtract Graphics

1	Use the Pointer tool [image]  to select the two overlapping graphics you want to subtract.

2	From the Edit menu, choose Subtract Graphics.

Note   If you want to reverse the order of this operation, that is, subtract the bottom feature from the top feature, hold down the SHIFT key as you choose Subtract Features from the Edit menu.


Summarize

 Summarizes the current table based on the active field. ArcView creates a new table to store the results of the summary. One record is created in the new table for each unique value of the active field you chose. Each record contains a count showing how many records in the table being summarized have this value. Each record also contains the result of any summary statistics you request such as the sum, minimum. maximum and standard deviation for any other field in table.

See Also

Summarizing a table


Summarize (Dialog box)

Lets you summarize a table based on the active field. ArcView creates a new table to contain the summary statistics you specify in this dialog.

Dialog box options

File name field    This field contains the file name of the table that will be created.

Save As    Lets you choose a different file name and location for the table that will be created.

Field    List of all the numeric fields in the table. These are the fields about which the summary statistics in the Summarize by list can be calculated. The Field list does not include the active field that you are summarizing the table on.

Summarize by    List of all the summary statistics that can be calculated for the field selected from the Field list. The options are:

Average

Summary

Minimum

Maximum

Standard Deviation

Variance

First

Last

Count

In addition to these common calculations, you can use Summarize to merge shapes or features. See Merge operations. If you select Shape from the list of fields, the only operation available is Merge. In this case, ArcView will create a shapefile as well as the dBASE file. After the summary statistics are calculated, You will see a new Summarize dialog box that allows you to add the new shapefile as a theme to either an existing or new view. The view chosen will then become the active document upon completion of the operation.

Add    Adds the current selections from the Field and Summarize by lists to the Summary statistics box.

Remove    Removes the selected summary statistic from the Summary statistics box.

Summary statistics box    This box contains a list of the summary statistics that will be calculated when you press OK. You can click on any entry in this list to select it for removal.

In the summary table that it builds, ArcView creates a field named Count that reflects the number of occurrences of each unique value there are in the active field of the table you are summarizing. If you do not select any summary statistics, the new table will only contain the active field and Count. If you do select summary statistics, there will also be field names reflecting the statistical operations listed in the Summary statistics box. The new table will be the active document when the operation is completed.

See Also

Summarizing a table


Switch Selection

 Changes the selected set of records to be all previously unselected records. If no records are selected, using this control will select all the records.


Table frame tool

 Use this tool to add a table frame to a layout.

Select the table frame tool and draw a rectangle to create a frame to display a table.

Dialog box options

Tables    Contains a list of tables in the project.The name of the table to create the table frame from. You can also select the choice: <Empty Table> which will create a table frame that does not contain any data. This frame can be assigned a table later by the user or by Avenue. Empty table frames are often used to create cartographic templates.

Display    There are two different parameters you can define.

When should the table frame refresh itself. The choices are:

When Active - The table frame will redraw only when the layout is the active project component.

Always - The table frame will refresh whenever there is any change to the table.

You can also choose the "quality" of the display. The choices are:

Presentation - The table frame will display the table.

Draft - The table frame will be a shaded box, placeholding where the table will be drawn. This is often used to increase the speed of working with the layout.

The table frame will contain the same data that is visible in the table document. If the visible fields in the table document are more than 80 characters wide, only the left most fields whose combined width is equal to or less than 80 characters will be displayed in the table frame. For example, if the table document displays 24 records and five fields whose combined width is 70 characters, the table frame will display all 24 records and all five fields; however, if each field's width were 25 characters, the 24 records would be displayed, but only their first three fields would be included, since the fourth field would exceed the maximum character width. The table frame will "round up" to the next complete field, e.g., if a field is partially visible in the table document it will be completely visible in the table frame, if the combined width does not exceed the maximum width.

Changes in the table will be shown in the table frame. For example, if you promote selected records to the top of the table the table frame will change accordingly and display the highlighted records. A table frame will only display the data contained in a table that is currently open. Creating a table frame from a closed table will result in a solid rectangle filling the frame. When the table document is opened the table frame will show the table. The time when this occurs is dependent on the refresh property of the table frame.

The table frame uses a font that cannot be changed by the user. The portion of the table shown in the frame will be scaled up or down to accommodate the current frame size.

After you create a table frame, you can see the Table Frame Properties dialog box at any time by double-clicking the table frame.

See also

Adding a table to a layout

Frame tool

Types of frames


Table Properties

Lets you review and change the properties of the table you are currently working on, such as its name, which of its fields are visible in ArcView, and aliases currently being used for its field names.


Table Properties (Dialog box)

Displays the properties of the table you are currently working on.

Use this to review and change:

 The name of the table.

 The name of the person who created the table.

 Which fields in the table's tabular data source are visible in the table.

 The field name aliases that have been set for the table.


Template Manager (Dialog box)

Lets you choose a template for your layout. Click the template you wish to use and press OK.

Dialog box options

Edit    Allows you to change the name and icon of a layout template .

Delete    Removes the selected template from the list of available templates.

Store    This button becomes active if you make any changes to the list of templates by editing or removing a template. Click this button to store your changes in the default template list.

Templates work by creating (or using existing) layouts and filling frames with components of the project (i.e. views, tables, and charts). This is done on a "first come first served" basis. For example, let's say your template has two view frames in it. ArcView will fill the first view frame that was created with the first view in the list of views in the Project window. The second view in the Project window fills the second view frame created in the template. This functionality is the same for chart and table frames. North arrow and Picture frames will appear as they were saved in the template.

If you chose Layout from the View menu to create a new layout, the first view frame in the template will be filled with the current view, even if it is not the first in the list of views in the project window. Any other view frames will be filled by views in the order of their appearance in the Project window. If there is text in the template, it will be treated in the following way: The first text string created in the template will be replaced with the name of the current view. Any remaining text strings will be unaffected. If a layout already exists in the project, you will be asked if you want to use it with the selected template or if you want to create a new layout.

If you choose Use Template from the Layout menu, existing layout graphics not present in the template will be deleted from the layout. Element types also present in the template will be saved. For example, a layout has two chart frames, and the template you select only contains one chart frame. The first chart in the list in the Project window will remain in the layout, positioned by the frame location in the template. The other chart frame will be deleted.

The neatlines in three templates are set to ¼ inch inside the layout page edge. If your layout page size is set to Same as Printer, depending on the default printer margins, the neatlines may fall outside the page margins.


Template Properties (Dialog box)

If you chose Store As Template from the Layout menu, creates a layout template from the layout you are currently working on. See Using a layout as a cartographic template

If you clicked the Edit button on the Template Manager dialog box, lets you change the name and icon of an existing template.

Dialog box options

Name    Type in the name of the template. You will see this name when you select a template to use for a layout.

Icon    Displays the icon that will be used to symbolize the template. You will see the icon with the template name when you select a template to use for a layout.

Select    Click this button to select an icon from the icon manager. You can also load an icon from disk if you have an icon that you want to use for the template.

When you click OK, ArcView will write the current list of templates to a file called template.def located in the %HOME% directory.

Your default templates will take precedence over the system defaults, so when you execute the Use Template control, you will see your templates instead of ArcView's default templates.


Text Labels (Theme Properties dialog box)

Controls exactly how the label is placed for each feature in a theme when using the Label tool or when Find Best Label Placement is not enabled in the Auto Label window.

Label Field    Field in the theme's attribute table that will be used to provide text for labeling features in the theme, and to label the records displayed when features are identified with the Identify tool. You can use any field from the theme's attribute table. This field defaults to the first character field in the theme's attribute table. If there are no character fields, the field defaults to None.

Scale Labels    This option’s initial state is active, which means that if you zoom in or out after you have labeled some features, the text will change size. However, if you disable scaling of labels, the labels will remain at a constant size no matter what scale you set your view to. You cannot change whether existing labels scale or do not scale, you will have to delete them and then make new labels.

Labeling options for point themes

Position of text relative to label point    Nine Text buttons show possible text label positions relative to a point. The default is center-right. To use a different position, click one of the Text buttons.

Labeling options for polygon themes

Position of text relative to label point    Nine Text buttons show possible text label positions relative to the polygon's center point. The default is center-center. To use a different position, click one of the Text buttons. When using the Label tool the label is positioned relative to where you click.

Labeling options for line themes

Alignment Relative to Line    Line labels are oriented so that the label follows the general trend of the line.  The orientation is never between 90 and 270 degrees, i.e., upside down text.  The position of the label relative to the line can be fine tuned using the following options:

Above -  The bottom of the text is always above the line.  In the case of a vertical line, the text displays top to bottom on the right of the line.

On -  A line anchored by the endpoints of the line being labeled will bisect the label.

Below -  The top of the text is always below the line. In the case of a vertical line, the text displays bottom to top on the left of the line.

Alignment Along Length    Position of the text label in relation to the length of the line. Labels will be centered along each line by default. The starting point of the line is determined by finding the point on the line that is furthest north and west. The ending point of the line is determined by finding the point on the line that is furthest south and east.  These are the options available in the drop-down list:

Before -  Right-justify the end of the text label with the starting point of the line.

At Start -  Right-justify the beginning of the text label with the starting point of the line.

Midway -  Center over the middle of the line.

At End -  Right-justify the end of the text label with the ending point of the line.

After -  Left-justify the starting point of the text label with the ending point of the line.

Notes

 If you want to select a field as the label field in the table but you can't see the field in the drop-down list, it is possible that the field has been hidden or renamed with an alias. In either case, you can open the Table Properties ialog box to reveal the field and make it visible.

See also

Setting a theme's label properties


Text Properties (Dialog box)

Lets you change the text, alignment, and spacing of a label on your map.

Dialog box options

Text input area    Type the text into the dialog box. If you want to place the text on more than one line, press RETURN and continue typing. Long text strings in one line will wrap in the dialog box but will appear as a single line on the view or layout.

Horizontal Alignment

 Align left

 Align center

 Align right

Vertical Spacing    Select the amount of vertical spacing between lines of text.

Rotation Angle    Specify the rotation angle, measured counterclockwise from the horizontal. The default is 0 (horizontal). Text is rotated around the center point of the text.


Text tool

ArcView has a variety of ways to place text on a view or layout. The default settings for the text style and display options for all types of labels are available from the Graphics menu by choosing Text and Label Defaults. The following tools are available in ArcView to add text to a view or layout:

 To add new text, click the Text tool and click the position where you want to add the text. A dialog box will appear that lets you enter the text and choose alignment, spacing and positioning options.  To edit existing text, click the Text tool and click on the text you want to edit.

Callout text tools - These tools not only place text, but surround the text with graphic elements. Thus, you will not be able to edit these graphics in the same fashion as a piece of plain text. You can use the Symbol Window to change the foreground, background, outline, and text colors. However, if you want to change the text, you will find it easier to delete what you have and start again.

 Places a callout box with a leader pointing back to the feature it labels. To use this tool click where you want the leader to point to and drag in the direction you want the callout box to be located. The length of the line you drag denotes the starting point for the callout box. A dialog box will appear that lets you enter the text and choose alignment, spacing and positioning options.

 Places a small dot on the feature, and then a leader line that points to the label text. To use this tool click where you want the leader to point to and drag in the direction you want the text to be located. The length of the line you drag denotes the starting point for the callout box.

 Places a banner with a drop-shadow on the feature you click on. To use this tool click where you want the lower left corner of the text to be located.

Special effects text tools

 Places your text with a drop shadow. To use this tool click where you want the lower left corner of the text to be located.

 Places your text along a polyline that you draw on your view or layout. To use this tool click where you want the lower left corner of the text to be located and click any other points along a line for your text to follow.


Themes On/Themes Off

Use these menu choices to make all themes in a view visible or make all themes in a view invisible.

Using Themes Off's keyboard shortcut, ESC, is especially useful for interrupting the drawing of themes with numerous features. Note, however, that since drawing occurs in the background in ArcView, you don't have to wait for drawing to complete or stop all themes from drawing in order to perform another action.

You can toggle the state of all themes in a view by holding down CTRL and clicking a checkbox in the Table of Contents. In contrast, rather than toggle the visible state of all themes, Themes On and Themes Off act unilaterally on all themes, regardless of their state, so all themes are either made visible or invisible.

See also

Turning themes on and off


Theme Properties

 Lets you review and change the properties of the active theme. By setting a theme's properties you can control various characteristics such as its name, how it is displayed in the view, how it is labeled, the definition of the features it will contain, etc. The properties you can set depends on the type of data source the theme is based on.


Tile
Tile Windows

Arranges the windows in your ArcView session side by side so that all windows are visible and don't overlap. ArcView resizes the windows to make them fit on the screen. Use this to tidy up your ArcView screen if you have lots of windows open, some of which may be hidden behind each other, or when you need to see information in a number of windows at the same time.


TOC Defaults
TOC Style

You can use this dialog to change the current and default style for the Table of Contents display in all your current views and for new views you create. There are three basic properties you can set:

Line Flatness

This is the degree to which the line symbols in the legend are flat. This setting also affects how line symbols are shown the Legend Editor and the Symbol window

Symbol length

This is the length of the line symbol in the TOC. Sometimes it is necessary to show a line that is longer in order to effectively show the pattern of dashes or symbols along a line symbol

TOC Text Symbol

This sets how the text in a legend will appear. This also affects how legend frames appear in a layout.

Example

Here is what a TOC in ArcView might look like if it is using the default TOC style

In order to make the text easier to read, and the symbols easier to understand, you might make the font so that its size is 12 points, set the symbol width to long, and set the line flatness to a moderate zigzag.

To further refine this TOC, you could call additional emphasis to the text by making its style Bold/Italic, and in order to make the line symbols clearer, set the line flatness to flat.


Toggle Breakpoint

 Sets or clears a breakpoint at the current cursor position.

To set a breakpoint

1	From the Script menu, choose Compile or press the Compile button.

2	Position the insertion point at the location of the object or request in the script where you want execution to interrupt.

3	From the Script menu, choose Toggle Breakpoint.

ArcView adds the breakpoint and highlights the line.

To clear a breakpoint

1	Position the insertion point anywhere in the script that contains a breakpoint.

2	From the Script menu, choose Toggle Breakpoint (F9).

ArcView clears the breakpoint and removes the highlighting.

See also

Setting and clearing breakpoints in a script

Examining variables in a script


Undo

 Reverses the last edit done to a layout graphic.

Undo can reverse the following:

 A move

 A resize

 Bring to Front

 Send to Back

 Group

 Ungroup

 Simplify

 Delete

The number of undo actions is limited to one, but can be changed using Avenue requests.  For information on changing the capabilities of undo, check the class 'GraphicList' in the online help.


Undo Edit to a table
Undo Edit

Reverse the last edit to a record in the table. Choosing this option repeatedly enables you to successively undo all the edits you made to the table since you started editing. This option does not undo the addition or deletion of a field.


Undo Erase

 Reverses the last erase of data marker(s) you made on the chart.

Data markers can be erased from a chart using the Erase tool [image] or the Erase with Polygon tool [image].

The plot of the erased data markers can also be recovered by selecting the records from the table again if you know which records were just removed from the chart.


Undo Edit to theme
Undo Feature Edit

Reverses the last edit made to a shapefile. Choosing this option repeatedly enables you to successively undo all the edits you made since you started editing. Undo Edit undoes changes to the feature geometry in the shapefile and the corresponding changes to the feature attribute table.


Undo Graphic Edit

Reverses the last edit done to a graphic in a view.

Undo can reverse the following changes:

 Delete

 Move

 Resize

 Bring to Front

 Send to Back

 Group

 Ungroup

The number of undo actions is limited to one.


Undo (Script)
Undo

  Reverses the most recent deletion, cut or paste operation. If the last action was typing, Undo removes the last character entered.

You can reverse a change until you make another change.


Ungroup

 Ungroups the selected, previously grouped graphic into individual graphics. The selection handles of each of the individual graphics will appear, indicating that all are currently selected.


Ungroup

Ungroups the selected, previously grouped graphic into individual graphics. The handles of each of the individual graphics will then appear indicating that all are currently selected.


Union Features

Returns the unions of the selected features to create a single feature.

When a set of features is merged with Union Features option, the records of those features are erased from the feature attribute table and one new record is added to the table to represent the new feature.

Union Features only works on line and polygon shapefiles.

Union on line features

If two lines meet at exactly the same point, one continuous line will result. Otherwise the result is one feature with multiple parts. If the line features overlap, the overlapping segment is not removed.

Union on polygon features

If the selected polygons share a common boundary, the common boundary is removed to create a single polygon. If the selected polygons overlap, the boundaries of the overlap are removed to create one polygon. If the polygons are not adjacent or overlapping, the result is one feature with multiple parts.

To Union Features

1	Click on the shapefile theme in the Table of Contents to make it active, if it is not already.

2	From the Theme menu, choose Start Editing.

3	Open the Theme Properties dialog box and choose the Editing Property. Set the attribute update rules for union.

4	Use the Pointer tool [image]  to select the features you want to union.

5	From the Edit menu, choose Union Features.


Union Graphics

Returns the union of the selected graphics to create a single graphic.

Union Graphics works on all graphic shape types.

Union on point graphics

The selected points are grouped into one graphic.

Union on line graphics

The selected lines are grouped into one graphic.

Union on polygon, rectangle, or circle graphics

If the selected graphics share a common boundary, the common boundary is removed to create a single graphic. If the selected graphics overlap, the boundaries of the overlap are removed to create one graphic. If the graphics are not adjacent or overlapping, the result is one graphic with multiple parts

To Union Graphics

1	Use the Pointer tool [image]  to select the set of graphics you want to union.

2	From the Edit menu, choose Union Graphics.


Unique Value Legend Editor (Dialog box)

  Show help for general Legend Editor features.

Values Field

Determines which field’s values are used in the legend.

Tabular Display

Use this to:

 Select a class by Clicking on the symbol.

 Unselect a class by Ctrl-Clicking on a selected class.

 Select more than one class. To select an inclusive set of classes Click on the first class you wish to select, and then Shift-Click on the last class. If you want to select more than one class, but not a continuous range, then Ctrl-Click on each class you want to select.

 Change a class’s value by Clicking on the cell of the value you want to change and enter the new value range. You can enter discontinuous value ranges by placing a comma between ranges, i.e., “10 - 20, 30 - 35”, “10, 12 - 15”, “A,B,C”, or A-C, F-L.

 Change a class’s label by Clicking on the cell of the label you want to change. If you have just changed the value, then it will automatically update, or you have the option of typing in your own label.

 The Value, Label, and Count buttons are used in conjunction with the Sort Ascending and Descending buttons. You must click on either the Value, Label, or Count button before using the Sort buttons.  Clicking the Symbol and Value button will produce the same results for sorting.

 Add Class button

Use this button to add a class to your theme’s legend.  Note that in the Unique Value Legend Editor, the count field will not be calculated for added classes.

 Delete Class button

Use this button to delete a class from you theme’s legend.  Note that in the Unique Values Legend Editor, the count field values will not be recalculated when you delete a class.

 Sort Ascending button

Sorts the order that elements in your legend appear by either the values in the Values, Labels, or Count fields in ascending order.

 Sort Descending button

Sorts the order that elements in your legend appear by either the values in the Values, Labels, or Count fields in descending order.

Null Symbol button

This button opens the Null Values window.

 Flip Symbols

This button reverses the order symbols appear in your legend. Flipping the order of your symbols does not change the order of the values or labels.

 Random Colors button

This button assigns a unique random color to each value. ArcView uses four different random color formulas and applies a different one each time you click this button.

 Random Symbols button

This button randomly assigns a unique symbol to each value. When you use the Random Symbols button, ArcView also assigns a random color to each symbol.

Color Schemes

Use this to choose a predefined color scheme.


Use Template

Lets you choose which template to use for the layout you are working on.


Vertex Edit tool

 Use this tool to reshape a feature or graphic by moving, adding, or deleting vertices.

To reshape a single polygon or line

If you want to reshape a single polygon or line, click inside the polygon or directly on the line. A hollow, square vertex handle appears at each vertex of the feature or graphic. Now when you move, add or delete vertices, only the single polygon or the single line will be changed.

To reshape a common boundary between two features

If you want to modify a common boundary between two polygons or two lines, click right on the common boundary. Square vertex handles will appear at each vertex of the shared boundary and round anchors will appear at the vertices at each end of the common boundary. Now when you move, add or delete a vertex, both polygons or both lines will be changed.

To move a node common to a number of features

If you want to move a node that is common to two or more polygon or line features, click directly on the node. A square vertex handle will appear at this node and round anchors will appear on the next closest vertex on each polygon or line. Now when you move the common node all polygons or all lines which share this node will be changed

To move a vertex

 Place the cursor on the vertex you want to move. When the cursor appears as a crosshair, hold down the left mouse button and drag the vertex to the new position.

To add a new vertex

 Move the cursor to a position on the feature where there is no vertex. When the cursor appears as a target, click the left mouse button to add a new vertex at this position.

To delete a vertex

 Place the cursor on the vertex you want to delete. When the cursor appears as a crosshair press the DELETE key on the keyboard to remove this vertex from the feature or graphic.


Vertex Point Edit
Vertex Point Edit (Dialog Box)

This dialog is shown when you either add or edit a vertex in the Shape Properties dialog box. This dialog serves a tool on that you can use to type in the new X and Y coordinates the selected vertex if you are editing it, or for new vertex if you are adding one. If the shape you are editing has M or Z values, then you will see an additional type-in field where you can alter the M or Z value.


View frame tool

 Use this tool to add a view frame to a layout.

Select the view frame tool and draw a rectangle to create a frame in which to display a view. When you are done creating the frame, the View Frame Properties dialog box will appear, enabling you to define the characteristics of the view frame.

Dialog box options

View    The name of the view you want to appear in the frame. You can also select the choice:  <Empty View> which creates a view frame that does not contain any data. This frame can be assigned a view at a later time. Empty view frames are often used to create cartographic templates.

Live Link    The Live Link checkbox determines if the layout will be "linked" to the view, changing as the view changes, or if it will be a permanent "snapshot" of the current state of the view.

If Live Link is checked, the connection between the view and the layout is preserved. For example, if you change the symbology in the view, or if you turn a theme on or off, the change is reflected in the layout.

If Live Link is not checked, the connection is cut. For example, if you change the symbology in the view, the view frame in the layout does not change. This turns the view frame into a 'snapshot' of the current state of the view. Changes you make to the view will no longer be reflected in the layout. Use this option once you have finalized your layout, and want to be able to continue working with the view without changing the layout.

Scale	There are three ways to define the scale of the contents of the view frame:

Automatic - The scale of the contents of the view frame is determined by the width of the view frame. That is, if you change the size of the view frame in the layout, the contents of the view frame will be scaled to fit inside the resized frame.

Preserve View Scale - The scale of the view frame is determined by the view's current  scale. Use this option if you want the contents of the view frame to be displayed at the same scale as the view, irrespective of how large you make the view frame in the layout. So for example, if your view is displayed at 1:80,000,000 scale, and you choose Preserve View Scale, the contents of the view frame will be displayed at that scale even if you resize the view frame.

Note that whether you use Automatic scaling or Preserve View Scale, the scale of the contents of the view frame will still change if Live Link is on and you change the scale at which the view is displayed. To prevent the scale from changing in this case, turn Live Link off.

User Specified Scale - The scale of the view frame is a user-entered value. Enter the scale you want to use in the scale field. Use this option if you want to specify the scale of the contents of the view frame directly. In this way, when you print out the layout, the contents of the view frame will be drawn at the scale you specified, irrespective of the current scale of the view. With User Specified Scale, changing the scale at which the view is displayed won't change the scale of contents of the view frame, even if Live Link is on.

Note Your view's Map Units must be set to use the Preserve View Scale or User Specified Scale options. If the view's map units have not been set, the scale will appear as 0 in the View Frame Properties dialog. See Setting map units.

Extent	There are two ways to define how the view data will display in the view frame:

Fill View Frame - The view frame is filled with data from the view.  Data not visible in the view will display to fill the view frame. For example, if the contents of the view frame window are smaller than the view frame, ArcView will try to fill the view frame with data from the view. This may result in data appearing in the layout that is not currently visible in the current extent of your view. For example, if you choose to Preserve View Scale and you make the view frame larger on the layout, ArcView will try to fill in the rest of the view frame with additional data from your view.

Clip To View - The contents of the view frame are clipped to be the same as the current extent of the view. Use this option if you want to ensure that only those features currently visible in your view will be displayed in the layout.

There are six possible combinations you can use to control how a view is displayed inside a view frame on a layout:

 Automatic/Fill View Frame(default) - The view is scaled so that it fits completely within the view frame.  Data not visible in the view will display to fill the view frame.

 Automatic/Clip to View - The view is scaled so that it fits completely within the view frame.  Only the data visible in the view’s display is drawn in the view frame.  Differences in the aspect ratios of the view and the view frame will result in the data being centered in the view frame, surrounded by white space.

 Preserve View Scale/Fill View Frame -  The view is scaled so that it is at the same scale on both the layout and the view’s display.  The view frame is filled by the view at the view’s scale.  If  the view’s visible extent at that scale exceeds the bounds of the view frame, then only that portion of the view’s visible extent that fits in the view frame is drawn.

 Preserve View Scale/Clip to View - The view is scaled so that it is at the same scale on both the layout and the view’s display.  Only the data visible on the view’s display is drawn within the view frame.  If  the view’s visible extent at that scale exceeds the bounds of the view frame, then only that portion of the view’s visible extent that fits in the view frame is drawn.

 User Specified Scale/Fill View Frame - The view is drawn at a user specified scale in the view frame on the layout page.  The scale is fixed; user specified scale has no effect on the view’s scale.  The view frame is filled with the view’s data at the specified scale. If  the view’s visible extent at that scale exceeds the bounds of the view frame, then only that portion of the view’s visible extent that fits in the view frame is drawn.

 User Specified Scale/Clip to View - The view is drawn at a user specified scale in the view frame on the layout page.  The scale is fixed; user specified scale has no effect on the view’s scale.  Only the data visible on the view’s display is drawn within the view frame.  If  the view’s visible extent at that scale exceeds the bounds of the view frame, then only that portion of the view’s visible extent that fits in the view frame is drawn.

There are two different parameters you can define:

Display   When should the view frame refresh. The choices are:

When Active - The view frame will refresh only when the layout is active (i.e. it's the uppermost window in ArcView). When the layout isn't active (i.e. when it's not the uppermost window in ArcView), the contents of the view frame won't redraw until the layout is made active again. This saves time when you are working with a live-linked view that contains a large number of features, because ArcView won't draw them in the layout each time you change your view.

Always - The view frame will refresh whenever there is any change to the view.

Quality   How the data displays in the frame. The choices are:

Presentation - The view frame will display the view data.

Draft - The view frame will be a shaded box, serving as a placeholder for where the view data will be drawn.

If your view frame contains a large number of features, you can also save time by setting Quality to Draft instead of Presentation. In this way, the contents of the view frame will not be fully drawn on-screen.

Notes

 When scale is set to a user specified scale, the scale is based on the extent of the view document - not the extent of the view data.  So, if you want to show a different data location, but at the specified scale, you can pan the view.  The view frame will update with the correct location at the specified scale.

 Graphics positioned behind the view frame, grid points, and margins  may display in the view frame when it is moved to another location on the layout page.   The next time the layout page is refreshed, view data will display correctly in the view frame.

 A scale value can be entered in the scale edit box only when the property User Defined Scale is selected.

 When you cut, delete or simplify a view frame, any corresponding legend and scale bar frames become empty frames. When you cut and then paste a view frame, it does not automatically change the legend and scale bar frames from empty frames to their old values; you have to do this yourself.

 When you cut all three frames (view/legend/scale bar) and then paste them, they appear as they were prior to cutting them (i.e there is no switching to empty frames).

See also

Adding a view to a layout

Frame tool

Types of frames


View Properties

Lets you review and change the properties of the view you are working on. View Properties include the view's name, the units used by the spatial data in the view, the units in which you want distances and areas to be reported, the map projection used by the view, etc. See Setting view properties


View Properties (Dialog box)

Lets you review and change the properties of a view.

Dialog box options

Name    The name of the view. View names may include multiple words along with spaces, numbers and punctuation. Until you change the name of a view, ArcView names new views in numerical order: View1, View2, View3, etc.

Creation date    The date and time the view was created. This is recorded automatically and can't be edited.

Creator    Name of person who created the view.

Map Units    The units of the view’s display surface. ArcView uses the Map Units setting in order to determine the correct scale of your view. If no projection is set, Map Units should be set to the units of your base data. If a projection is set, Map Units are the units of the projected space. Map Units can be:

Unknown

Inches

Feet

Yards

Miles

Millimeters

Centimeters

Meters

Kilometers

Decimal degrees -  The coordinates are stored in degrees longitude and latitude. When Map Units are decimal degrees you can specify a map projection for the view by pressing the Projection button (see below).

See Setting map units for help on finding out what you should set your map units to.

Distance Units    The units in which dimensions and measurements related to the view will be displayed in ArcView's status bar. The default Distance Units are set to unknown. Distance Units are unavailable until Map Units are set. Distance Units can be:

Unknown

Inches

Feet

Yards

Miles

Nautical Miles

Millimeters

Centimeters

Meters

Kilometers

Projection    Pressing this button displays the Projection Properties dialog box which lets you define the projection used to display the view. ArcView will only project data that is in decimal degrees. See Setting the map projection.

The Projection Properties dialog box lets you choose a specific projection or coordinate system from one of the following categories:

Projections of the World

Projections of a Hemisphere

Projections of the United States

State Plane - 1927

State Plane - 1983

UTM

National Grids

A number of different projections or coordinate system zones are available for these categories. See Map projections for descriptions.

When you choose one of these map projections or coordinate system zones, ArcView displays the parameters that it uses in the projection, such as the Ellipsoid, Central Meridian, Reference Latitude, and Standard Parallels. In the case of map projections, you can also define your own parameters. Press the Custom button and choose your desired projection from the list. You can now edit the parameters.

To customize the standard projections and parameters that are available in Projection Properties, see Creating a custom default.prj file.

When a map projection is set, the name of the projection is displayed on the View Properties dialog box.

There is no default map projection:

 If your data is in decimal degrees and you don't choose a specific map projection, ArcView will draw the view by simply treating the longitude-latitude coordinates as planar x,y coordinates. This produces a map that looks the same as one that has been projected with the Plate Carree map projection, although its geometric characteristics are not the same.

 If your data is not in decimal degrees, ArcView will display this data using whatever projection system the data is currently stored in. See Setting the map projection for how to find out what this projection is.

Area Of Interest    Pressing this button displays the Area Of Interest dialog box which lets you define the extent used to display library-based themes in the view.

Background Color     Displays the current background color.

Select Color     Pressing this button displays the Color Picker which lets you pick a new view background color from a palette. Pick a color, then press OK. The Color Picker closes, and the new view background color appears on View Properties. Press OK on View Properties to apply the change to the view.

If none of the colors on the Color Picker are suitable, press its Custom button. From the Specify Color window which appears, set the HSV to the color you prefer, then press OK. A new row is added to the Color Picker with your custom color. Press OK to apply the change to View Properties, then press OK on View Properties to apply the change to the view.

Comments     Type any comments you want to document the view.


Write Text File

 Writes all or part of the script you are working on to a text file. The selected text in your script will be saved. Use this, for example, when you want to save your script so you can send it to someone as an ASCII file.


Write Text File (Dialog box)

 Writes all or part of a script to a text file.

To write all or part of a script to a text file

1	From the Script menu, choose Write Text File or choose the button in the menu bar. Or select the text you want to write and then choose Write TextFile.

2	In the Write Script dialog box, navigate to where you want to write the file.

3	Type the name of the file to save in the File Name text entry area.

4	Click OK or press RETURN.

See also

Editing a script

Formatting a script

Loading a system script


Zoom In

 Zooms in on the center of a view or a layout by a factor of 2.0.


Zoom In tool

 Zooms in on a view or a layout, centered on a position or area you define with the mouse.

To zoom in on a particular position

Choose the Zoom In tool and click the position with the mouse. ArcView will zoom in by a factor of 2.0 centered on the position you choose.

To zoom in to a particular area

Choose the Zoom In tool and define the area by dragging a box with the mouse. ArcView will zoom in to the area you define. (Depending on how the shape of the box you define compares with the shape of the view or layout window, you may see a little more of the view or layout at one edge of its window than was inside your box).


Zoom Out

 Zooms out from the center of a view or a layout by a factor of 2.0.


Zoom Out tool

 Zooms out from a view or layout, centered on a position or area you define with the mouse.


Zoom Previous Extent
Zoom to Previous Extent

 Goes back to the previous extent you were viewing. Use this option to go back to where you were before you zoomed or panned. ArcView remembers the last five extents you have looked at on the view since opening the project, so you can use this option to retrace your last five steps. The button dims out when there are no more previous extents left to return to.


Zoom to Themes
Zoom To Active Theme(s)

 Zooms to the spatial extent of the geographic features in the active theme(s).

As a view can contain themes with different spatial extents, Zoom to Active Themes enables you to easily zoom in on the area covered by one or more particular themes that you are interested in.

This control works whether or not the active theme(s) are currently visible.

See Making a theme active.


Zoom to Actual Size

 Zoom to the actual size of the layout page.

When you choose the Zoom to Actual Size button, only the portion of the true page size that fits in the layout window will be shown. For example, if your page size is 34 x 44, only a small portion of the true page will fit inside the layout window.

Note   ArcView always prints or exports a layout and its graphics to the size you specify. The screen representation of this is device dependent; i.e., in some cases an inch on the layout may measure to 1.25 inches on the screen. If you need to make on screen measurements of layout graphics you can calibrate your screen so that one inch on the output layout is also one inch on your screen layout. See Calibrating the screen.


Zoom to Full Extent

 Zooms to the full extent of all the themes in a view.

As a view can contain themes with different spatial extents, Zoom to Full Extent enables you to set an extent that covers all the themes in the view. Use this option when you want to be able to see everything in a view.

This control zooms to the extent of all the themes in the view, whether or not they are currently visible or active.

Note   A theme's extent is the spatial extent of the geographic features it contains. If a feature selection has been defined in the theme's properties to limit the contents of the theme to a subset of features, the theme's extent will be the spatial extent of these selected features.


Zoom to Page

 Zooms (in or out) to the full extent of the layout page.

When you choose the Zoom to Page button, the page will fill the layout window, with a small amount of the background area showing around the edges.


Zoom to Selected

 If you are currently working on a view, this button zooms to the spatial extent of the currently selected features in the active theme(s). To make a theme active, click on its name in the view's Table of Contents. If features have been selected from more than one theme, the view extent is set so that all the selected features in the active themes can be seen. After you have selected features in a theme (for example, by using the Query Builder to find features with particular attributes), click this button to zoom in on the area covered by the features you have selected.

If you are currently working on a layout, this control zooms to the extent of the selected graphics. Graphics include lines, boxes, shapes, text labels  and frames.


Active field

The currently active field in your table.

 There are any number of fields in a table, but only one of them can be active at any time.

 To make a field active simply click on the field name with the cursor. An active field's field name cell will be shaded. To make a field inactive, click on it again.


Active table

The currently active table in your window in your project.

 You can have any number of tables open in a project, but only one of them can be active at any time. If part of a table is hidden by other windows, making it active will bring it to the top.

 If a table is already open in your project, click on its title bar to make it active. You can also make it active by choosing it from the list of currently open windows at the bottom of the ArcView Window menu.

 If you open or add a table, it automatically becomes active.


Active theme

When a theme is active it is highlighted in the Table of Contents. To make a theme active, click on it in the Table of Contents. To make more than one theme active, hold down SHIFT when you click on the themes.

Many of the operations you can perform on a view work on the active theme(s), so making a theme active is the first step in many ArcView procedures. For example, when you use the mouse to select features on a view, features are only selected from the active theme(s).


Active window

The currently active window in your ArcView session. It can be either a project, view, table, chart, layout or script editor. You can have any number of windows open in ArcView, but at any time there is only one active window. If part of a window is hidden by others, making it active will bring it to the top.

To make a window active, simply click inside it or on its title bar, or choose it from the list of currently open windows at the bottom of the ArcView Window menu. When you open or create a new window, it automatically becomes active.

When you perform an action in ArcView, it usually applies to the active window. The contents of the ArcView Menu bar, Button bar, Tool bar and Popup menus change according to what is in the active window. So for example, when the active window is a view you will see menus, buttons, tools and popups for a view.


Address matching

A mechanism for relating two files using address as the matching item. Geographic coordinates of an address can be determined based on another. For example, a data file containing student addresses can be matched to a street theme that contains addresses creating a point theme of where the students live.


Affine transformation

A six-parameter transformation used to calculate the amount of scaling, rotation and translation required to align an image to map coordinates.


ArcStorm

ArcStorm (ArcStorageManager) is a data storage facility and transaction manager for ARC/INFO data. ArcStorm manages a feature-oriented database that can be closely integrated with database systems supported by ARC/INFO's Database Integrator.


ArcStorm database

An ArcStorm database is a collection of libraries, layers, INFO tables and external DBMS tables. Data stored in an ArcStorm database benefit from the transaction management and data archiving capabilities of ArcStorm.


ArcView window

This is the window in which ArcView runs. It serves as the framework for all ArcView operations. (On the Macintosh you won't see an actual window).

The menus, buttons and tools available to you in the ArcView window change according to the contents of the active window. If a view is currently active in ArcView, you will see the menus, buttons and tools for a view.


ARC/INFO

ARC/INFO is a geographic information system (GIS) software package made by Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI), the makers of ArcView.

ARC/INFO is used worldwide by thousands of different organizations for handling, managing and analyzing geographic information. ARC/INFO is designed for users who require a complete set of tools for processing and manipulating spatial data, including digitizing, editing, coordinate management, network analysis, surface modeling and grid cell based modeling.

ARC/INFO format spatial data includes vector coverages and raster grids. Attributes describing geographic features are stored as tabular files in INFO format (the database system built into ARC/INFO), dBASE format, or other external database systems.

ArcView users can access almost any spatial data stored in ARC/INFO format for desktop mapping and analysis.


ASCII

American Standard Code for Information Interchange. A set of codes for representing alphanumeric information (e.g., a byte with a value of 77 represents a capital M). Text files, such as those created with the text editor of a computer system, are often referred to as ASCII files.


Attribute

A characteristic of a geographic feature described by numbers or characters, typically stored in tabular format, and linked to the feature. For example, attributes of a well, represented by a point, might include depth, pump type, location and gallons-per-minute.


Band

One layer of a multispectral image representing data values for a specific range of the electromagnetic spectrum of reflected light or heat (e.g., ultraviolet, blue, green, red, near-infrared, infrared, thermal, radar, etc.). Also, other user-specified values derived by manipulation of original image bands. A standard color display of a multispectral image displays three bands, one each for red, green and blue. Satellite imagery such as LANDSAT TM and SPOT provide multispectral images of the Earth, some containing seven or more bands.


Base map

A map containing a variety of geographic features used for locational reference. Base maps can be customized but typically include streets, topography, political boundaries for cities, states and countries, and so on.


Base table

A table that is physically stored in the database.


BIL

Band Interleaved by Line; a data storage format that writes the data for each line band by band (i.e., line 1: band 1, band 2, band 3; line 2: band 1, band 2, band 3; and so on).


BIP

Band Interleaved by Pixel; a data storage format that writes the data for each pixel band by band (i.e., pixel 1: band 1, band 2, band 3; pixel 2: band 1, band 2, band 3; and so on).


Boolean expression

A type of expression that reduces a true or false (logical) condition. A Boolean expression contains logical expressions (e.g., [Depth] > 100) and Boolean operator. A Boolean operator is a keyword that specifies how to combine simple logical expressions into complex expressions. Boolean operators negate a predicate (NOT), specify a combination of predicates (AND), or specify a list of alternative predicates (OR). For example, ([Depth] > 100) and ([Diameter]> 20).


Graphic bounding box

A layout graphic bounding box is a box surrounding each graphic that is just large enough to contain the entire graphic.


Breakpoint

An instruction that interrupts the normal execution of a script. It is attached to a location in the script's source code.


BSQ

Band Sequential; a data storage format that writes the data for the entire image band by band (i.e., rows 1-n : band 1; rows 1-n : band2; rows 1-n : band 3; and so on).


Buffer

A zone of a specified distance around features. Buffers are useful for proximity analysis (e.g., find all stream segments within 300 feet of a proposed logging area).


CAD Reader extension (description)
CAD Reader extension

This ArcView extension enables you to work with drawings produced by computer-aided design (CAD) applications in ArcView. CAD drawings can be added to views as themes, symbolized, queried, etc.

To load the CAD Reader extension, make the ArcView Project window active and then choose Extensions from the File menu.


Cartesian coordinate system

A two-dimensional, planar coordinate system in which x measures horizontal distance and y measures vertical distance. Relative measures of distance, area and direction are constant throughout the Cartesian coordinate plane.


Categorical data

Data values representing discrete categories, such as soil or vegetation type. Also referred to as nominal data.


central meridian

The single line of longitude which defines the x-coordinate origin of the projection.


Chart data group

A set of related values grouped in a chart to describe the same variable. When a new chart is created, ArcView treats the active field as a data group that contains data from different series. The form of a group is subject to the form of the data series. When data series are plotted from records, data are grouped from fields, or vice versa. The group names are always shown as tick-mark labels on the x-axis for area, column and line charts, y-axis for bar charts, or pie labels for pie charts.


Chart data marker

A column, bar, area, pie slice, or point symbol in a chart representing a nominal, percentage, or logarithm of the data selected to chart from the table.


Chart data series

A set of related values used for comparison in a chart. ArcView treats the data from each record as an individual data series in a new chart. Data markers of a series are indicated with the same color and the series is always described and labeled in the chart legend. A series can also be formed from a field. When more than one field is selected in the Chart Properties dialog box, you can toggle the form of a series between records and fields.


Chart gridlines

A set of lines that extend from the major or minor tick marks on the X- or Y-axis across the plot area. It is easier to view data values in a large chart with gridlines.


Chart major tick mark

A little line marker, usually associated with a text label, appears along an axis which is used to identify a major increment of value, individual category or separate data series.


Chart Maps

All the theme’s features are displayed with a symbol that has a chart. The components of the chart correspond to data attributes  you specify, and the size of each part in a chart is determined by the value of each data attribute. You can specify whether the charts are pie charts or column charts. This is a good method for displaying the values of many attributes.


Chart minor tick mark

A little line marker without a text label appears along an axis, which is used to identify a subdivision of values between two major tick marks. Adding minor tick marks to a chart can allow easier viewing of data values.


Class

A description of a group of objects with similar properties, common behavior, common relationships, and common semantics.


Classification

The process of placing data into groups or classes that have similar characteristics or values


Class hierarchy

A tree structure that represents the inheritance relationship among a set of classes.


Class request

A special kind of request that is invoked by sending a message to a class rather than to one of its instances.


Code page

A code page is a chart of characters that represents a language or set of languages.  English, for instance, can be represented by either DOS437 code page for DOS based programs or WIN1252 for Windows based programs. Each code page chart is organized as an ordered set of characters in which a numeric index (code point value) is associated with each character.  These numeric indexes are the codes that represent the characters when the computer processes text.


Column

The vertical dimension of a table. A column has a name and a data type applied to all values in the column.


Commit

To make any changes permanent during a database transaction.


Compositing

Process by which a true color image is created ‘on the fly’ by merging three separate bands (the red, green, and blue color components) of an image.


Continuous data

Data values representing samples from a continuous surface, such as elevation values. Also referred to as ordinal or ratio data.


Controls

ArcView's controls are the menus, buttons, tools, dialog boxes and dialog box options that you use to control the program.

The controls available in ArcView's Menu bar, Button bar and Tool bar vary according to what is in the active window. You can rearrange and customize most of ArcView's controls, and you can also write Avenue scripts and tie them to new controls to add your own functions.


Control point

A location on the image or map of known real-world coordinates.


Coordinate

An x,y location in a Cartesian coordinate system. Coordinates are used to represent locations on the Earth's surface relative to other locations. Planar coordinates describe a two-dimensional x,y location in terms of distance from a fixed reference.


Coordinate system

A reference system used to measure horizontal and vertical distances on a planimetric map. A coordinate system is usually defined by a map projection, a spheroid of reference, a datum, one or more standard parallels, a central meridian, and possible shifts in the x- and y- direction to define x and y coordinates defining the location of point, line and area features. A common coordinate system is used to spatially register geographic data for the same area.


Coverage - ARC/INFO

1. A digital analog of a map forming the basic unit of vector data storage in ARC/INFO. In a coverage, map features are stored as primary features (such as arcs, nodes, polygons and label points) and secondary features (such as tics, map extent, links and annotation). Associated feature attribute tables describe and store attributes of the geographic features.

 2. A set of thematically associated data considered as a unit. A coverage usually represents a single theme or layer, such as soils, streams, roads and land use.


Cursor

The arrow-shaped element on the screen that follows the movement of the mouse (or other pointing device) and indicates which area of the screen is affected when you press the mouse button. The cursor may change shape during certain tasks.


Database

A logical collection of interrelated information, managed and stored as a unit, usually on some form of mass-storage system such as magnetic tape or disk. A GIS database includes data about the spatial location and shape of geographic features recorded as points, lines, areas, pixels, grid cells or tins as well as their attributes.


Database Access extension (description)
Database Access extension

This ArcView extension provides multi-user, client-server access to spatial and non-spatial data stored in relational databases. You can create database themes to see the spatial data and database tables to see the non-spatial data in ArcView.

To load the Database Access extension, make the ArcView Project window active and then choose Extensions from the File menu.


Database Integrator (DBI)

ArcView's link to relational database management systems (RDBMS) for UNIX. DBI enables ArcView users to access existing commercial databases and take advantage of the power and capabilities of the RDBMS.


Database management system (DBMS)

A set of computer programs for organizing the information in a database. A DBMS supports the structuring of the database in a standard format and provides tools for data input, verification, storage, retrieval, query and manipulation.


Data type

The characteristic of fields and variables that defines what types of data values they can store. Examples include string, number, Boolean, and date.


Datum

A set of parameters and control points used to accurately define the three-dimensional shape of the Earth (e.g., as a spheroid). The datum is the basis for a planar coordinate system. For example, the North American Datum for 1983 (NAD83) is the datum for map projections and coordinates within the United States and throughout North America.


Default printer

The printer that is used if you choose the Print command without first specifying which printer you want to use. You can have only one default printer and it should be the one you use most often.


Digitizer extension (description)
Digitizer extension

This ArcView extension provides support for digitizing tablets. You can use a digitizing tablet to create and edit shapefiles, and as your general input device for using ArcView (instead of a mouse).

To load the Digitizer extension, make the ArcView Project window active and then choose Extensions from the File menu.

The Digitizer extension is not available on UNIX platforms.


Digitizing

Digitizing is a process of encoding geographic features in digital form as x, y coordinates. It is carried out in order to create spatial data from existing hardcopy maps and documents.

Manual digitizing involves placing the map or document on a digitizing table and tracing over the features that are required for the dataset. Automatic digitizing involves placing the map or document in a scanner. Automatic digitizing is generally faster but the equipment is often more expensive and more time is usually needed to clean up and edit the scanned data. Some manual and automatic digitizing is carried out on-screen using aerial photographs and other images as guides.


Dissolve

The process of removing boundaries between adjacent polygons that have the same values for a specified attribute.


Distance unit

The measurement unit used to display dimensions and measurements related to a view.


Dot Density

All the features of a polygon theme are displayed with a symbol that contains a number of dots that directly relates to the value of an attribute you supply. This is the best way to symbolize data that is reported in units that do not have equal sizes, because the issue of size is negated. For instance ten dots in a large feature looks much less dense than ten dots in a very small feature.


Dynamic segmentation

The process of computing the locations of events on linear features at run time based on event tables for which distance measures are available.


Edit mode

A dashed line around the theme’s drawing check box in the Table of Contents indicates that the theme is ready for editing. Only themes based on ArcView shapefiles can be edited.


Event

Events are tabular data that can be added to views as themes. ArcView creates a geographic feature representing the event that occurs on or along a reference feature. Three event types are supported:

XY event

It is a simple coordinate pair of information that describes the location of a feature. For example, a coordinate pair of latitude and longitude degrees is an XY event.

Route event

Route events are associated with a base route system. There are three route event types: linear, continuous, and point. For example, a left lane closure on route I-10 from the 1.5 to 2.1 mileposts is a linear event. A continuous event is a linear event where the start position of a segment is the same as the end position of its preceding event, such as for speed limits. A point event occurs at a point along a route, for example, an accident at milepost 6.3 on route 1-10.

Address event

Address events are features that can be located based on address matching with a street network or other features with an address identifier such as ZIP code or lot number.


False easting

The x-coordinate value assigned relative to the origin point of the projection. For example, if the origin of the projection (in latitude-longitude) is in the center of the map, all areas to the west of the origin would be negative when a false easting of zero is assigned. To make the coordinates positive for the entire map, set the false easting to a positive number.


False northing

The y-coordinate value assigned relative to the origin point of the projection. For example, if the origin of the projection (in latitude-longitude) is in the center of the map, all areas to the south of the origin would be negative when a false northing of zero is assigned. To make the coordinates positive for the entire map, set the false northing to a positive number.


Feature table

Stores information about a set of features. Each record corresponds to one feature. A feature table always has a field named "Shape" whose value is an object that is the shape of the corresponding feature. The table also contains attributes for the features. If a theme is based on an ARC/INFO coverage, its feature table reads the information of the coverage's arc attribute table (AAT), point/polygon attribute table (PAT), node attribute table (NAT), route attribute table (RAT), or text attribute table (TAT).


Field

In a database, another term for column.


Geocode

The process of identifying the coordinates of a location given its address. For example, an address can be matched against a TIGER street network to determine the location of a home. Also referred to as address geocoding.


Georeference

To establish the relationship between an image (row, column) coordinate system and a map (x,y) coordinate system.


Glossary

A

active field

active table

active theme

active window

address matching

affine transformation

ARC/INFO

ArcStorm

ArcStorm database

ArcView window

ASCII

attribute

B

band

base map

base table

BIL

BIP

Boolean expression

bounding box

breakpoint

BSQ

buffer

C

CAD Reader extension

Cartesian coordinate system

categorical data

central meridian

chart data group

chart data marker

chart data series

chart gridlines

chart major tick mark

chart minor tick mark

class

class hierarchy

class request

code page

column

commit

compositing

continuous data

control point

controls

coordinate

coordinate system

coverage - ARC INFO

cursor

D

data type

database

Database Access extension

Database Integrator

database management system

datum

default printer

Digitizer extension

digitizing

dynamic segmentation

E

event

F

false easting

false northing

feature table

field

G

geocode

georeference

Graphical User Interface (GUI)

Grid

H

I

icon

image catalog

image colormap

image-to-world-transformation

IMAGINE Image extension

INFO

inheritance

insertion point

instance

instance request

J

JPEG Image extension

join

jump

K

keyword

L

label

layout graphics

live link

logical expression

M

many to one relate

map extent

map scale

map unit

method

N

Network Analyst extension

O

object

one to many relate

P

palette

pan

parameter

pixel

place name alias

polyline

project components

property

Q

R

raster data

real-world coordinates

receiver

rectification

reference latitude

request

route system

row

S

scale

scale factor

Selected Bounds

selection handles

snapping

soundex

Spatial Analyst extension

spatial indexing

SQL

standard parallel

status bar

system event

T

title bar

topic

topology

U

V

vector data

vertex handles

virtual table

W

warping transformation

world file

work directory

X

Y

Z

zoom


Graduated Color

The theme’s features are displayed using same symbol type, but the colors represent the progression of values for a data attribute you specify. This is useful for displaying data that has a continuous progression of values.


Graduated Symbol

All the theme’s features are displayed using the same symbol and color, but the size of the symbol represents the progression of values of a data attribute you specify. This is the best way to symbolize data that expresses size or magnitude. Graduated symbol is only available for point and line data.


GRID

A fully integrated grid (cell-based) geoprocessing system for use with ARC/INFO. GRID supports a map algebra spatial language that allows sophisticated spatial modeling and analysis.


Graphical user interface (GUI)

A GUI, graphical user interface, is the collection of controls that you use to interact with a project component. Each GUI is comprised of a menu bar, a button bar, a tool bar and a set of popup menus. You can customize the default GUIs and create new GUIs. Each GUI must be associated with a specific project component.


Icon

A graphic representation of a concept or an object. Icons appear on the face of buttons and tools and represent minimized project components in the application window.


Image catalog

An organized set of spatially referenced, possibly overlapping images, that can be accessed as one logical image.


Image colormap

A lookup table that contains the red, green and blue color components used to display the different pixel values in an image.


Image-to-world-transformation

The transformation between image locations and real-world or map coordinates.


IMAGINE Image extension (description)
IMAGINE image extension

This ArcView extension provides support for ERDAS IMAGINE images. With this extension you can add IMAGINE files to views as themes and place them on layouts in picture frames.

To load the IMAGINE image extension, make the ArcView Project window active and then choose Extensions from the File menu.


INFO

The database system built into ARC/INFO used to store tabular data about geographic features. Data in other databases, such as Oracle, can be related to this tabular data.

 In ARC/INFO format spatial data, tabular attributes are stored either in INFO or dBASE format.

 All the INFO files for a particular directory or folder are stored in a subdirectory called info.


Inheritance

A means whereby a class can make use of the requests and properties defined in all the classes above it on its branch of the ArcView class hierarchy.


Insertion point

A vertical, blinking bar on the screen that shows your current location and where text is inserted.


Instance

An object described by a class.


Instance request

The most common form of request. It is invoked by sending a message to an instance rather than to a class. This term is used to distinguish this type of request from the less common class requests


Join (description in glossary)
Join

The operation of appending fields from one table into another table based on a common field. Joining tables is typically used in ArcView to join data in a source table to the attribute table of a theme so that the theme's features can be symbolized, labeled and queried based on the data in the source table.


JPEG Image extension (description)
JPEG image extension

This ArcView extension provides support for JPEG compressed images in the JFIF public domain image file format. With this extension you can add .jpg files to views as themes and place them on layouts in picture frames.

To load the JPEG image extension, make the ArcView Project window active and then choose Extensions from the File menu.

Note	    You do not need to load the JPEG image extension to export views and layouts to JPEG format files.


Jump

Text that provides links to other topics or to more information about the current topic. The cursor changes shape whenever it is over a jump. If you choose a jump that is linked to another topic, that topic appears in the Help window.


Keyword

A symbol recognized as part of Avenue - for example, the name of a class, a request, a literal, or a statement.


Label

A label is a graphic element that can be displayed on a view. It is associated with a feature.


Layout graphics

There are four types:

 Geometric primitives (points, lines, circles, etc.)

 Text

 Groups, that are simply collections of other graphics

 Frames, that are the repositories for ArcView-specific entities (views, legends, scale bars, charts, etc.)


Legend

A legend explains the symbols and conventions used to represent mapped features.  ArcView displays legends in a view document's table of contents and as a legend frame in a layout document.


Live link

When a view frame is live linked to a view, all changes in the view will be reflected in the layout. The live link can be cut at any time from the view frame properties menu (accessible by double-clicking on the view frame). If the live link is cut the view frame will not change even if the view is altered.


Logical expression

A combination of fields, field values, and arithmetic logical operators from which a value of TRUE or FALSE is derived; for example,

( [area] > 1500 )

This expression can be used to query a database for selecting all the houses of more than 1,500 square feet.


Many-to-one relate

A relate in which many records in one table are related to a single record in another table.


Map extent

1. The rectangular limits (xmin, ymin, xmax, ymax) of the area of the Earth's surface you want to display using ArcView. Map extent is specified in the coordinate system of the feature data source and other geographic data sets being used. Typically, the extent of the geographic database defines the map extent for display.

 2. The geographic extent of a geographic data set specified by the minimum bounding rectangle (i.e., xmin,ymin and xmax,ymax).


Map scale

The reduction needed to display a representation of the Earth's surface on a map. A statement of a measure on the map and the equivalent measure on the Earth's surface, often expressed as a representative fraction of distance, such as 1:24,000 (one unit of distance on the map represents 24,000 of the same units of distance on the Earth). Map scale can also be expressed as a statement of equivalence using different units; for example, 1 inch = 1 mile or 1 inch = 2,000 feet.


Map unit

The coordinate units in which a feature data source is stored. Map units can be feet, meters, or decimal degrees.


Method

A procedure that an object contains that is made available to other objects for the purpose of requesting services of that object. Most communication in Avenue between objects occurs through requests.


MrSID Image Support extension (description)
MrSID Image Support extension

This ArcView extension provides support for MrSID images. With this extension you can add MrSID files to views as image themes.

To load the MrSID Image Support extension, make the ArcView Project window active and then choose Extensions from the File menu.

The MrSID Image Support extension is only available on Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 and higher,  Windows 95 and higher, and SUN Solaris 2.x.


Network Analyst extension (description)
Network Analyst extension

This ArcView extension enables you to solve problems to do with street, highway, and other geographic networks, such as finding the most efficient travel route, generating travel directions, finding the closest facility, finding service areas based on travel time, etc.

To load the Network Analyst extension, make the ArcView Project window active and then choose Extensions from the File menu.


Null Symbol

The symbol used to display features that are not included in any of the classification ranges or are explicitly defined as No Data


Object

The basic unit of organization in Avenue. An object contains a collection of related data elements and procedures, called requests, for operating on these elements.


One-to-many relate

A relate in which one record in a table is related to many records in another table.


Palette

A collection of symbols or colors stored in a file that you can load or create.


Pan

To move the viewing window up, down, or sideways to display areas in a geographic data set which, at the current viewing scale, lie outside the viewing window.


Parameter

An object that is required by a request for proper completion of that request. A request may include up to five parameters. Another name for parameters is 'arguments'.


Pixel

Short for picture element. The smallest resolvable element in an image. A pixel has both a spatial location and a value component.


Place name alias

It is an alternative name for an address or a street intersection. For example, General Hospital can be an alias for "411 Gaylord Street", and School Crossing is an alias for the intersection of "Post Ave & E Dayton St".


Polyline

Any line defined by three or more points. Line features in themes such as boundaries, roads, streams and streets are usually polylines.


Popup menu

Popup menus are accessed by holding down the right mouse button (on the Macintosh hold down the OPTION key and the mouse button) inside a view or layout.


Project components

Views, tables, charts, layouts and script editors.


Property

A named attribute of a class that describes a data value held by every object of the class.


Raster data

Raster data records spatial information in a regular grid or matrix organized as a set of rows and columns. Each cell within this grid contains a number representing a particular geographic feature, such as soil type, elevation, land use, slope, etc.

Raster data is commonly, but not exclusively, used to store information about geographic features that vary continuously over a surface, such as elevation, reflectance, groundwater depths, etc. ARC/INFO grids are raster data. Image data is a form of raster data in which each cell or pixel stores a value recorded by an optical or electronic device.

Raster data is highly dependent on the resolution of the regular grid in which it is recorded. The size of the cells in the grid is fixed, so as you zoom in on raster data displayed on a view, you will eventually see the shape of the cells.


Real-world coordinates

An x,y coordinate system used to represent geographic locations.


Receiver

The object to which a request is sent. Another object passes a request to the receiver object, which processes the request and passes back a return value.


Record

1. In an attribute table, a single `row' of thematic descriptors. In SQL terms, a record is analogous to a tuple.

 2. A logical unit of data in a file. For example, there is one record in the feature table for each feature in a theme.


Rectification

The process by which an image or grid is converted from image coordinates to real-world coordinates. Rectification typically involves rotation and scaling of grid cells, and thus requires resampling of values.


Reference Latitude

The latitude of the projection’s origin. Used for conic projections where two standard parallels are assigned.


Request

A signal from one object to another that requests the receiving object to carry out one of its methods. A request consists of three parts: the name of the receiver object, the method it is to carry out, and any parameters the method requires to carry out the request.


Route system

A collection of routes representing separate instances of a common linear entity, for example, all school bus routes in a city. A single line coverage can contain many route-systems, differentiated by name. For example, a road coverage can contain a bus route-system, a highway route-system, and a pizza delivery route-system.


Row

1. A record in an attribute table. The horizontal dimension of a table composed of a set of columns containing one data item each.

2. A horizontal group of cells in a grid, or pixels in an image.


Scale

The reduction needed to display a representation of the Earth's surface on a map. A statement of a measure on the map and the equivalent measure on the Earth's surface, often expressed as a representative fraction of distance, such as 1:24,000 (one unit of distance on the map represents 24,000 of the same units of distance on the Earth). Scale can also be expressed as a statement of equivalence using different units; for example, 1 inch = 1 mile or 1 inch = 2,000 feet.


Scale factor

The degree of reduction or enlargement necessary to fit a curved Earth onto a flat projection surface. Used most commonly with cylindrical projections to redistribute the scale error over a wider area.


Selected bounds

The smallest rectangle enclosing all of the currently selected graphics.


Selection handles

Selection handles are small black squares that appear around a graphic whenever it is selected in a view or layout. You can use these handles to resize the graphic. This is also true for shapefile features in a view.


Single Symbol

All the features in the theme are displayed using exactly the same symbol and color. This is useful when you only need to show where a theme’s features are located.


Snapping

The process of moving a feature to coincide exactly with coordinates of another feature within a specified snapping distance, or tolerance.


Soundex

A phonetic spelling of a street name, used for address matching. In many applications such as airline reservation, address matching, and census record linkage systems, names are easily misspelled due to poor hand writing or voice transmission. Where possible, geocoding uses a soundex code of street names to bring together all variants of the same string. During geocoding, initial candidate street names are found using soundex, then real names are compared and verified.

The procedure of encoding a string based on the soundex method (developed by Margaret K. Odell and Robert C. Russell) is described as follows:

1. Retain the first letter of the string, and drop all occurrences of a, e, h, i, o, u, w, y in other positions.

2. Assign the following numbers to the remaining letters after the first:

b, f, p, v	-->	1

c, g, j, k, q, s, x, z	-->	2

d, t	-->	3

l	-->	4

m, n	-->	5

r	-->	6

3. Ignores the spaces if the string contains multiple words.

4. If two or more letters with the same code were adjacent in the original string (before step 1), omit all but the first.

5. Convert to the form "letter, digit, digit, digit" by adding trailing zeros if there are less than three digits, or by dropping the rightmost digits if there are more than three.

6. For any character that cannot be mapped, ArcView either retains the character or skips to the next character for generating the Soundex code.

Using this Soundex method, Crifton, Fern, Lincoln, Dayton, and Lakeside will be coded C613, F650, L524, D350 and L223 respectively.


Spatial Analyst extension (description)
Spatial Analyst extension

This ArcView extension provides tools to create, query, analyze and map cell-based raster data and to perform integrated vector-raster analysis using feature-based and grid-based themes.

To load the Spatial Analyst extension, make the ArcView Project window active and then choose Extensions from the File menu.


Spatial indexing

A means of accelerating coverage drawing, spatial selection, and feature identification by generating feature-based indexes.


SQL

Structured Query Language. A syntax for defining and manipulating data from a relational database. Developed by IBM in the 1970s, it has become an industry standard for query languages in most relational database management systems.


Standard  Parallel

The line of latitude which defines the origin of the y-coordinate origin for the projection. For conic projections, two lines of latitude along which the cone contacts the earth.


Status bar

The horizontal area at the bottom (top on the Macintosh) of the ArcView window that shows you:

 - The progress of operations like opening, saving and searching.

 - Short descriptions of menu items when you select them.

 - Short descriptions of buttons when you place the cursor over them.

 - The results of measurements you make on a view with the Measure tool.

 - The dimensions of shapes you draw with the Draw tool.

 - The dimensions of the selection box you define when selecting features on a view inside a specific area with the Select Features tool.


TIFF 6.0 Image Support extension (description)
TIFF 6.0 Image Support extension

This ArcView extension provides support for TIFF 6.0 images. With this extension you can add .tif files to views as themes and place them on layouts in picture frames.

To load the TIFF 6.0 Image Support extension, make the ArcView Project window active and then choose Extensions from the File menu.


Title bar

The bar that appears at the top of every window in ArcView, displaying the window's name.


Topic

Information in the Help window. A Help topic usually begins with a title and contains information about a particular task, request, or dialog box.


Topology

The spatial relationships between connecting or adjacent features (e.g., arcs, nodes, polygons, and points). For example, the topology of an arc includes its from- and to-nodes, and its left and right polygons. Topological relationships are built from simple elements into complex elements: points (simplest elements), arcs (sets of connected points), areas (sets of connected arcs), and routes (sets of sections, which are arcs or portions of arcs). Redundant data (coordinates) are eliminated because an arc may represent a linear feature, part of the boundary of an area feature, or both. Topology is useful in GIS because many spatial modeling operations don't require coordinates, only topological information. For example, to find an optimal path between two points requires a list of the arcs that connect to each other and the cost to traverse each arc in each direction. Coordinates are only needed for drawing the path after it is calculated.


Unique Value

All the theme’s features are represented such that each unique value of a data attribute you specify has a unique symbol. This is an appropriate method for displaying categorical data.


Vector data

Vector data records spatial information as x,y coordinates in a rectangular (planar) coordinate system. Point features are recorded as single x,y locations. Line features, including the outlines of polygons, are recorded as an ordered series of x, y coordinates.

Vector data is very well suited to recording the location of discrete geographic features with precise locations like streets, parcel boundaries, streams, telephone poles, etc. ARC/INFO coverages are vector data. Drawing files used in computer-aided drafting (CAD) programs are also usually vector data, although these files are typically stored in units such as inches rather than geographic coordinate systems required for spatial data.

Vector data can accurately record the actual ground location of features. However, vector data is highly dependent on the number of x,y coordinate points that are chosen to represent features, especially natural features like streams and coastlines. As you zoom in on vector data representing such features, you will eventually see the individual straight line segments that make up the vector representation.


Vertex handles

Vertex handles are small hollow squares that appear at each vertex of a polygon or line whenever it is selected with the Vertex Edit tool [image] . You can use these handles to edit the location of the graphic's vertices or delete the vertices. This is also true for features in a view when they are being edited.


Virtual table

A logical table whose data are not physically stored. ArcView manipulates information from a tabular data file in a virtual table.


Warping transformation

Inverse of the image-to-world transformation. A transformation that aligns map coordinates to image locations.


Work directory

A directory that you want an application to use as a default location where it will look for data files or save files. ArcView writes files for the current project in the work directory by default.


World file

For images

An ASCII file generated by the registration processes that contains the six parameters needed to perform an affine transformation to align an image to a coverage.

For CAD drawings

An ASCII file containing one or two pairs of X,Y coordinates needed to perform a one- or two-point transformation to shift  the CAD drawing coordinates into geographic space.


Zoom

To enlarge and display greater detail of a portion of a geographic data set.


Application integration

In many situations, ArcView provides only a piece of a larger solution strategy. Other applications such as Excel, Access, Lotus, etc. or programs you've written with Visual Basic, C or C++ may also provide key components to your application. How do you make ArcView work with these other pieces to make one product?

ArcView offers several different methods of interacting with other applications. On all platforms, you can use Remote Procedure Call (RPC) to establish Client/Server relationships with other applications. On Windows, you can use Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) for Client/Server relationships. Or also on Windows, you can use Avenue's Dynamic Link Library (DLL) functionality to call external functions from Avenue. This same functionality is also available on UNIX for shared libraries. The most appropriate method will depend on the tasks that you need to perform and the level at which you need to integrate the applications.

System Level Commands

Use System.Execute(aCommandString) to send any command string to the operating system. Any command that you can execute by typing directly at the operating system prompt (e.g., UNIX or DOS prompt) can be used. For example, you can start Excel and open a worksheet by typing something similar to the following at the DOS prompt:

   c:\excel\excel.exe  c:\data\sheet1.xls

You can perform the same task directly from ArcView by using the following script:

   System.Execute("c:excel\excel.exe  c:\data\sheet1.xls")

Use System.ExecuteSynchronous(aCommandString) on Windows platforms if you want the command to execute in a synchronous manner. This request will wait for the system command to complete before continuing the execution of the Avenue script. On Unix platforms, System.Execute behaves in a synchronous manner by default.

System.Execute and System.ExecuteSynchronous do not provide true application interaction. These requests simply send the string to the operating system for execution. System.Execute and System.ExecuteSynchronous can be used effectively in hotlink scripts, to start other applications, and other cases where true inter-application communication is not necessary.

Inter-Application Communication (IAC)

Inter-application communication, or IAC, generically refers to the ability to have two or more applications communicate. IAC depends upon platform-specific protocols. Applications which 'understand' these protocols can make requests of other applications, or send information back and forth. With IAC, a collection of independent applications can interact to form an integrated application environment.

Remote Procedure Calls, or RPC, is the IAC protocol most commonly found on UNIX platforms. ArcView supports RPC on both platforms: UNIX and Windows. For example, through RPC, you can connect ArcView running on a Windows platform with ARC/INFO running on a UNIX workstation.

Dynamic Data Exchange, or DDE, is the IAC protocol most frequently supported in Windows. ArcView supports DDE only on Windows. For example, through DDE, you can share data between ArcView and Excel.

IAC is based upon a client/server relationship between applications. The application initiating the request or conversation is the Client, the application which fulfills the request is the Server. ArcView can be a client of many other server applications. ArcView also can be a server to many different client applications. In some cases ArcView may be both a client and a server at the same time.

See the class documentation for RPCServer, RPCClient, DDEServer, and DDEClient for further information.

Dynamic-Link Libraries

A dynamic-link library, or DLL, is an executable module that contains functions that other applications can use in order to perform tasks. DLLs are linked to an application at run-time, not at compile time as occurs with static libraries.

DLLs can be purchased from various vendors, or may be included as part of an application. You can also create and compile your own DLLs for specific purposes using C and other language compilers. Functions found in a DLL may be called directly from Avenue. These functions can in turn call other functions which may perform various tasks. Information can be passed back and forth as parameters, or returned as the result of a function call.

DLLs can be used to extend the basic functionality of Avenue, or can be used to integrate one or more applications with ArcView. Application integration through DLLs occurs at a lower-level than IAC communications, and therefore may be more desirable in some cases.


ArcView Client

ArcView’s RPCClient class provides the following requests. Use these requests to create a new client object, request service from the associated server, check on the status, and alter the timeout period.

aClient = RPCClient.Make creates a new client object connected to a specified server.

aClient.Execute issues a request to the server associated with aClient.

aClient.HasError, returns TRUE when an error has occurred on aClient.

aClient.GetErrorMsg returns the last error message.

aClient.GetTimeout returns the timeout period.

aClient.SetTimeout alters the timeout period.

aClient.Close disconnects the client from the server.

Create the ArcView Client

This script creates an ArcView RPCClient attached to the ARC/INFO server created in the previous topic. You must know that the server runs on the host wrigley and is defined with the server identification number 0x40000000 and version number 1.

myClient = RPCClient.Make("wrigley",0x40000000, 1)
' Check for error conditions
if (myClient.HasError) then
  msgbox.Error( myClient.GetErrorMsg, "")
  exit
end

Because ARC/INFO selects the next available server identification number instead of using a specified value, you must check the connect file for the server identification number. See the script library for a sample script that reads an ARC/INFO connect file and creates the client object from that connect file.

Request service

After creating the client establishing the connection to the ARC/INFO server, you can request services. Request a service from the ARC/INFO server with procedure id 1 and specify the operation as ARC/INFO commands and AML statements. To return a value or values from the operation, indicate those values with the &iacreturn directive. In this simple example, ARC/INFO is requested to add two numbers and return the result. In more realistic examples, ARC/INFO would be called to clean or build coverages, do union or intersection operations on two coverages, convert a shapefile to coverage, perform sophisticated plotting operations, etc.

JobId = myClient.Execute(1,"&sv s [calc 5 + 2]; &iacreturn %s%", string)
' Check for error
if (myClient.HasError) then
  msgbox.Error( myClient.GetErrorMsg, "")
  exit
end

Client checks status

After requesting a service and receiving a JobId, the client checks the status of the requested task by querying the server with procedure id 2. Procedure id 2 takes the JobId as the operation and the server returns the current status of the task identified by the JobId. The status includes one of the following keywords: QUEUE, PROCESSING, RESULT or DONE.  When the status is RESULT, ARC/INFO returns with it the values specified by iacreturn.

If the status is not RESULT, this script calls av.DelayedRun to run a script that checks the results again in 15 seconds.

result = myClient.Execute(2, JobId, string)
if (result.Contains("RESULT")) then
  msgbox.info( result, "") 'do something
else  ' not done - try again later...
  av.DelayedRun( "CheckResults", {myClient, JobId}, 15)
end

Poll for completion

This script, named “CheckResults”, is called with a list containing the RPCClient object and the JobId (a string containing a numeric value) as the self object or “argument list”. “CheckResults” checks the status of the operation identified by JobId and, if it is complete, it processes the results. If it is NOT complete, it queues the script to execute again in another 15 seconds.

' Get the client and job id passed into script
myClient = self.Get(0)
JobId = self.Get(1)
' Check status of JobId
result = myClient.Execute( 2, JobId, string)
if (result.Contains("RESULT")) then
  msgbox.info( result, "") ' do something with the result
elseif (result.Contains("DONE")) then
  msgbox.info( "Already DONE", "") ' already done
else
  ' not done, so check again in 15 seconds
  av.DelayedRun( "CheckResults", {myClient, JobId}, 15)
end


ArcView startup

ArcView's startup process provides developers several opportunities to customize the application. In the startup process, ArcView executes the application startup script, then it loads system and user default projects which define the default user interface, and finally, ArcView executes the script appl.initialize which handles the command line and opens the first project.

ArcView executes the application startup script.

This script resides in file startup in the installation's etc directory. The default version defines the $HOME environment variable (if needed), displays the ArcView banner and starts the DDEServer (on Windows only).

Developers may customize this script. Perhaps you want to define other environment variables, perhaps you want to display a different banner, perhaps you want to create subdirectories or files, or start other applications etc. The startup script is a good place to set-up conditions outside the application.

Each time you install ArcView, you must restore your customizations to startup. Also, if there are any compile time errors in the script, it just doesn't run; be sure to test.

ArcView loads the system default project.

After it runs the startup script, ArcView loads the system default project from the etc subdirectory of the ArcView installation directory in a file called default.apr. The system default project contains all the scripts and document user interfaces that define out-of-the-box ArcView. From the application, you can access the system default project with the request GetSysDefault and you can explore further into that project object using project requests. You create a system default file with the Project request MakeSysDefault that writes all the scripts and user interfaces in the current project to the named file. To prevent the script that makes the default file from becoming part of the default file, name the prefix its name with a period such as ".SaveScript".

In the example below, the Remove request removes the script named Project.New from the project object returned by GetSysDefault. The Remove request does not eliminate the script from the system default.apr file, but just from the object. The MakeSysDefault request creates a system default project called new.apr; new.apr has no script called Project.New.

av.GetSysDefault.GetScripts.Remove( "Project.New" )
av.GetProject.MakeSysDefault( "new.apr".AsFileName, FALSE)

Remember that when you install a new version of ArcView, you must reinstall your customizations to the system default.apr file.

ArcView loads the user default project - if it exists.

Next, ArcView loads the user default project. If the user default project exists, it must be located in your home directory in a file called default.apr, but the user default project is optional. You can access this user default project from the application object with the request GetUserDefault. You can create a user default file with the MakeDefault button on the Customize dialog or with the Project request MakeUserDefault. When you make a user default project, the new user default contains only those scripts and document user interfaces defined in the current project or existing user default project. If you have scripts or DocGUIs in both the user default and the current project with the same name, the elements in the current project override those in the user default and are written to the new user default file. You can eliminate the user default project from your current environment by clicking the Reset button in the Customize dialog or with the ResetGUIs request. The user default file provides a mechanism for individual users to customize their ArcView interface.

You can deliver your customizations through the user default file, but you must remember that $HOME/default.apr is easily (and accidently) altered by the user with the customize dialogl. You may want to copy your customizations from a "less volatile" file to $HOME/default.apr in your application startup script.

ArcView executes the script appl.initialize.

After ArcView reads the system and user default file, but before it opens any project, ArcView executes the script appl.initialize. appl.initialize must be defined in either the system or user default projects because that is all that is available at that time. The text on the ArcView command line get passed as a list of strings to appl.initialize. The default version of appl.initialize opens the project file named on the command line or creates a new project. You can customize this script.

Here is the default version.

argList = self
if (argList.Count = 0) then
  new = Project.Make
  new.GetWin.Open
  new.SetModified(false)
else
  fName = argList.Get(0).AsFileName
  old =Project.Open(fName)
  if (old = nil) then

    MsgBox.Warning("The project"++fName.GetBaseName++
                "could not be opened", "")
  else
    old.GetWin.Open
    old.SetModified(false)
  end
end
av.Run("Codepage.Install",nil)

appl.initialize gets any additional text you typed when you started ArcView as its self object. It checks that text and if it names a project file, ArcView opens it. If no project file was named on the command line, then it creates a new project.

If you do customize this script, it must be in the user or system default project - those are the only scripts loaded at this point in the startup process. With appl.initialize, you can do many interesting and useful things.

Create your own command line. You can define your own command line

and implement it through appl.initialize.

Identify data locations. You can prompt the user for data locations and then create an environment variable BEFORE opening some project file. Or you can MAKE edits to a particular project file specifying the data locations and then open it.

Start ArcView at the application GUI. You may want to start at the application DocGUI instead of a new project. You could list "available" projects in the application DocGUI under FILE and let the user pick from there.

Perform initialization. You could load DLLs, define global variables, etc. before creating or opening a project.

Load other customization files. You could load other customization files containing scripts and DocGUIs. These scripts and GUIs could be added to the memory versions of the user or system default projects.


ArcView's class descriptions

Each class description explains how to work with that class. It includes an overview of the purpose and functionality of the class and examples of its use. Where appropriate, you'll see a subheading that describes attributes of the class.

Some class descriptions include a jump to examples or discussion. Jump to the example topic for an example of how to use this class. Jump to the discussion topic for additional information, background information, or more details.

Each class description includes the following subheadings:

Inherits From    names the superclass to the class. You can jump to the parent class to see any inherited requests. Click on the class name to jump to its description.

Inherited By     names the subclasses of this class. The word NONE appears if no classes inherit this class. Click on a class name to jump to its description.

Enumerations     names any enumerations defined in the class. Note that many classes do not define an enumeration. Click on an enumeration name to go to its description. The enumeration description explains the purpose of the enumeration and lists the values in the enumerated type along with their meaning.

Class Requests    lists the requests you can make to the class. Click on a request name to jump to the request definition.

Instance Requests    lists the requests the Avenue programmer can make to an instance of this class and, where appropriate, the class of the object returned by the request. Click on a request name to jump to the request definition.

See also    lists any related classes. Click on a class name to jump to its class description.


ArcView's request definitions

Each request definition describes what the request does, how it works, and how it relates to other requests. The request description details the action and the significance of the request. It clearly defines the role and content of each argument and explains the significance of the return object. If a request requires other actions for initialization, the definition references these setups. A brief code example may be included.

Abstract base classes often define requests that are actually implemented by individual subclasses. The superclass defines these requests to ensure a common protocol, but the subclasses actually implement the request. The keyword ABSTRACT ends the request description in these cases.

Some request descriptions include a jump to examples or discussion. Jump to the example topic for an example of how to use this request. Jump to the discussion topic for additional information, background information, or more details.

Request definitions include two subheadings:

Syntax illustrates a sample Avenue request. The arguments' names indicate their role in the request. Click on the argument name to jump to the class description of the argument type.

Returns names the class of object returned by the request. Some requests return NIL. If the request returns NIL, this section is omitted. Click on the class name to see its description.


ARC/INFO Server

How to make ARC/INFO an RPC server

Make ARC/INFO an RPC server with the the iacopen function. iacopen creates an RPCServer using the next available server identification number on that host and writes the server’s hostname, server identification number and version number to the file (called the connect file) specified in the function call. In this example, the connect file is named "cf". ARC/INFO echoes the the server’s hostname, server identification number and version number and returns a status number. The status 0 indicates success.

ARC/INFO assumes the server identification number is hexadecimal; so the number 40000000 below is actually 0x40000000.

Arc: &ty [iacopen cf]

Host: wrigley Program no: 40000000 Version no: 1

0

ARC/INFO queues client requests

Because many ARC/INFO operations often require substantial time to complete, ARC/INFO queues client requests freeing the client for other operations while those requests are processed. A client requests an ARC/INFO task with procedure id 1 passing the server ARC/INFO commands and AML statements. The ARC/INFO server queues the request and returns a JobId identifying that task to the client.

After the server responds with the Job Id, the client is free to do other things. The client checks on the status of the outstanding request by sending another request with procedure id 2 giving ARC/INFO the Job Id. ARC/INFO responds to procedure id 2 returning one of the following states:

QUEUE <processing %job id%> - returns the job id now being processed

PROCESSING - indicates that your job is now active

RESULT <anything in iacreturn> - indicates that your job is complete

DONE - indicates this job is complete and already returned the result string

Returning results to the client

The client requests the ARC/INFO server return additional pieces of data with the &iacreturn statement. You can specify one or more variables or values in the &iacreturn statement. This statement may be in the code passed to the server or in an AML the client requests the server to execute. If you do not include an &iacreturn statement in your command line or called aml, no additional values are returned from the server.

For more information...

For more information on the ARC/INFO server, see the ARC/INFO online help system. This brief summary only touches on the functionality provided by the ARC/INFO server.


Assignment Statement

The assignment statement causes a variable to reference the associated object. The variable is created when it appears on the left-hand side of the assignment operator. The right-hand side of the assignment operator identifies the object to reference.

Syntax

variable = Object

Discussion

A variable name begins with a letter or an underscore, contains letters and digits ([a-zA-Z][0-9a-zA-Z]*), and is case insensitive. If the variable name begins with an underscore, the variable is a global variable. The scope of a global variable extends to all scripts of the project, whereas a local variable's scope is confined to within the script of its assignment.

Variable names must be unique; if a variable name conflicts with a class name or a reserved word, the Avenue compiler issues error messages.

Variables are created when they appear on the left-hand side of the assignment operator "=", but the exception to this rule is the loop variable associated with the For Each statement.

theView = av.GetActiveDoc

Example

The variable may be used in subsequent Avenue statements for the assigned object.

theView = av.GetProject.FindDoc( "View1" )
if (theView <> nil) then
  theView.SetName( "States")
end

Note: the assignment operator '=' also serves as the comparison operator in Boolean expressions.


av

av is a special reserved word that represents the ArcView application object. When you start up ArcView, you create the application object and it remains until you exit ArcView. When you write scripts, av is very often your starting point. For example, av.GetProject returns the current project or av.GetActiveDoc returns the active document. You can minimize or maximize the application window with the requests av.Minimize or av.Maximize.

The name av was selected because it indicates ArcView, but it is easier to type than either ArcView or application.


Boolean expressions

There are two instances of class Boolean, one with the value 'true' and the other with the value 'false'. These objects can be referenced directly through the use of the keywords 'true' or 'false' or indirectly through a Boolean expression. A Boolean expression is any sequence of requests that produces a Boolean result, either the 'true' object or the 'false' object.

You use Boolean expressions in the conditional statements  If (expression) Then . . . Else . . . and While expression . . . End.

The Boolean class provides requests that allow you to create complex Boolean expressions: and, or, xor and not.

and provides a means of performing logical conjunction on two expressions. If and only if, both expressions are true, is the result of the conjunction true.

A AND B = 	Result

T	T	T

T	F	F

F	T	F

F	F	F

or provides a means of performing logical disjunction on two expressions. If either one or the other of two expressions evaluates to true, the result is true.

A  OR   B = 	Result

T	T	T

T	F	T

F	T	T

F	F	F

xor provides a means of performing the exclusive OR operation on two expressions. If one and only one of the two expressions evaluates to true, the result is true.

A XOR  B = 	Result

T	T	F

T	F	T

F	T	T

F	F	F

not provides a means of performing logical negation on an expression.

Remember that all Avenue requests are evaluated from left to right. Use parenthesis to force an appropriate order of evaluation. For example, you must provide parenthesis around the expression x < 5 otherwise.

result = (x > 0) AND (x < 5)

Avenue supports "short circuit" evaluation of Boolean expressions. Once the truth or falsity of a Boolean expression is known, additional operands in that expression will not be evaluated. For example, in the following 'if' test, the second condition never needs to be evaluated.

theView = av.GetActiveDoc
if (true or (0 < theView.GetActiveThemes.Count)) then
  msgbox.info("Condition met","ArcView")
end

This "short-circuiting" evaluation can simplify and increase the speed of Avenue code. For example, expressed in pseudocode here, you can write

if ( (quick test) and (long, time-consuming test) ) then
  do something
end

rather than

if (quick test) then
  if (long, time-consuming test) then
    'do something
  end
end

For more information, consult the ArcView Class Hierarchy Boolean and Interval classes.


Break Statement

The Break statement terminates the execution of the nearest enclosing For Each or While statement.

Syntax

break

The Break statement is valid only inside a For Each or a While loop.

Example

In this example, when the counter reaches 5, the break statement causes execution to break out of the loop. The next statement executed after the break is the statement after the for loop, in this case the MsgBox request that prints "Complete". Because the for loop executes only until the loop variable gets the value 5, a message displays for only the first four values.

for each num in 1..10
  if (num = 5) then
    break
  end
  msgbox.info("Num is"++num.asString,"ArcView Example")
end
msgbox.info( "Complete", "")

Use the Break statement to exit from a loop. It is useful for error or exception handling.


Building context-sensitive help in ArcView

Your ArcView application can display context-sensitive help from a Help file. When you click on a menu option, button, or tool with the Help Button or press the F1 key when a dialog box is open, Help will display the appropriate topic. To incorporate this capability into your Help file and ArcView project file (.apr) involves two steps.

1	Create a help file with topics for each of your new controls.

2	Associate a topic name with a control in the ArcView project (.apr).

In the Customize dialog box enter the name of the topic to associate with the control as the control's HelpTopic Property. Note that you can specify the name of the help file that includes the topic using the syntax <aTopicName>@<aHelpFileName>, for example:

Special Tool@\myapp\files\myhelp.hlp

The name of the topic is given as its topic id (# footnote).

See also

Help Topic Property

Building your own help file


Building your own help file

You can provide a custom on-line help system for your ArcView application by creating a standard WinHelp-compatible file. This facility provides a way to document your projects, provide additional help for users, or document a custom application. You can even prepare your WinHelp file to run an Avenue script.and build context-sensitive help into your ArcView for Windows application.

There are a variety of commercial products available that prepare hypertext documents that can be used with the WinHelp engine. Winhelp is distributed with every copy of Microsoft Windows. For additional documentation on creating on-line documentation for the Microsoft Windows operating system, consult the Microsoft Windows95 Help Authoring Kit, available from Microsoft Press.

To create a Help system

1	Get the information that you want to include.

2	Plan the system by creating an outline and a list of topics.

3	Write and edit the text in rich text format (rtf) for the topics following the standard Microsoft Winhelp requirements.

4	Specify context-sensitive help keyword in the help file, if you want.

5	Specify the Avenue scripts you want to include in the help file.

6	Compile, test, and debug the help system.

To create custom help on UNIX, you'll need the HyperHelp compiler from Bristol Technology Inc., phone (203) 798-1007, http://www.bristol.com.

The help file can be displayed in the ArcView application or in Windows using the winhelp.exe program available in Microsoft Windows.


Calling a script from another script

Avenue does not support procedures and functions, but it does allow you to call scripts from other scripts and even pass "arguments." There are three basic methods: av.run, av.DelayedRun and aScript.DoIt.

av.run

The application request Run allows you to execute another script from within a script. Run takes two arguments; the first is the name of the script to execute and the second is the argument to this script.

The Run request searches for the named script in the project's embedded scripts and Script Editors, then the user default scripts, then any loaded extensions and finally the system default scripts. If it does not find the script, you get the error message "The script "<NAME>" could not be found" and returns the NIL object.

  results = av.run( "myScript", { "Rebecca", "Mustang", 96 } )

The called script accesses the argument through the keyword SELF. If you wish to pass multiple objects in the argument, make the argument a list or other collection object. The called script must include code to interpret the contents of the SELF object, for example, the script named myScript called in the example above must include lines to parse the argument:

if (self.Is(List).Not) then
  return nil
elseif (self.count < 3) then
  return nil
else
  name = self.Get( 0 )
  car = self.Get( 1 )
  year = self.Get( 2 )
end
return name++"drives a"++year.AsString++car+"."

The called script returns a value to the calling script using the RETURN statement (but if you do not have a RETURN statement, the script returns the last object created). The value returned by the called script becomes the result of the Run request.

av.DelayedRun

av.DelayedRun is like av.run except actual execution of the called script occurs after a specified interval. The interval is in seconds. Use av.DelayedRun to implement periodic functionality or a timer. DelayedRun does not return a value.

  av.delayedRun( "ScriptName", anObject, 5 )

Here is an example of using DelayedRun to reset itself. This script must have the name "annoy."

  ' Name this script "annoy"

  status = MsgBox.YesNo( "Is this annoying?", "ANNOY", FALSE )

  if (NOT status) then

    av.DelayedRun( "annoy", "", 10 )

  end

This script polls for the existence of a particular file. This technique can be used to synchronize with applications that do not support inter-application communication.

  ' Name this script "Waiting"

  found = File.Exists("c:\avtest1.dat".AsFileName)

  if (found) then

    msgbox.info( "the file is there", "")

    av.run( "doSomething", "" )

  else

    av.DelayedRun("Waiting", nil, 5 )

  end

aScript.DoIt

The third method to call a script from another script uses the script request DoIt. DoIt executes the target script and takes a single argument which becomes the argument (or SELF object) to the script on execution. DoIt returns the object specified in the target script's return statement.

DoIt is handy because it allows you to create and run scripts dynamically. For example, you could ask the user for her name and then create and execute a little script to greet her.

  name = MsgBox.Input( "What is your name?", "Name", "" )

  if (name <> nil) then

    myScript = SCRIPT.MAKE( "msgbox.info( ""Hello"++name+"!"",

                                          ""GREETINGS"") ")

    if (myScript.HasError.Not) then

      myScript.DoIt("")

    end

  end

The application startup script also employs this technique. Because the DDEServer class exists only on Windows, the request DDEServer.Start gives compile errors on UNIX platforms. With aScript.DoIt, startup compiles and executes based upon the current system.

  if (system.GetOS = #SYSTEM_OS_MSW) then

    Script.Make( "DDEServer.Start" ).DoIt( NIL )

  end

Here is a little script that checks for the existence of a global variable and makes one if it has not yet been created. If the global variable does not exist, then the script object created will have an error.

test = Script.Make("x = _myGlobal")
if (test.HasError) then
  _myGlobal = nil
end

Exit vs. Return

The return statement ends the current script and returns control to the calling script. The return statement is used to return control to a calling script and to pass back the result. The value specified in the return statement becomes the result of the calling run or doit request. If there is no particular result to return, return the nil object.

The exit statement ends execution of all scripts restoring control to the main event loop. Use exit to escape from an unrecoverable error. The exit statement should never be used in scripts called from Appl.Initialize, project startup or any event triggered by a Popup.

Recursion

Avenue is not recursive. If you attempt to execute a script recursively, you will get the following error message:  "Script %s  is already in the process of being executed."


Comment

Adds a comment character to the left of selected text in a script.

As part of writing a script you may want to add comments to document your code or you may want to comment out lines in order to skip over them during the debugging or run phases of your work.

To comment out lines of a script

1	Select all the lines or parts of lines you want to comment out.

2	In the Edit menu choose Comment.

ArcView inserts a comment character to the left of your selection.

Note  If you've selected text in the middle of a line, ArcView adds the comment character one position to the left of the start of the selection. If your selection continues onto other lines, ArcView adds the comment character at the leftmost position of those lines.

You can uncomment these lines with the Remove Comment command.


Comments

Comments in scripts document how your code works or provide a means to include any other text with your code. When you compile a script, ArcView ignores any comments in the script. ArcView also ignores blank lines in scripts. You can use blank lines to make your scripts easier to read.

ArcView considers any text on the line to the right of a single quotation mark (apostrophe) to be a comment. You can place a comment on a line by itself or you can place a comment on the same line as code, provided it comes after the code you want to execute. Here are two examples of comments in scripts:

' get the window of the project
pw = av.getproject.getwin
pw.moveto(-500,-500)  ' moves the project window out of sight


Compiling a script

Before you can run an ArcView script, you must first compile it. Compiling a script converts it from a form that people can understand, the text that you type in the script window, to a form, known as a compiled script, that can be readily processed by ArcView. During the compilation process, ArcView checks the script to make sure that its syntax, the arrangement of words in each statement, is correct. It also checks to make sure that the words in each statement are among those understood by ArcView.

To compile the script

 Click the Compile button.

Compiling a script lets you check the script for errors. If you got an error message when you compiled the script, check to make sure that you typed the script exactly as you meant to. If not, make any corrections that are needed and then press the Compile button again.

After you compile the script, you'll notice that the Step and Run menu items and buttons become active. At this point you can debug or run your script.


Continue Statement

The Continue statement causes control to skip to the next iteration of the loop in which it occurs bypassing any remaining statements in the loop.

Syntax

continue

Example

In this example, the script examines every field of every theme in the view, making every non-numeric field invisible. The script uses the Continue statement to move to the next field in the list of fields if the current field is numeric, thereby skipping the SetVisible request.

theView = av.GetActiveDoc
for each t in theView.GetThemes
  for each f in t.GetFtab.GetFields
    if (f.IsTypeNumber) then
      continue
    end
    f.SetVisible(true)
  end
t.GetFtab.Refresh
end

Use Continue to skip processing of certain elements in a collection that you are iterating through.


Creating a script

When you create a script, you create a project component that you can associate with a either a control, such as a menu item or a button, or with an event, such as starting up a project. You can also create a script that another script can run. The scripts you create will appear in the list of scripts in the Project window and they will also appear in the list of scripts the Script Manager displays.

There are two ways to create a new script in ArcView. You can either select Scripts in the Project window and hit the New button or you can create a new script to associate with a control in the Customize dialog box.

To create a script in the Project window

1	Make the Project window the active window.

2	Select Scripts in the list of components.

3	Click New. ArcView creates and opens a new script.

To create a script in the Customize dialog box

1	Make the Project window the active window.

2	From the Project menu, choose Customize.

3	Create a new control or select an existing control.

4	Double-click the Apply, Click, or Update property in the list of properties for the control. ArcView displays the Script Manager.

5   Click New to create a new script. ArcView displays a dialog box to name the script and then displays the new script.

Note If you click Make Default in the Customize dialog box, ArcView will make the scripts in your project available to all your projects.


Customizing ArcView

You can customize ArcView's menus, button bars, tool bars and popup menus so they contain the controls you use most often and remove those that you don't need. In addition, you can add scripts that you regularly use. These scripts can be associated with controls or events like opening or closing a document, or you can simply include them as part of your default settings. You can also customize the project window.

To customize ArcView for your own use, you can create default settings for each default type (View, Table, Chart, Layout, Script, Project, Appl) and also create new user interfaces. ArcView reads your customized settings every time you start the application. Your defaults override the system defaults. ArcView's default settings are stored in a special project called default.apr in the installation directory or folder named 'etc'. Your personal default settings are stored in a special project, also called default.apr, located in your HOME directory.

To save your default settings

1.   Click Customize in the Project menu or double click on the button bar to display the Customize dialog. Modify the types with the Customize dialog by adding, deleting, rearranging or redefining the controls.

2.   Click Make Default in the Customize dialog box.

ArcView creates the file default.apr in your HOME directory and saves your customizations and scripts to this file. The next time you start ArcView, this file will be loaded restoring your customizations.

To replace your default settings with the system defaults

1.   Click Customize in the Project menu or double click on the button bar to display the customize dialog.

2.   Click Reset in the Customize dialog box.

ArcView removes your settings and restores the system default settings for the current session. If you want to eliminate your custom settings, you can rename or delete your local default.apr file.

Note  The Make Default and Reset buttons in the Customize dialog will be disabled if there are any extensions loaded.


Customizing Buttons

To add a new button to the Button bar

1    Make Buttons the Category in the Customize dialog box.

ArcView displays the existing buttons in the Control Editor panel.

2    Select a button.

3    Click New.

ArcView adds a new button to the right of the currently selected button.

By default the icon for the button is Empty, that is, no icon appears on the button. Change the button's Icon Property to alter its icon. To attach scripts to the button, change the button's Click Property and, optionally, the button's Update Property.

To add a space between buttons

 Click Separator to add a space half the width of a button to the Button bar. You can use the space to divide buttons into logical groups on a Button bar.

To delete a button

 Click Delete to remove the selected button from the Button bar. When you delete a button, all buttons to the right of the button move one position to the left.

To move a button

 You can move a button by clicking on it in the Control Editor panel and dragging to the left or to the right until it appears where you want it. When you release the mouse key, the button shifts position. You can move spaces between buttons using the same technique.


Customizing Menus

To add a new menu to the Menu bar

1	Make Menus the Category in the Customize dialog box. ArcView displays the existing menus in the Control Editor panel.

2	Click New Menu. ArcView adds a new menu to the right of the currently selected menu.

The default name for the menu is Menu. Change the menu's Label Property to alter its name. To add keyboard access to a menu, place an ampersand (&) in front of the letter you want to specify as the access key. The letter appears underlined and the user can access the menu by pressing <Alt> and the access key. Each menu must have a unique access key.

To add a new menu item to the selected menu

1	Make Menus the Category in the Customize dialog box. ArcView displays the existing menus in the Control Editor panel.

2	Select a menu or a menu item.

3	Click New Item.

ArcView adds a new menu item below the currently selected item.

The default name for the menu item is Item. Change the menu item's Label Property to alter its name. To add keyboard access to a menu item, place an ampersand (&) in front of the letter you want to specify as the access key. The letter appears underlined and the user can access the menu item by pressing the access key in the menu. Each menu item must have a unique access key within its menu.

To add a separator bar to a menu

 Click Separator to add a horizontal line to divide menu items into logical groups on a menu.

To delete a menu or a menu item

 Click Delete to remove the selected menu item from the current menu or select a menu and then use Delete to remove the entire menu.

To move a menu

 You can move an entire menu by clicking on its name in the Control Editor panel and dragging to the left or to the right until it appears where you want it. When you release the mouse key, the entire menu shifts position.

To move a menu item

 You can move a menu item by clicking on its name in the Control Editor panel and dragging up or down until it appears where you want it. When you release the mouse key, the menu item shifts position. You can move menu separator bars using the same technique. If you drag the menu item above the menu name, ArcView will not change the item's position. Note that you can only move an item within its menu.


Customizing Popups

A user interface is comprised of four components: a MenuBar, a ButtonBar, a ToolBar and a PopupSet. A PopupSet contains zero or more Popups (sometimes called Popup menus).

A Popup is like a menu except a Popup appears when you click the right mouse button while your cursor is in the active document’s display. You use the Popup to gain easier access to functionality. Although each user interface may have zero or more Popup menus, but only one Popup menu is active at time. By default, the active Popup is the first Popup menu in the Popup set (leftmost). You can specify the active Popup menu using the PopupSet request SetActive.

To add a new Popup menu to the PopupSet

1	Make Popups the Category in the Customize dialog box. ArcView displays the existing Popup menus in the Control Editor panel.

2	Click New Popup. ArcView adds a new Popup menu to the right of the currently selected Popup menu.

The default name for the Popup is Menu. Change the menu's Label Property to alter its name. The Popup menu’s label does not appear when the Popup displays, but you can use it to identify the Popup menu’s content and role.

To add a new menu items to the selected Popup

1	Make Popups the Category in the Customize dialog box. ArcView displays the existing Popups in the Control Editor panel.

2	Select a Popup or a menu item.

3	Click New Item. ArcView adds a new menu item below the currently selected item.

The default name for the menu item is Item. Change the menu item's Label Property to alter its name. To add keyboard access to a menu item, place an ampersand (&) in front of the letter you want to specify as the access key. The letter appears underlined and the user can access the menu item by pressing the access key in the menu. Each menu item must have a unique access key within its menu.

To add a separator bar to a Popup

 Click Separator to add a horizontal line to divide menu items into logical groups on a Popup.

To delete a Popup or a menu item

 Click Delete to remove the selected menu item from the current Popup or select a Popup and then use Delete to remove the entire Popup.

To move a Popup

 You can move an entire Popup by clicking on its name in the Control Editor panel and dragging to the left or to the right until it appears where you want it. When you release the mouse key, the entire Popup shifts position. The leftmost Popup is the default Popup, but you can set the active Popup in an Avenue script using the PopupSet request SetActive.

To move a menu item

 You can move a menu item by clicking on its name in the Control Editor panel and dragging up or down until it appears where you want it. When you release the mouse key, the menu item shifts position. You can move menu separator bars using the same technique. If you drag the menu item above the Popup name, ArcView will not change the item's position. Note that you can only move an item within its Popup.

To make another Popup active

 By default, the leftmost Popup in the PopupSet is the active Popup. You can make other Popups active through Avenue. Suppose your view user interface includes three Popups: one that supports general functions, one that supports functions specific to “cities” themes and one that supports functions specific to “counties” themes. You want the “cities” Popup active when a “cities” theme is active, the “counties” Popup active when a “counties” theme is active and the general Popup active otherwise. This update script requires the general Popup be first in the PopupSet (the default) and that Popups for specific themes be labeled with the theme name.

theView = av.GetActiveDoc
if (theView.GetActiveThemes.Count = 0) then
  exit
end

firstActive = theView.GetActiveThemes.Get(0)
activePopup = self.GetControls.FindByLabel(firstActive.GetName)

if (activePopup = nil) then
  self.SetActive( self.GetControls.Get(0) ) 'use default
else
  self.SetActive( activePopup )
end

This update script should be associated with the update event on the view’s user interface PopupSet. The script below establishes that association:

av.FindGUI( "View" ).GetPopups.SetUpdate( "viewPopup.update")


Customizing the project window

The project window provides a "table of contents" to your ArcView project. Using the flexibility of virtual documents, you can arrange your documents in the project window in ways that make sense to your specific application.

Customizing what appears in the project window

You can customize the project window using the Customize Types dialog. Through the Customize Types dialog you can:

1	Create new types, specify which types appear in the project window, change the icons and titles, change width of icon scrolling list, etc.

2	Make icons visible or not visible in the icon list. For example, if your application does not use charts; you could make the charts icon not visible.

3	Reorder the icons.

4	Change the width of the icon list to accommodate long names.

5	Define what happens when you click on each label button. You can also specify the label and what conditions causes these buttons to be enabled or disabled.

Hiding the project window

When you close the project window, you close the project. If your application requires that the project window be hidden from your end users, then you can move the project window off the visible portion of the application window.

av.GetProject.GetWin.Move( -500, -500)

You may want to eliminate the Cascade and Tile choices in the Window menu because these actions will bring the project window back into view.

Closing the project window

When you click on Close in the Project Window's Control Menu or, in Windows 95, the X at the top of the window, ArcView runs the system script Project.Close. If you need to change what happens when the user clicks on these, then you must alter the Project.Close script.


Customizing Tools

To add a new ToolMenu to the Tool bar

1    Make Tools the Category in the Customize dialog box.

ArcView displays the existing tools in the Control Editor panel.

2    Select a Tool.

3    Click ToolMenu.

ArcView adds a new ToolMenu to the right of the currently selected tool. The ToolMenu has a small triangle in the lower right hand corner indicating that you can "pull it down". You can add more tools to the ToolMenu with the Tool button.

To add a new tool to the Tool bar or a ToolMenu

1    Make Tools the Category in the Customize dialog box.

ArcView displays the existing tools in the Control Editor panel.

2    Select a Tool.

3    Click Tool.

ArcView adds a new tool to the right of the currently selected tool or below the currently selected tool if it is in a ToolMenu. Note - you cannot add a tool to the right of a ToolMenu; add the tool elsewhere and move it to the proper position.

By default the icon for the button is Empty, that is, no icon appears on the tool. Change the tool's Cursor Property to alter its cursor and its Icon Property to alter its icon. To attach scripts to the tool, change its Apply Property and, optionally, its Update Property.

To delete a tool

 Click Delete to remove the selected tool from the Tool bar. When you delete a tool, all tools to the right of the tool move one position to the left. If you delete a tool from a ToolMenu that has other tools in it, all tools below it move up one position. When you delete the last tool in a ToolMenu, you delete the ToolMenu.

To move a tool or toolmenu

 You can move a tool by clicking on it in the Control Editor panel and dragging to the left or to the right until it appears where you want it. When you release the mouse key, the tool shifts position. You can reorder tools within a ToolMenu, but you cannot move tools in or out of a ToolMenu. If you want to add a particular tool to a ToolMenu, first make a new tool and then set its properties. You can move a tool into a ToolMenu using Avenue.


Debugging a script

Once you have compiled a script, you can debug it. The debugging process allows you to control the execution of a script. When you click Step, the Step button, or F8, the debugger moves through your script one object and request at a time. In this way you can observe the flow of control in your script and correct any errors in logic, mixups in variables, wrong indices in lists, etc.

To know what's going on in your script at key points, you may want to set breakpointsand examine the value of local and global variables.


Debugging Code

During the course of writing scripts for your application, you might come across some errors. There are three types of errors that can occur: compile errors, run-time errors, and logical errors.

Compile-time errors

Compile-time errors occur when you make a syntactical error; for example, if you try to compile the following script, you'll get an Avenue syntax error:

a = 4
b = 3
if b < a then 'error on this line
  msgbox.info("3 is indeed less than 4", "Example")
end

An If statement requires that the expression "b < a" be placed inside parentheses. You'll get an error message that reads "Unexpected token: b"

Run-time errors

Run-time errors occur after you've compiled your script. These type of errors occur when your script attempts to perform a request that is invalid; even thought the script may be syntactically correct; a request may be missing a parameter or a parameter has the wrong class, such as in the following example:

b = 8
a = 3 + "b"     'error on this line
msgbox.info(a.AsString++"is the result","Simple Example")

In the example above, the addition request "+" receives a String ("b") instead of a Number and an Avenue Run-time error results. The script will work if you send the conversion request AsNumber to "b" or drop the enclosing quotes.

Another common runtime error is specifying an invalid request. In the example below, the Number class has no such request as DivideBy2 and you get the error message "A number object does not recognize the request divideby2".

x = 3.DivideBy2

Logical errors

Logical errors occur after you've compiled your script. The script is correct syntactically as well; however it may contain faulty logic, infinite loops, or mistakes in logical comparisons that cause the script to produce faulty results or even stop.

A few ideas to help find and resolve errors in your code

Print the code. It may be easier to find errors by marking up the script on paper instead of on-line.

Compile the script, set breakpoints, run the script and, when the script halts at a breakpoint, examine the variables to see when or where the error occurs.

Step through the script using the debugger.

Add MsgBox requests to display key information throughout the execution of your script.


Saving your work: default.apr and projects
System and user default projects

When you work in ArcView, your work is part of a project. You can write this project to a file and then later restore it. From Avenue, you can access some element of your project, such as a document with the request av.GetProject to get the current project object and then the request FindDoc( "view1" ) to get the document named "view1" from the project.

myView = av.GetProject.FindDoc( "view1" )

Besides the current project, ArcView uses two other project files to define the default user interface. These special default projects contain only scripts and DocGUIs whereas a regular project contains scripts, DocGUIs and documents. You can save your customizations to the user interface in these special projects so that each time you start ArcView, your environment will be exactly the way you like it.

System default

Whenever you start ArcView, the system default project loads. The system default project is in the file $AVHOME/etc/default.apr and it defines the default document user interfaces (DocGUIs) and all the scripts that support them.

You can modify the system default project so that your customizations appear every time any one opens ArcView. To create a new system default file, first create a project that has the customizations you want and only the customizations you want. When you make a system default project, ArcView writes all the scripts (unique by name) and DocGUIs to the project file.

Then create one additional script that contains the line

av.GetProject.MakeSysDefault( "myFile.apr".AsFileName, false )

The FileName argument is the file that is created. The Boolean argument tells ArcView to encrypt the project. Give this one line script a name that begins with a period (e.g. .save) so that ArcView does not write this script into the new default project. Then execute this script. The new system default project is written to the file you named.

Note 	You will need to restore your customizations to the ArcView system default whenever there is a new ArcView release.

If you want to access the system default project from Avenue, you can use the application request GetSysDefault to return the system default project.

sysDefault = av.GetSysDefault
sysScripts = sysDefault.GetScripts

User default

The user default project is optional. Whenever you start ArcView, if there is a project named default.apr in your $HOME directory, ArcView loads that project. You use the user default project to store any personal customizations. You can easily create a local default project through the Make Default button on the Customize dialog. Or you can create the local default project through the Avenue request MakeUserDefault.

When you create a user default project, ArcView writes only those scripts and DocGUIs that are different from the system default scripts and DocGUIs.

How to work with these projects

Whenever a script runs, ArcView searches all three projects for the named script starting with your current project, then the user default project, then any loaded extensions and finally the system default project. To learn more, see How ArcView searches for scripts. You can override system scripts by naming a script in your current project the same as a system script.

The application request av.FindScript searches for scripts using this search order. If you wanted to find the system default script with the name Project.Close and there were other scripts named Project.Close in your current and user default projects, FindScript on the application would return the first script named "Project.Close" - not the system default version. You can retrieve the system project's script by first getting the system project and then giving the system project object the FindScript request.

av.GetSysDefault.FindScript( "Project.Close" )   ' searches the system project
av.GetProject.FindScript( "Project.Close" )   ' searches the current project
av.FindScript( "Project.Close" )     ' searches all projects and extensions

Note	The three statements above have different meanings. The first statement returns the script named "Project.Close" that is defined in the system default project. The second returns the script named "Project.Close" that is defined in the current project. The third statement searches for the script named "Project.Close" in the current project, the user default, the loaded extensions and the system default.

Suppose you were creating a new system default project and you wanted to eliminate a script that is in the old system default. You could remove the script from the system default project object. Then you write the new system default project, the script "Project.Save" will not be there.

av.GetSysDefault.RemoveScript( "Project.Save" )


Defining a Conversation

A DDE conversation is defined by two components: the application name and the topic, or subject, of the conversation. Every application that can be a DDE server has a unique application name, which is usually the name of the executable program without the file extension (e.g., ArcView, Excel or the name you've given your Visual Basic application). The topic defines the subject of the conversation, and is typically a name that is defined by the source application. Most applications recognize a document name as a topic for a conversation and many also support a general topic named "system." The combination of application name and topic uniquely defines a conversation and remains constant throughout the duration of the conversation.

If you wish to establish a conversation with an ArcView server, the application name is ArcView and the topic name is System. ArcView recognizes only the System topic. You can change the name of ArcView's DDE server using the DDEServer request StartNamed to start a DDEServer with a specified application name. This may be useful if you have more than one ArcView application running on a single system.

From ArcView, you can initiate a conversation with another application using the DDEClient Make request. In the Make request, you specify the application and the topic. The conversation is successfully initiated if the client has no errors. For example:

myClient = DDEClient.Make( "Excel", "System" )
if (myClient.HasError) then
  MsgBox.Error( myClient.GetErrorMsg, "")
  return nil
end

When a client initiates a conversation regarding a particular topic, the server application responds if it recognizes the topic. The two applications can then exchange data. An item identifies the piece of data actually being passed during the DDE conversation. For example, an item for an Excel spreadsheet is a cell reference (i.e., R1C1); an item in ArcView is an Avenue request; an item on a Visual Basic form is a text box, picture box, or label. Either application can change the item without affecting the conversation. The two applications can exchange data until the conversation is terminated by either application.


Distributing Your Application

Once you've finished your Visual Basic application and integrated it with ArcView, you'll want to distribute it to your users. If you plan to distribute your application to more than just a few individuals, or are going to sell it commercially, you may want to write a setup program to install your Visual Basic application. See the section called "Distributing Your Applications" in the Visual Basic Programmer's Guide for more information on creating a setup program. Alternatively, you can just copy the appropriate files to the PC that needs to run the application.

Before you create a setup program, however, you'll need to determine which files your Visual Basic application needs. At a minimum, you'll need the executable file for your application, the run time file, VBRUN300.DLL, and possibly an ArcView project file with the appropriate modifications to the user interface. Use the following table as a guideline for determining which files you'll need to distribute.

Extension	Description
EXE	Your Visual Basic executable program.
VBX	If your application uses Visual Basic Custom Controls, you'll need to distribute these as well. Typically, these files are installed in the \WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory.
DLL	Visual Basic does not compile any DLLs as part of your application's executable file; thus, you need to distribute your custom DLLs with your application. Additionally, your application will require the Visual Basic run time file, VBRUN300.DLL. This DLL allows a Visual Basic executable to run on a computer that doesn't have the Visual Basic software installed on it. Finally, you'll need DDEML.DLL, which is required for dynamic data exchange.
APR	ArcView's project file that contains the additional menus, buttons and tools required to run your application. If all your users will need to access the added functionality, you might consider making a default project file (default.apr).


DLL Basics

A library is a compiled collection of procedures (or functions) that you can call from another application. Libraries are used to store procedures that are called frequently, eliminating the need to code the same procedures in every application that uses them. When a library is used it must be linked to an application. There are two kinds of libraries, static libraries and dynamic libraries. How you link a library with another application depends on the kind of library you wish to use.

Static linking occurs at the time of application compilation. In other words, static libraries must be linked with the executable itself at the time the executable is compiled. You can not use static libraries with ArcView, since this would require that you have access to the ArcView source code to recompile and link-in static libraries.

Dynamic link libraries, or DLLs, are linked to an application at run-time, not at compile time, as occurs with static libraries. The advantage of DLLs is that you can extend the functionality of an application without recompiling the original executable, by dynamically loading modules. ArcView provides classes and requests which support loading DLLs, and the calling of procedures in these types of libraries.

You can use DLLs from various sources to extend the functionality of ArcView and integrate other applications. Many DLLs are commercially available, or may be part of a product’s applications programming interface, or API. Each of the major components of Microsoft Windows is actually a DLL, some of which can be used directly by ArcView. You can create your own custom DLLs that perform specific tasks using C or other language compilers for use with ArcView

When you use, or call, a function in a DLL you may be required to provide additional data, or arguments, for the function to execute successfully. The called function may return a value as a result of its execution. Both the arguments and the returned value will be of some specific data type, which must be identified before the function can be called. ArcView supports a variety of data types, however some DLLs use types not currently supported. Refer to the ArcView Class Hierarchy and the description of supported types for further information.


DLL Support in Avenue

Functions in DLLs can be called directly from Avenue, and data can be passed back and forth. The DLL and DLLProc classes in Avenue provide support for loading a DLL and making calls to its functions.

Functions implemented in the DLL are called by creating an instance of the DLL class, then creating DLLProc instances for each function, or procedure, in the DLL you want to call. When a DLL object is created, the DLL is loaded into memory and is ready for use. When the object is destroyed, the DLL is unloaded and the memory freed.

Functions that you call in the DLL may require certain types of arguments, and may return others. The input and output parameters are specified when you create DLLProc instances. ArcView supports various parameter types. See the DLLProc class description for additional details.

Creating and Executing Functions in a DLL

There are four basic steps to executing functions in a DLL:

Step 1. Have the DLL you want to use available on your system. You will also need some information about the functions that you want to call; the function name, and the function input and output parameter types. This is commonly found in the header file (*.h) accompanying the DLL, or in supporting documentation. In the example below, the input and output parameters are long integers.

Step 2. Load the DLL using DLL.Make.

Step 3. Use DLLProc.Make for each function (or procedure) in the DLL you want to call. Note that you must specify the correct input and output parameter types, and that the function name must be specified in mixed case as it appears in the source. If the function will be called repeatedly, a global variable may be used to reference the DLLProc object.

Step 4. Use DLLProc.Call to call the desired DLL function, providing the necessary function parameters, if any. Data returned by the function can be stored in Avenue variables.

Example

'Create an instance of the DLL class

aDLL = DLL.Make("c:\lib\math.dll".asFileName)

'Create an instance of DLLProc

addFunction = DLLProc.Make(aDLL, "Add", #DLLPROC_TYPE_INT32,

{#DLLPROC_TYPE_INT32, #DLLPROC_TYPE_INT32})

'Call the function in the DLL, supplying the proper parameters

x = addFunction.Call({500, 200})

'Report the results of the function call

MsgBox.Info("The result is " + x.asString, "")

32-bit vs. 16-bit DLLs

ArcView is a 32-bit application and can call functions in 32-bit DLLs directly in 32-bit operating system environments (Windows95 and Windows NT). The use of 16-bit DLLs is not supported in 32-bit operating system environments.


Dynamic debugging

The Script Editor provides a special request that allows you to set a break point based upon some condition inside the script you are debugging. You can add the request SetDynamicBreak to the script to break when some special condition occurs. When that condition occurs and the break is set, you can step through the next statements.

for each j in 1..10000
  ' Add these lines so you break when condition is met
  if (j = 5001) then
    Script.The.SetDynamicBreak   ' set break on itself
  end

  ' do task at hand
end

In the example above, if you know a problem occurs on the 5001 interaction of this loop, you can add the if statement to your script to break execution of the script when that condition is met. Then you can step through the next lines of code to see what is happening. SetDynamicBreak must be REMOVED from the script before you execute it from a control or from another script. SetDynamicBreak should be used only for debugging in a Script Editor.


Editing a script

To edit a script, make the script the active window. You can just start typing. ArcView provides controls to remove selected text and place it on the Clipboard, copy selected text and place it on the Clipboard, or insert a copy of the contents of the Clipboard at the insertion point.

To select an individual word in the script window

 Double-click on the word you want to select.

To select an entire line in the script window

 Move the cursor to the left of the left-most character of the line you want to select. When the cursor changes to an arrow, click once to select the line.

To select several lines in the script window

 Move the cursor to the left of the left-most character of the first line you want to select. When the cursor changes to an arrow, click and drag to the last line you want to select.

To select all lines in the script window

 You can use Select All in the Edit menu or the Select All button to select all text.

To delete from the insertion point to the left margin

 You can use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+U or Delete Left in the Edit menu to delete from the insertion point to the left margin of the current line.

To undo the most recent deletion, cut or paste operation, or character entered.

 Use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Z or Undo in the Edit menu to reverse the most recent change.


Embedded scripts

When you have finished writing, debugging and testing your script, you may choose to embed it in the project. Embedding the script means that you move the completed script from the Script Editor document which is part of the project's document list to the Project's script list. When you embed a script, you add a script object to the project's collection of scripts and remove the script editor.

First, let's clarify the difference between a Script and a Script Editor. A Script Editor is a document that lets you create, test and debug scripts. When you compile the text in the script editor document, you create a script object. A Script is the object that runs. In your current project, scripts may be in one of two places - a script editor document or embedded in the project's script list. The project's script list is actually a NameDictionary that contains only scripts and because it is a NameDictionary, each script has a unique name.

There are several reasons why you should consider moving your completed scripts to the project's script list; that is, "embedding" the script.

•	Faster access - the script list is implemented through a NameDictionary. The NameDictionary uses a hash table to locate elements, so ArcView can quickly find embedded scripts. When ArcView looks for a named script in the current project, it first checks the embedded script list and then searches the document list for Script Editors. ArcView uses a binary search to locate the named Script Editor - a binary search is slower than the hash table and gets worse the more items it must search through.

•	Eliminates clutter - if you have a large application, you may have hundreds of scripts. It would be easier for you if you saw only those scripts that you are currently working on in the list of scripts in the project window.

•	Less available - an embedded script is less accessible to your end users. While it is still easy for a developer to retrieve and alter, novice users or your end users are less likely to accidentally change the script and perhaps mess up the application.

The following example embeds a script.

' make sure the script is compiled
theSEd = av.GetActiveDoc
if (theSEd.IsCompiled.Not) then
  msgbox.error( "Script must be compiled", "")
  exit
end

' See if there is another script with that name
if (av.GetProject.GetScripts.Get(theSEd.GetName) <> nil) then
  if (not msgbox.MiniYesNo(
        "Overwrite"++theSEd.GetName,"Exists",TRUE)) then
    exit
  end
end

' embed the script
av.GetProject.AddScript( theSEd.GetScript )

' remove the script editor
av.GetProject.RemoveDoc( theSEd )

In the example above, the script first checks that the Script Editor is compiled; there is no script if the Script Editor is not compiled. Next, the example looks in the project's script list for another script with the same name; an embedded script must have a unique name. Finally, the example adds the script to the project's script list and then removes the originating Script Editor.

To modify or debug an embedded script, you must retrieve it from the embedded scripts and restore it to a script editor. This script asks you to pick an embedded script, then creates a new Script Editor document, names it and copies the source string of the embedded script to it. Finally, it removes the embedded script so that the script editor you are debugging executes when you do an av.run.

' Pick a script
scriptList = av.GetProject.GetScripts
myScriptName = MsgBox.ListAsString( scriptList.ReturnKeys, "Select script", "Script")
if (myScriptName = nil) then
  exit
end

' create a Script Editor, set its name and source
newSEd = SEd.Make
newSEd.SetName( myScriptName )
newSEd.SetSource( scriptList.Get( myScriptName ).AsString )

' remove script from embedded scripts
av.GetProject.RemoveScript( myScriptName )

The Script Editor's user interface includes choices in the Script menu to embed and unembed scripts.


Encrypted Scripts

Encrypted scripts allow you to protect your investment in Avenue coding by making your source code unreadable. You can encrypt individual scripts using the Script request AsEncrypted or EncryptedScript request MakeFromScript, or you can encrypt an entire project with the EncryptScripts request. Use caution when encrypting scripts; keep a copy of the source because you cannot "unencrypt."

Here is a simple example of encrypting an individual script. See the script library examples encscrpt.ave and encprj.ave for more.

theSEd = av.GetActiveDoc

'Encrypt and Embed the script
theScript = EncryptedScript.MakeFromScript( theSEd.GetScript )
theScript.SetName( theSEd.GetName )
av.GetProject.AddScript( theScript )

'Remove the script editor
av.GetProject.RemoveDoc( theSEd )


How ESRI's extension products use extensions

Extensions provide a very flexible method of delivering functionality and data to end users. Extension authors must define the requirements for their extension, design the content create the Load, Unload, Install, Uninstall, ProjectSave, and CanUnload scripts to support those requirements.

This topic describes how ESRI creates extensions for its extension products, identifying the requirements and describing how these requirements were satisfied. This topic is not intended to serve as the model for writing all extensions. How you write your extension depends upon what requirements that extension must meet. Look at the extensions in the samples library for other ideas.

Requirements

1	The extensions for ESRI's extension products deliver only controls and scripts. (These extensions do not include DocGUIs, documents, other objects.)

2	By default, ESRI's extension products install controls into the DocGUI named "View". If the current project does not have a DocGUI named "View", then the end user may select other DocGUIs for View documents.

3	End users may customize any controls provided by the extension and these customizations must be retained with the project. The customizations can also be saved to the default.

4	End users of ESRI's extension products may clone DocGUIs that contain the extension's controls.

5	End users of ESRI's extension products may clone individual controls installed by the extension product.

6	The DocGUI may be customized so that standard menus are no longer present. The extension adds its controls to the DocGUI regardless of how much it has been altered.

7	The extension products will be enhanced over time. The extension must provide a way for projects with dependencies on the extension to migrate to new versions of the extension.

Conventions

Each extension has a unique identifier.

All scripts in the extension (excluding scripts for properties) are prefixed with the unique identifier.

All controls delivered by the extension are named with the unique identifier.

Install Script

Make sure there is currently an open project. If there is no open project, then exit the Install script.

if (av.GetProject = nil) then
  return nil
end

In order to allow user customization, the Install script makes the controls part of the project, so the extension adds controls ONLY if this extension has never been added to the project. Because there will be new versions of these extensions, the Install script records the current extension version in the project's preference dictionary. That way future versions can support a migration path.

if (self.GetPreferences.Get( "Loaded" ) <> nil) then
  return nil
else
  self.GetPreferences.Add( "Loaded", TRUE )
  self.GetPreferences.Add( "Version", self.GetExtVersion )
end

Next, the Install looks in the project for the DocGUI named "View". You should use the project's FindGUI and not the application's.

av.GetProject.FindGUI( "View")

If there is no DocGUI named "View", then the user selects one or more DocGUIs for View documents. If there is no DocGUI for Views, then no controls are installed.

viewGUIs = MsgBox.MultiList( av.GetProject.FindGUIsFor( View ),
                            "Select GUI", "INSTALL")

Next, the extension installs the controls. Install searches for menus using the FindByName request and searches for choices or buttons with the FindByScript request. Using these requests, you minimize the impact of localization on the extension. All default menus have an assigned name - the name is the English label name without any "&".

Because end users must be able to customize controls provided by the extension, when installing controls, you clone each control and then add the clone to the project. The cloned control becomes part of project space (versus extension space) and will be saved with the project file.

When a choice is included in a default menu, you must make sure that menu exists. If it does not, then create a new menu. If you cannot find the appropriate neighbors, then add the controls to the end of the ControlSet.

Be sure to set the DocGUI's modified flag to TRUE so that it is written out to the project file when the project is saved.

Uninstall Script

The Uninstall script removes all controls named with the special identifier from all the DocGUIs. The extension products impact only the View DocGUI, so their Uninstall scripts remove controls only from DocGUIs for View documents. This procedure ensures that any cloned DocGUIs or controls will be cleaned up.

The Uninstall script does not need to run if there is no current project. The Uninstall scripts for ESRI's extension products simply remove controls, so if the current project is closing, there is no need to remove the controls and the Uninstall script exits.

In this example, the identifier is "Spatial".

'No current project - nothing to uninstall from
if (av.GetProject = nil) then
  return NIL
end

'Project is closing - no need to uninstall controls
if (av.GetProject.IsClosing) then
  return NIL
end

' Delete controls from all DocGUIs for Views
for each d in av.GetProject.FindGUIsFor( View )

  'Delete menus
  theMenuBar = d.GetMenuBar
  m = theMenuBar.FindByName( "Spatial" )
  while (m <> nil)
    theMenuBar.Remove( m )
    m = theMenuBar.FindByName( "Spatial" )
  end

  ' Delete any choices
  for each m in theMenuBar.GetControls.Clone
    c = m.FindByName( "Spatial" )
    while (c <> nil)
      m.Remove( c )
      c = m.FindByName( "Spatial" )
    end
    if (m.GetControls.Count = 0 ) then
      d.GetMenuBar.Remove( m )
    end
  end

  'Delete buttons
  theButtonBar = d.GetButtonBar
  b = theButtonBar.FindByName( "Spatial" )
  while (b <> nil)
    theButtonBar.Remove( b )
    b = theButtonBar.FindByName( "Spatial" )
  end

  'Delete tools
  theToolBar = d.GetToolBar
  b = theToolBar.FindByName( "Spatial" )
  while (b <> nil)
    theToolBar.Remove( b )
    b = theToolBar.FindByName( "Spatial" )
  end

  'Delete popups if necessary
end


Examining variables in a script

During the course of your work, you may want to examine the value of a variable. If you've set a breakpoint in the script, you can examine the name, class, and value of all local and global variables. The value of a variable at run time may be useful to help determine why your script doesn't behave as you expect. The class of the variable value may also provide additional insights.

To examine the value of a variable

1	Compile the script.

2	Set breakpoints.

3	Run the script. Breakpoints interrupt the script at the location of the breakpoint and return control to you to examine variables or step through subsequent requests.

4	From the Script menu, choose Examine Variables.

ArcView displays a dialog box that lists all the local variables, their class, and their value at the current breakpoint. To see the global variables, choose Globals from the dropdown list at the top of the dialog box.


Exchanging Data through a Link
Exchanging Data

There are three different ways to interact in a DDE conversation: execute, request or poke. With execute, the client asks the server to perform some function. The string the client sends to the server is typically some directive in that server's command language. If you have connected to an ArcView server, the command is given in the form of an Avenue script. In the request operation, the client asks the server to return the value of an item. With poke, the client asks the server to update one of its items with some data. Different servers or even topics have different methods for identifying an item. In Excel, if you are a client to a conversation with a spreadsheet, you can specify items using a Row/Column method. If you are a client to ArcView, you specify an item with an Avenue script.

Execute

Execute sends a command string from the client to the server application. Every application supports different command strings; thus, you should consult the documentation for the server application to see what commands it accepts.

An execute command sent to an ArcView server should be an Avenue request.

The ArcView client implements execute through DDEClient.Execute.

Request

You can request data from the server application. Request returns a string of information obtained from the server.

A request sent to an ArcView server should be in the form of an Avenue statement. The result will be a string version of the returned object from that Avenue statement or script.

The ArcView client implements request through DDEClient.Request.

Poke

Although data typically flows from server to client, the poke method allows the client to send data to the server application. This is called poking data.

A poke to an ArcView server has two elements. The item is identified by the keyword string followed by the name of an Avenue script to run. The script is available in the server application. That script uses the specified data as it's self object. The second element is the data to "poke"; the data should be in the form of a string.

The ArcView client implements the poke method through DDEClient.Poke.


Exit Statement

The Exit statement forces termination of all running scripts.

Syntax

exit

Example

In this example, the script will end if the named file is not a writable directory.

 newDir = MsgBox.Input( "Specify directory", "Directory", "")
if (newDir = nil) then
  exit
elseif (newDir.AsFileName.IsDir.Not) then
  MsgBox.Error( newDir.AsFileName.GetFullName++"is not a directory", "")
  exit
elseif (File.IsWritable(newDir.AsFileName).Not) then
  MsgBox.Error( newDir.AsFileName.GetFullName++"is not writable", "")
  exit
else
  theProject.SetWorkDir( newDir.AsFileName )
end

Use Exit with only when you want to end execution of all running Avenue scripts. In most cases, you should use the Return statement to end execution of the current script. Do not use EXIT in scripts that might be called from the application initialization script Appl.Initialize. Do not use EXIT in scripts associated with update events.


ExtensionObjects

You will be interested in learning more about ExtensionObjects if you are writing Avenue scripts that work with ArcView's extension products - Spatial Analyst, Network Analyst, 3D Analyst, Internet Map Server, and Tracking Analyst. You do not need to understand ExtensionObjects to use extensions or author your own extensions.

ESRI's extension products (Spatial Analyst, Network Analyst, 3D Analyst, Internet Map Server, and Tracking Analyst ) dynamically add special properties to existing classes, Documents, Themes, FTabs and Legends, using the abstract super class ExtensionObject, its subclasses: DocumentExtension, SrcExtension, ThemeExtension, LegendExtension and product specific subclasses. Document, Legend, FTab and Theme have new requests: GetExtension, SetExtension and RemoveExtension that you use to access the special properties defined for an extension product.

For example, if your view has a Grid Theme, you can get the AnalysisEnvironment for that view with the GetExtension request. The argument to GetExtension is the class of the object. GetExtension returns nil if there is no AnalysisEnvironment object. AnalysisEnvironment is a subclass of DocumentExtension and the AnalysisEnvironment object contains properties for Spatial Analysis on the view. You can query and manipulate the AnalysisEnvironment object using AnalysisEnvironment requests such as SetMask, SetCellSize, and SetExtent.

anAnalysisEnv = aView.GetExtension(AnalysisEnvironment)
if (anAnalysisEnv = nil) then
  return nil
end
anAnalysisEnv.SetMask( aGridTheme )

Below is the class hierarchy for ExtensionObject. You access AnalysisEnvironment, InternetViewProperties, and TrackingEnvironment from a View. You access InternetProjectProperties from a project. You access GridLegendExtension, DDDLegendExtension, and TrackingThemeLegendExtension from a Legend. You access NetworkSrc from the FTab of a theme with an associated Network. You access NetworkWinSource and DDDThemeExtension from a theme. Once you access the ExtensionObject, you can query and manipulate it using its requests.

Class Hierarchy

ExtensionObject

        DocumentExtension

            AnalysisEnvironment

            InternetProjectProperties

            InternetViewProperties

            TrackingEnvironment

        LegendExtension

            GridLegendExtension

            DDDLegendExtension

            TrackingThemeLegendExtension

        SrcExtension

            NetworkSrc

        ThemeExtension

            NetworkWinSrc

            DDDThemeExtension


Project dependencies

When you save a project, all loaded extensions become dependencies of that project. Thus, when you open that project file, all of these extensions will be loaded before the project opens. If your session includes loaded extensions that you do not want as dependencies in your project, you must unload those extensions before you save your project.

You can see the project's dependencies using the project request GetDependencies. The result of this request is a list of FileName objects that identify the extensions. The next time you save the project, the list of dependencies will be updated with the currently loaded extensions.

The project maintains a preferences dictionary for each extension it depends upon. The project's preferences  allow extension authors to save information specific to that project with the project file. The project's preferences are removed when that extension unloads.

Dependencies and default.apr

When you check on Make Default from the Extensions dialog ArcView saves the current loaded extensions to the user default project as dependencies. Because the user default project has dependencies on these extensions, each time you start ArcView, these extensions load automatically.

If you want the system default project to have dependencies on certain extensions so that these extensions load each time you start ArcView, you should load the extensions and then make a new system default project with the project request MakeSysDefault. ArcView saves the current customizations and the loaded extensions to a new system default file.


Project Preferences

You can save project specific states of a loaded extension with the project file through the project's preferences dictionary. Each loaded extension has a special preferences dictionary which is saved with the project. When you reopen the project, the extension can restore its state from the preferences. You can use the preferences dictionary to save customized versions of the extension's controls, to save other objects such as dictionaries or lists with special information particular to this project, or any other pertinent information.

The preferences dictionary is saved with the project file, but can be accessed only through the extension that owns it. The project has a NameDictionary that contains one dictionary for each loaded extension. You access the contents of the preferences dictionary through the extension object with the request GetPreferences. The extension author defines the content of the dictionary and uses the Install, Uninstall and ProjectSave scripts to establish and manipulate the objects contained in the preferences dictionary. When you unload the extension, then that preferences dictionary is removed from the current project.

You can use project preferences to save any objects. For example, your extension should not use object tags on because there could be conflicts with other extensions or with the project itself. Instead of maintaining a state through object tags, you can create a dictionary and maintain the state in that dictionary. You can save this state dictionary to the project's preferences dictionary as an element and then restore it when you next open the saved project.

The extension author can design the content of the preferences dictionary according to the need of the extension. The preferences dictionary can be as simple or complex as necessary.


Tips and techniques

Extensions provide a very powerful and flexible mechanism for sharing data and functionality. The extension class itself provides six events that you can customize (Load, Unload, Install, Uninstall, CanUnload and ProjectSave). You can deliver any objects through an extension. Extension's dependencies on other extensions allow you to build upon other extensions. The extension author has a very powerful tool.

Along with power, there comes responsibility. Extension authors are responsible for creating extensions that work. To understand how ESRI developed its extension products, see How ESRI's extension products use extensions. There are many design options to consider and many different ways to build extensions. For more examples, see the samples library delivered with ArcView and also the samples on ESRI's web page.

Conventions

 Name all scripts delivered by your extension with an extension specific prefix.

 Give objects owned by your extension names that identify the extension.

 When an extension unloads, the project should be returned to its original state. The unload script should clean-up the results of the load script. The uninstall script should clean-up the results of the install script.

 Save any project specific information in the project's preferences dictionary.

 If your extension installs objects to project space or if the extension saves information to the project's preferences dictionary, save the extension's version number in the project preferences dictionary. You can use the version number to provide a migration path to the next version of the extension.

 Extension authors should be prudent with the use of global variables. If global variables are required, choose names that are unlikely to conflict with other extensions or projects.

 Extension authors should refrain from using object tags of objects that are not part of the extension.

Considerations

 Extension space or project space? Will you install the objects delivered by the extension in project space (clone the extension object) or will you leave the objects in extension space. If you choose to use extension space, then any customization or change the user makes to the extension object will be lost when you close the project. If you choose to use project space, then the project will contain the objects and changes or customizations are saved to the project file. The extension must delete these objects from the project when the extension unloads.

 Hardcoded or user specified target DocGUI? Will you install controls in a specific pre-defined DocGUI (for example, "View") or will you let your users select a DocGUI. If you do allow users to select a DocGUI, make sure the selection set includes only DocGUIs for the appropriate kind of document. Use the request FindGUIsFor to return the list of DocGUIs for a specified class.

 One DocGUI, multiple DocGUIs? Will the extension install the controls in only one DocGUI or will you install the controls in more than one DocGUI? If you choose to install controls in more than one DocGUI, you must clone these controls because a control object can be in only one DocGUI.

 Deleting objects in project space? If you have installed objects into project space, you will need to be sure these objects are removed when the extension unloads. You will need to make sure you can locate these objects to delete them.

 How do you install extension objects to highly customized projects? Suppose your extension adds new controls to the View DocGUI, but the current project has no View DocGUI? What do you do? You must determine how the extension handles exceptional cases.

 Avoid altering or removing objects in the project with an extension. In general, the extension adds elements to the project.

 When designing an extension, remember that other extensions may be loaded.

Tips

 A control may be part of only one DocGUI. If you want to add controls in your extension to multiple DocGUIs, then you must clone the control and add the cloned control to the DocGUI. The cloned control is in project space and will be saved to the project file.

 The extension author determines whether or not customizations to objects delivered by the extension are saved with the project or not. If you choose to save user customization to your extension objects, then you should install clones to the project. These objects will be in the Project's space and saved to the project file.

 To quickly build a simple extension, use the extension builder provided in the samples library. The samples library and the ESRI Web page provide many example extensions and the project files from which these were built.

 You can use extensions as a vehicle for breaking a project into separate pieces for different developers to work on.

 You can use a dependent extension to set environment variables or other system parameters that your extension or project may require.

 You can create an extension that installs an object to a project. The installation extension could clone the object, add it to the project and then unload itself.

 When you are making your extension, be sure the extension property scripts are compiled before you create the extension file.

 When you are making your extension, be careful not to load the extension to that extension's source project.


Formatting a script

When you create or edit a script, you can type directly into the script window. Avenue has no maximum line length, so you can create lines of arbitrary length, but you may want to position or format text so that it can be read more easily.

Two controls are available to help format the scripts you write:  Shift Left (<<) and Shift Right (>>). Shift Left reduces the indentation amount of all lines containing selected text or the line containing the insertion point if nothing is selected. Shift Right increases the indentation amount following the same rules.


For Each Statement

The For Each statement applies a set of requests to the elements of a collection.

Syntax

for each variable in collection [ by increment ]

  request block

end

for example

for each i in 1..100
  MsgBox.Info( i.AsString, "")
end

The variable is the iterator variable. It gets the the value of each element in the collection. Each time you go through the loop, the variable gets the next value. In the example, I is the iterator variable and it gets the values 1, 2, 3, 4, …, 99, 100 changing values each time the loop processes. The for each loop cycles through 100 times.

Discussion

The statement initializes an object with the first member of a collection. The collection is typically an interval, a list of objects, or any other collection.

For each iteration through the loop, ArcView assigns the next member of the collection to the object. The elements of the collection do not have to be ordered. If the elements are ordered, then the order will be honored. If the elements are not ordered, then the 'for each' is guaranteed to visit each element once, but two applications of the 'for each' to the same unordered collection may not visit them in the same order.

NOTE. The variable that you use to iterate through the collection of elements becomes undefined once the for each loop completes. You cannot use that value outside the for each loop.

Examples

This example assigns an initial value to a number object and reports on its value. Note the use of the infix operator '..' to generate an interval and the use of the keyword 'by' to increment the step by a value other than 1. You can decrement the step if you use a negative number. Note that 'by' only works with intervals and durations.

for each n in 1..10 by 2
  msgbox.info(n.asString,"")
end

This example iterates through all of the members of a collection, in this case, all the active themes in a view.

theView = av.GetActiveDoc
for each t in theView.GetActiveThemes
  t.EditTable
end

The body of the for each loop must not delete elements from the collection that you are cycling through. If the for each loop does change the collection, then you will get the following error: AVArray: Index <a> not in range <b>..<c>.  You can easily work around this by cloning the list and cycling through the clone.

theView = av.GetActiveDoc
for each t in theView.GetActiveThemes.clone
  t.SetActive( false )
end


Garbage collection

Garbage collection is the process of removing unreferenced objects and recovering the memory they consume. ArcView generates many objects, for example, the following request generates 500 number objects.

  for each i in 1..500

    'do something

  end

An object is referenced by other objects or by variables. When an object has no references to it, that object becomes unreachable and, hence, unusable. Garbage collection removes the unreferenced object from the system and restores the memory it used to the pool of available memory.

Implicit - automatic in ArcView

A garbage collection pass is an event (like a mouse down event, or a key click event). This event is triggered every 20 seconds from ArcView's main event loop. It may also be triggered from within loops in an Avenue script. In the latter case, the event will only occur if at least 800 objects have been created since the last activation of the garbage collector.

Explicit - "do it yourself"

The default behavior should be sufficient for most ArcView applications, however, you can initiate a garbage collection pass with the request av.PurgeObjects. This may be useful if, for example, you have created less than 800 large objects which you need to have immediately destroyed.


Help on Help for ArcView Class Hierarchy
Help on ArcView Class Hierarchy

Displays the ArcView Class Hierarchy topic of the ArcView Class Hierarchy Help system. From this topic, you can jump to information, and reference about each of the classes.


Help on Help for Functional Overview
Help on Functional Overview of ArcView Classes

Displays the Functional Overview of ArcView Classes topic of the ArcView Class Hierarchy Help system. From this topic, you can jump to information, and reference about the ArcView Class Hierarchy.


How ArcView searches for scripts

In ArcView, you specify scripts by name. For example, event properties in controls (Click, Update and Apply) are script names. The argument to av.run is a script name. When you run a script, ArcView searches for the script by its name checking each of these different lists in the following order. Once a script with that name is found, the search is a success and that script executes.

1	embedded scripts in the current project

2	script editors in the current project

3	user default scripts

4	scripts in any loaded extensions

5	system default scripts

This ordering has some interesting implications:

 Multiple Script Editors can have the same name. You can run each individual script with the RUN button in the Script Editor, but, if you try to find the script by name, there is no guarantee which script ArcView will return. ArcView searches the document list using a binary search and, depending on the list of documents, any of the scripts may be encountered first. Prudent programming suggests each Script Editor be uniquely named.

 If both an embedded script and a Script Editor have the same name, ArcView finds the embedded script.

 You can take advantage of the search order to override system scripts. For example, to change the way ArcView closes a project, simply create a new script and name it Project.Close. ArcView executes your script because the project is searched before the system default.

 Extension authors must ensure the scripts delivered in the extension are uniquely named. By convention, scripts in extensions should be prefixed with the extension identifier. You can override system scripts with scripts in extensions.


 How Avenue Works

Avenue is an object-oriented scripting language. The emphasis in Avenue, as in all object-oriented systems, is on identifying objects and then sending them requests. You can think of an object as a package that is comprised of tightly coupled data and functionality. You can contrast this with procedural programming practices in which the language places an emphasis on the function (procedure). In Avenue, instead of calling functions explicitly with arguments, you send a request to an object. When an object receives this request it performs some action. ArcView's objects are members of a class hierarchy that are organized into functional categories related to all aspects of the application.

You use Avenue's statements to organize and structure when and how requests are made. Requests are Avenue's counterpart to the traditional function call. A function call and its implementation are in one-to-one correspondence, whereas a request can trigger one of any number of methods. A request specifies what an instance of a given class will do and a method specifies how it is done. Therefore, programming in Avenue consists of writing object requests rather than calling functions. By sending a request to an object, you activate a method appropriate to the class of which the object is an instance. An object in Avenue always responds to a request by returning an object; in some cases, the request creates a new object and in other cases, the original request returns an existing object.

In procedural languages, writing code consists of establishing routines that call other routines. You maintain the state of the program in variables (basic types or structures, with global or local scopes) and these routines operate on the state of these variables. In Avenue, you maintain and control the state of the system in the objects that have been instantiated.


How to create an ArcView application

ArcView provides a rich development environment for creating your own applications. You can develop scripts to perform those tasks required by your end users and present this functionality in an intuitive user interface. You can deliver your application in several different ways depending upon your need. ArcView allows you to interact with other applications so that your ArcView application can be part of a larger system.

Customization

With Avenue, you can access and manipulate all the objects that make up ArcView. You can write scripts that perform exactly those tasks required by your application. Through the Customize and Customize Types dialog boxes you can modify the user interface to reflect your special requirements and make it easy for your end users to do their work. You can add new controls, you can remove unneeded controls, and you can reorganize the interface.  Using virtual documents you can arrange your project in ways that make sense to your end user.

Projects and Extensions

You can deliver your application in either a project file or in an extension. A project file contains all the documents, scripts and document user interface objects that your client needs. Users work with a project saving and restoring their results through the project file.

An extension adds functionality or data to an existing project. You can use an extension to deliver one button to the View DocGUI, add one View document to the current project or to deliver an entire application with multiple DocGUIs and hundreds of scripts. Extensions are very useful because they are independent from a project file. More than one project can use the same extension. Extensions are easier to update with new functionality, too, because they are in one extension file.

Interapplication communication

ArcView provides several different means for communicating with other applications. ArcView supports three kinds of client/server interaction. In both cases, ArcView can be either the client or the server. All platforms (UNIX, Windows) support ONC RPC. ArcView can easily communicate with any other applications that support ONC RPC. On Windows, ArcView supports DDE interaction. Also, from ArcView you can call procedures and functions from a shared library or dynamically linked library (DLL).

Development considerations

If you are doing a large scale development effort with multiple developers working together, you may find that extensions simplify the task of breaking up pieces and then bringing those pieces back together. You may choose to deliver the application in an extension or a project file.

You can save all the components of your application such as scripts, DocGUIs and documents  in individual ODB (object data base) files. You can then store and manage these ODB files through a source code management system. Developers can check out certain scripts and DocGUIs to make modifications. You can easily rebuild the project file or extension from these ODB files.


How to create an extension

First, create a project that contains the scripts, controls, documents and any other objects you want to include in the extension. By convention, name this project <ExtName>.apr. (for example, "test.apr"). Any scripts that you want to include in the extension should be named with a prefix that indicates the extension; for example, Test.MyScript1. Scripts in loaded extensions appear in the ScriptManager and it is much easier to find and identify scripts when you follow this convention.

Once you've created the objects to include in the extension, then you create the scripts that install, uninstall and make the extension.

1	Make Script.This script contains the code that makes the extension object, sets its properties and populates it with the objects you wish to share. You run this script to create the extension object.

2	Install Script. The install script defines how the objects in the extension are installed into the current project when you create or open a project or when you load the extension. This script becomes a property of the extension. This script is optional, but if your extension has any objects besides scripts, you will probably need it.

3	Uninstall Script. The uninstall script defines how objects in the extension are removed from the project when you close the project or unload the extension. All objects that you add to the project in the Install script must be removed from the project in the Uninstall script. This script becomes a property of the extension. This script is optional, but if your extension has any objects besides scripts, you will probably need it.

To create the extension file, run the make script. When you want to make changes to the extension, first update this project file and then rerun the make script.


If...Then...Else Statement

The If...Then...Else Statement controls conditional branching.

Syntax

if ( expression1 ) then

  request block1

end

if ( expression1 ) then

  request block1

else

  request block2

end

if ( expression1 ) then

  request block1

elseif ( expression2 ) then

  request block2

[else]

  request block3

end

Discussion

In all three forms of the syntax, ArcView executes request block1 if expression1 is true or evaluates to true. In the first form of the syntax, if expression1 evaluates to false, ArcView ignores the request block. In the second form of the syntax, if expression1 evaluates to false, ArcView executes request block2. In the third form of the syntax, if the expression1 evaluates to false, then ArcView checks to see if expression2 is true. If it is true, then ArcView executes request block2. If expression2 is also false or evaluates to false, then ArcView executes request block3.

There can be multiple elseif statements in the third form of the syntax.

Examples

This first example provides a simple test of a single condition:

if (nil = results) then

  return nil

end

The second example performs two tests.

if (theView.GetThemes.count = 0) then
  MsgBox.Info( "there are no themes", "")
elseif (theView.GetActiveThemes.count = 0) then
  MsgBox.Info( "there are no active themes", "")
end

The third example maximizes the active document if it is a View, prints a message if the active document is the Project and closes the document if it is any other kind.

if (av.GetActiveDoc.Is( View )) then
  av.GetActiveDoc.GetWin.Maximize
elseif (av.GetActiveDoc.Is( Project ) then
  MsgBox.Info( "Please open a view", "")
else
  av.GetActiveDoc.GetWin.Close
end


Introducing Avenue

Avenue is the programming language and development environment that's part of ArcView. Avenue is fully integrated with ArcView and the work you do will run on any of the platforms for which ArcView is available. There are many uses for Avenue: you can use Avenue to customize the way you work with ArcView; you can direct ArcView to perform a specific task that you need to do; or you can even develop a complete application that works along with ArcView's graphical user interface.

ArcView provides the necessary customization and language environment tools in an easy-to-use framework so you can work with Avenue and see your results right away. You can create the graphical user interface for what you want to do, establish some initial properties for the graphical controls that a user will interact with, fine tune the behavior and appearance of those controls, and write Avenue code that responds to what goes on in the interface you've created. In addition, you can link scripts written in Avenue to other events such as starting up and shutting down a project.


Launching ArcView from Visual Basic

In this example, the Visual Basic application sends Avenue requests to ArcView that create new documents, such as views and layouts. Additionally, the application can query ArcView to obtain the current active document. The Visual Basic application is the destination application, while ArcView is the source application.

Assuming you have Visual Basic and ArcView installed, here are the steps to follow to create this application:

1.  Start Visual Basic and Form1 will be created by default.

2.  Create the following controls with the following properties on Form1, then resize the form so that it neatly contains the controls.

Object	Property	Setting
Text Box	Name	txtDDE
Command Button	Caption	Send Request
	Name	cmdRequest
Combo Box	Name	cboDocType
3.  Add the following code to the general declaration section of Form1:

Const NONE = 0, MANUAL = 2

Sub Startup()   'Note: Visual Basic will create this subroutine

                'in a separate window from the general declarations

    Dim t

    Const DDE_NO_APP = 282    'error if no response

                              'see Trappable errors

    'this will start ArcView if it isn't running

    On Error GoTo FireUp

    txtDDE.LinkMode = NONE                'Clear DDE Link

    txtDDE.LinkTopic = "ArcView|System"   'Set up conversation

    txtDDE.LinkMode = MANUAL              'Establish a manual link

Exit Sub

FireUp:

    If Err = DDE_NO_APP Then

        ChDir "C:\ARCVIEW\BIN32"   ' wherever ArcView was installed

                                  ' the ChDir is required

        t = Shell("arcview", 1)

        t = DoEvents() 'process Windows events

        Resume

    Else

        MsgBox "Unknown error."

        Stop

    End If

End Sub

4.  Add the following code to the Form_Load event procedure:

Sub Form_Load ()

    cboDocType.text = ""

    cboDocType.AddItem "View"

    cboDocType.AddItem "Layout"

    cboDocType.AddItem "SEd"

    Startup    'calls startup procedure

End Sub

5.  Add the following code to the Form_Unload event procedure:

Sub Form_Unload (Cancel As Integer)

    txtDDE.LinkMode = NONE  'Close DDE conversation

End Sub

6.  Add the following code to the cboDocType_Click event procedure:

Sub cboDocType_Click ()

    'next two lines are split for display purposes only

    cmd = "av.GetProject.AddDoc(" & cboDocType &

     ".make) av.GetProject.GetActive.Get(0).GetWin.Open"

    txtDDE.LinkExecute cmd

End Sub

7.  Add the following code to the cmdRequest_Click event procedure:

Sub cmdRequest_Click ()

    'When selected this button will request an update of

    'information from the source application to the

    'destination application

    'LinkItem can be any Avenue script that returns a value

    txtDDE.LinkItem = "av.GetActiveDoc.GetName"

    txtDDE.LinkRequest

End Sub

8.  Save your Visual Basic project and make an .EXE file.

You can now run the Visual Basic application. If ArcView is not running, the application will start it. Choosing a document name from the dropdown combo box creates a document in ArcView. To request the current active document click the Send Request button. The name of the document displays in the text box.

In this example, all DDE communication passes through the text box. In Visual Basic, any text box, picture box, or label can be the destination in a conversation, while any form can be a source.


Loading an icon

When you double-click the Icon propertyin the Properties list of the Customize dialog box, ArcView displays the Icon Manager. The Icon Manager displays an illustrated list of all the icons available in ArcView; however, you may want to load an icon that you've created in another application.

You can load files from several formats including: Windows device-independent bitmap files (*.bmp), TIFF files (*.tif), CompuServe GIF (*.gif), Sun Rasterfiles (*.rs), and X bitmap files (*.xbm).

To load an icon

1	Click the Load button in the Icon Manager.

2	In the List Files of Type box, choose the type of file you want to use as an icon.

3	Navigate to the directory that contains the file you want to import.

4	Choose the file you want to use for your icon.

5	Double-click the file you want to use or choose the file and press OK.

ArcView creates an icon named after the file you selected and inserts it into the Icon Manager's list of icons.

6    Double-click the name of your icon in Icon Manager or select the icon name and press OK.

The name appears in the Properties list of the button or tool that's selected in the Customize dialog box and the graphic appears on the face of the button or tool or in the project window.

Tip If you use another application to create an icon, make sure the size of the icon is less than or equal to 24x24 pixels.


Loading a system script

You may want to use all or part of a system script as the basis for a script that you write; or you may want to use a script as a model for your own work.

To load the contents of a system script

1	Click the Load Script button [image].

2	In the Script Manager, navigate to the name of the system script that you want to load.

3	Double-click the name of the script you want to load or choose the name of the script and press OK.

ArcView inserts the contents of the script at the insertion point. This replaces any selected text, so to append the contents of a file, make certain that there is no selection, by clicking where you want to insert text.


Loading a text file into a script

You may use a word processing application or editor to create scripts outside the ArcView application and then load them into the script you're working on. The application or editor should generate an ASCII text file.

To load the contents of a text file

1	Click the Load Text File button [image].

2	Navigate to the directory that contains the file you want to load.

3	Choose the file you want to load.

4	Double-click the file you want to load or choose the file and press OK.

ArcView inserts the contents of the file at the insertion point. This replaces any selected text, so to append the contents of a file, make certain that there is no selection, by clicking where you want to insert text.


Local and global variables

A variable references an object. A variable is created when it appears on the left hand side of an assignment statement. The object named on the right hand side of the equal sign is that object that the variable references.

Local variables

You can use a local variable only in the script in which is defined. The local variable is eliminated when that script completes.

Global variables

A global variable begins with the underscore character. The global is created the first time it appears on the left-hand side of an assignment statement.

_myDictionary = Dictionary.Make( 100 )

Once you create a global variable, it remains in the application until you close application or until the ClearGlobals request executes. By default, ArcView clears the global variables when you open a project file or create a new project. The system script that opens an existing project file (Project.Open) and the script that creates a new project (Project.New) clear the global variables with ClearGlobals. If your application requires that global variables remain defined throughout the entire application, you must alter these scripts.

If you clear the global variables and then execute a script that uses the value of one, you will get the error message "The global variable <name> no longer exists."  If you try to use a global variable before it has been created, you will get a compile time error.

You should use global variables prudently. ArcView's garbage collection clears unreferenced objects from memory. Objects referenced by your global variables remain in memory.  If you do want to release an object referenced by a global variable, but you do not want to do the ClearGlobals request, you can simply set the global variable to nil.


Whats in the extension's make script
What's in the extension's make script

The extension's make script creates the extension object, sets its properties, adds the objects you want to share to the extension object and finally saves the extension to file. Given below are the steps needed to write an extension's make script.

First, in the make script, you create the extension object with the Make request. Extension.Make has five arguments:

•	FileName. The filename identifies where this extension is written on disk. By convention, extension files end with the suffix .avx.

•	Name. This name appears in the Extensions dialog.

•	Install Script. The Install script runs when you load the extension and, while the extension is loaded, whenever you open a different project. The Install script contains instructions for putting the objects in the extension in the appropriate place in the project. For example, if your extension has controls, the install script adds the controls to the correct location in the appropriate DocGUI. If your extension does not require an Install script, specify the nil object.

•	Uninstall Script. The Uninstall script runs when you unload an extension and, while the extension is loaded, whenever you close a project. The Uninstall script contains the instructions for removing the objects in the extension from the project. Any objects you add to the project in the install script must be removed with the uninstall script. If your extension does not require an Uninstall script, specify the nil object.

•	Dependencies list. The dependencies list is a list of ArcView FileName objects; these FileNames reference either ESRI provided DLLs which define extended functionality or other extensions. ArcView ensures that all elements in the dependencies list are loaded BEFORE this extension loads. If you extension has no dependencies, then specify an empty list '{}'.

This statement makes an extension object:

' Create the extension object
'  NOTE - add dependencies to last empty list - if applicable
testavx = Extension.Make( "test.avx".AsFileName, "Test Extension",
   av.FindScript("Install"), av.FindScript("Uninstall"), {})

Next, you can set other extension properties. The example below sets the About and extension version number properties.

' Set other properties
testavx.SetProjectSaveScript( av.FindScript( "ProjectSave" ))
testavx.SetAbout( "Something about this Test Extension")
testavx.SetExtVersion( 1 )

Next, add any controls or other objects to the extension. Remember the order in which these items are added to the extension object. Your install script gets these objects from the extension and adds them to the project.

' Add controls
testavx.Add(av.FindGUI("View").GetMenuBar.GetControls.Get(2).GetControls.Get(4))

' Add other objects
testavx.Add(av.FindDoc("View1"))

Add any scripts. By convention, all scripts in an extension should begin with a prefix that indicates the extension; for example, Test.MyScript1. Note:   do not add extension property scripts such as Install, Uninstall, etc.; those have already been added to the extension as properties. Add only those scripts that you need to support other objects in the extension. The code below assumes that the scripts you add are named "Test.<something>". If you prefer, you can find and add individual scripts.

' Add scripts
'  Note: this assumes that each script you want to include is in a SEd
'  and its name begins with "Test."
for each d in av.GetProject.GetDocs
  if (d.Is(SEd) AND (d.GetName.Left( "Test".count +1) = "Test.")) then
    testavx.Add(d.GetScript)
  end
end

Finally, you write this extension to file with the commit request.

testavx.commit


Modifying the Interface

You can use the Customize dialog box to modify, delete, or add controls to the ArcView interface or your own application's interface.

Notes

 To position a window with an Avenue script, send the MoveTo request to a DocWin. To resize a window with a script, send a DocWin the Resize request.

 To minimize or maximize windows with an Avenue script, send the Minimize or Maximize request to a DocWin.

See also

Customizing ArcView

Customizing Menus

Customizing Buttons

Customizing Tools


Objects

An object is an entity that represents something you work with in ArcView. Objects are interface elements like controls and document windows, or they can be project components like views or layouts, or they can be basic elements of Avenue like numbers, dates, Booleans, and strings, or they can be graphic primitives like points, lines, or other shapes, etc. Each class in the ArcView Class Hierarchy defines the characteristics common to all objects that are instances  of that class. For example, the Doc class has 6 subclasses: Chart, Layout, Project, Script, Table and View. Each of these subclasses inherit all of the characteristics of Doc and then include additional attributes and requests.

You can set and retrieve the characteristics or properties of an object through a set of actions that are referred to as requests that can be sent to it. In addition, you can even attach additional information to some objects such as controls or shapes by setting their ObjectTag property.


Platform independent project files

To move an ArcView project across platforms, your porting strategy covers two key areas: data source names and Avenue code.

Data source names

Create platform independent data source names in your project by editing your project file to begin all path names with an environment variable and to use the forward slash path delimiter. To find the data source names in your project file, search for the word "Path:". You will find lines like these.

(FN.255

        Path:   "c:\WIN32APP\DATA\atlanta\region\highway"

)

(FN.262

        Path:   "c:\WIN32APP\DATA\atlanta\region\info\highway.aat"

)

   Prefix each data source with an environment variable that identifies the root path of the data. For example, $AVDATA prefixes all data source names in ArcView's sample projects. If your project gathers data from multiple "root" directories, then use different environment variables for each. ArcView recognizes environment variables on all platforms. On UNIX systems, AVDATA might be defined to reference "/mustang/arcview/AVDATA" On Windows it might reference "c:\WIN32APP\AVDATA."

   Change path delimiters to forward slash "/". ArcView supports both native format and forward slash delimited paths on all platforms. When you have finished, the lines look like this.

(FN.255

        Path:   "$AVDATA/atlanta/region/highway"

)

(FN.262

        Path:   "$AVDATA/atlanta/region/info/highway.aat"

)

Avenue scripts

By design, Avenue is almost entirely platform independent, but there are a few caveats.

    ArcView has some platform specific classes and requests. Only Windows supports DDEClient and DDEServer classes. Additionally, there are a few platform specific requests such as SetColorMapSize and PlaySound.

    The request System.Execute allows you to issue a system command;  system commands are platform specific.

    When you reference file names in your Avenue scripts, you must use the file naming conventions described above. Avenue recognizes environment variables and the forward slash delimiter on all platforms.

The request System.GetOS tells which operating system you are currently running on. With this request, you can code around platform dependencies. Also, using the Script.DoIt request, you can conditionally compile scripts; conditional compilation is useful when working with platform-specific classes.


Precedence

In Avenue, all requests are evaluated in left to right order. Avenue evaluates parenthesized expressions as a unit.

Because arithmetic operators are simply Avenue requests, they also follow the left to right precedence rule - not standard arithmetic precedence rules. One might expect the following equation to yield 33, but, in Avenue, x receives the value 48.

x = 3 + 5 * 6

Use parenthesis to force appropriate evaluation:

x = 3 + (5 * 6)

Pay particular attention when mixing various request notations. The following expression requires parentheses around the comparison myString = "hello".

if (Not ( myString = "hello" )) then

...

In the following example, the equation (myList.Count - 1) must be in parentheses to force the evaluation of that expression before applying the duration operator (..).

for count = 1..(myList.Count - 1)


Programming Tips and Techniques
Programming Tips and Techniques with Visual Basic

This section provides some tips and techniques for integrating a Visual Basic application with ArcView. This is by no means a comprehensive discussion, but rather some notes gathered from our experience at ESRI. Where appropriate, code examples are also provided.

 If your Visual Basic application launches ArcView, make sure you allow for the time it takes ArcView to start up. You can do this by setting an appropriate LinkTimeout (e.g., 600, which is 60 seconds) on the control that sends requests to ArcView. This will prevent anxious users from getting DDE timeout error messages.

 Although a Visual Basic application and ArcView communicate through DDE, they are still separate applications running independently from one another. Thus, the user can change the "state" of ArcView while your Visual Basic application is running. If you send an Avenue request to ArcView from Visual Basic that, for example, gets the active theme, there's no guarantee that a view will be the active document, even though it was when the Visual Basic application started. You must program your Visual Basic application to handle this situation.

One thing you might do is evaluate the string returned to the application from ArcView. If the string is NIL—which would happen if you sent a request to a view, but a view was not the active document—you could terminate your application, displaying a message indicating that the operation could not be performed because the state of ArcView changed. Another approach would be to pass the name of the active document (and whatever other state information your application requires) to Visual Basic and store it in a hidden control on the form. Then, as part of the request you send to ArcView, you could restore ArcView's environment to the appropriate state. For example, if your application required an active view and an active theme within that view, you could poke data from ArcView to Visual Basic (assuming ArcView is the destination application):

'Connect to a Visual Basic application as a destination

aDDE = DDEClient.Make ("SomeApp","SomeTopic")

'Poke information into a hidden text field on the VB side

theView = av.GetActiveDoc

theTheme = theView.GetActiveThemes.Get(0)

'txtHidden is the name of the text box control in Visual Basic

aDDE.Poke ("txtHidden",theView.asstring+","+theTheme.asstring)

Then when you send a request from Visual Basic to ArcView, you could make sure the proper theme and view are active.

 When you start ArcView, ArcView automatically creates a DDE source (server). If you want to have more than one ArcView program running, and you want to communicate with both of them through DDE, you will need to rename one of the sources with the request DDEServer.StartNamed. This allows you to specify a different application name for ArcView, allowing DDE to distinguish between the separate ArcView programs.

 Poking data into ArcView from Visual Basic (ArcView as a source) is an easy way to execute a script and pass the value of the Visual Basic control as the SELF object to the script. For example, if you want to pass a comma delimited list from Visual Basic to ArcView, use this code in Visual Basic:

txtData.LinkMode = NONE

txtData.LinkTopic = "ArcView|System"

txtData.LinkMode = MANUAL

txtData.LinkTimeout = 600

txtData.Text = "item1,item2,item3"

txtData.LinkItem = "String Script1"

txtData.LinkPoke

txtData.LinkMode = NONE

The components of txtData.LinkItem are a keyword "string", that indicates the data type (the current version of ArcView only supports strings), followed by the name of the script to run, in this case, Script1. In ArcView, Script1 contains the following code:

theItems = Self.AsTokens(",")

MsgBox.ListAsString(theItems, " ", " ")

Thus, this example shows how you can use a Visual Basic form to set some parameters, and pass those parameters as arguments to an Avenue script.

 Since ArcView deals with color in terms of an RGB (red, green, blue) value, here's a handy Visual Basic function to convert a color selected from the common dialog box to an RGB value. Add this function to a project:

Function GetRGB (RGBval As Long, Num As Integer) As Integer

'-----------------------------------------------------------------

'PURPOSE: Returns red/green/blue color from RGB color value.

'ACCEPTS: RGB color value as Long, and component number as integer

'         that represents the component color to return (1=red,

'         2=green, 3=blue).

'RETURNS: The intensity of the color component (0 - 255) as an

'         integer or -1 indicating that an argument was invalid.

'-----------------------------------------------------------------

' Check if Num, RGBval are valid.

If Num > 0 And Num < 4 And RGBval > -1 And RGBval < 16777216 Then

    GetRGB = RGBval \ 256 ^ (Num - 1) And 255

Else

    ' Return True (-1) if Num or RGBval are invalid.

    GetRGB = True

End If

End Function

Then add a command button to the form and add this code to the Click event:

Sub Command1_Click ()

    CMDialog1.Flags = &H1&

    CMDialog1.Action = 3

    Red = Str$(GetRGB((CMDialog1.Color), 1))

    Green = Str$(GetRGB((CMDialog1.Color), 2))

    Blue = Str$(GetRGB((CMDialog1.Color), 3))

    MsgBox Red & Green & Blue

End Sub

 Here's a useful function that will keep your Visual Basic application window on top of all other windows. This will prevent the ArcView application window from obscuring your Visual Basic form. The window will retain its topmost position even when it is deactivated (e.g., by clicking in another window). Add this code to the General Declarations section of your Visual Basic application:

(Note: the first two lines of code should actually be one line of code when you add it to Visual Basic)

Declare Sub SetWindowPos Lib "User" (ByVal h1%, ByVal h2%,
  ByVal x%, ByVal y%, ByVal cx%, ByVal cy%, ByVal f%)

Const HWND_TOPMOST = -1

Const HWND_NOTOPMOST = -2

Const SWP_NOACTIVATE = &H10

Const SWP_SHOWWINDOW = &H40

Place a function call in the Form_Load event:

Sub Form_Load ()

    'The next 2 lines are split for display only, make them 1 line.

    SetWindowPos Form1.hWnd, HWND_TOPMOST, 0, 0, 0, 0,
      SWP_NOACTIVATE Or SWP_SHOWWINDOW

End Sub

The Visual Basic code fragment, illustrated above, makes a call to a Windows Dynamic-link library (DLL) that sets the position of a window.


Project's Working Directory

The project's working directory is the directory where ArcView writes underlying utility files. For example, when you index a coverage, if you do not have write access to the location of the data source, ArcView writes the index files to your working directory. Similarly, when you do editing or analysis tasks, ArcView writes intermediate data sets generated by those operations to your working directory.

The project's working directory defaults to $HOME. You can change the working directory for your project either through the project's property dialog box or through the Set Working Directory choice in the View document user interface File menu. From Avenue, you can change the project's working directory with the request SetWorkDir.

The working directory differs from the current directory. The working directory does not change unless you explicitly alter it using one of the methods described. The current directory changes each time you browse your file system, for example when you look for the data source of a theme or look for an avenue file. In Avenue, you can get the current directory with the FileName request GetCWD and specify the current directory with SetCWD.


Project compatibility with previous versions of ArcView

ArcView projects can easily be read from one platform to another. However, there are some things to note if you use previous versions of ArcView or multiple versions of ArcView on a single machine.

 ArcView projects are not backward compatible with previous versions of ArcView. Therefore you cannot open a project made with ArcView Version 3.1 in an earlier version of ArcView.

 If you open an ArcView 3.0x project with any customized GUIs or any extensions loaded, ArcView 3.1 prompts you if you want to update your project to include the new ArcView 3.1 tools. If you answer yes then it will add the new tools (TOC Style, Create Buffers, etc.) to your project. If you answer no it will not alter your project. For more information, see What's new in Projects

 If you have a customized DEFAULT.APR created with ArcView Version 3.1 located in your TEMP or HOME directory, you will not be able to run previous versions of ArcView unless you move, remove or rename the Version 3.1 DEFAULT.APR. For example, rename DEFAULT.APR to DEFAULT.OLD.

 ArcView Version 3.0 introduced a new metaphor for the icons in the Project Window. In earlier versions, there were five icons in the project window - one for each kind of document. At 3.0, each icon represents a DocGUI and you can specify which DocGUIs are visible in the project window as well as the icon they use, the title, and their order. If you have customized DocGUIs in your 2.x project, when you open that project under ArcView Version 3.0x or ArcView Version 3.1, you will see additional icons in the project window. Note that document names appear in the list on the right side of the project window when the DocGUI used by those documents is selected.

If you want your project to retain the look of the old project window metaphor, use the document request SetGroupGUI. For example,  you might want to list all View documents under the View icon regardless of the DocGUI that View actually uses (just like it did at 2.x). Then for each view, set its group GUI to be "View" using the SetGroupGUI request on document.

 Projects created with ArcView Version 2.x or ArcView 3.0x that contain scripts may not be completely compatible at Version 3.1 due to changes to classes and requests. See Changes to classes and requests in ArcView 3.0 or Changes to classes and requests in ArcView 3.1 .

 The CAD Reader functionality is implemented as an extension at ArcView Version 3.0. You must load the CAD Reader extension before you open projects created with ArcView Version 2.x that contain themes based on CAD drawing files (.DWG and .DXF files).

 Some geocoding address styles have been modified since ArcView Version 3.0. A theme that has been made matchable and saved in a project, using a previous version ArcView, would not respect the changes in the applied address style, for example, the order and names of the fields displayed in the Geocoding Editor. The affected address styles include,

US Streets with Zone

US Streets

US Single Range with Zone

US Single Range

Remedy: Delete the theme and make it matchable by setting the theme's geocoding properties again using ArcView Version 3.0. Save the project.

 If you have created a customized system DEFAULT.APR with ArcView Version 2.x or ArcView Version 3.0x and put it into ArcView's etc directory (i.e., you have replaced the DEFAULT.APR that comes with ArcView in $AVHOME/etc) you will need to recreate it as ArcView Version 3.1 overwrites this file on setup.

 ArcView 1 views (.av files) can be imported into ArcView 2.x and 3.x. See Importing views created with ArcView 1.0 for more information.


Frequently asked questions about Projects, Avenue, Scripts, and Customizing ArcView
Questions about Projects, Avenue, Scripts, and Customizing ArcView

What do you need help with?

Projects

I want to create platform independent project files.

I'm working on a project with several other developers and we need to access the same project file. Can we share the file among our development team?

Why does the project window look different when a project created in ArcView 2.1 is loaded into ArcView 3.x? How can I make it look like it did in ArcView 2.1?

How can I open an ArcView 2.x project file containing CAD drawing themes?

Can I edit a project file (.apr) in a text editor?

Why doesn't Project repair work properly on some projects?

Why won't my project open after dismissing the Project Repair dialog for a missing extension?

Why does importing my project that uses an extension cause an error?

Avenue and Scripts

I want to get a list of all the Avenue requests.

What Avenue classes and requests have changed since the last release of ArcView?

When running a script from the samples library, I get the error message "a <DocumentName> object does not recognize request <RequestName>."

Can I call scripts from other scripts? Is Avenue recursive?

Loading a large file into the script editor sometimes causes an assertion error.

I'm getting the error message "<NAME> is both a class and a variable." However, when I search the class hierarchy, I can't find any class with that name.

On my PC, I get an error when I try the following Avenue statement: system.execute( "mkdir c:\test").

Why do I get an error when I try to run my script after unloading an extension?

Customizing ArcView

Why is the Delete button in the Customize Types dialog disabled?

How can I control which icon my document appears with in the Project Window?

What does the Make Default checkbox on the Extension dialog do?

Why do the Project.Open and Project.New system scripts have two parts?

Why does ArcView sometimes exit with an Illegal Instruction when I run my script that closes and opens documents or use a Hot Link?

General

Do accelerator keys work on label buttons?

Why does the Customize dialog sometimes appear when I don't expect it?


I want to create platform independent project files.

To create platform independent project files, you must use platform independent source file names and write platform independent Avenue scripts. You create platform independent source file names in your project by editing the project file. With the editor, change all source names to begin with an environment variable and use the forward slash file delimiter. By design, Avenue is platform independent, but there are some classes and requests specific to certain platforms; use prudence when coding with these.


When running a script from the samples library, I get the error message "a <DocumentName> object does not recognize request <RequestName>."

The Avenue request av.GetActiveDoc returns the active document. Many scripts require a certain type of document to be the active. For example, if you write a script to add a new theme to the active document, the active document must be a View; a Chart document would not recognize the request "AddTheme".

Each script in the script library includes documentation describing the required active document type.  Each script in the system default scripts uses a variable name to indicate the required active document.

     theView = av.GetActiveDoc

     theSEd = av.GetActiveDoc

     theTable = av.GetActiveDoc

Also, the script name indicates the type of document on which the script operates:  View.ZoomtoTheme, Project.Save, etc..

There are two ways you can run a script with the correct active document. First, you can associate that script with a control in that document's DocGUI. Script library help will indicate if the script belongs with a click (default) or an apply event. Or, if the script runs in a click event, you can execute the script from a Script Editor document. By default, the last document that was active before the Script Editor became active is returned by av.GetActiveDoc. You can force the Script Editor to be the active document with the "Remain Active" flag in the script properties sheet.


I want to get a list of all the Avenue requests.

In the samples directory, $AVHOME/samples/other, there are text files called avreq30.txt and avreq31.txt. The avreq30.txt file is a delimited text file that contains all the Avenue requests at the 3.0 release and the avreq31.txt file is a delimited text file that contains all the Avenue requests at the 3.1 release. For each request, these files list the class name, the request name, the arguments, the return type, the superclass name and whether it belongs to an extension. You can load these files into tables in ArcView to sort or perform other interesting queries. Also, the sample extension ClassBrowser lets you inspect these files.

Note: These text files only list the classes and requests in core ArcView and included extensions (i.e. CAD Reader, Digitizer, etc.). It does not include the classes and requests in the Optional Analyst extensions (i.e. 3D Analyst, Spatial Analyst, Network Analyst, etc.).


Can I call scripts from other scripts? Is Avenue recursive?

Yes, Avenue provides requests that allow to you to call scripts from other scripts. Three requests support different methods: av.Run, av.DelayedRun and aScript.DoIt. For details on the individual requests, see Calling scripts from other scripts

Avenue is not recursive.


Loading a large file into the script editor sometimes causes an assertion error.

Files that contain 30,000 bytes or more may not load successfully into a script editor. You can easily work around this limitation by breaking the file into smaller pieces and loading each piece.


I'm working on a project with several other developers and we need to access the same project file. Can we share the file among our development team?

ArcView does not provide transaction management on a project file. To ensure that different developers do not write over each other’s work, each developer should work on a separate copy of the project file. Scripts, GUIs and documents can be written to file with ArcView’s ODB class and then easily included in the master project.

Extensions provide an excellent method for sharing development work. Each developer can work in his own extension and you can load these various extensions into one product. You can define dependencies between extensions and share code. The final product may be a project file or another extension.


I'm getting the error message "<NAME> is both a class and a variable." However, when I search the class hierarchy, I can't find any class with that name.

Some classes in ArcView are not exposed through Avenue; these are called private classes. Other classes have been renamed so that they have more meaningful names to the Avenue programmer; these are called aliased classes. These class names are reserved words and you cannot use them as variables in your Avenue script. When you get this error message, simply change the name of the variable that conflicts with the class name.


On my PC, I get an error when I try the following Avenue statement: system.execute( "mkdir c:\test").

On Windows, System.Execute or System.ExecuteSynchronous can be used to launch batch or executable files.

System.Execute("notepad.exe" )

System.ExecuteSynchronous("notepad.exe" )

You cannot issue DOS commands like copy or dir; these are part of command.com. Avenue statements like System.Execute("copy f1 f2") or System.Execute("mkdir c:\test") fail with the error message:

mkdir c:\test: The program could not be found.

If you need to perform these tasks, you can create a batch file and then execute it. The batch file could even be created on the fly from within an Avenue script. Or you can give the following command. On Windows NT or Windows 95, command.com is in the system directory.

System.Execute("c:\command.com /c mkdir c:\test" )

System.ExecuteSynchronous("c:\command.com /c mkdir c:\test" )


Do accelerator keys work on label buttons?

On Windows NT and Windows 95, the accelerator keys on label buttons do not display (the accelerator letter is not underlined in the label), but the accelerator keys do work. Label Buttons appear in the Project Window and many other dialogs such as Legend Editor, MsgBoxes, etc.


Why does the project window look different when a project created in ArcView 2.1 is loaded into ArcView 3.x? How can I make look like it did in ArcView 2.1?

With ArcView 3.x, when I open a project that was created in ArcView 2.1, the documents are not listed in the project window the way they used to be.

ArcView's project window provides a table of contents to the documents in your project. In earlier versions of ArcView, the project window arranged documents by their kind: View, Table, Layout, Chart and Script. The icons on the left side of the project window each represented a kind and you had no ability to customize the contents.

Now ArcView gives you the ability to define how your documents are listed in the project window. The icons on the left side of the project window represent document user interfaces (DocGUIs) instead of kinds of documents. So, if you create custom DocGUIs, you can include these in the project window. When the user selects one of these icons, by default, the project window displays all the documents that use this DocGUI.

This behavior gives you the power to create "virtual documents" - your own special kinds of Views, Tables, Layouts, Charts and Scripts. Through virtual documents, you can arrange your project in ways that make sense to your application.

If you had created customized DocGUIs in ArcView 2.1, any documents associated with the customized DocGUI now appears when the icon for your custom DocGUI is active. If you want your project to retain the look of the old project window metaphor where all documents are listed by their kind (View, Layout, Chart, etc.), use the document request SetGroupGUI. For example, you might want to list all View documents under the View icon regardless of the DocGUI that View actually uses (just like it did at 2.1). Then for each view, set its group GUI to be "View" using the SetGroupGUI request. Also, you can easily modify the visible state of each DocGUI and rearrange the order of icons through the Customize Types dialog.


What does the Make Default checkbox on the Extension dialog do?

When you check on the Make Default checkbox on the Extension dialog, you are telling ArcView to save the set of loaded extensions to the user default project the next time you hit OK. The saved set of extensions will be those extensions that are loaded after you OK, not those extensions selected when you check Make Default. If you hit Cancel, nothing is saved.


How can I open an ArcView 2.x project file containing CAD drawing themes?

When I open or import an ArcView 2.x project file containing CAD drawing themes, I sometimes get this error message

"Unknown Object "DwgSrc 9" in project xxxxx.apr"

How can I open such a project file?

The CAD Reader functionality is implemented as an extension in ArcView Version 3.0. You must load the CAD Reader extension before you open projects created with ArcView Version 2.x that contain themes based on CAD drawing files (.DWG and .DXF files).


What Avenue classes and requests have changed since the last release of ArcView?

As ArcView evolves, changes occur to the Avenue classes and requests. Some Avenue classes are redesigned and some requests are changed. Also many new classes and requests are added.

For a detailed listing of changes of classes and requests from ArcView 2.1 to 3.0, see Changes to classes and requests in ArcView 3.0.

For a detailed listing of changes of classes and requests from ArcView 3.0 to 3.1, see Changes to classes and requests in ArcView 3.1

If any of your scripts use requests that have changed, you will get the runtime error:

"A <ClassName> object does not recognize request <RequestName>"

If you have encrypted scripts, you will need to correct the source and then encrypt again.


Why does the Customize dialog sometimes appear when I don’t expect it?

On Windows NT and Windows 95, the Customize dialog sometimes appears when you dismiss error message boxes and other dialogs. You can close the Customize dialog when this happens.


Why do I get an error when trying to run my script after I unloaded an extension?

If you create scripts that use classes and requests belonging to an extension (such as Network Analyst, Spatial Analyst, or Database Access), compile these scripts, and then unload the extension, you will get an error if you try to run the compiled script that uses these classes or requests. Since the extension was unloaded, it’s classes and requests are no longer available to Avenue.


Why do the Project.Open and the Project.New system scripts have two parts?

The ArcView 2.x system scripts Project.Open and Project.New have each been split into two parts. Project.Open is now Project.Open and Project.OpenPart2. Project.New is now Project.New and Project.NewPart2. These scripts were split into two parts to solve a problem with unloading extensions. The first script calls its part2 with av.DelayedRun. If you have projects with customized versions of Project.Open and Project.New, you should update your customized scripts to work like the new system default versions.

If you do not update these scripts, when either Spatial Analyst or Network Analyst is loaded and you open a new project while still drawing to a view, ArcView crashes.


Why is the Delete button in the Customize Types dialog disabled?

The Customize Types dialog activates the Delete button only when the selected DocGUI has no documents referencing it. If there are documents that reference this DocGUI, the delete button is disabled. This prevents users from accidentally deleting a DocGUI that their project needs. Similarly, the RemoveGUI request deletes the DocGUI only if there are no documents that reference it; RemoveGUI returns a Boolean status indicating the success of the operation.


How can I control which icon my document appears with in the Project window?

You can control which icon your document appears with in the Project Window. By default, the document is listed with the associated DocGUI, but you can customize this through Avenue using the requests SetGroupGUI/GetGroupGUI. So, your document can be listed with the DocGUI "Views" in the project window, but use the custom DocGUI "Advanced Analysis" when you interact with the document. The request GetDocsWithGroupGUI gets the list of all documents that appear in the project window when this DocGUI is selected.


Can I edit a project file(.apr) in a text editor?

You can use any text editor that will not add extra characters to the file. Word processors such as Microsoft Word are generally not suitable unless they have an option to save the file as a text file. Use extreme caution when you edit a project file in a text editor because you might corrupt the project.


Why does ArcView sometimes exit with an Illegal Instruction when I run my script that closes and opens documents or use a Hot Link?

Due to an internal change made to the Windows NT/Windows 95 version of ArcView GIS 3.x, there is one case which could be encountered by an Avenue programmer which causes ArcView to exit with an Illegal Instruction. However, there are some easy workarounds.

The problem occurs when you close the current document and then open other documents using an Apply event. Avenue programmers frequently run into this problem when customizing Hot Links.

One workaround is to close the current document after any other documents have been opened.

Another workaround is to move the current document off the screen. For example, use

     aWindow.MoveTo(-1000,-1000)

so that the document is not visible, but so that it’s not closed either.


Why doesn’t Project repair work properly on some projects?

 Project repair does not handle ArcView 1 views, or library data when the ARCHOME environment variable is not set or is not pointing to the copy of ARC/INFO which contains the library.

 Project repair does not resolve the transition from workstation ARC/INFO to PC ARC/INFO dBASE coverages.


Why won't my project open after dismissing the Project Repair dialog for a missing extension?

When you open a project that uses an extension, and ArcView can't find that extension, the Project Repair dialog appears prompting you to locate that extension on disk. However, if you choose the wrong extension in the dialog, and press OK, or if you Cancel this dialog, sometimes the project won’t open or ArcView may exit with an error. If you choose the wrong extension, some Avenue classes and requests that the project relies on might not get loaded into ArcView and that project will not open correctly.


Why does importing my project that uses an extension cause an error?

If you import a project that uses an extension that you don't have installed on your system, ArcView may exit with an error. Some Avenue classes and requests that the project relies on might not get loaded into ArcView so that project will not import correctly. There is no problem importing a project that uses an extension that is installed on your system but not currently loaded in ArcView.


Requests

Avenue requests let you create, control, or get information about objects. Each Avenue class provides requests that operate on the class or instances of that class. The requests trigger methods that are class-specific.

For example, you can move a graphic object like a line by sending that line a request to move itself a certain distance in the x- and y-direction. Likewise, you can display a theme object by sending the theme a request to draw itself, or you can remove a view object by telling that view to close. You can find the product of two numbers by using a multiply request. You can inquire about the visibility of a control by sending it the IsVisible request or learn which document is active by sending the project a GetActiveDoc request.

When you send a request to an object in Avenue, the request results in the return of another object. In some cases these objects represent information about other objects. For example, the statement:

theName =  theView.GetName

returns a string object which is the name of the object "theView". The variable theName receives that object. Likewise, the expression:

myNumber =  2  +  5

returns a number object which is the result of the addition request to two number objects. ArcView assigns that number object to the variable myNumber. Some requests result in the return of the NIL object.

The requests available for any particular class are grouped in two categories: those made directly to the class; and those made to objects, or instances of that class.

Class requests do not target an individual object, but provide a mechanism for more general functionality. In class requests, the actual class name (eg. View, LineFile, List) is the "target" of the request. Class requests generally create instances of the class or return information about things that affect the class. Some examples are:

FileName.Make( "myfile.txt" )

returns a new instance of FileName.

RPCClient.HasServer( aHostName, aServerId )

returns TRUE if aServerId exists on aHostName.

Most requests are instance requests. Instance requests allow you to perform an action on an object. For example, you can maximize the display window of the view named View1, you can make the theme named "Cities" in view "USA" active, you can change the color of a graphic in the display. Instance requests typically perform some action or alter the state of an object.

Different classes support different requests. For example, you can send a request to a view to zoom, but numbers don't understand the zoom request.

In some cases, you can send the same request (like Save, Open, +, or Make), to objects that belong to different classes. These requests are actuated very differently, but have the same general result. This is known as polymorphism. For example, the Make request issued to the List class performs a different function than the Make request issued to TextFile, but both Make requests generate a new instance of the target class.

Requests are either defined by the class or inherited from superclasses. The Avenue on-line help includes the sections "Inherits From" which indicates the superclass and "Inherited By" which indicates the subclasses. See ArcView's class descriptions.


Request Naming Conventions

Most Avenue request names have an <action> <subject> format such as GetProject, FindScript, AddDoc, and SetValue where Get, Find, Add, and Set are actions and Project, Script, Doc, and Value are subjects. The action identifies the role and behavior of the request. The subject clarifies and specifies the request. Common action keywords name requests throughout the class hierarchy. You can understand the function and general behavior of an Avenue request by recognizing the action keyword inherent in its name. These keywords and their standard functions are defined below.

Add adds an object to the request target. Here the string "Illinois" is added to the list myList.

myList.Add( "Illinois" )

As returns a version of the target object converted to a different type. Here the string "56789" is converted to a number object and assigned to the variable x.

x = "56789".AsNumber

Can returns true or false if the function can be performed. In this example, the File class supports the CanDelete request which returns true if the named file can be deleted.

File.CanDelete( "$MYDATA/states.dbf".AsFileName )

Another example.

aTheme.CanEdit  'returns true if the theme can be edited.

Find returns a reference to a named object. If no object has the given name, the Find request returns NIL. Here the project object searches for the document named "View1" returning the document with that name if it exists.

myView = av.GetProject.FindDoc( "View1" )

Other examples.

aProject.FindGUI(aGUIName) 'returns the GUI named aGUIName.
aView.FindTheme("Redlands") 'returns the theme named "Redlands".

Get returns a reference to another related object. Any changes you make impact the actual object. To contrast Get with Return, Return yields a reference to a new object. In this example, GetThemes returns the list of themes associated with the view referenced by the variable myView. If you change the contents of this list, you change the themes associated with the view.

themeList = myView.GetThemes
theProject = av.GetProject  'gets a reference to the active project.

Has returns true if the object is in or has the specified condition or state. The HasError request is the most common. Here the HasError request determines if the new script object was correctly created.

myScript = Script.Make( "av.minimize" )
if (myScript.HasError) then
  MsgBox.Error( "Script failed to make", "")
end

Another example

aList.HasAny(aClass) 'returns true if the list contains any
                     ' elements of aClass.

Is returns true or false indicating the value of a Boolean property or state. In this example, the request IsDir returns true if the file referenced by the filename object is a directory.

theFile = "$MYDATA/test".AsFileName
if (theFile.IsDir) then
  …
end

Other examples.

aControl.IsEnabled   'returns true if the control is enabled.
aString.IsQuoted     'returns true if the string is quoted.
aFile.IsWritable     'returns true if the file is writable.

Make creates a new instance of the target class. You create a new View document with this script.

aView = View.Make

Return creates a new object and returns a reference to it. Contrast Return with Get which returns a reference to an existing object. In the first example, ReturnExtent returns a rectangle object that is the extent of the View myView. If you change the value of the

rectangle, you do not alter the view's extent.

myView.ReturnExtent
aLine.ReturnCenter   'calculates and returns the center point of the line.
aFileName.ReturnDir  'returns a new filename which is the directory portion
                     ' of the filename.

Set assigns a new value to an object or a property of the target object.

aView.SetTocWidth( 100 ) 'specify the width of the TOC
aDoc.SetGUI(aGUIName)    'assigns the GUI named aGUIName to the document.
aButton.SetIcon(anIcon)  'sets the icon for the button


Request Notation

Requests to objects can be made in one of three forms: postfix, infix, or prefix. All Avenue expressions use one of these forms.

Postfix

The general form for object requests is in postfix form, where the request is used after the object.

Syntax

Object.Request

Example

av.GetProject

Postfix requests may also be chained together in the form:

Object.Request.Request...Request

Each object.request returns another object and the object request pairs are evaluated in left to right order. In the following example theView.FindTheme( "Roads" ) returns a theme object. The request SetVisible is issued to that theme object to mark it invisible.

theView.FindTheme( "Roads" ).SetVisible( false )

Infix

The infix form is most often used for arithmetic operators.

Syntax

Object Request Object

Example

2 + 3

Expressions are evaluated in left to right order. Avenue does not recognize operator precedence.

Prefix

The prefix form occurs when the request appears in front of the object.

Syntax

Request Object

Example

not True


Return Statement

You can use the Return statement to return any object to the calling script. Use the Return statement to end execution of your current script.

Syntax

return anObject

Example

Use the return statement to end the execution of your script. If there is no value to return to a calling script, return the nil object. Use Return instead of Exit to end a script unless you have encountered some catastrophic error condition.

MyView = av.GetProject.FindDoc( "View1" )
if (myView = nil) then
  MsgBox.Error( "couldn't find view", "")
  return nil
end

Here is an example of a script calling another script and getting a return value.

'calling script
results = av.run("GetAction", "Green")
msgbox.info(results, "Driving Instructions")

Here is the called script. The value it returns is the result in the script above.

'script "GetAction"
if (Self = "RED") then
  return "Stop"
elseif (Self = "Green") then
  return "GO"
else
  return "Use caution"
end

Note  The Return statement must have an argument. To return without passing a value, supply Nil as the argument.


RPC Checklist

The checklist is a summary of the basic steps required to connect ArcView to an ARC/INFO server. These steps are explained in the preceding topics.

1.	Start ARC/INFO as an RPC Server:

Arc: &ty [iacopen cf]
Host: wrigley Program no: 40000000 Version no: 1
0

2.	Create an ArcView client connected to the ARC/INFO server

myClient = RPCClient.Make("wrigley",0x40000000, 1)
' Check for errors
if (myClient.HasError) then
  msgbox.Error( myClient.GetErrorMsg, "")
  exit
end

3.	Client requests service and ARC/INFO returns a job identification number

JobId = myClient.Execute(1,"&sv s [calc 5 + 2]; &iacreturn %s%", string)
' Check for error
if (myClient.HasError) then
  msgbox.Error( myClient.GetErrorMsg, "")
  exit
end

4.	Client checks on the status of the job with the job identification number

result = myClient.Execute(2, JobId, string)
if (result.Contains("RESULT")) then
  msgbox.info( result, "") 'do something
else  ' not done - try again later...
  av.DelayedRun( "CheckResults", {myClient, JobId}, 15)
end

5.	The ArcView client polls until ARC/INFO completes the service and then retrieves the requested information. The script below, CheckResults, performs this function.

' Get the client and job id passed into script
myClient = self.Get(0)
JobId = self.Get(1)
' Check status of JobId
result = myClient.Execute( 2, JobId, string)
if (result.Contains("RESULT")) then
  msgbox.info( result, "") ' do something with the result
elseif (result.Contains("DONE")) then
  msgbox.info( "Already DONE", "") ' already done
else
  ' not done, so check again in 15 seconds
  av.DelayedRun( "CheckResults", {myClient, JobId}, 15)
end


RPC Client Server Basics
RPC Client/Server Basics

An RPC Server is identified by 3 pieces of information:

Hostname

Server identification number

Version number

The Hostname is the name of the machine where the server runs. The server identification number and version number uniquely identify the server on that host. Open Network Computing recommends the server identification number fall in the range from 0x40000000 to 0x5FFFFFFF. The version number allows you to uniquely identify different generations of the same application. This example starts an RPC server on ArcView.

RPCServer.Start(0x40000002, 1)

The server identification number was chosen from the range given above. When you select a server identification number, choose a value that is not being used by some other application. You can see what other values are being used on UNIX with the command 'rpcinfo -l' or on Windows by looking at product that is installed with ArcView called RPCINFO.

When a server is created, it registers with a process called “portmap”. Clients locate the specified server through portmap on that host. On UNIX, portmap is up and running. On Windows, you may need to explicitly start the portmap process on the machine where your RPC server runs. On these two platforms, portmap is delivered with ArcView.

Each server supports specific tasks identified by a procedure identification number. Depending upon the task, the actual service request differs. Designers of client applications must know the procedure identification numbers and the appropriate operations for servers of interest. For example, the ArcView server supports only one task, execute an Avenue statement, identified by procedure id 1. The request string associated with procedure id 1 is an Avenue statement. An ARC/INFO server supports 2 tasks. Procedure id 1 queues ARC/INFO commands or AML statements and returns a job id. Procedure id 2 queries the status of a task identified by a job id; its request string is the JobId returned by Procedure id 1.

A client connects to a server by specifying its Hostname, server identification number and version number. The portmap on the specified host locates the server with the identification number and version number and establishes the connection. The client process issues a request to the server and then blocks until the server responds or a timeout period elapses. You can set the timeout period based upon reasonable limits for client and server applications. Here is an example of an ArcView client connecting to another ArcView server and then requesting some service:

' Create the client object
myClient = RPCClient.Make("wrigley", 0x40000002, 1)
if (myClient.HasError) then
  MsgBox.Error(myClient.GetErrorMsg, "")
  exit
end

' Request service
result = myClient.Execute(1, "av.GetActiveDoc.GetName", STRING)
if (myClient.HasError) then
  MsgBox.Error(myClient.GetErrorMsg, "")
  exit
end
MsgBox.Info(result, "Result")
myClient.Close

When you make the client object, you identify the RPC server with its three part name and establish a connection to that server. You should always use the HasError and GetErrorMsg requests to check the status of the operation. Once you've created the client object, then you request a service from the server with the Execute request. Execute has three arguments: the procedure ID, the service request and the keyword STRING. In this example, the server is an ArcView application so the procedure ID is 1 and the service request is an Avenue statement.


RPC Installation

RPC Installation on Windows

When installing ArcView, you will notice an option to install RPC. If your system includes a Windows Sockets compliant network solution, this option will be active. This option is greyed out if you do not have network software installed on your machine. The ArcView installation program checks for "network software" by searching for wsock32.dll. RPC functionality on Windows works with any Windows Sockets compliant TCP/IP stack.

ArcView's ONC/RPC requires two DLLs provided by NobleNet: EZRPC32.DLL and WINRPC32.DLL. In addition to the the DLLs, ArcView includes two executables PORTMAP.EXE and RPCINFO.EXE. A portmapper must be executing to register an RPC Server on that machine. ArcView provides a portmapper in case your networking solution does not. RPCINFO is a utility that allows you to inspect the RPC ports used on your machine and other machines on the network. It is a Windows version of the UNIX command "rpcinfo -p".

PortMap

Portmap registers the RPC server's program and version number providing clients access to the server. ArcView includes the NobleNet portmap executable in case your stack vendor doesn't provide one. You can use either your stack vendor's portmap or the portmap provided with ArcView, but a portmap must be executing before you start the ArcView RPCServer. Only one portmap can run at a time.

RPCInfo

In UNIX, you can check on servers mapped through portmap by executing the command "rpcinfo -p <hostname>". On Windows, use RPCInfo to check on available servers. To start RPCInfo, click on the RPCInfo icon in the ArcView program group. The INFO pulldown allows you to set the host with the HOST option and then display the active ports with the PORTMAP DUMP option. You can also "ping" a named host.


Running a script

Once you have compiled a script that doesn't generate any error messages, you can run it. If a script is the active window, clicking Run executes the current script. Run-time errors may still be present, so after you compile the script you can click Step in the Script menu to step through the code to debug any problems that remain.

To run a compiled script in association with a menu item, button, or tool, use the Customize dialog box.


Running a script from a Help file

You can integrate your help system with ArcView by executing Avenue statements directly from a Help file. You can use this facility to create tutorials, manage projects, display images associated with the topic, and so on. From your Help file, you can:

Execute an Avenue statement or series of statements.

Run a script contained in your ArcView project file and pass arguments to it if necessary.

Run a script contained in the Help file itself (not an ArcView project).

Note	These features work only with the Windows version of ArcView.

How does it work?

ArcView provides a Dynamic Link Library (DLL) for use with WinHelp that lets you execute Avenue statements or run a script when you click on a hot spot in your Help file. The DLL contains two functions that you can use as WinHelp macros.

AVRun -- this macro sends an Avenue statement from Help to ArcView. For example, you might send a statement to make a particular view the active document or run a script contained in the current project.

AVScript -- this macro runs a given script regardless of what ArcView project is open. The script, in this case, is stored as part of the Help file and not in an ArcView project.

You can use one or both macros depending upon what you need to do.

Accessing the DLL

The first thing you need to do is make sure you use the right DLL. ArcView provides a few different DLLs; the one you use will depend upon what Help compiler you're using and what operating system you're running. If you are running Windows 95 or Windows NT, $AVHOME\bin32 contains two DLLs - AVHELP.DLL (32-bit) and AVHELP16.DLL (16-bit).

Refer to the following table to determine which DLL you should use. We've named the DLL you'll most likely use AVHELP.DLL. If you need to use AVHELP16.DLL, you need to rename it to AVHELP.DLL.

Windows System	Help Compiler	WINHELP Executables	AVHELP.DLL
Windows NT/Windows 95	32-bit (HCW 4.0)	WINHLP32.EXE	32-bit
Windows NT/Windows 95	16bit (HC 3.1)	WINHELP.EXE	16 bit

Make sure AVHELP.DLL is placed in a directory specified with the PATH environment variable (such as the windows\system directory) or is located in the same directory as the Help files. ArcView's installation program does not install AVHELP.DLL in windows\system directory. Instead, copy the appropriate AVHELP DLL from the $AVHOME\bin32 directory. When you distribute your Help file to others, you will also need to make sure the DLL is available to them.

Setting up your Help project file

In order to call the macros from your Help file, you need to register them in the [CONFIG] section of the Help project file (.hpj). Enter these two WinHelp RegisterRoutine macros in your Help project file. If you only want to use one of the macros, just specify the one you need.

[CONFIG]

RegisterRoutine("AVHELP","AVRun","S")

RegisterRoutine("AVHELP","AVScript","US")

Put these lines into your Help project file.

Executing Avenue statements from your Help file

To execute an Avenue statement from your Help file, you'll use the AVRun macro. Insert the macro into your Help topic following the syntax rules for executing macros as described in the WinHelp documentation. For example, here's how you can execute an Avenue statement to minimize ArcView's application window:

Click here to minimize ArcView!AVRun("av.minimize")

Format the words "Click here to minimize ArcView", the jump text, as double-underlined text, and the macro (preceded with an exclamation point) as hidden text.

AVRun only requires one parameter, the Avenue statement to execute, which in this case is the string "av.minimize".

Quotation marks can either be double quotation marks (") or open and close quotation marks (` '). (Note that the open and close quotation marks are different keystrokes.) You might use the open and close quotation marks when the Avenue statement you want to execute requires double quotes. For example:

Click here to display message!AVRun(`MsgBox.Info("hello there","")')

You can also place more than one Avenue statement (and essentially write a script in your Help topic) within the open and close quotation marks, for example:

Click here to display message!AVRun(`MsgBox.Info("hi","") MsgBox.Info("bye","")')

Here's how you could run a script in the current ArcView project file and pass an argument to it. In this case, the number 5 is passed as an argument to a script, named script1, in the project:

Click to run a script!AVRun(`av.Run("script1", 5)')

Running a script stored in the Help file

If you want to run a script that's contained in the Help file and not an ArcView project file, use the AVScript macro. To run a script using this macro, you need to include it in your Help file by making a reference to it in the [BAGGAGE] section of the Help project file (.hpj). Simply specify the scripts that you want to run. (This assumes that you've saved your scripts as text files somewhere on your system.) To avoid having to specify a full pathname to the scripts, use the ROOT option in the [OPTIONS] section to specify the location of the scripts. Once you compile the Help file, the scripts are included in it. Here is an example of how to specify scripts in the [BAGGAGE] section:

[BAGGAGE]

script1.ave

script2.ave

script3.ave

Note	Script names are case-sensitive and should match the name you specify when you call the macro in your Help topic.

ArcView compiles and runs the script when you click on the hot spot in the Help window that's associated with the script. Insert the macro into your Help topic following the syntax rules for executing macros as described in the WinHelp documentation. For example, here's how you'd enter the text in your Help topic to run script1.ave:

Click here to run script!AVScript(hfs, "script1.ave")

Format the words "Click here to run script", the jump text, as double-underlined text, and the macro (preceded with an exclamation point) as hidden text.

AVScript requires two parameters: There are two required parameters for the macro:

hfs - Insert this keyword as is, lower case.

"script name" - The name of the Avenue script. Type this file inside double quotes. The filename must appear exactly as it appears in the [BAGGAGE] section. It is case-sensitive.

See also

Building your own help file


Working with scripts and the active document
Scripts and the active document

Most scripts that execute from events begin with the statement "myDoc = av.GetActiveDoc". The ActiveDoc is the document that is currently highlighted. But when you are developing and testing scripts, you will probably execute the script from the Script Editor. What is the active document then?  The Script Editor?

When you run a script from the Script Editor, the active document will be the last document that was active before you made the script editor active. This feature makes it easier for you to test your scripts. If you are testing a script that expects the active document to be a View, you should make a View document active and then make the Script Editor active. When you run the script the View will be the result of "av.GetActiveDoc".

A common error is to make the Project Window active and then the Script Editor active. Then when you run the script, the Project Window will be the active document. If your script requires a View, you will probably get the following error: "A(n) Project object does not recognize request <request name>". To correct this, make the View document active and then make the Script Editor active and run the script.

Suppose you want the Script Editor document to be the active document. You may want to do this if your script does not require another document to be active. The RemainActive state allows you to make the Script Editor the active document. You can set this property through the Script Editor's property sheet or through the request SetRemainActiveState.


Self

Self is a special reserved word used by Avenue to reference an object within a script. This object is determined by how that execution of the script was initiated.

When a script is triggered by an event, self references the object that owns the event property. For example, when a script executes because of a control event (click, update, apply), self references the control. Or when the script executes because of an event on a document (open, close, update) or project (startup, shutdown), self references the document or project object. Or when a script is the LegendEditorScript for a particular theme and the user double clicks on that theme in the View's Table of Contents, self is that theme object. If the script is an event property on an extension such as the Install or Uninstall event, self references that extension object.

You use self to access or modify the owning object. For example, control's update events often determine the enabled state of that control based upon current system conditions. This script makes the control enabled if there are active themes and disabled if there are no active themes.

self.SetEnabled(av.GetActiveDoc.GetActiveThemes.Count > 0)

When a script executes because it was triggered by one of the requests av.Run, av.DelayedRun or aScript.DoIt, then self is the object specified in the calling request.

av.Run("script1", {"hello", 1996, av.GetActiveGUI})

av.DelayedRun("script1", Date.Now, 15)

aScript.DoIt(100)

With the Run request, the object specified in the second argument becomes the self object to the called script. In the example above, the Run request causes the script named Script1 to execute. When Script1 executes, its self object will be the list containing the string hello, the number 1996 and the DocGUI which is currently active. Here is an example of what Script1 might look like:

MsgBox.Info(self.Get(0), "Greeting")

MsgBox.Info(self.Get(1).AsString, "YEAR")

MsgBox.Info(self.Get(2).GetName, "Object Name")

You could run Script1 another time with a different list, but Script1 expects its self object to be a list with at least 3 elements where the first element is a string, the second element represents a year and the third element is any named object.

av.Run("script1", {"Good Morning!", 1988, av.GetProject})

When you call scripts from other scripts, you use the self object to pass values to the called script. See Calling a script from another script for more information.

Here is a simple script that you can use to examine what the self object references. Attach this script to different events (on controls, on projects, on documents, etc.) and also execute this script from other scripts using the requests above. See what different results you get.

MsgBox.Info(Self.GetClass.GetClassName++Self.AsString, "SELF")


Setting and clearing breakpoints in a script

A breakpoint is an instruction that interrupts the normal execution of a script. It is attached to a location in the script's source code.

You set breakpoints to interrupt execution at specific locations in a script; for example, where you think problems may exist. You clear breakpoints when you no longer need them to interrupt execution.

To set a breakpoint

1	From the Script menu, choose Compile or press the Compile button.

2	Position the insertion point at the location of the object or request in the script where you want execution to interrupt.

3	From the Script menu, choose Toggle Breakpoint.

ArcView adds the breakpoint and highlights the line.

ArcView interrupts execution whenever it encounters a breakpoint.

To clear a breakpoint

1	Position the insertion point anywhere in the script that contains a breakpoint.

2	From the Script menu, choose Toggle Breakpoint (F9). ArcView clears the breakpoint and removes the highlighting.

To clear all breakpoints in the script

 From the Script menu, choose Clear All Breakpoints. ArcView clears all breakpoints in the script.

 Each time you recompile, all breakpoints are cleared.

Breakpoints and events

Breakpoints are recognized only when you execute from the Script Editor. If you set a breakpoint in a script and then cause that script to execute from an event (i.e. a Click event), the script executes to completion. To debug scripts that execute from Apply events, you can comment out the ReturnUser<Shape> request and create the shape with a <Shape>.Make request. If you are working with points, you can use the Display request GetMouseLoc.

   'myPoint = aDisplay.ReturnUserPoint

   myPoint = aDisplay.GetMouseLoc  'just for debugging

Breakpoints and scripts that call other scripts

Because breakpoints are recognized only when you execute from the Script Editor, you cannot set breakpoints in scripts that are called by other scripts. You cannot step "into" a script called with an av.run request.

Note  ArcView doesn't save breakpoints set in scripts when you save a project. Closing a project or quitting ArcView automatically clears them.


Setting Control Properties

Every control in ArcView has a set of properties. Each property setting determines a different aspect of the control's behavior and appearance. You can set the most commonly used properties in the properties list of the Customize dialog. These common properties, as well as additional properties, can also be set at run-time with Avenue.

See also

Customizing ArcView

Customizing Menus

Customizing Buttons

Customizing Tools

Customizing Popups


Starting an RPC Server

If you are on Windows, make sure a portmap is running before you start the RPCServer in ArcView. Servers register with portmap and clients locate the appropriate server through portmap. If portmap is not running, then clients cannot access servers. On Windows, if you start an RPCServer without an active portmapper, the error message "Unknown Error" displays. If you have started an RPCServer without an active portmap, stop the RPCServer with the STOP request, start portmap and then start the RPCServer.

A portmap executable comes with ArcView. If your network solution does not provide one, use the portmap included with ArcView. To start portmap, simply double click on the portmap icon in the ArcView program group. When starting portmap, if you get the error message "portmap: cannot bind UDP socket' winsock: Address already in use", then a portmap is already executing on your system. Some network solutions, such as Chameleon, automatically execute a portmapper.

To start the RPCServer in ArcView, issue the Start request passing the program number and version number as arguments. After an RPCServer successfully starts, it displays in the portmap window. Note: the program number appears in decimal in the portmap display - not hexadecimal.


Statements

Statements in Avenue organize the way you can send requests to objects. These statements allow you to keep track of objects, repeatedly issue object requests, and make requests conditionally. Avenue includes the following statements:

Assignment Statement

If...Then...Else Statement

For Each Statement

While Statement

Break Statement

Continue Statement

Return Statement

Exit Statement

Comments


Event

Actions recognized by the system, such as a mouse click, resize, open.


Tips for using DLLs

You must have enough information about the DLL you want to use with ArcView to provide the proper specification of input and output parameters. Failure to correctly specify parameters, or attempts to use incorrect parameters, may cause various errors, including program termination. It is the responsibility of the programmer to ensure the DLL can be supported by ArcView, and that the appropriate data types have been specified.

When visual or user interface components are used from a DLL, make sure these are thoroughly tested. Errors generated by the DLL may cause ArcView errors, including program termination.

If the called external DLL function uses visual or user interface components, dragging the dialog over ArcView may cause ‘ghosting’. Use the DLL class request SetRefresh(True). to enable ArcView to respond appropriately to Windows repaint messages. You should enable this only after thorough testing of your function, as error messages generated while SetRefresh is True may cause control of ArcView to be lost.

It is your responsibility to ensure that your DLL frees all memory that it allocates. If you create new DLL and DLLProc objects each time you run the dll, garbage collection may be necessary. To force garbage collection, first remove all references to the DLL and DLLProc objects by setting the variables that had referenced these objects to NIL and then issue the request av.PurgeObjects. If the DLL procedure runs successfully several times, but eventually generates a segmentation violation, this may be an indication that allocated memory is not being freed.

When using AVExec for certain ArcView operations, such as updates or changing states of documents, normal event processing in ArcView may not occur. You can force updates by using requests such as Invalidate or Flush.


Troubleshooting RPC
Troubleshooting ONC/RPC

ArcView supports ONC/RPC on Windows using NobleNet's EZ-RPC.  EZ-RPC runs on any Windows Sockets compliant TCP/IP stack. Not all vendor's TCP/IP stacks are Windows Sockets compliant. NobleNet certified stacks are :

       Beame & Whiteside

       Distinct TCP/IP

       DEC PathWorks 5.1

       FireFox Novix

       Frontier Super-TCP

       FTP PCTCP 2.3, or 2.2 with 2.3 Winsock

       IBM TCP/IP 2.1

       Ipswich Piper

       Microsoft Windows NT (in 16-bit Windows emulation mode 3.1 and 3.5)

       Microsoft Windows for WorkGroups, TCP/IP 3.11a

       NetManage Chameleon 3.11N, 4.0.1, 4.1

       Novell LAN WorkPlace 4.12, 4.2

       Trumpet (freeware)

       Sun PC-NFS 5.0, 5.1

       Wollongong 2.0.008

       WRQ Reflection 4.0

If you want to use a stack that's not on the list of certified products, call NobleNet technical support at 508-460-8222 to see if there are known issues. If a stack isn't certified, it may only mean that no one else has tried the stack you want to use. Some TCP stacks, such as Sun PC-NFS, have restrictions that prevent both client and server from running on the same machine because the stack does not support loopback. Others, such as PathWorks, do not support server side functions at all.

Vendor-specific Winsock TCP/IP stack notes

Frontier Super/TCP 3.00 R2, 4.00 R2

Requires the Frontier portmap.dll.

Under certain circumstances, communication problems may be caused when running the NobleNet portmapper on top of Frontier's TCP 4.00 R2. To resolve this problem, try running the portmapper that comes with Frontier's NFS.

PC/NFS 5.0

If portmapper runs, but the server hangs trying to register, you're a victim of the software's lack of loopback support. This usually occurs when both the RPC client and server are running on the same machine; the fix is to run them on separate machines.

RPCClient requests IsMachine and HasServer may hang ArcView when running NIS. The workaraound is to turn off NIS and use the local hosts file. Sun Patch 101128 fixes this problem.

PC/NFS 5.1a

If you receive "No buffer space" errors or messages, apply patch number 102214, available from your Sun vendor.

PathWorks TCP/IP  5.1

ArcView cannot be used as an RPCServer until a bug in this stack is fixed. (FYI : WSAyncSelect() seems to be broken)

FTP Software PC/TCP 2.2, 2.3, 3.0

There are a host of problems with the winsock.dll shipped with FTP's version 2.2. Replace it with TTP's version 1.10 winsock.dll, available from FTP's BBS (508-659-6240). The file is in a self-extracting archive named winsock.exe.

If you receive an "Unknown Protocol" error when you start an RPC client, the problem could be a missing line in the [pctcp general]" section of the \PCTCP\PCTCP.INI file. Check to make sure there's a line that names the directory that contains the SERVICES and PROTOCOL files, usually PC/TCP home directory. (For example,   etc-dir = c:\pctcp.)

If you cannot establish an RPC connection, check the \pctcp\pctcp.ini values for the number of udp and tcp connections available. The sum of both cannot exceed 32. For example, the lines tcp-connections=8 and udp-connections=8 should work fine. (FYI : ArcView supports only TCP - not UDP)

FTP Software has also developed their own WPORTMAP.EXE program, which has not been tested/validated.

LAN WorkPlace 4.12, 4.2

Make sure the \net\tcp\hosts file contains your PC's host name and address, as well as all other hosts to which you wish to connect.  Also make sure a "localhost" loop-back entry is in the HOSTS file to enable servers to register with the local portmapper:

  \NET\TCP\HOSTS:

            127.0.0.1 localhost

The \NET.CFG config file contains entries for the maximum number of sockets. The totals for tcp, udp, and raw, should not exceed 31. A correctly configured example looks like:

  Protocol TCP/IP

          tcp_sockets 22

          udp_sockets 8

          raw_sockets 1

To get local communication between RPC client and server on the same machine, line localbind 5000/udp to the end of the \net\tcp\services file.

Wollongong 2.0.008

Use of TCP with Wollongong Winsock implementation has not been tested.


Creating a simple extension
Tutorial: Creating a simple extension

This tutorial walks you through the process of creating an extension. At the end of step 4, you will have one extension that contains some sample data, some controls, and some scripts.

I. Create a project that contains everything your extension will need.

1.	Extensions start life out as projects. The project you create in step one will be active until you are ready to test the extension in step 6.

1.	Create a view and add some themes. Snazz it up with a projection and some symbology (check out the new legend editor).

1.	Create a new menu with some menu items. Use the customization dialog. Notice that Ctrl+Z undoes your last editing action. Attach some scripts to the menu items. They don’t need to do anything special.

1.	Save your work.

II. Create Install and Uninstall scripts for the extension

Your extension, when loaded into a project, needs to insert its menu and view into that project. When the extension is unloaded, or when a project is opened or created, you first need to remove those objects from the existing project, then add them to the new or opened project. You write Install and Uninstall scripts, and attach them to the extension, to accomplish this.

You do not need to install scripts contained in your extension into the project. ArcView will search in all loaded extensions for scripts.

Do the following steps within the project created in the previous step.

1.   Create the Install script and name this script Install. Use this script as a model for your Install script. Make sure you compile the Install script.

'Make sure there is a project
if (av.GetProject = nil) then
  return nil
end

' The self object for this script is the extension
'The first root is the menu
'The second root is the view
'
'Add the menu after the view's FILE menu
b = av.GetProject.FindGUI("View").GetMenuBar
m  = mb.FindByLabel("File")
if (m <> nil) then
  mb.Add(self.Get(0), mb.GetControls.Find(m))
else
  mb.Add(self.Get(0), 999)
end

'Add the view
av.GetProject.AddDoc(self.Get(1))

2.    Create the Uninstall script and name it Uninstall. Use this script as a model for your Uninstall script. Make sure you compile the Uninstall script.

'Make sure there is a project
if (av.GetProject = nil) then
  return nil
end

'Uninstall only if the project is not closing
if (av.GetProject.IsClosing) then
  return nil
end

'The self object for this script is the extension
'The first root is the menu
'The second root is the view
'
'Remove the menu
mb = av.GetProject.FindGUI("View").GetMenuBar
mb.Remove(self.Get(0))

'Remove the view
av.GetProject.RemoveDoc(self.Get(1).GetName)

3.    Save your work

III. Create the extension object

You need to Make an extension, add the Install and Uninstall scripts to it, add roots to it, do a few other things, then commit it. You will write a script to do these things. Use the same project as in the previous step.

1.   Create a new script. Call it “MyExtension.Make”.

2.   Write code to create the extension

1.	myExt = Extension.Make("$USEREXT/myext.avx".AsFileName,
              "My Extension",
              av.GetProject.FindScript("Install"),
              av.GetProject.FindScript("Uninstall"),
              {})

This script creates an extension object. When sent the Commit request, it will be written to a file named “myext.avx” in the current directory. Its name (what users will see in the extension manager dialog) is “My Extension”. It uses the Install and Uninstall scripts you created earlier. It has no dependencies.

3.   Add roots to it. Note the order of the following lines! The Install and Uninstall scripts will assume the roots occur in this order.

myExt.Add(
  av.GetProject.FindGUI("View").GetMenuBar.FindByLabel("My Menu"))

' Assumes there is a view named My View
myExt.Add(av.GetProject.FindDoc("My View"))

' Add to the extension the scripts that are attached to the menu items
' The following line shows how this would work for one such scripts.
' You may need several such lines.
myExt.Add(av.GetProject.FindScript("A Menu Item Click-Event Script"))

An alternative way to do this is to add a dictionary as the single root to the extension. Then add (name, object) pairs to that dictionary. If you’re adding a lot of objects to an extension, this approach would be safer, because scripts such as the Install and Uninstall scripts wouldn’t be sensitive to the ordering of those pairs.

4.   Describe the extension and set its version number.

myExt.SetAbout("This is my first extension."++
  "This text will appear in the Extension Manager’s About box")
myExt.SetExtVersion(1)

5.   Commit the extension

myExt.Commit

6.   Compile and execute this script to create the extension.

IV. Test the extension

1.	Create a new project

2.	Bring up the Extension Dialog (from the Project’s File Menu)

3.	Click on the check box next to your extension.

4.	Try it out!  It should just work!


Creating an extension with dependencies
Tutorial: Creating an extension with dependencies

The following steps describe how to create dependencies between extensions. This dependency mechanism can be used to break a large ArcView customization effort into several pieces which can be worked on independently.

In this part of the exercise, you will create a new extension named “My DocGUI”, and then make the extension created in the previous tutorial Creating a simple extension dependent upon it.

I. Create an extension.

1.	Create a new project. Name the project “MyDocGUI.apr”. The following steps will use this new project.

2.	Create a new single, simple DocGUI. Name it “My DocGUI”. Use the new Customize Types dialog (get at it from the ‘EditÉ’ button on the old Customization dialog).

3.	Create Install and Uninstall scripts. The Install script will need to add this DocGUI to a project and the Uninstall script will need to remove it.

Here is a sample Install script:

'Make sure there is a project
if (av.GetProject = nil) then
  return nil
end

'self is the extension that will be installed
'The zeroth element of self’s list of roots is your customized DocGUI
' Add the DocGUI
av.GetProject.AddGUI(self.Get(0))
self.Get(0).SetModified( false )

Here is a sample Uninstall script:

'Make sure there is a project and it isn't closing
if (av.GetProject = nil) then
  return nil
end
if (av.GetProject.IsClosing) then
  return nil
end

'self is the extension that will be uninstalled
'The zeroth element of self’s list of roots is your customized DocGUI

' Remove the DocGUI
av.GetProject.RemoveGUI(self.Get(0).GetName))

1.	Create the “My DocGUI” extension. Use the extension creation script from the tutorial Creating a simple extension as a model for this one. This new script should produce an extension named “mydocgui.avx”. Make sure your new DocGUI gets added as the root to this new extension.

II. Make the first extension dependent upon this DocGUI extension

1.	Open the project that was used to create your first extension. In the script that contains the Extension.Make request, you’ll notice that the last parameter is an empty list. Add a single element to that list. The element should be the filename of the DocGUI extension that you created in the last step. Re-run this modified script. This will make this first extension dependent upon the new DocGUI extension. This means that the DocGUI extension will be loaded and installed first.

2.	Adjust the Install and Uninstall scripts for the first extension. These scripts can now assume that the DocGUI extension will be present and initialized. The Install script should add the menu to this new DocGUI. The Uninstall script should remove it from that DocGUI.

III. Test it!

Create a new project. Load the first extension. Since it is dependent upon the DocGUI extension, that one will be loaded first. Check that both were loaded by going to the Customization dialog and inspecting the Types list. You should see the name of your new docgui in that list. You should also see the menu (from you first extension) in the list of menus for that new DocGUI.


Types of DDE Conversations

A DDE conversation is sometimes referred to as a link, because the two applications are linked together by the data they're exchanging. DDE supports three different types of links: automatic, manual, and notify.

•	Automatic link - the source application automatically updates the destination any time data in the source changes. For example, if you link a Visual Basic control—such as a text box—to a row/column in an Excel spreadsheet, DDE automatically updates the control whenever the data in the cell changes.

•	Manual link - data exchange does not occur automatically; the destination must request the new data from the source. ArcView only supports this type of link; thus, you should define your links accordingly in the application you want ArcView to communicate with (for example, in Visual Basic, set the control's LinkMode property to "Manual").

•	Notify link - the source application notifies the destination when data changes, but the destination must then request the new data from the source.


Understanding events

Events are special properties that allow to you associate scripts with action/object pairs. The event property is the name of the script to execute when that action occurs on that object. The Graphic User interface exemplifies this "event driven" behavior; when you click on a button, the click event occurs on that button and the script associated with that click event property executes. ArcView supports several different types of events on different types of objects: controls, documents, themes and the project.

Controls: Click, Update, and Apply

All control objects support Click and Update events. The click event occurs on a control when the user "clicks" on that object. The Update event occurs on all controls in the active DocGUI when some user action alters the state of the active document. For example, on Views, the update event occurs when you add a new theme, change the visibility of a theme, make a selection, zoom in, etc.

Tools are a special subclass of control and support Apply events. The Apply event occurs on the selected tool when the user clicks the mouse on the display of the active document. Apply events allow the user to interact with the document through the mouse. Special Avenue requests support user interaction with the document display and execute ONLY from scripts activated from the Apply event.

You can set control events through the Customization panel or through Avenue.

Documents: Open, Close, and Update

Documents support Open, Close and Update events. The Open event occurs when you open a document window; the script executes just after the window opens. The Close event occurs when you Close a document window; the script executes just before the script closes. If your close script tries to OPEN the document window, it will not work as expected because the document window closes AFTER the close script executes. Documents also support Update events. When an update event occurs, the active document triggers its update script. Update events on documents allow you to define document specific behavior.

Document events are set only through Avenue.

Theme: Double click on legend in the Table of Contents

When you double click on a theme's legend in the Table of Contents, you trigger and event. By default, the system script View.EditLegend executes. You can change the script with the Theme request SetLegendEditorScript.

Project: Startup and Shutdown

The Project supports startup and shutdown events. The Project's startup event occurs just before the user gets control of the project. The Project startup occurs after the project's open script. The shutdown script runs just before the project closes. A project does not support a close event. You can set these events in the Project Properties sheet or through Avenue.

More on the Update event

An update event occurs on the state changes of the active document allowing ArcView to "respond." Typically, update scripts associated with controls enable or disable the control based upon current system conditions. For example, if the behavior of a button's click script is valid ONLY when certain external conditions are present, then the update script checks for those conditions and sets the enabled state accordingly.

A clever use of the update event can be found in ArcView - look at the WindowMenuUpdate script. It maintains the list of open documents in the Window pulldown on the User Interface. This script is attached to the update event on the SPACE in the Window Menu.

Look at HideLegend in the Script Library. This script hides the legend on any invisible themes. This update script triggers an update, but it also includes logic to ensure termination. An update script that ALWAYS triggers another update will put ArcView into a terminal loop!


User Interaction Requests

Certain requests return the result of user interaction with a document. For example, the user may select a feature in a View or a field in a Table with the mouse. User interaction requests are valid only in scripts that run from Apply events. Apply events are on Tools and are triggered by a mouse click on the document display.

These special "apply event only" requests are often named with the following naming convention: <action>User<object> as in ReturnUserCircle, ReturnUserLine, and MoveUserRect.


Using AVExec

AVExec allows you to execute Avenue statements from within your DLL function call which was called by ArcView. AVExec is a library (avexec.lib) which can be linked against any DLL that you create and use with ArcView. avexec.lib provides a single function call, AVExec(), which can be used with any Avenue statement as an argument. AVExec sends the Avenue statement directly to ArcView for execution from the DLL. The result of the Avenue statement is returned as a string.

To build a DLL with avexec, include the header file $AVHOME\lib32\avexec32.h in your DLL source and link $AVHOME\lib32\avexec32.lib.

Example

The following C source code illustrates the use of AVExec from within a function that is called from ArcView. The active document is returned as a string, then displayed using the Windows API call to MessageBox.

#include "avexec32.h"

void SomeFunction()

{

char *myAvenueStr = "av.GetActiveDoc";

char *resultStr;

resultStr = AVExec(myAvenueStr);

MessageBox(GetFocus(),resultStr,"Result of AVExec",MB_OK);

}


Using Microsoft DLLs

Dynamic link libraries, or DLLs, are an important aspect of Microsoft Windows. Each of the major components of the Windows Application Programming Interface, or API, is actually a DLL. These components contain hundreds of functions, some of which can be used directly in ArcView.

Use DLLs in the Windows API like any other DLL; first you must get information about the input and output arguments types, then create DLL and DLLProc instances using this information. Many DLLs use structures that are not directly supported in ArcView, but pointers to structures can be returned to ArcView using a pointer type, then used in calls to other functions to return specific information.

Example 1: Calling CloseWindow

'Create the DLL

u32DLL = DLL.Make("c:\winnt35\system32\user32.dll".AsFileName)

'Create the DLLProc

close = DLLProc.Make(u32DLL, "CloseWindow",#DLLPROC_TYPE_VOID,

{#DLLPROC_TYPE_INT32})

'Call using ArcView’s window handle

close.Call({DLL.GetAVWindowHandle})

Example 2: Calling GetModuleHandle

u32DLL = DLL.Make("c:\winnt35\system32\kernel32.dll".AsFileName)

getModule = DLLProc.Make(u32DLL,"GetModuleHandleW",#DLLPROC_TYPE_INT32,

{#DLLPROC_TYPE_STR})

modHandle = getModule.Call({"anyapp.exe"})


Using the RPC classes

The RPCClient and RPCServer classes have the same API on Windows and UNIX, so applications that use Avenue's RPC classes can port seamlessly between these environments. RPC allows you to connect ArcView applications on a PC to an ARC/INFO server running on UNIX.

To create a client object, use the RPCClient.Make request giving it the hostname, the program number and the version number of the associated server. The client object supports the execute request. Execute takes 3 arguments: the server's procedure id, the command to be executed and the class for the return result (must be STRING). You can check the success of the operation with the HasError and GetErrorMsg requests. You can query and alter the timeout periods with the GetTimeout and SetTimeout requests.

An ArcView application may have only one RPCServer. The ArcView RPCServer has 2 main requests: Start and Stop. When you start a server, specify the program number and the version number. SUN Microsystems recommends program numbers in the range from 0x40000000 to 0x5FFFFFFF. The version number is used to allow different generations of clients and servers to co-exist and can be any number.

On UNIX, the RPCServer also supports access control. You can specify which users or hosts have access to this RPCServer and the RPCServer rejects client connection from non-authorized users.


Viewing and updating field attributes

This example creates a form that allows you to look at and change the definitions for fields in a table. It was written with Visual Basic 4.0 for ArcView on NT.

What ArcView does

1	Launches the Visual Basic application

2	Establishes a DDE conversation with ArcView as the destination and the Visual Basic application as the server. Note - in Visual Basic, the server is often called the source

3	Passes the list of field names from the active table to Visual Basic, populating the list control

4	Terminates the DDE conversation.

What Visual Basic does when the user selects a field

1	Initiates another DDE conversation, this time with ArcView as the source and the Visual Basic application as the client. Note - in Visual Basic, the client is often called the destination.

2	Sends Avenue requests to obtain the field type, width, alias and visible state.

3	If you hit OK, the values specified in the Visual Basic form are written back to ArcView.

First, create a new script to open the Visual basic form and populate the field list box with the field names in the active table.

'FIELDDEF is what you'll name the Visual Basic application,
'Transfer is the topic of conversation.
aDDE = DDEClient.Make("FIELDDEF","Transfer")
if ((aDDE.HasError) and
  (aDDE.GetErrorMsg = "Failed to establish link with application")) then
  'Substitute your pathname to the executable program here
  System.Execute("C:\examples\VB4.0\FIELDDEF")
  _sleep.call({300}) 'wait for fielddef to come up
  aDDE = DDEClient.Make("FIELDDEF","Transfer") 'try it again
  if ((aDDE.HasError) AND
  (aDDE.GetErrorMsg = "Failed to establish link with application")) then
    _sleep.call({300}) 'wait a bit more
    aDDE = DDEClient.Make("FIELDDEF","Transfer") 'try one last time
  end
end
if (aDDE.HasError) then
  MsgBox.Error(aDDE.GetErrorMsg, "")
  return nil
end

' Copy the field names to the form
theVTab = av.GetActiveDoc.GetVtab
theFields = theVTab.GetFields
if (theFields.Count = 0) then
  MsgBox.Info("No fields in table","")
else
  for each f in theFields
    'Send each field name to Visual Basic
    aDDE.Execute(f.GetName)
  end
end

Make this script the click script of a button or choice in the Tables DocGUI. This script assumes that a table is the active document.

The global variable, _sleep, references a DLL procedure. Here is the script that establishes this. The sleep routine is part of Windows NT. Make this script and run it in the project's startup.

_kernel32 = DLL.Make("c:\WINNT\system32\kernel32.dll".AsFileName)

_sleep = DLLProc.Make(_kernel32, "Sleep", #DLLPROC_TYPE_VOID,
                    {#DLLPROC_TYPE_INT32})

Next, create your Visual Basic form. The form should have the following elements. The following table lists the property settings for the controls on the form.

Object	Property	Setting
Form	Caption	Field Definition
 	LinkMode	1 - Source
 	LinkTopic	Transfer
List Box	MultiSelect	0 - None
Name	lstFields
Label 1	Caption	(Empty)
 	Name	lblFldType
 	LinkTimeout	500
Label 2	Caption	(Empty)
Name	lblFldWidth
LinkTimeout	500
Text1	Name	txtFldAlias
Text 2	Name	txtFldVisible
LinkTimeout	500
Visible	FALSE
CheckBox 1	Caption	Visible
Name	cbxFldVisible
Command Button	Caption	OK
Name	cmdOK
Command Button	Caption	Cancel
Name	cmdCancel

Next include the following in the general declarations section:

Const NONE = 0, MANUAL = 2

Then add the following script to the form's LinkExecute event. This code processes the field names specified in the Execute command from ArcView and adds them to the form's list box.

Private Sub Form_LinkExecute(FieldName As String, Cancel As Integer)
  lstFields.AddItem FieldName
End Sub

Add this script to the list box's click event. When you click on a specific field, Visual Basic gets the values for that field's type, width, alias and visible state from ArcView. LinkRequest puts the result in the value property of the associated field. Notice that the checkbox has no Link properties, so instead there is an invisible label and the value of that label reflects in the check box.

Private Sub lstFields_Click()
    If lblFldType.LinkMode = NONE Then
        'Set up conversation with each label
        lblFldType.LinkTopic = "ArcView|System"
        lblFldType.LinkMode = MANUAL
        lblFldWidth.LinkTopic = "ArcView|System"
        lblFldWidth.LinkMode = MANUAL
        txtFldAlias.LinkTopic = "ArcView|System"
        txtFldAlias.LinkMode = MANUAL
        txtFldVisible.LinkTopic = "ArcView|System"
        txtFldVisible.LinkMode = MANUAL
    End If

    lblFldType.LinkItem = "av.GetActiveDoc.GetVtab.FindField("""
       & lstFields & """).GetType"
    lblFldType.LinkRequest

    lblFldWidth.LinkItem = "av.GetActiveDoc.GetVtab.FindField("""
       & lstFields & """).GetWidth"
    lblFldWidth.LinkRequest

    txtFldAlias.LinkItem = "av.GetActiveDoc.GetVtab.FindField("""
       & lstFields & """).GetAlias"
    txtFldAlias.LinkRequest

    txtFldVisible.LinkItem = "if (av.GetActiveDoc.GetVtab.FindField("""
       & lstFields & """).IsVisible) then return 1 else return 0 end"
    txtFldVisible.LinkRequest
    cbxFldVisible.Value = txtFldVisible.Text

    If lblFldType.Caption = "nil" Then
        'ArcView's table is no longer active doc
        Msg = "The original table is no longer the active document."
        MsgBox Msg, 48, "ArcView's environment has changed"
        Unload Form1
        End  ' Terminate the application.
    End If
End Sub

Add this code to the OK button's click event. When you click on the OK button, the Visual Basic form sends ArcView a script that sets the Alias and Visible states of the selected field to the values in the Visible check box and Alias text box on the form.

Private Sub cmdOK_Click()
Dim state As String
    If txtFldAlias.LinkMode = NONE Then
        'Set up conversation with a field
        txtFldAlias.LinkTopic = "ArcView|System"
        txtFldAlias.LinkMode = MANUAL
    End If

    cmd = "av.GetActiveDoc.GetVtab.FindField("""
         & lstFields & """).SetAlias(""" & txtFldAlias & """)
    If cbxFldVisible.Value = 0 Then
      state = "false"
    Else
      state = "true"
    End If
    cmd = cmd & "av.GetActiveDoc.GetVtab.FindField("""
         & lstFields & """).SetVisible(" & state & ")"
    'tell ArcView to execute the script that sets alias, visibility
    txtFldAlias.LinkExecute cmd
End Sub

Add the following to the form's unload event. This closes the DDE connections to ArcView.

Private Sub Form_Unload(Cancel As Integer)
    'This event procedure is executed from the Cancel button, or
    'when the user selects Close on the form's control menu.
    lblFldType.LinkMode = NONE    'Close DDE communication
    lblFldWidth.LinkMode = NONE
    txtFldAlias.LinkMode = NONE
    txtFldVisible.LinkMode = NONE
End Sub

Finally, add this script to the Cancel button's click event. This script causes the form to exit.

Private Sub cmdCancel_Click()
  Unload Form1
  End
End Sub

In this example, you've seen ArcView act as both the client and the server and you've seen Visual Basic as both a client and server. This example showed two ways for applications to interact in a conversation using both Execute and Request.


Virtual_documents
Virtual Documents

ArcView's project window provides a table of contents to the documents in your project. In earlier versions of ArcView, the project window arranged documents by their kind: View, Table, Layout, Chart and Script. The icons on the left side of the project window each represented a kind and you had no ability to customize the contents.

Now ArcView gives you the ability to define how your documents are listed in the project window. The icons on the left side of the project window represent document user interfaces (DocGUIs) instead of kinds of documents. So, if you create custom DocGUIs, you can include these in the project window. When the user selects one of these icons, by default, the project window displays all the documents that use this DocGUI.

This behavior gives you the power to create "virtual" documents - your own special kinds of Views, Tables, Layouts, Charts and Scripts. Through virtual documents, you can arrange your project in ways that make sense to your application.

Examples

 Suppose your application does not Charts. You can make the Chart DocGUI not visible in the project window so your users never even see it.

 Suppose your project has three kinds of views: State, County and City. Instead of listing all Views under the Views Icon, you could create DocGUIs for State, County and City and list the views of states with the States DocGUI, the views of counties with the County DocGUI and the views of cities with the City DocGUI.

The Customize Types dialog

The Customize Types dialog makes it easy for you to work with DocGUIs. You can create a new DocGUI or copy an existing DocGUI. You can make the DocGUI visible in the project window. You can specify the icon and name that appear in the project window. You can rearrange the DocGUIs that appear in the project window. You can easily customize what happens when you click on the three label buttons in the project window.

If a DocGUI has no documents that use it, you can delete a DocGUI from the project. If there are documents that reference the DocGUI, then the Delete button will be disabled.

How to customize the way ArcView groups documents on the project window

By default, the documents are listed in the project window with the DocGUI that you use to interact with the document. So, when you select the icon for a DocGUI, ArcView lists all the documents that use that DocGUI.

If you prefer to group your documents by some other criteria, there is a document property called GroupGUI that allows you to name an alternate DocGUI to use for grouping in the project window. For example, suppose my project has several specialized DocGUIs for Views and all my View documents use one of these custom DocGUIs, but I want all View documents to appear in the project window when I select the View icon. I can set the GroupGUI attribute to reference the "View" DocGUI. When I select the View DocGUI in the project window, all Views appear with it. When I select one of my customized DocGUIs, no documents appear with it (and it might be prudent to make that DocGUI invisible in the project window).

for each d in av.GetProject.GetDocs
  if (d.Is( View)) then
    d.SetGroupGUI( "View" )
  end
end

You would probably also modify the script that executes when you hit the New button (default is Doc.New) to set the GroupGUI for any new documents.


What is an extension
What is an extension?

Extensions allow you to share customizations, documents, or any other objects in a project independent manner. Extensions are easily and intuitively used by anyone and can be created by anyone familiar with Avenue.

The extension class is a subclass of ODB (Object Data Base). ODB objects allow you to save any ArcView objects to file and then later restore those objects to ArcView. Like an ODB object, an extension object allows you to save any ArcView objects to a file, but an extension has additional properties which allow you to define how to load and unload the extension into the current ArcView application and how to install and uninstall the objects it contains in the current project. The extension object remains in the application and although the extension owns the objects in it, the extension's objects can be installed into each project that is opened or created.

Extension Space

Objects owned by the extension cannot be written to a project file or any odb file. Objects owned by the extensions are said to reside in "extension space". Thus, if your extension installs a button into a DocGUI and the end user customizes that button, those customizations will NOT be written out to the project file. Similarly, if your extension installs a View in the project and the user changes the legends or adds other themes, those changes are not saved when you save the project.

If you want objects in the extension to be saved in a project file, you must clone the object and install the clone. The cloned object is said to be in "project space".

Extensions and the Application

When you load an extension through the Extension dialog or from Avenue with the Extension class request Open, that extension remains loaded in your ArcView session until you explicitly unload it. You can open and close and open many different project files, but the extension remains loaded until you unload it or quit ArcView.

The ArcView application has a dictionary of loaded extensions. You can access this dictionary (actually a NameDictionary) with the Extension class request GetExtensions. The application requests FindDoc, FindScript and FindGUI search the loaded extensions as well as the current project, user default and system default for the named object. The search order is listed below.

1	Project

2	User default

3	Extensions

4	System default

The script manager lists the scripts defined in extensions. For this reason, extension authors should use prudence when naming scripts included in their extension. By convention, scripts in an extension are prefixed with an extension identifier. Because ArcView searches loaded extensions for scripts, the extension install script does not need to move script objects in an extension to the current project.

Extensions and Projects

Objects in the extension besides scripts must be installed into the current project so that they are accessible and then removed from the project in the uninstall script. For example, if your extension includes a view, the extension install script adds that view to the project's document list and the uninstall script removes that view from the project's document list. If your extension includes a button, the install script adds that button to the appropriate DocGUI and then the install removes that button from the DocGUI. An extension can write project specific information to the project's preferences dictionary.

Dependencies

Another extension or a project may be dependent upon an extension. A dependency means that the dependent project or extension can open only after the required extension is loaded. Thus, extensions may be loaded to the system because of dependencies. If the extension is loaded because of a dependency on it, it will be unloaded when the dependent project closes or when the dependent extension unloads. For example, if project proj1.apr is dependent upon extension a.avx, when you open proj1.apr, if a.avx is not already loaded, ArcView first loads a.avx. When you close project proj1.apr, then ArcView unloads extension a.avx. If a.avx was already loaded when proj1.apr opened, then a.avx will remain loaded after you close proj1.apr.


What is a Conversation?

When two applications interact, it is called a conversation. One application is the server and the other application is the client. A conversation is identified by two pieces of information, the application name of the server and the topic name. If you wanted to establish a conversation with ArcView, you would specify the application name "ArcView" and the topic name "System". ArcView has only one topic and it is called system. If you wanted to establish a conversation with, say Excel, Excel has many different topics including a topic named "System" and topics for each spreadsheet. If you wanted to establish a conversation with a Visual Basic form, the form provides its own application and topic names.


What is a script?

A script is the component of an ArcView project that contains Avenue code. Just like macros, procedures, or scripts in other programming or scripting languages, ArcView scripts group together the means to accomplish three general objectives: automate tasks, add new capabilities to ArcView, and build complete applications.

In a way, you can think of all of ArcView as a collection of scripts. It's an oversimplification, but every control that you use in ArcView, does have an associated internal or system script. You can see the names of the scripts associated with a control in the Customize dialog box and you can examine the contents of a system script by loading a system script into a new script. You can use this technique to get a head start; you can modify a system script slightly to achieve the results you want.

You can create a script to use in ArcView either in a Script Editor window or in your preferred text editing application. If you choose the latter approach, once you've written the code, you must load it into a project's script. Here's where you'll compile, debug, and run the script.

You can use ArcView's customization environment to associate a compiled script with a control or with another event, such as starting up or shutting down a project (see Project Properties).


What is DLL

A dynamic-link library, or DLL, is an executable module that contains functions other applications can use to perform tasks. DLLs are linked to an application at run-time, not at compile time, as occurs with static libraries.

DLLs that you can use with ArcView can come from a variety of sources. DLLs can be purchased from various vendors, or may be included as part of another application. You can use DLLs that are part of the Windows operating system. Or you can create and compile your own DLLs for specific purposes using C and other language compilers.

Any of these sources of DLLs may be used to extend ArcView, however, because of the variety of DLLs, certain caveats may apply. For example, some DLLs may not be compatible with ArcView, or may use data types that are not currently supported. Refer to the documentation accompanying the DLL for any specific information concerning use and argument types.

When creating your own DLLs for use with ArcView you may need to consider compiler options or special techniques. Not all compilers may be appropriate for creating DLLs for use with ArcView. The examples that follow were created using Microsoft Visual C++. Additionally, DLLs that use visual or user-interface components may require in-depth knowledge or special techniques that are not documented here. Development of DLLs for use with ArcView is the responsibility of the programmer, and is beyond the scope of provided support services.


What is Dynamic Data Exchange?

Microsoft supports a special client/server mechanism called Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE). DDE enables two applications to interact by exchanging data. ArcView supports DDE and can communicate with any other application that supports DDE such as Visual Basic, Excel, Access, Lotus.

DDE does have one limitation: the applications communicating through DDE must be running on the same computer; DDE does not support networks.


While Statement

The While statement repeats the execution of a request block as long as the specified expression remains true. Make sure your while loop provides a terminating condition otherwise you will have an infinite loop.

Syntax

while ( expression)

  request block

end

Discussion

The request block may be executed one time, many times, or not at all.

Example

This example prompts the user to see if a script should be run again. If the response is Yes, the expression is true and ArcView runs the script.

while (msgbox.yesno("Run the script again?","ArcView",TRUE))
  av.Run("TestScript",nil)
  'TestScript is another script created in the same project.
end

You can use the Break statement to exit from a while loop.

while (true)
  again = MsgBox.YesNo( "do it again", "DO IT", TRUE )
  if (not again) then
    break
  end
end


Working with controls

Control is the abstract class that defines ArcView's user interface controls: menu choices, buttons, and tools, and the control sets to which they belong. For more information, see the ArcView Class Hierarchy help system's Control, ControlSet, and DocGUI class topics. In addition, consult the subclasses of Control: Tool, ToolMenu, Button, Choice, Menu, and Popup as well as the subclasses of ControlSet: MenuBar, ToolBar, ButtonBar, and PopupSet.

The user can customize these controls using the Customize dialog box. With Avenue, you can write scripts that control the display, removal, addition, rearrangement, alteration, etc. of these controls.

Events

ArcView supports three events for controls: click, apply (tool only) and update. The event property contains the script that defines the control's response to the event. That script executes when the event occurs.

The click event occurs when you click the control. For buttons and choices, the click event performs some task. For tools, the click event typically provides some “initialization” or instructions for the user’s interaction with the document display.

The apply event for the active tool triggers when you click on the display of the active document. The apply event allows you to interact with the document. For example, you use the apply event to pick a feature on a View or edit a value in a table. Special requests that begin with the prefix “ReturnUser” allow you to capture information about the click on the display.  For example, ReturnUserPoint returns the point the user clicked and ReturnUserRect returns the rectangle the user clicked.

The update event occurs on a state change of the active window. You can use the update event to enable or disable the control based upon the current system state. For example, if the click script requires the view to have an active theme named “cities”, the update event should enable the control ONLY if there is an active theme named cities. Take caution that your update script does not initiate an update event!

Attributes of controls

These and other control-specific attributes determine the appearance or behavior of controls:

Invisible.    Invisible indicates if the control is visible in the user interface. If Invisible is TRUE, the control does not appear in the ControlSet and cannot be activated.

Disabled.    A Boolean value that indicates if the control is active. If TRUE, the control appears "greyed out" in the ControlSet, and cannot be activated. (Menus cannot be disabled)

Help.    The help string that appears in the status bar when the mouse passes over the control.

Help Topic.     The help topic names the online help topic that is displayed by the help tool for this control.

ControlSet.     The ControlSet that owns the control. A control set manages a homogeneous list of controls. In order to be displayed in the user interface, a control must first belong to a control set. Each document GUI contains 4 control sets: a MenuBar, a ButtonBar, a ToolBar and a PopupSet.

Tag. A user specified string. The tag allows the Avenue programmer to associate a string with the control.

ObjectTag.     The object tag is any user-specified object. The object tag allows the Avenue developer to associate another object with the control.

Update.     ArcView executes the update script when an Update event occurs. The update script very often toggles the enabled/disabled state of a control based upon conditions in the system.


Working with dates and time

Avenue provides two classes related to date and time: Date and Duration. A duration is a span of time.

Date objects are created with either the current date or time or are created with a specified date and time.

today = Date.Now
halloween = Date.Make( "10/31/94", "M/d/y" )

Dates may be displayed in user specified formats. The mechanism for specifying formats is the format string. There are two possible components to the format string: a date part and a time part. A format string can contain either or both. See the Date format and Time format sections below. The Date class request SetDefFormat defines the default output format. SetDefFormat defines the default appearance of a date object when that object is sent the AsString request. This default appearance can be overridden on an object-by-object basis using the instance request SetFormat. SetDefFormat affects all date objects in the system and all date objects created after, while SetFormat affects the a single date object - the target object. The default format remains throughout the execution of the application.

As noted, the output format for an object may be specified with the SetFormat request. In the following example, the object referenced by the variable today will display in the specified format the next time it is referenced AsString, regardless of the default format for all date objects,.

today = Date.Now
today.SetFormat( "M, d, yyyy" )
MsgBox.Info( today.AsString, "")
today.SetFormat( "dddd MMMM d, yyyy" )
MsgBox.Info( today.AsString, "")

The Date format

You format dates by specifying how the year, month, date and day appear to the user. A date format consists of value plugs and value separators. A value separator is any character that isn't a value plug. Value plugs are case sensitive. A date value plug is one of:

M    - the month as an integer from 1 to 12
MM  - same as 'M', but with a leading zero for single digit month numbers
MMM - the short form of the month name ('short' is determined by locale)
MMMM - the long form of the month name
d    - the day of the month as an integer from 1 to 31 (may have leading blank)
dd   - same as 'd', but with a leading zero for single digit dates
ddd - the short form of the day name ('short' is determined by locale)
dddd - the long form of the day name
y    - the year without century
yy  - same as 'y', but with a leading zero for single digit year numbers
yyy - the year with century
yyyy - the year with century
yyyyy  - the year with century, not restricted to four digits
c    - the century, without a leading zero
cc   - the century, with a leading zero for single digit centuries
w    - week of the year (Week 0 is first week with a Thursday)
ww   - week of the year, two digits with leading zeros
D    - numeric day of the week (Sunday = 1), one digit always
AD   - AD or BC string depending upon the year
CE   - CE or BCE string depending upon the year
J    - Julian Day (days since January 1, 4713 BC)
j    - day of the year
jj   - day of the year, three digits with leading zeros

The Time format

You format times by specifying how hours, minutes and seconds appear to the user. The relevant value plugs are:

m    - the minute as an integer from 0 to 59
s    - the seconds value as an integer from 0 to 59
s.s  - the seconds with milliseconds, 00.000
h    - the hour as an integer from 1 to 12
hh   - same as 'h', but with leading zero instead of blank
hhh  - the hour from 0 to 23
hhhh - same as 'hhh', but with leading zero instead of blank
AMPM - locale specific AM or PM string
TZ  - the locale specific time zone string
ITZ - ISO format time zone string (+0800, -0500, etc.)

Date objects support addition and subtraction. Subtract two dates (times) to return a duration - a span of time.

daysTilChristmas = today - ChristmasDay

Subtract a duration from a date (time) to return a date (time) or decrement a date by a specified number of days. Using the IncrementBy requests yields more accurate results.

2DaysAgo = today - 2.AsDays

today.IncrementByDays(-2)

Add a date (time) to a duration to return a date (time) or increment a date by a specified number of days. Using the IncrementBy requests yields a more accurate result.

3DaysFromToday = today + 3.AsDays

today.IncrementByDays(3)


Working with extensions

Extensions make it easy for both novice and experienced users to extend their ArcView environment. To load an extension, bring up the extensions dialog, select the extension of interest and check its name. When the extension loads, it adds new functionality to your current ArcView session. If you close your current project and open another, the functionality in the extension remains in your working environment and appears in the new project. You can easily unload the extension by unchecking the extension in the dialog box - unloading removes the extension from your current environment.

Extensions are independent from a project, so the objects in the extension are not replicated and saved to the project file. This feature makes extensions very useful for delivering customizations or other objects that might change over time.

A project can be dependent upon extensions so that each time you load that project, ArcView first loads the associated extensions. Or you can define a default extension environment (with Make Default in the extensions dialog) so that ArcView loads the specified extensions automatically each time you start up ArcView.

Extensions can be used for many different purposes. ESRI delivers many of its new products in extensions, but extensions can be created by anyone and are a great way for you to share your work with others. Extensions contain any objects - views, scripts, menus, buttons, etc. and have script properties that tell ArcView how to load and unload the extension, install and uninstall the objects defined in the extension.


Working with files

The subclasses of the abstract base class File implement the protocol for managing sequences of data elements stored on disk drives. This protocol is platform independent. TextFile defines an element as one character (not necessarily the same as a byte). Instances of the TextFile class manage sequences of ASCII characters.  LineFile defines an element as a sequence of characters terminated by a system-dependent line-termination character.

Each of the File subclasses provide requests to perform the typical operations on files: create, open, read, write, append, position the file pointer, and close.

To specify the mode in which to create a file, use one of the following enumerations.

FILE_PERM_READ: Opens an existing file for reading.

FILE_PERM_WRITE: Opens a new file for writing, or truncates an existing file.

FILE_PERM_MODIFY: Opens an existing file for reading and writing. The initial file pointer is at the beginning of the file.

FILE_PERM_APPEND: Opens an existing (or new) file for appending.

FILE_PERM_CLEARMODIFY: Creates a new file, or truncates an existing file, and allows both reads and writes on it.

The following script prompts for a file into which to write the contents of a script:

theScript = av.GetActiveDoc
theFName = av.GetProject.MakeFileName("scrpt", "ave")
theFName = FileDialog.Put(theFName, "*", "Write Script")
if (nil = theFName) then
  exit
end
f = LineFile.Make(theFName, #FILE_PERM_WRITE)
if (theScript.GetSelected.Count = 0) then
  f.WriteElt(theScript.GetSource)
  msgbox.info("Script written to"++theFName.GetFullName, "ArcView")
else
  f.WriteElt(theScript.GetSelected)
  msgbox.info("Selected text written to"++theFName.GetFullName, "ArcView")
end
f.close

The following script reads from a file and inserts its contents into a script. The While statement provides the mechanism to loop through the file until the ReadElt request returns 'nil', signifying end-of-file.

aScript = av.GetActiveDoc
theFName = FileDialog.Show("*", "Text File", "Load Script")
if (nil = theFName) then
  exit
end
f = LineFile.Make(theFName, #FILE_PERM_READ)
ok = True
while (ok)
  s = f.ReadElt
  if (nil = s) then
    ok = False
  else
    aScript.Insert(s)
    aScript.Insert(NL)
  end
end
f.Close 'closes the file


 Working with flow of control statements

Avenue provides several control structures that help you determine the flow of control of your scripts. In addition to the sequential execution of requests, you can also set conditional execution of and loop through requests.

The If...Then...Else statement and the While statement provide the mechanism for setting conditional execution.

You can use the For Each statement to loop through request blocks for a list of objects. Naturally, you can use the While statement to loop through a request block as well.

In addition, Avenue provides two statements that you can use to modify the way looping takes place within For Each and While statements. See Break and Continue.

Return and Exit end current execution of the script.


Working with lists and dictionaries
Working with lists, dictionaries and stacks

Lists, dictionaries and stacks provide the mechanism to aggregate objects and to reference component elements in efficient and meaningful ways.

Lists

A List is an ordered collection of heterogeneous objects. List elements may be any object and a list may contain objects of many different types. Each list element has an index number indicating its location in the list. The list index begins at 0; the first list element is at index 0 and the last list element at index "number_of_elements - 1".

Create a list with the brace notation or the Make request.

myList = { "Red", 201, myView, anotherList }
OR
myList = List.Make
myList.Add( "Red" )
myList.Add( 201 )
myList.Add( myView )
myList.Add( anotherList )

The Insert request inserts an element at the beginning of the list.

today = Date.Now
myList.Insert( today )

This example inserts the object referenced by today at the first position in the list (0 index)
            { today, "red", 201, myView, anotherList }

The Set request replaces the specified element with a new value.

myList.Set( 1, "Blue")

This example replaces the object "Red" with the object "Blue". The list would now contain the elements
             { today, "Blue", 201, myView, anotherList }

To retrieve an element from the list, use the Get request.

anElement = myList.Get( 1 )

This example returns the value "Blue" - the second element in the list.

Dictionaries

A dictionary is a collection of key and value pairs. The key is any object which identifies its value. Keys are unique in a dictionary. A value may be any object.

Dictionaries are hashed for efficient access. The size specified in the Make request is the approximate size of the dictionary to allow the creation of a hash table. The dictionary may grow to a factor of 20 larger than the specified size without negatively impacting performance.

Create a dictionary with the Make request.

aDict = Dictionary.Make( 100 )

Add items to the dictionary with the Add request.

aDict.Add( myKey, aValue )

Retrieve a value associated with a key with the Get request:

myValue = aDict.Get( myKey )

Remove a Key/Value pair with remove.

aDict.Remove( myKey )

Return the list of keys in the dictionary with the ReturnKeys request.

keyList = aDict.ReturnKeys

Stacks

A stack is a last-in-first-out (LIFO) collection of elements. As the name implies, each object in a stack is stacked on top of each other. Think of a stack of plates - you use the plate on top and when you return plates to the pile, you put them on top of the existing plates.

You add or "Push" an element on top of the stack with the Push request.

myStack.Push( "50" )

You remove an element from the top of the stack using the Pop request.

top = myStack.Pop

You find out how many elements are in the stack with the Depth request.

howMany = myStack.Depth

You can look at an object further down on the stack using the Peek request where 0 is the top of the stack and (Depth - 1) is bottom of the stack (or the last element).

third = myStack.Peek(2)

You can totally clear the stack using the Empty request.


Working with message boxes

ArcView provides a set of class requests to display modal dialog boxes that issue messages, errors, and warnings. Also, there are class requests that you can use to prompt for responses or selections. ArcView's message boxes always wait for a response from the user before continuing on with the script. Most MsgBox requests require arguments for output text, the dialog box title, and a default value for those requests that prompt for input. If you don't want to supply a title, just supply two quotation marks, for example, "".

Info, Error and Warning display text.

MsgBox.Info( "Here is the information you requested", "The Title" )

YesNo, MiniYesNo, YesNoCancel and YesNoAll prompt the user to select a Boolean value and then return that value. To set focus on the Yes button set the default value to TRUE; to set focus on the No button, set the default value to FALSE. If the user clicks the Yes button, the request returns 'true'; if the user clicks the No button, the request returns 'false'; clicking the Cancel button returns 'nil'.

myAnswer = MsgBox.YesNo( "Continue?", "ArcView", TRUE )

YesNo and MiniYesNo display Yes and No buttons. YesNoCancel displays Yes, No, and Cancel buttons. YesNoAll displays Yes, No and All buttons. When you select Cancel, Nil is returned.

Input, MultiInput and Password accept strings typed in by the user.

myText = MsgBox.Input( "Enter your text", "Title", "Default text" )

The user's response to a Password request is not echoed in the message box; an equivalent number of asterisks appear in the text input area. Both Input and Password return strings. MultiInput allows you to enter several strings (up to 20) and it returns a list of strings.

Choice and ChoiceAsString list the elements of a list in a dropdown list from which the user can make a choice and confirm the choice by clicking OK. If the user clicks the Cancel button that appears in the message box, the requests returns 'nil'.

myList={"Views", "Tables", "Layouts", "Charts", "Scripts"}
YourChoice = MsgBox.ChoiceAsString( myList, "Choose your favorite:", "ArcView Document Types" )
if (not (YourChoice = nil)) then
  msgbox.info(YourChoice++"are our favorite documents too","Mr. and Ms. Agreeable")|
end

If you have a list of strings, you should use ChoiceAsString instead of Choice. The requests List and ListAsString are similar to Choice and ChoiceAsString except they display the values of the list in a List box.

The requests MultiList and MultiListAsString allow you to select several items from a ListBox.  It returns nil if you hit cancel or it returns a list of selected objects.

options = { "a", "b", "c", "d" }
choices = MsgBox.MultiListAsString( options, "Select some", "SELECT" )
if (choices = nil) then
  MsgBox.Info( "NO SELECTION", "")
else
  MsgBox.Info( choices.count.AsString, "HOW MANY")
end


Working with numbers

Avenue's Number class supports numeric values and provides standard numeric functionality.

In Avenue, request evaluation is strictly left to right; Avenue does not support traditional arithmetic precedence rules. In the following equation, x receives the value 24. With traditional precedence rules, the equation yields the value 14.

x = 5 + 3 * 3

Use parenthesis to force appropriate evaluation:

x = 5 + (3 * 3)

Avenue uses postfix notationfor requests that perform numeric functions. For example, the following equation returns the absolute value of -7.

x = -7.abs

Numeric objects may be converted to other objects using the following requests: AsString, AsDays, AsYears, AsHours, AsMinutes, AsSeconds, AsDegrees, AsRadians.

The class Interval supports a range of numeric values (ex. the values from 2 to 25). The .. (two periods) operator creates an interval.

i = 1..100

You can specify the increment value of an interval using the by request.

evens = 0..100 by 2

Intervals are commonly used with the For Each statement:

for each j in 1..10
'loop body
end


Working with ObjectTags and Tags

Every control, document, document user interface, theme, and graphic element in ArcView has a property associated with it called an ObjectTag. You can use this property as a convenience mechanism to store an object that you want to associate with one of these objects. You can use the object tag as a means of adding your own properties to objects. Use the SetObjectTag request to set the object tag, for example, aControl.SetObjectTag( anObj ) and GetObjectTag to return the object. Note that the object can be any valid object. ObjectTags are persistent, so if you assign an object to the ObjectTag of a document and then save that project, the ObjectTag and the object it references are written to the project file. When you re-open the project, that document‘s ObjectTag still references the associated object.

In addition to object tags, you can assign a string to a control by setting the control's Tag property using the SetTag request. Note An ObjectTag can store any class, whereas a Tag can only store strings.


Working with project components

In ArcView, you work with a project. A project is a collection of documents (views, tables, charts, layouts, script editors), document user interfaces, scripts, and other types of objects.

Projects are persistent. When you save a project to disk, you are saving a complete snapshot of the state of ArcView at the time of the save operation. A project file on disk is normally a text file with the extension .apr.

All activity takes place within a project. You cannot have multiple projects open at the same time; however, you can import one project into another.

Elements of a Project

A project includes three element types: documents, document user interfaces and scripts.

Documents are the different means of interacting with your data: views, tables, charts, layouts, and script editors. For more information see the ArcView Class Hierarchy help topics for the Document class and its subclasses.

Document User Interfaces (DocGUI) define the series of controls that you use to interact with the documents. DocGUIs may be system-defined or local to the project. See the DocGUI class in the ArcView Class Hierarchy help system and Working with controls for more information.

Scripts are the Avenue scripts that perform various tasks in ArcView. In this context, we draw a distinction between a Script Editor (or SEd for short) and a Script. A Script Editor is the document that allows the user to input, compile, and test a script. A Script is the actual Avenue code. Projects may include scripts that are not being edited in a script editor; these are embedded scripts because they are stored in the Project's script list. Embedded scripts save the project from storing an extra document for each script that is executed. Once you have debugged and tested a script it does not have to be stored in a Script Editor. You can embed the script in the project. Embedded scripts can be loaded into a Script Editor for modification through the Script editor's Load System Script control. See the SEd and Script classes in the the ArcView Class Hierarchy help system for more information.

The Project class provides requests that allow you to Add, Remove and Find individual documents, GUIs or scripts within the project. Also, you can Get a lists of all documents, GUIs, or scripts defined in the project.

When you create a new DocGUI, you must add it to the Project. You can do this through the Customize Types dialog.

newViewGUI = av.FindGUI("View").clone 'creates a new GUI
newViewGUI.SetName( "newView") 'change its name
av.GetProject.AddGUI( newViewGUI )

When you complete development of a script and it no longer needs editing, move the script from the script editor to the list of scripts within the project. Then you can remove the script editor from the project. The Embed option performs this operation.

'Add the script to the project
myScript = av.FindScript("Utility")
av.GetProject.AddScript(myScript)
'Remove the Script Editor
theSEd = av.GetProject.FindDoc("Utility")
av.GetProject.RemoveDoc(theSEd)

Projects and global variables

Global variables in Avenue exist within the scope of the project. You create a global variable by using the underscore character in front of the variable name. Global variables are NOT saved to the project file. For more details on global variables, scripts and projects, refer to the class help for Scripts.


What is Remote Procedure Calls

Remote Procedure Call (RPC) provides a standard protocol for implementing Client/Server relationships between applications. One application establishes itself as a server and then other applications become clients by connecting to the server. Clients request services from the server application. The server performs those requested tasks and responds to the client requests. The Client/Server relationship allows you to share functionality among multiple processes and to distribute functionality across multiple machines.

There are several forms of RPC, but both ArcView and ARC/INFO use the Open Network Computing (ONC) standard. (DCE is another common variety). ArcView and ARC/INFO interact via RPC with any other applications supporting ONC/RPC. Both ArcView and ARC/INFO can be either clients, servers or both.

ArcView supports RPC with the RPCClient and RPCServer classes. You make the ArcView application an RPCServer by issuing the RPCServer.Start request. Clients make requests to the ArcView RPCServer in the form of Avenue statements. You can create clients to other RPCServers with ArcView’s RPCClient class. RPCClient.Make creates a client object establishing a connection to another application that is a server. With RPCClient.Execute you request services from the server.

Through these classes, you can connect ArcView to any other application that supports RPC with the ONC/RPC protocols.  For example, you might choose to connect your ArcView application to ARC/INFO. An ArcView client might request processing from an ARC/INFO server. ARC/INFO provides powerful data generation and analysis tools not available in ArcView, and via RPC connections ArcView may access and utilize these capabilities . Through RPC, an ArcView client can request ARC/INFO to create topology, perform sophisticated analysis, generate coverages, create advanced maps, etc. The RPC connection allows the two applications to communicate status and results.


Working with strings

Avenue's string class provides basic string functionality. Strings are delimited with the double quote character ("). You can create a new string object with the assignment statement:

myString = "Hello World"
aStrNum = 100.AsString

Strings may include special characters such as newline (linefeed), tab, and carriage return expressed with pre-defined string objects 'nl', 'tab', and 'cr'. So, to insert a newline character between two strings, use the pre-defined string as follows:

myString = "Hello World"+NL+"Have a Nice Day"

This produces the string:

Hello World
Have a Nice Day

Concatenate two strings with either the + or ++ operator. ++ inserts a space between the two strings.

aDocument = av.GetActiveDoc.GetName
MsgBox.Info( "The active document is"++aDocument, "Active Document")

Compare two strings with these requests: =, <, >, <=, >=.

if ( myString = "NO" ) then
  return nil
elseif (myString = "Maybe") then
  MsgBox.Info( "Think about it some more", "")
end

Convert string objects to other Avenue objects with these requests: AsAscii, AsFileName, AsList, AsNumber, AsDate, AsTime, AsEnum, AsToken.

aFile = "test.c".AsFileName

This creates a FileName object from the string "test.c".

OR

aNum = "100"
if ( aNum.IsNumber ) then
  myNum = aNum.AsNumber
end

This creates a number object from the string "100".

OR

myString = "red orange yellow green blue purple"
myList = myString.AsTokens

This produces the list:  {"red", "orange", "yellow", "green", "blue", "purple"}.

You can extract a substring from a string.

myString = "red orange yellow green blue purple"
MsgBox.Info( myString.Extract( 2 ), "" )   ' displays yellow

You can substitute strings within other strings.

myString = "Montreal has a good hockey team! Go Montreal!"
myNewString = myString.Substitute("Montreal", "Colorado")
MsgBox.Info(myNewString, "")

You can get the base file name without the extension using the IndexOf and Left requests. Similar to Left, there are requests Right and Middle. This example gets the string "excel".

myString = "excel.exe"
periodIndex=myString.Indexof(".")
theFileName=myString.Left(PeriodIndex)
MsgBox.Info(theFileName, "")  '"excel"

You can manipulate strings with these String requests: BasicProper, LCase, Proper, Translate, Trim, and UCase.

MsgBox.Info( "HELLO".LCase, "" )  'displays hello
MsgBox.Info( "IALLX".Translate( "IAX", "HEO"), "" )  ' displays HELLO
MsgBox.Info( "hello world".Proper, "")  ' displays Hello World

For more information on strings and to learn more about the requests you can use on strings, see the String class.


Working with variables
Working with assignment statements and variables

Avenue variables reference objects. A variable is created when it appears on the left hand side of an assignment statement. The variable references the object on the right-hand side of the equals sign. A variable name preceded by an underscore (_) is a global variable. The scope of global variables extends to all scripts in the project.

aDoc = av.GetActiveDoc

Use the variable as you would the object.

In this example, the variable y references the new view object created by View.Make. Then x also references the view referenced by y and then x is made to reference the nil object. What is y? Of course, y still references the view object.

y = View.Make
x = y
x = nil

In this example, what is the value of x? In the first line, y is assigned the value 5. In the second line x is assigned the value which is the result of the comparison "is y equal to 3". Since y is equal to 5, that result is false - so x is false.

y = 5
x = y = 3


Writing a script to a text file

You may want to write all or part of a script to a text file that you can use with another application on your system or you may want to perform further edits on the file you write with a word processing application.

To write all or part of a script to a text file

1	Click the Write Script button [image], or select the text you want to write first and then click the button.

2	In the Write Script dialog box, navigate to where you want to write the file.

3	Type the name of the file to save in the File Name text entry area.

4	Click OK.


Writing data to an Excel spreadsheet

Suppose you want to copy some data you have in an ArcView table to Excel so that you can use Excel's spreadsheet functionality. The following example creates an Excel spreadsheet and then writes the selected data to that new spreadsheet.

In this example, ArcView is always a client to Excel, but it is a client in more than one conversation. In this first section, ArcView creates a client to Excel's system topic and then issues Excel commands to create a new spreadsheet, get that spreadsheet name and make sure the spreadsheet uses Row/Column format.

theTable = av.GetActiveDoc

' Create the ArcView DDEClient.  This initiates the Excel conversation.
' Verify that there are no errors.
systemClient = DDEClient.Make("Excel", "System")
if (systemClient.HasError) then
  MsgBox.error(systemClient.GetErrorMsg, "")
  exit
end

' Create the new Excel worksheet
systemClient.Execute("[NEW(1,0,FALSE)]")

' Get the name of the new worksheet.  Selection is an Excel item
' supported for the System topic.
selection = systemClient.Request("Selection")
spreadsheet = selection.Left(selection.IndexOf("!"))

' Ensure R1C1 format
systemClient.Execute("[Workspace(,,TRUE)]")
systemClient.Close

Next, ArcView creates a conversation with the spreadsheet. Notice that you create a whole new client object identified by the application "Excel" and topic, the spreadsheet's name. Then ArcView uses the Poke request to put data in the specified Row and Column. Excel's poke request expects the item to be named as a Row/Column pair (R<i>C<j>) and the data is the value to be poked.

' Open a new conversation with the Excel spreadsheet as the topic
ssClient = ddeClient.Make("Excel", spreadsheet)

' Get table information for later use
tableName = theTable.GetName
theVTab   = theTable.GetVTab
theFields = theVTab.GetFields

' Write the table name to the spreadsheet
row    = 1
column = 1
ssClient.Poke("R"+row.AsString+"C"+column.AsString, tableName)

' Allow user to select fields of interest
fieldList = List.Make
while (true)
  aField = MsgBox.List(theFields,
     "Choose fields to write to Excel:"+NL+"(Cancel to stop)", "Excel")
  if (aField = Nil) then
     break
  end
  fieldList.Add(aField)
end

' Write chosen field names to the spreadsheet
row    = 2
column = 0
for each f in fieldList
  column = column + 1
  ssClient.Poke("R"+row.AsString+"C"+column.AsString, f.GetName)
end

' Write the values for selected features to spreadsheet
for each rec in theVTab.GetSelection
  row    = row + 1
  column = 0
  for each f in fieldList
    column = column + 1
    if (f.IsTypeShape) then
      dataString = "Shape"
    else
      dataString = theVTab.ReturnValueString(f, rec)
    end
    ssClient.Poke("R"+row.AsString+"C"+column.AsString, dataString)
  end
end
ssClient.Close


Writing your own DLL

You can create your own custom DLLs that contains functions for use with ArcView. When creating your own DLLs you may need to consider compiler options or special techniques. Not all compilers may be appropriate for creating DLLs for use with ArcView. The examples that follow were created using Microsoft Visual C++ on Microsoft Windows NT.

DLLs created with Microsoft Visual Basic 5 will not work in ArcView. Visual Basic 5 does not provide the ability to "export" functions within the DLLs that it makes. ArcView can only use DLL functions that are "exported".

DLLs that use visual or user-interface components may require in-depth knowledge or special techniques that are not documented here. Ultimately, the development of DLLs that work successfully with ArcView is the responsibility of the programmer, and is beyond the scope of provided support services.

Caveats aside, creating a DLL containing functions that do not use visual or user interface components is actually very simple.

Example 1: Creating and Using math.dll

The following example shows the C code necessary to create a DLL with a single function called ‘AddLongs’, and the Avenue script which is used to load the DLL and call the function. The AddLongs function will require two long integers as parameters, and will return the result of the addition as a long integer. Note that the function name specified using DLLProc.Make reflects mixed upper and lower case as it appears in the source code for the function.

C Source Code for math.dll

#include <windows.h>

long AddLongs(long a, long b)

{

return a + b;

}

Avenue Script to Call AddLongs

myDLL = DLL.Make("c:\lib\math.dll".AsFileName)

add = DLLProc.Make(myDLL, "AddLongs", #DLLPROC_TYPE_INT32,

{#DLLPROC_TYPE_INT32, #DLLPROC_TYPE_INT32})

x = add.Call({500, 200})

MsgBox.Info("The result is " + x.asString, "")

Example 2: Creating and Using message.dll

The following example shows the C code and Avenue script necessary to create and use a DLL with a single function called ‘ShowMsg’ The ShowMsg function uses a call to a Windows API MessageBox to display a string passed to it from the Avenue script.

You will note that the call to the Windows API MessageBox uses MB_APPLYMODAL to force the user to respond to the message box before returning control back to the owner window identified by hWndAV, which in this case will be ArcView. In order for this to work properly you must provide the identifier of the ArcView application window. Use the DLL class request GetAVWindowHandle to return this identifier. The first argument in the ShowMsg function will be the ArcView window identifier, as passed from the calling script.

If the called external DLL function uses a dialog box, dragging the dialog over ArcView will cause ‘ghosting’. This effect can be resolved using the DLL class request SetRefresh(True). This request enables ArcView to respond appropriately to Windows repaint messages. You should enable this only after thorough testing of your function, as error messages generated while SetRefresh is True may cause control of ArcView to be lost.

C Source Code for message.dll

void ShowMsg(long hWndAV, char* chrMessage)

{

  char chrTitle[30] = "Windows API MessageBox";

  MessageBox(hWndAV, chrMessage, chrTitle, MB_APPLMODAL);

}

Avenue Script to Call ShowMsg

myDLL = DLL.Make("c:\lib\message.dll".AsFileName)

message = DLLProc.Make(myDLL, "ShowMsg", #DLLPROC_TYPE_VOID,

{#DLLPROC_TYPE_INT32, #DLLPROC_TYPE_STR})

aString = MsgBox.Input("Enter a message:","","Hello World")

theWinHandle = DLL.GetAVWindowHandle

DLL.SetRefresh(True)

message.Call({theWinHandle,aString})

Example 3: Creating a structure and returning a pointer

The following example shows the C code and Avenue script necessary to create a simple structure, return its reference to ArcView and then allow ArcView access to its elements. The DLL also provides a function to recover the memory used by the structure. Developers creating DLLs must ensure that their routines responsibly restore heap memory.

Note that the pointer to the structure is returned as the result of the function. If you want to return a pointer as an argument, you must declare that argument type to be #DLLPROC_TYPE_PINT32.

C Source Code for location.dll

typedef struct {

float x, y;

char* name;

int status;

} location;

location * makeLocation( float x,float y, char * name, int status)

{

location * p;

  p = (location *)malloc( sizeof( location ));

  p->x = x;

  p->y = y;

  p->status = status;

  p->name = malloc( sizeof( name) + 1);

  strcpy( p->name, name);

  return p;

}

float returnX( location *p )

{ return p->x; }

float returnY( location *p )

{  return p->y; }

char * returnName( location *p )

{  return p->name; }

int returnStatus( location *p )

{  return p->status; }

void restoreLocation( location *p )

{

  free( p->name );

  free( p );

}

Avenue Script to create the structure and retrieve values

_make = DLLProc.Make( myDLL, "makeLocation", #DLLPROC_TYPE_POINTER,

    { #DLLPROC_TYPE_FLOAT, #DLLPROC_TYPE_FLOAT, #DLLPROC_TYPE_STR,

      #DLLPROC_TYPE_INT16})

if (_make = nil) then 'use this on every DLL.Make statement

  msgbox.error( "Could not make MAKE", "")

  exit

end

restore = DLLProc.Make( _d, "restoreLocation", #DLLPROC_TYPE_VOID, {#DLLPROC_TYPE_POINTER})

_returnX = DLLProc.Make( _d, "returnX", #DLLPROC_TYPE_FLOAT, {#DLLPROC_TYPE_POINTER})

_returnY = DLLProc.Make( _d, "returnY", #DLLPROC_TYPE_FLOAT, {#DLLPROC_TYPE_POINTER})

_returnName= DLLProc.Make( _d, "returnName", #DLLPROC_TYPE_STR, {#DLLPROC_TYPE_POINTER})

_returnStatus = DLLProc.Make( _d, "returnStatus", #DLLPROC_TYPE_INT16, {#DLLPROC_TYPE_POINTER})

p = _make.Call( { 10.0, -111.15, "TEST", 1})

msgbox.info(

        _returnX.call({p}).AsString++

        _returnY.call({p}).AsString++

        _returnName.call({p})++

        _returnStatus.call({p}).AsString, "")

_restore.call({p})


AVARRAY Index not in range
AVARRAY: Index <n> not in range: <min>..<max>

You get this error when you try to access an element outside the list's range. The following example gives the error "AVARRAY: Index 6 not in range 0..5". The last element has index 5.

myList = { "red", "orange", "yellow", "green", "blue", "violet" }
last = myList.Get( 6 )

You get this error with for each statements when the loop body eliminates elements of the list on which you are looping.

for each t in av.GetActiveDoc.GetThemes
  av.GetActiveDoc.DeleteTheme( t )
end

In this example, the for each loop steps through the list of themes in the View, but the body of the loop is changing that list of themes. You can easily correct this by looping on a different list that contains the same elements. Clone the list and loop on the clone instead of the list that you are changing.

for each t in av.GetActiveDoc.GetThemes.clone
  av.GetActiveDoc.DeleteTheme( t )
end


A(n) %s object does not recognize request %s
An 'item' object does not recognize request 'item'

The target object's class does not implement the specified request. Double-click on the request name to find out which classes provide an implementation for it, or browse through the requests implemented by the class to determine whether another request is appropriate.

You will see this error message when you try to run a script that requires the active document to be, say, a View, when the active document is really some other document. For more information on this situation, see Scripts and the Active Document.


Bad Token:

The Avenue lexical analyzer cannot classify the sequence of characters pointed to by the current cursor location. This can happen when you have a string literal which is not properly delimited.


Break must be inside a 'while' or 'for each' loop

The Break statement applies only within the context of the 'while' or 'for each' loop body. Move the Break statement inside the loop or delete it.


Cannot use a global variable as a loop control variable.

A loop control variable is used in a for each statement. It exists only for the scope of the statement. Since global variables exist for the lifetime of the ArcView session, they cannot be used in this manner.


Can't convert <item> to enumeration

You get this error when you try convert a string to an enumeration with the String request AsEnum and the string is not a string representation of an enumerated value.

"aa".AsEnum


Can't convert string to number: <item>

You get this error when you try convert a string to a number with the String request AsNumber, but the string is not a string representation of a number.

"aa".AsNumber

Use the request IsNumber to first verify the content of the string.

myString = "aa"
if (myString.IsNumber) then
  myNumber = myString.AsNumber
end


Continue must be inside a 'while' or 'for each' loop

The Continue statement applies only within the context of the 'while' or 'for each' loop body.

Move the Continue statement inside the loop.


Don't know how to make an object out of a(n) %s
Don't know how to make an object out of a(n) 'item'

Please contact ESRI Technical Support. Be ready to provide a copy of the script that caused the error.


Avenue Error Messages

ArcView may present error messages during compilation, debugging, or execution. The following is a list of Avenue errors.

An 'item' is both a variable and a class

An 'item' object does not recognize request 'item'

AVARRAY: Index <i> not in range: <min>..<max>

Bad Token:

Break must be inside a 'while' or 'for each' loop

Cannot use a global variable as a loop control variable

Can't convert <item> to enumeration

Can't convert string to number: <item>

Continue must be inside a 'while' or 'for each' loop

Don't know how to make an object out of an 'item'

Expected an 'item' to be returned from 'item', but got an 'item'

Request 'item' must be sent to a class

Request 'item' must be sent to an object

The global variable 'item' no longer exists.

There are extra characters at the end of the script

This isn't an Avenue statement.

Unexpected token:

Unknown enumeration element:

Unrecognized error

Unrecognized object:

Variable 'item' has not been initialized.

'While' expression must evaluate to 'true' or 'false'

Wrong class for parameter 'item' of request 'item'. Got an 'item', expected an 'item'

Wrong enumeration type. Got an 'item', expected an 'item'

Wrong number of parameters in request. Expected:


Expected a(n) %s to be returned from %s, but got a(n) %s
Expected an 'item' to be returned from 'item', but got an 'item'

An internal error occurred because the method returned an object with a different class than expected.

Please contact ESRI Technical Support. Be ready to provide a copy of the script that caused the error.


Request %s must be sent to an object
Request 'item' must be sent to an object

You tried to send an object request to a class.

Get help on on the class name to find out which requests the class implements.


Request %s must be sent to a class
Request 'item' must be sent to a class

You tried to send a class request to an object.

Get help on the request name to find out which classes provide an implementation for it, or browse through the requests implemented by the class to determine whether another request is appropriate.


There are extra characters at the end of the script

The Avenue parser recognized at least one statement in the script which you typed in, but didn't know what to do with the characters following the recognized statement(s).

Check for extra 'end' keywords in your script.


The global variable %s no longer exists.
The global variable 'item' no longer exists.

It is possible to explicitly delete global variables using the request av.ClearGlobals. If you do delete all globals, other scripts, already compiled, may fail when they are next run if they happen to reference deleted global variables. You can recreate the global by assigning it a value such as _MyGlobal = nil.


This isn't an Avenue statement.

An Avenue statement could not be constructed from the characters near the current cursor location.


Unexpected token:

The Avenue parser determined that it was parsing a certain kind of statement, but then encountered some characters that were inconsistent with that initial determination; for example, if you fail to place parentheses around an expression in an If...Then...Else statement. You see this error when you forget THEN in an if then else statement.

Check for the correct syntax of the statement.


Unknown enumeration element:

The enumeration entry is not defined by any class. Check for any spelling mistakes.


Unrecognized error

An internal error occurred.

Please contact ESRI Technical Support. Be ready to provide a copy of the script that caused the error.


Unrecognized object:

The Avenue parser expected to find an object at the current cursor, location, but then encountered some characters that were inconsistent$ with that initial determination.

Check that you have defined any variables which may appear in the statement generating the error. Also, check for the correct syntax of the statement.


Variable %s has not been initialized.
Variable 'item' has not been initialized.

If you have a conditional assignment to a variable, and that condition does not become true during execution of the script, then the variable will never be defined.

Make sure that any path of execution leading to the failing statement properly initializes the variable.


Wrong class for parameter %d of request %s. Got a(n) %s, expected a(n) %s
Wrong class for parameter 'item' of request 'item'. Got an 'item', expected an 'item'

The request expected an argument of a different class. Check the request definition for the correct parameter type. A conversion request such as AsString or AsFileName may be required.


Wrong enumeration type. Got a(n) %s, expected a(n) %s
Wrong enumeration type. Got an 'item', expected an 'item'

The request expected an argument from a different enumeration. Check the request definition for the correct enumeration type.


Wrong number of parameters in request. Expected:

The request expects a different argument list. See the request definition for the correct number of arguments.


%s is both a variable and a class
An 'item' is both a variable and a class

The variable name is the same as a class name. Rename the variable with a unique name.


'While' expression must evaluate to 'true' or 'false'

The expression appearing between the parentheses of the while statement, when evaluated, didn't result in either the boolean true, or the boolean false object.

For example, this will fail:

while (1.Sin)
  a = 1 + 2
end


Apply Property

Specifies the name of the script to execute when the user clicks the mouse with the specified tool. Double-clicking the Apply property in the Properties list displays the Script Manager, a dialog box that lists all the scripts available in the project. Use the Apply property to define user interaction with the display through a tool. Only tools support the Apply property.


Click Property

Specifies the name of the script to execute when the user clicks the control. Double-clicking the Click property in the Properties list displays the Script Manager, a dialog box that lists all the scripts available in the project. Choices, buttons and tools have a click property.


Control Properties

Every control in an ArcView Menu bar, Button bar, Tool bar or Popup set has associated properties. You can set the most common properties interactively in the Customize dialog box. You can also set the value of all of these properties at run-time in a script using the appropriate request.

Here is a list of all properties:

Apply

Click

Cursor

Disabled

Help

Help Topic

Icon

Invisible

Label

ObjectTag

Shortcut

Tag

Update


Cursor Property

Specifies the name of the cursor associated with a tool. Double-clicking the Cursor property in the Properties list displays the Cursor Manager, a dialog box that contains a list of available cursors. The cursor you select appears when you use the tool. The Cursor property applies to tools exclusively.


Disabled Property

Determines whether the control can respond to user-generated events. Setting a control's Disabled property to 'True' prevents a user from using a control. The control remains displayed, but it appears grayed out. To toggle the state of the Disabled property, double-click its name in the Properties list.

You disable a control when it is inappropriate to use it. Typically, you set this property in the control’s update script based upon the system’s state.

To disable or enable a control in a script, use aControl.SetEnabled( TRUE ) or aControl.SetEnabled( FALSE ). In this example, taken from an Update script, SELF refers to the Sort Ascending control. The control is enabled if the Table has an active field.

' Table.SortUpdate

theTable = av.GetActiveDoc

SELF.SetEnabled( theTable.GetActiveField <> NIL )

Note: Menus cannot be disabled.


Extension Properties

An extension has 6 event properties that let you define what happens when the extension loads and unloads into the application, what happens when the extension is installed to and uninstalled from a project, what happens when you save a project and when the extension can be unloaded. You specify these event properties when you create the extension. There are several other properties that you can set when you create the extension: the version number, the description in the about string and any dependencies the extension might have. When the extension is loaded, you can find out if any other extensions are dependent upon it with the IsADependency property.

For further description of the extension class and its properties, see the class help for extension.

Install Script

Uninstall Script

Load Script

Unload Script

CanUnload Script

ProjectSave Script

Dependencies

IsADependency

About

Version Number


 Extension About

The "about string" provides a brief description of the extension that a user can read in the About box in the Extensions dialog. No more than 120 characters appear in the dialog. Set the about string in Avenue with the extension request SetAbout.

testAVX.SetAbout( "something interesting about this extension" )


 Extension CanUnload Script

This script returns TRUE if the extension can be unloaded and FALSE if the extension cannot be unloaded. The extension author defines what conditions would make this extension "unloadable".

For example, suppose your extension delivered a DocGUI (assumed to be the first object in the extension in this example). Your CanUnload script might check if any documents use that DocGUI and if so prevent someone from unloading the extension.

if (av.GetProject = nil) then
  return TRUE
elseif (av.GetProject.GetDocWithGUI( self.Get(0)).count = 0) then
  return TRUE
else
  return FALSE
end

When you create the extension, you specify the CanUnload script with the request SetCanUnloadScript.

textavx.SetCanUnloadScript( av.FindScript("CanUnload"))

The fill or hollow state of the check mark in the extensions dialog indicates if the user can unload an extension. This state is partially determined by the CanUnload script. If no other extensions are dependent upon the extension (see IsADependency) and if the project is not dependent on this extension (result of the CanUnload script), the check mark is solid.

This script is optional; if no CanUnload script is specified ArcView assumes there are no special constraints on the extension.


 Extension Dependencies

Your extensions can have dependencies upon other extensions or special ESRI developed dlls. When an extension with dependencies loads, these other extensions or dlls are loaded before your extension guaranteeing the environment for your extension. Also, any extension that your extension depends upon cannot be unloaded.

These "special dlls" are provided by ESRI to extend the class hierarchy such as the dlls that support the Spatial Analyst or the Network Analyst. These are not dlls that you access through the DLL and DLLProc classes. For example, if you want to create your own extension that uses the classes and requests defined in spatial analyst, but not the default user interface or scripts provided by the Spatial Analyst extension, you could create an extension with a dependency on the spatial analyst dll ($AVBIN/avgrid.dll).

When you make an extension object, you specify any dependencies in the Extension Make request. Any file specified in the dependency list will be automatically loaded before the extension loads. For example, this extension is dependent upon two other extensions. Note that the elements of the dependency list are FileName objects.

myExtension = Extension.Make( "$USEREXT/test.avx".AsFileName, "Test",
       nil, nil,
       {"$USEREXT/another.avx".AsFileName, "$AVEXT/spatial.avx".AsFileName})

You can get the list of dependencies with the GetDependencies request (inherited from ODB). This script lists the dependencies of all loaded extensions. The list returned by GetDependencies is a list of FileName objects.

all = Extension.GetExtensions
for each ext in all
  MsgBox.ListAsString( ext.GetDependencies, "", ext.GetName )
end

Projects also have dependencies, but a project can be dependent only on extensions. Like the Extension request, the project request GetDependencies returns a list of FileName objects. You can alter the project dependencies by altering this list.

NOTE: If you are creating an extension containing a View and either the Network or Spatial Analyst is loaded in the source project, you must either include the analysts in the dependency list or first unload the analysts before you create the extension. Spatial Analyst and Network Analyst both add extra properties to a View through a subclass of ExtensionObjects and if the analyst is not loaded, that subclass will be undefined.


 Extension Install Script

The install script establishes this extension in the current project. The install script triggers each time you open a project, create a new project or after the extension loads into ArcView. Typically, the install script adds objects in the extension to the current project. Your install script may perform other project specific initializations such as creating files or setting up global variables.

When you create the extension, you specify both Install and Uninstall in the extension Make request. The install script is optional; specify nil for that argument.

Install scripts should always verify that there is currently an active project before trying to add objects from the extension to the project.

' Install ONLY if there is an active project
if (av.GetProject = nil) then
  return nil
end

In the install script (like all extension event scripts), the self object is the extension object. The objects added to the extension are retrieved with the Get request. You can easily access the objects in the extension.

firstObject = self.Get(0)
secondObject = self.Get(1)

The extension author knows the order in which objects were added to the extension, so it is easy to retrieve each object from the extension and add it to the project. In this simple example, each objects in the extension is a root. Another idea is to add objects to a dictionary and then add that dictionary to the extension as a root; the dictionary may simplify retrieval of objects when you have a large or complicated extension.

Very often, you use the install script to position controls in existing document user interfaces. Be sure your install script handles the case of a radically customized DocGUI or missing DocGUIs. The ControlSet requests FindByLabel and FindByScript help you locate the appropriate neighboring controls. Remember - FindByLabel depends upon the label name and label names change in localized versions.

' Install the menu in the View DocGUI after the Window menu
viewGUI = av.GetProject.FindGUI( "View" )
if (viewGUI <> nil) then
  windowMenu = theGUI.GetMenuBar.FindByLabel("Window")
  place = theGUI.GetMenuBar.GetControls.Find( windowMenu )
  if (place <> -1) then
    ' Add it after the Window menu
    theGUI.GetMenuBar.Add( mnuNamedExt, place)
  else
    ' Make it the last item
    theGUI.GetMenuBar.Add( mnuNamedExt,theGUI.GetMenuBar.GetControls.count )
  end
end

You may choose to add your customizations to more than one DocGUI. Remember that a control may appear in one and only one DocGUI, so you must clone the control. The cloned control is in the project's space and will be saved with the project. This can be a feature or a hindrance depending upon your intentions.

If the extension contains documents or DocGUIs, you must install them into the project.

' Install the document
av.GetProject.AddDoc( self.Get(1))

' Install the DocGUI and restore its modified state
av.GetProject.AddGUI( self.Get(2))
self.Get(2).SetModified( FALSE )

When you add a DocGUI to the project, its modified state gets set to true. You should restore its modified state to false so that the DocGUI is not written out to the system or local default file.

Any objects that you add to a project in the install script must be removed from the project in the uninstall script.


 Extension IsADependency

An extension may be dependent upon other extensions. For example Extension A may be dependent upon Extension B. Thus the IsADependency property is TRUE for Extension B because another extension is dependent upon it. The example below would return true.

b.IsADependency

The IsADependency property partially determines the fill or hollow state of the check mark in the Extensions dialog. If this extension IsADependency or if its CanUnload script returns false, the check mark is hollow indicating that you cannot unload the extension.

You make an extension dependent upon another extension in the Make request. The last argument of the Make request is a list of dependencies for the extension. Dependencies are other extensions or dlls that must be loaded before this extension can be loaded. In this example, extension a is dependent upon extension b.

a = Extension.Make("$USEREXT/a.avx".AsFileName, "EXTENSION A",
          nil, nil, {"$USEREXT/b.avx".AsFileName})

When you load extension a, ArcView ensures that extension b is loaded first and that extension b cannot be unloaded while extension a remains loaded.


 Extension Load Script

The load script executes when the extension file opens or loads into ArcView. You can load an extension by checking it in the extension dialog. You can load an extension from an Avenue script using the Extension request Open. An extension loads when you open a project with a dependency on that extension and that extension is not yet loaded.

Use the load script to specify any one time only initializations. The load script might establish some environment or initialize global variables. In the load script, the extension object is the value of SELF. The load script is optional.

When you make the extension, you specify the load script with the SetLoadScript request.

myExtension.SetLoadScript( av.FindScript( "Load" ))


 Extension ProjectSave Script

The ProjectSave script executes just before the current project is saved to a file. You can use the ProjectSave script to perform any cleanup or special tasks. The most common function for the ProjectSave script is to capture any modifications to extension objects and save them to the project's preferences dictionary. (for more information, see Project Preferences.

For example, suppose your extension adds a new button to the View DocGUI's button bar. When you save the project, the extension's ProjectSave script checks to see if the user has modified this button and if so, the ProjectSave script saves the modified button to the project's preferences for this extension. Controls have a modified state which is set whenever you change the control's properties in the customize dialog. You can use this Modified state to determine if your user has customized the control.

If your extension saves objects to the preferences dictionary, your extension install script must look for these saved objects and restore them instead of the defaults.

Here is a simple ProjectSave script that looks if the button (the first item in the extension) has been altered and if altered adds it to the preferences dictionary.

' the Test button is the first object in the extension
if (self.Get(0).IsModified) then
  self.GetPreferences.Add( "View.TestButton", self.Get(0))
end

if (self.Get(1).IsModified) then
  self.GetPreferences.Add( ")
end

When you make the extension, use the Extension request SetProjectSaveScript to specify the ProjectSave script property.

testAVX.SetProjectSaveScript(av.FindScript("Test.SaveScript"))

The ProjectSave script is optional.


 Extension Uninstall Script

An extension's uninstall script executes whenever the current project closes or when the extension unloads. Use the uninstall script to remove extension objects added to the current project by the install script or to perform any other clean up required by the extension within the current project.

When you create the extension, you specify the uninstall script in Make request. The uninstall script is optional, but you must uninstall any objects added by the install script.

Here is a sample uninstall script. If there is no current project, there is no need for the uninstall script to execute. If your extension requires "cleanup" tasks specific to the project such as deleting some temporary files or clearing some global data structure, perform those tasks in this script. If the extension is being unloaded because the project is closing, you do not need to remove objects owned by the extension, but otherwise, you must remove all extension objects you added to the project in the install script.

' Don't uninstall if there is no project
if (av.GetProject = nil) then
  return nil
end

' Clean up even if the project is closing

' don't uninstall extension objects if project is closing
if (av.GetProject.IsClosing) then
  return nil
end

' Remove objects owned by the extension from the project

For example, if the extension has added any controls to DocGUIs, the Uninstall script removes those controls. Use the ControlSet Remove request. This example assumes the first object in the extension is a menu that was added to the View DocGUI.

' Remove the menu
ViewGUI = av.FindGUI( "View" )
if (viewGUI <> nil) then
  viewGUI.GetMenuBar.Remove( self.Get(0))
end

If the extension adds a View to the current project, you must remove that View in the uninstall script. This example assumes the second object in the extension is the View.

' Remove the view
av.GetProject.RemoveDoc(self.Get(1))


 Extension Unload Script

The Unload script executes when you unload the extension from ArcView. Use this script to perform any final clean-up your extension might require such as clearing global variables or deleting temporary files. In the unload script, the extension object is the value of SELF. The unload script is optional.

You specify the unload script when you make the extension with the SetUnloadScript request.

myExtension.SetUnloadScript( av.FindScript( "Unload" ))


Extension Version Number

This property allows you to tag an extension with a version number. This is useful for developers who may deliver different versions of a particular extension over time. You set the version number in the extension's make script with the request SetExtVersion.

myExtension.SetExtVersion( 1 )

If the extension becomes a dependency of a project and if some extension objects are maintained in the project file (e.g., you have cloned extension controls and added them to the project for user customization), you could capture the extension's version number in the project's preferences dictionary. By saving the version with the project, you allow future versions to support a migration path.


GUI ActionScript Property
ActionScript Property

The ActionScript defines what happens when you click on the third button in the project window when this DocGUI is selected. The default action script, Doc.Action, prints each selected document, but you can create your own action script specific to your application's needs.

To change the ActionScript property, in the Customize Types dialog, double click on the ActionScript property to display the Script Manager. From the Script Manager, you can select an existing script or create a new script. If you prefer, you can set the ActionScript property in a script using the DocGUI request SetActionScript.

Av.FindGUI( "View" ).SetActionScript( "View.NewAction" )

Here is an example ActionScript for a View document that creates a Layout for each selected view. See the example in ActionUpdateScript for the associated update script.

for each v in av.GetProject.GetSelectedDocs
  newLayout = Layout.Make
  newLayout.SetName( "Layout for"++v.GetName)
end


GUI ActionUpdateScript Property
 ActionUpdateScript Property

ActionUpdateScript specifies the update script on the third button in the project window when this DocGUI is selected. The update script defines the values of the following label button properties for the third label button in the project window:

1	the label

2	the enabled state

3	the help topic

The default ActionUpdateScript Doc.ActionUpdate sets the label to "P&rint", sets the help topic to "Print_button" and is enabled when there are selected documents. You can create your own update script specific to your application's needs.

To change the ActionUpdateScript property, in the Customize Types dialog, double click on the ActionUpdateScript property to display the Script Manager. From the Script Manager, you can select an existing script or create a new script. If you prefer, you can set the ActionUpdateScript property in a script using the DocGUI request SetActionUpdateScript.

Av.FindGUI( "View" ).SetActionUpdateScript( "View.NewActionUpdate" )

Here is an example ActionUpdateScript for a View document. See the example in ActionScript for the associated action script.

SELF.SetEnabled( av.GetProject.GetSelectedDocs.Count > 0)
SELF.SetLabel( "&Make Layout")
SELF.SetHelpTopic("Creates a Layout for each selected View document")


GUI DocBaseName Property
DocBaseName Property

When you create a new document with the New button in the project window, ArcView gives the document a default name which is composed of the DocBaseName string and a number. If the DocBaseName property is not defined, ArcView uses the name of the selected document user interface and a number. You can set and alter the DocBaseName through the Customize Types dialog or through Avenue.

For example, when you create new views, the documents are named "View1", "View2", "View3", etc.. Suppose you want your View documents instead to be named "TEST1", "TEST2", "TEST3". You can accomplish this through the Customize Types dialog by setting the DocBaseName to "TEST" or you can do this in a script using the DocGUI request SetDocBaseName.

myViewGUI = av.FindGUI( "View" )
myViewGUI.SetDocBaseName( "TEST" )
View.Make


GUI_Icon_Property
Icon Property

The icon appears in the scrolling list types in the Project Window. The title appears below the icon. From the Customize Types dialog, you change the icon by double clicking on icon property to display the Icon Manager. Select an icon from the icon manager and the new icon appears in both the scrolling list in Customize Types dialog and in the project window.

You can change the icon through Avenue using the DocGUI request SetIcon.

anIcon = Icon.Make( "iconfile.bmp".AsFileName )

av.FindGUI( "View" ).SetIcon( anIcon )

The icons for default types are 32 pixels by 32 pixels.


GUI Name Property
Name Property

Each type, or document user interface, has an internal name by which it is referenced. The name appears in the list of Types in the Customize dialog. You can change the name through the Customize Types dialog or through Avenue.

Each type must have a unique name. When you create a new document user interface using the New button in the Customize Types dialog or copy an existing document user interface using the Copy button, ArcView names the new type: <original Name><number> where number starts at 1 and increments to the next unique name. For example, if you create a new View document user interface, its default name is View1. If you copied a type named "City", the new copy would be named "City1". You can, of course, rename these. If you clone an existing document user interface in a script, you must ensure its name is unique.

Each document references its type by name through the document's GUIName property. When you change the name of an existing type, ArcView also changes the GUIName property for each associated document. If you create a new type and want existing documents to reference it, you must alter the document's GUIName property through Avenue.

Here is a simple script that finds the document user interface named "View" ("View" is the name property), clones it then renames the clone "NewView". Finally, it makes the document named "View1" use the new document user interface "NewView"

newDocGUI = av.FindGUI( "View" ).clone  'Create a new GUI
newDocGUI.SetName( "NewView" )          'Give it a unique name
av.GetProject.AddGUI( newDocGUI )  'add new DocGUI to project
av.GetProject.FindDoc( "View1" ).SetGUI( "NewView")


GUI NewScript Property
 NewScript Property

The NewScript defines what happens when you click on the first button in the project window or when you double click on the type icon in the Project Window. By default, the NewScript creates a new document, but you can customize its function for your application.

For example, if your application has a fixed set of chart documents and you don't want the user to create new charts, you can change the Chart type's NewScript to do something else (note: you specify the label in the NewUpdateScript).

To change the NewScript property, in the Customize Types dialog, double click on the NewScript property to display the Script Manager. From the Script Manager, you can select an existing script or create a new script. If you prefer, you can set the NewScript property in a script using the DocGUI request SetNewScript.

av.FindGUI( "View" ).SetNewScript( "View.AnotherNew" )


GUI NewUpdateScript Property
 NewUpdateScript Property

NewUpdateScript specifies the update script on the first button in the project window when the DocGUI is selected in the project window. The update script defines the values of the following label button properties for the first label button in the project window:

1	the label

2	the enabled state

3	the help topic

The default NewUpdateScript sets the label to "&New", sets the help topic to "New_button" and is always enabled. You can create your own update script specific to your application's needs.

To change the NewUpdateScript property, in the Customize Types dialog, double click on the NewUpdateScript property to display the Script Manager. From the Script Manager, you can select an existing script or create a new script. If you prefer, you can set the NewUpdateScript property in a script using the DocGUI request SetNewUpdateScript.

Av.FindGUI( "View" ).SetNewUpdateScript( "View.BrandNewUpdate" )

Here is the default NewUpdateScript Doc.NewUpdate.

SELF.SetEnabled(TRUE)
SELF.SetLabel("&New")
SELF.SetHelpTopic("New_button")


GUI OpenScript Property
 OpenScript Property

The OpenScript defines what happens when you click on the second button in the project window or when you double click on the document name in the Project Window. The default open script simply opens each selected document, but you can create your own script specific to your application's needs.

To change the OpenScript property, in the Customize Types dialog, double click on the OpenScript property to display the Script Manager. From the Script Manager, you can select an existing script or create a new script. If you prefer, you can set the OpenScript property in a script using the DocGUI request SetOpenScript.

Av.FindGUI( "View" ).SetOpenScript( "View.NewOpen" )

Here is the default OpenScript Doc.OpenScript.

for each d in av.GetProject.GetSelectedDocs
  d.GetWin.Open
end


GUI OpenUpdateScript Property
 OpenUpdateScript Property

OpenUpdateScript specifies the update script on the second button in the project window when the DocGUI is selected. The update script defines the values of the following label button properties for the second label button in the project window:

1	the label

2	the enabled state

3	the help topic

The default OpenUpdateScript Doc.OpenUpdate sets the label to "&Open", sets the help topic to "Open_button" and is enabled only when there are selected documents. You can create your own update script specific to your application's needs.

To change the OpenUpdateScript property, in the Customize Types dialog, double click on the OpenUpdateScript property to display the Script Manager. From the Script Manager, you can select an existing script or create a new script. If you prefer, you can set the OpenUpdateScript property in a script using the DocGUI request SetOpenUpdateScript.

Av.FindGUI( "View" ).SetOpenUpdateScript( "View.NewOpenUpdate" )

Here is the default OpenUpdateScript Doc.OpenUpdate.

SELF.SetEnabled(av.GetProject.GetSelectedDocs.Count > 0)
SELF.SetLabel("&Open")
SELF.SetHelpTopic("Open_button")


GUI Show in Project Window
 Show in Project Window

In the Customize Types dialog, the Show in project checkbox indicates if this type appears in the icon list in the Project Window. When Show in project is checked, the type displays in the scrolling list of icons in the Project Window and when unchecked, it does not. Only while Show in project is checked can you modify the properties below it - those properties define how the type looks and functions in the Project Window.

You can add a type or document user interface to the Project Window through Avenue by setting the DocGUI's visible property. This example creates a new View document user interface, gives it a unique name, adds it to the Project's document user interface (GUI) list and makes it visible. To remove the DocGUI, set the visible state to false. The request IsVisible tells you the DocGUI's current visible state.

newGUI = av.FindGUI( "View" ).clone
newGUI.SetName( "TEST")   'give it a unique name
av.GetProject.AddGUI( newGUI )   'add to project's list
newGUI.SetVisible( true )   'make it visible in the project window

Note: you can change the order of the types in the project window by reordering the elements in the Project's GUI list. Use the SetVisible request to force an invalidation.


GUI Title Property
Title Property

A type's title appears underneath its icon in the project window. If no title property is defined, ArcView uses the type name. You can change the title through the Customize Types dialog or through a script using the DocGUI request SetTitle. The example below makes the title of the document user interface named "View" become "Maps".

theViewGUI = av.FindGUI( "View" )
theViewGUI.SetTitle( "Maps")


Help Property

The help property may contain one or two strings. If the help topic is for a choice, then you need only one string. This is the string that appears in the status bar when you move your mouse over that choice. This help string provides a brief description of the action the control performs.

If the help string is for a button or tool, then you must provide 2 strings in the help property. The first string appears in the "tool tips" that you see on Windows 95 and Windows NT. When the mouse rests on a button or tool, a balloon containing a short string about that control appears next to the control. The second string appears in the status bar. The help string provides a brief description of the action the control performs.

To provide two strings in the help property, you populate the help property using the following syntax:

tool tip//help string

The first string is used with the tool tips. This string should be short and you should capitalize the first letter of each word, except for words you wouldn't normally capitalize like "of", "and", etc.. The second string is longer and more descriptive. Capitalize only the first word in the string. You must use "//" to separate the two strings. For example, the help string for the compile button might be "Compile//Compiles the script" or the help string for the add theme button might be "Add Theme//Inserts themes into the view".


Help Topic Property

Specifies the name of the help topic in ArcView's help system associated with the control. The name of a topic is given as its topic ID (# footnote in the source help file).

ArcView's on-line help system consists of numerous topics that provide information about all aspects of the application. You can navigate among these topics or go to a specific topic by name. The Help Topic property is the name of the topic that the help system displays when you get help on the control.

In addition to ArcView's own help system, you can use the tools provided with ArcView to build your own on-line help system, in which you can document the scripts associated with the controls you create or customize. Note that you can specify the name of the help file that includes the topic using the syntax <aTopicName>@<aHelpFileName>.

See also

Building your own help file


Icon Property

Specifies the name of the icon associated with a button or a tool. Double-clicking on the Icon property in the Properties list displays the Icon Manager, a dialog box that that contains a list of available icons. The icon you select appears on the button or the tool. The Icon property applies to buttons or tools only.

See also

Loading an icon


Invisible Property

Determines if the control is visible on the menu, control or tool bar. Setting a control's Invisible property to 'True' removes the control from the menu, button bar, or tool bar on which it appeared; however, if you make a button or tool invisible, ArcView leaves the space that it occupied in the button bar or tool bar. If you make a menu item invisible, ArcView removes its place in the menu. To toggle the state of the Invisible property, double-click its name in the Properties list.


Label Property

Specifies the menu text that appears in the Menu bar, the menu item text for the specified menu item or popup.

To add keyboard access to a menu or menu item, place an ampersand (&) in front of the letter you want to specify as the access key. The letter appears underlined and the user can access the menu by pressing <Alt> and the access key. Each menu must have a unique access key and each menu item's access key must be unique to its menu. With Popup menus, accelerator keys are active ONLY for items in the active Popup menu.


ObjectTag Property

Stores any object that you want to associate with a control, document, or graphic element. ArcView does not make use of the ObjectTag property so you can use this property without affecting any of the other property settings or causing any other side effects. Note that the ObjectTag can store any object, whereas the Tag Propertyonly stores string objects.

Note

You cannot access the ObjectTag through the customization panel - only through Avenue requests.

See also

Working with ObjectTags and Tags


Shortcut Property

Specifies the keystroke combination that serves as an alternative to selecting a menu item. Double-clicking on the Shortcut property in the Properties list displays the Shortcut Manager, a dialog box that contains a list of available keystroke combinations.

ArcView appends the text that represents the keystroke combination to the menu item text in the menu, but does not append the text to the Label Property in the Properties list.

Notes

 ArcView does not verify the existence of duplicate shortcut keys in a project component; consequently, take care to assign unique shortcut keys for each component type.

 Shortcut keys differ from access keys that can be set as part of the Label property. Shortcut keys are specific keystroke combinations that immediately carry out the script associated with a menu item's Click property. Shortcuts serve as an alternative to pulling down a menu and making a choice. Access keys provide keyboard alternatives to the actions of both pulling down a menu and selecting a menu item.

 With popup menus, only shortcuts in the currently active popup menu are recognized.


Tag Property

Stores any additional text data that's needed for a control. ArcView does not make use of the Tag property so you can use this property without affecting any of the control's other property settings or causing any other side effects. The Tag property contains a string; use the ObjectTag to reference other objects.

See also

Working with ObjectTags and Tags


Type Properties

Every type, or document user interface, has a set of properties which define its name, the default name for its documents, and its appearance and function in the Project Window. You can modify these properties interactively through the Customize Types dialog box or through Avenue requests. Here is a list of the properties:

These properties can be updated at any time:

Name

DocBaseName

Show in project window determines if the type appears in the Project Window

Show in project window

These properties alter the appearance and function of the type in the Project Window and are accessible through the Customize Types dialog only when the type shows in the Project Window.

Title

Icon

NewScript

NewUpdateScript

OpenScript

OpenUpdateScript

ActionScript

ActionUpdateScript


Update Property

Specifies the name of the script to execute when a change to the state of the active window occurs; for example, adding a theme, making a theme active, or selecting a record. Double-clicking the Update property in the Properties list displays the Script Manager, a dialog box that lists all the scripts available in the project.

A common use of an Update script is to check whether conditions required by a control have been met, prior to enabling the control.


Adding and erasing data markers on a chart

You can add data markers by selecting new records in the associated table, or, if you are charting a theme attribute table, by selecting features in a view. Data markers are also added when you add fields to the chart through the Chart Properties dialog. See Selecting the data to chart for more information about adding data markers to a chart.

You can remove data markers the same way:  unselect records in the table, or, if you are charting a theme attribute table, unselect features on a view. Data markers are also removed when you delete fields from the chart through the Chart Properties dialog. You can also remove data markers from the chart by using one of two data marker erasing tools.

To erase data markers one at a time

1	Choose the Erase tool [image].

2	Click on the data marker you want to erase.

To erase a group of data markers from an xy scatter chart

1	Choose the Erase with Polygon tool [image].

2	Click once on the chart where you want to begin drawing a polygon to enclose the data markers you want to erase.

3	Move the cursor and click again where you want to create another point in the enclosing polygon. Continue moving the cursor and clicking until all the data markers you want to remove are enclosed.

4	To finish the polygon, double-click at the last point. ArcView erases any data markers that fall inside and on the edge of your polygon.

To retrieve data markers that you erased

1	Click the Undo Erase button [image] to undo the last erase you made.

  Related topics


Adding axis labels

An axis label is the text displayed near the horizontal (x) and vertical (y) axes of a chart. Axis labels are helpful for describing what the axis represents. You can label both axes or just one. By default, ArcView hides the axis labels.

To change and display an axis label

1	Choose the Chart Element Properties tool [image].

2	Click on the x-axis or y-axis or, if it’s a pie chart, the pie label (not the same as the chart title), to open the Chart Axis Properties dialog.

3	Click once on the Axis Label text box, then type a new name. Press RETURN.

4	Click the check the box next to the Axis Label option to turn it on.

5	Choose OK to display the axis label on the chart.

See also

Moving chart elements around

Hiding and showing the chart elements


Changing colors on a chart

You can change the color of any chart element. This includes the text of the chart legend, title, and axis labels, as well as the tick mark labels and the axes themselves. You can also change the color of the data markers in the chart and legend.

To change the color of a chart element

1	Choose the Chart Color tool [image] to display the Symbol Window.

2	Click once on the Color Palette button [image] to display the colors. Make sure Foreground is selected in the drop-down list, then select the color you want.

3	In the chart window, click on the chart element you want to change (e.g., the title). To change the color of a data marker, click on the marker in the plot. Any other markers in the same data series and the color box in the legend will be changed automatically.

See also

Hiding and showing the chart elements

Adding and erasing data markers on a chart


Changing series and group names

By default, ArcView plots data series from records, using record numbers (e.g., Record 1, Record 2) to label them in the legend. You can replace these numbers with names by choosing a field in the table (numeric or character) that contains the values you want to use.If you switch your chart so that data series are being plotted from fields, ArcView will use the field names as series labels in the legend.

By default, ArcView plots data groups from fields and uses field names to label them on a chart axis. You can edit the field names on the chart, for example, if you want to expand them or change the capitalization. If you switch your chart so that data groups are being plotted from records, ArcView will use record numbers as group labels on an axis.

To change the source of the data labels in the chart legend

1	Choose the Chart Properties button [image] to open the Chart Properties dialog.

2	Select the field whose values you want to use as labels from the Label series using drop-down list. (If you have switched series and groups, the list will be titled Label groups using.)

If a field in the table doesn't appear in the Field drop-down list, it probably has been hidden or renamed with an alias. To make a hidden field visible or look up an alias, make the table active and choose Table Properties from the Table menu.

To edit the labels in the chart legend

1	Choose the Chart Element Properties tool [image].

2	Click on the legend to open the Chart Legend Properties dialog. (If the legend is hidden, choose Show Legend in the Chart menu to display it.)

3	Click once on the first label you want to change in the text panel, then edit it. Press RETURN.

4	In the same way, edit any other labels you want to change.

5	Choose OK to display the new legend labels on the chart.

To edit the tick-mark labels on the x-axis (or a pie chart label)

1	Choose the Chart Element Properties tool [image].

2	Click on the x-axis or pie chart label to open the Chart Axis Properties dialog. (If the chart x-axis or pie title is hidden, choose the Show X Axis in the Chart menu to display it.)

3	Click once on the label you want to edit in the Group Labels text panel, then edit it. Press RETURN.

4	In the same way, edit any other labels you want to change.

5	Choose OK to display the new labels on the chart.

See also

Understanding data series and groups

Adding axis labels

Moving chart elements around


Changing the title

A chart title is useful for describing what the chart is about and relationships between the data. ArcView uses the name of the associated table as a default chart title and shows the title on the chart. You can change the chart title or if you don’t want a title you can hide it.

To change the title

1	Choose the Chart Element Properties tool [image].

2	Click on the chart title to open the Chart Title Properties dialog.

3	Click once on the text entry box, then type a new title and then press RETURN.

4	Click OK. The new title is displayed on the chart.

See also

Moving chart elements around

Hiding and showing the chart elements


Choosing a chart format
Choosing a chart style

You can choose among six different types of chart to display different kinds of information:  area, bar, column, line, pie, and xy scatter charts.  Each chart has several styles, such as side-by-side, cumulative, and proportional, and several variations, such as adding gridlines or exploding the first pie slice. Some chart styles are good for comparing values or representing trends while others are best for emphasizing a significant piece of information.

Area charts are good for showing changes over time. There are two styles of area chart. The cumulative uses the total value of the data groups on the y-axis. This style shows both the trends in the total values and the trends in the data series. The other style, proportional, normalizes the values on the y-axis to percentages. This type of chart emphasizes relationships between data values within data groups.

Bar and column charts show differences in value. The relative length of bars or columns reveals differences and trends. The stacked formats (i.e., cumulative and proportional), which use the total value of data series, or normalize them using percentages, can enhance comparisons of data within the same data group.

Line charts effectively represent trends over a period of time. They emphasize a rate of change. Line charts are helpful when you need to show rising and falling trends among several data values.

Pie charts represent the relationship between parts and the whole. You can emphasize the significance of information contained in a slice by separating it from the rest of the pie.

XY scatter charts show the relationship between two related data groups. They can reveal trends or patterns in data that have a cause-and-effect relationship.

To change the chart style

1   Choose a chart style from the Gallery menu or click one of the chart gallery buttons.

 Area Chart Gallery

 Bar Chart Gallery

 Column Chart Gallery

 Line Chart Gallery

 Pie Chart Gallery

 XY Scatter Chart Gallery

2   Choose a suitable variation of the chart style from the gallery and press OK.

Note When you change the chart style any changes you made to the look of the chart, such as hiding the chart legend, will be gone because the new chart will use the default setting.


 Controlling the axes

ArcView’s default settings for the x- and y-axes depend on the type of chart. Bar, column, line, and area charts display information about data groups on the x-axis and measure the numeric values on the y-axis. Because the two axes show different information, their properties are different. XY scatter charts measure numeric values of two data groups, one on the x-axis and the other on the y-axis. In xy scatter charts, the properties of both axes are the same. Pie charts have only a chart label for each individual pie. The label is treated as an x-axis.

Tick marks

Tick marks are the marks along an axis that indicate the position of specific data values or the division of data categories. ArcView displays and labels only those tick marks that indicate major increments in values (e.g., 10, 20, 30). Minor increments are not labeled and can only be displayed as minor grids (see below). You can choose to hide or show tick marks or tick mark labels on either axis.

Grids

When you want to be able to interpret relatively precise values on a chart, it is useful to extend grid lines across the plot area. You have the option of displaying major gridlines (extended from major tick marks) and minor gridlines (showing the in-between values) from a numeric axis.

You can specify the maximum or minimum value to use on a numeric axis, as well as the increments for major and minor grids and tick marks. By default ArcView uses the smallest and largest values in the selected data to determine the maximum and minimum values. The default increments are calculated so there are ten major and five minor tick marks. On line and xy scatter charts, you can also specify logarithmic tick marks and grids.

To specify a maximum or minimum axis value

1	Select the Chart Elements tool [image] and click on a numeric axis (usually the y-axis) to display the Chart Axis Properties dialog.

2	Type the value you want to be the lowest value on the axis in the Scale min text box.

3	Type the value you want to be the highest value on the axis in the Scale max text box.

4	Click OK. The chart will reflect the changes.

To specify a major or minor grid interval

1	Select the Chart Elements tool [image] and click on a numeric axis (usually the y-axis) to display the Chart Axis Properties dialog.

2	Type the increment you want for tick marks and the major grid in the Major unit text box.

3	Type the increment you want for the minor grid in the Minor unit text box.

4	Click OK. The chart will reflect the changes.

To specify a logarithmic axis in a line or xy scatter chart

1	Click the Line Chart Gallery [image] or XY Scatter Chart Gallery [image] button.

2	If you are using the Line Chart gallery, choose the chart style with the logarithmic scale and gridlines (the last style in the bottom row).

If you are using the XY Scatter Chart gallery, choose one of the chart styles with logarithmic scales: 1) on the x-axis, 2) on the y axis, or 3) on both axes.

See also

Choosing a chart style

Hiding and showing the chart elements

Moving chart elements around


Finding a data marker on a chart

Use the Find button to quickly find a data marker on a chart.

Find searches through the records in the table that are selected and being charted. When a record is found, data makers plotted from that record will blink.

Even though Find will not search uncharted records, it will search uncharted fields in those records. For example, let’s say you have charted information about France, but instead of labeling the chart legend with the full country name from the country name field in the table, you typed the abbreviation “FR” in the legend. You could Find “France”, and because that information is contained in the charted record, ArcView will blink the data markers for France.

To find a data marker on a chart

1	Choose Find from the Chart menu or click the Find button [image] to display the Find dialog.

2	Type in the value or string you want to find in text box. Click OK.

3	If the specified information is found in a charted record, data marker(s) plotted from the record will blink on the chart. If the information is not found, you are notified.

4	ArcView finds only one record at a time, so if you want to continue searching through the table for the same information, click the Find button again and click OK.

If you want to find information in an uncharted record in the table, you will need to activate Find when the Table window is active. However, this will cause the found record to be the only one selected, thus changing your chart.

If you want to find the feature on a map that corresponds to a charted or uncharted record, you will need to activate Find when the View window is active. Again, however, this will cause the found feature to be the only one selected, thus changing your chart.

See also

Finding a record in a table

Finding features on a view


Hiding and showing the chart elements

To toggle the display of chart elements using the Chart menu

You can hide or show the following chart elements by choosing the corresponding Show/Hide options from the Chart menu:

 chart title (Show/Hide Title)

 legend (Show/Hide Legend)

 x-axis with tick marks, or pie title (Show/Hide X Axis)

 y-axis with tick marks (Show/Hide Y Axis)

To toggle the display of chart elements using chart elements properties

You can hide or show the above chart elements, as well as some others, through the chart elements dialogs. Choose the Chart Elements Properties tool [image] and click on the element to open the corresponding properties dialog. In the dialog, check or uncheck the box next to the element you want to show or hide. The following chart elements can be hidden or shown this way:

Chart Title Properties dialog

 chart title

Chart Legend Properties dialog

 legend

Chart Axis Properties dialog

 x-axis with tick marks, or pie title

 y-axis with tick marks

 x- and y-axis labels

 x- and y-axis tick-mark labels

 major gridlines (extended from major tick marks)

 minor gridlines (extended from minor tick marks)

See also

Adding and erasing data markers on a chart

Controlling the axes

Moving chart elements around


Identifying a data marker on a chart

You can identify a data marker in a chart to display all the attribute information from the associated record in the table. Identifying a data marker is helpful when you want to see the exact value of a data marker, or when you want to see the value of an attribute that is not being charted. While you could see the same information by looking at the table, identifying a chart’s data marker is easier when the table is closed or if the table is very large.

To identify a data marker on a chart

1	Choose the Identify tool [image].

2	Click on the data marker you want to identify. The information about the data marker is displayed in the Identify dialog.

To identify more than one data marker on a chart

1	Follow the steps above to identify the first data marker.

2	Click on another data marker in the chart. In the dialog, the second item is added to the list on the left and its attributes are shown on the right. Repeat this step to identify as many data markers as you want.

3	You can review the information about a previously identified item by selecting it in the list on the left.

See also

Using a chart to select features on a view

Identifying features on a view

Identifying records in a table


Moving chart elements around

You can place the chart title and legend any place on the chart (right or left side, top, bottom, or center). You can also place the x-axis on either the bottom or top of the chart, and the y-axis on either the right or left.

To move the chart title or legend

1	Choose the Chart Element Properties tool [image].

2	Click on the chart title to open the Chart Title Properties dialog, or click on the legend to open the Chart Legend Properties dialog.

3	In the dialog you will see a picture of the chart and the current position of the chart element you are working with. Simply click on a new position in the picture (top, bottom, left, right and center) to move the legend or title. Click OK.

The sides, top, and bottom positions are fixed. But placing the element in the middle allows you to move it anywhere you want on the chart. After you click OK, the element will appear in the upper left corner of the chart window. Simply drag it to the place you want it.

To move the x- or y-axis

1	Choose the Chart Element Properties tool [image].

2	Click on the axis to open the Chart Axis Properties dialog.

3	In the dialog, click on the opposite side of the chart picture to change the placement of the axis.

4	Choose OK. The orientation of the data markers, tick-mark labels and the axis label will also change accordingly.

See also

Controlling the axes

Hiding and showing the chart elements


Overview of creating a chart

The following steps outline the most common way to create a new chart. Click the highlighted topics for more detailed instructions.

To create a new chart

1	To create a chart, open a theme's attribute table or some other table that you have added to your project. If it’s already open, make it the active window.

2	If no records are selected in the table, ArcView will chart all of them. To reduce the number of records being charted, select them, either in the table, or, if the table is a theme’s attribute table, selecting features in the view.

3	With the table window active, click the Create Chart button [image] to display the Chart Properties dialog.

4	In the Chart Properties dialog, choose the fields you wish to chart. Click Add to add them to the data groups list. Only numeric fields from your table are available.

5	Choose a field to use for labeling the data groups in the chart. Any field in your table can be used for labeling. For example, if the records in your table represent countries, you might choose the field containing the country name for the labels.

6	Click OK. ArcView will display the new chart using the default column chart style.

4	Choose a suitable style for the chart. Make a selection from the Gallery menu or click one of the chart style buttons. Gallery options are Area, Bar, Column, Line, Pie, and XY scatter charts. Chose a style from the gallery dialog and click OK.

5	If you have chosen to represent more than one field in your chart, you can choose whether the chart's data series is formed from the records or from the fields you have selected. Click the Series From Records/Fields button [image] to toggle how data series are formed.

6	You can modify the chart’s appearance and labeling in a variety of ways. For example, using the Chart Element Properties tool [image] you can click on an element such as the chart’s title, axes, series and group names, and so on, to display a dialog in which you can make changes. You can also move the chart elements.

7	You can change the color of any of the chart’s data markers using the Chart Color tool [image]. To change a color, select the color you want in the Color Palette, then click on the data marker.

8	By default, ArcView names new charts Chart1, Chart2, and so on. To change the chart’s name, select Properties from the Chart menu and enter the new name in the Chart Properties dialog. Chart names may include multiple words, spaces, numbers, and punctuation.

9	Click the Save Project button [image] to save your work.

See also

Selecting the data to chart

Choosing a chart style

Understanding data series and groups


Printing a chart

There are two ways you can print a chart to get a hardcopy of what you see on the screen.

To print a chart

1	Make the chart the active window.

2	Choose Print from the File menu.

If you want to create a plot that includes additional graphics, such as a border around the chart, place the chart in an ArcView layout. The layout lets you arrange the chart and graphic elements before you print. You can also use a layout to print a chart in combination with other ArcView windows, such as a second chart, a map, or a table.

To print a chart from a layout

1	In the Project window, click the Layouts icon.

2	Click the New button to start a new layout.

3	Select the Chart Frame tool [image] from the Frame tool drop-down menu.

4	In the layout, drag a box to add a frame for your chart. The Chart Frame dialog appears.

5	In the Chart Frame dialog, select the name of the chart you want to add. Click OK.

6	Make any other modifications to the layout, such as moving or resizing the chart, adding descriptive text, adding graphic elements, adding other frames, or changing the page orientation.

7	From the file menu, select Print.

See also

Adding a chart to a layout


Selecting the data to chart

ArcView creates a chart based on the data you select from a table. The table can be a theme's attribute table or any table you add to ArcView. You will select the fields and records to use in a new chart when you make it, but because ArcView charts are dynamic, you can modify your selections at any time and the changes will be immediately reflected on the chart.

You can select data from one field or several fields, one record or several records, one cell (i.e., one field and one record), or an entire table (all fields and all records), to plot on a chart. However, only numeric data can be charted.

You can make your data selections from either a table or a view.

Selecting data from a table

 To select data by field

1	Display the Chart Properties dialog and click the Create Chart button [image] if you are making a new chart, or click the Chart Properties button [image] if you are modifying an existing chart.

2	Select the fields you want to chart from the Field list. Choose Add.  The fields you have added are shown in the Groups list.  If a field in the table doesn't appear in the Field list, it is probably non-numeric, has been hidden, or has been renamed with an alias. (You can tell if data is numeric by looking at how it is displayed in the table:  numeric data is aligned to the right in the cell and non-numeric or character data is aligned to the left. To make a hidden field visible or look up an alias, make the table active and choose Properties from the Table menu.)

3	Click OK to open or update the chart. All data from the selected fields will be plotted on the chart.

 To select data by record

1	If no records are selected in the table, your chart will show data from all the records. However, we recommend that you reduce the number of records being charted before you create a new chart, especially if the table is large.

2	To select records, make the table active and use one of the following methods:

Either select records interactively by pointing to them. Click on a record once with the selection tool [image] to select it. If you want to select a number of records, hold down SHIFT and click each record or drag on a number of consecutive records

Or use the Find tool [image] to search for a single record

Or click the Query Builder button [image] to build a query and automatically select records that fit a description.

Selecting data from a view

If your chart is created from a table that's associated with a theme, you can modify the set of data plotted on the chart by selecting features on a view. You can use any of the methods available such as pointing to features, specifying a radius around a feature, using Find, and building a query.

If you try to chart too much data

The following warning message may appear in place of a chart if you have selected too much data to plot.

 CHART: There is not enough space to plot the chart, check the format parameters (bar gap, etc.) or resize the chart.

If you get this message, you need to either reduce the number of records by selecting a new set of data from the table or make the chart window bigger.

  Related topics


Understanding data series and groups

A chart data series is a set of related values used for comparison in a chart. By default, ArcView considers the data from a record in a table as a data series. For example, let’s say a record in a table contains information about a country:  the country name and your company’s total sales there in 1994 and 1995. The sales figures for the two different years are the related data values that make up a data series. They will be charted with the same color data markers because both values describe the same country. The example column chart below has three data series: USA, Canada, and Japan.

In this example, the data series are being labeled in the legend with the data in the country name field. However, if you don’t specify a field to use for labeling, ArcView’s default is to use record numbers (e.g., Record 4, Record 9).

A chart data group is a set of related values that describe the same variable. By default, ArcView considers the data from a field in a table as a data group. Using the chart above as an example, the data charted from the 1994 sales field makes up one data group and the data from the 1995 sales field is another data group.

In the example chart, the data groups are being labeled as x-axis tick mark labels with the data group field names. This is the default for column, area, and line charts. On bar charts, data groups are labeled as tick marks on the y-axis; on pie charts, they are pie labels.

When your chart represents two or more data fields, like in the chart above, you can switch the way the chart is plotted. Data series will be taken from fields instead of records, and, at the same time, data groups will be from records instead of fields. The chart below shows what happens when the data series and groups are switched on the previous chart. Now 1994 sales values (from the 1994_sales field) form a data series, and all the data markers for 1994 sales have the same color. The 1995 sales values form a second data series. The field names are shown in the legend. At the same time, the data groups are from records; the two data values for the Japan form a group.

To switch data series and groups

1	Click the Series from Records/Fields button [image].

2	You may want to make some adjustments to the chart, such as the size of the chart window, minimum and maximum axis values, and tick mark units, and so on.

Note Toggling data series and groups has no effect on xy scatter charts.

See also

Changing series and group names


Using a chart to select features on a view

When you make a chart from a theme attribute table there is one data marker in the chart for each selected feature in the view. By erasing data markers in the chart you can deselect features on the view. In this way you can use the chart to focus on particular features of interest on the view.

For example, you could make a chart showing the population of cities in a certain region. Then you could erase the data markers for the cities with the lowest population. This will leave only the cities with the largest population selected in the view.

  Related topics


What is a chart?

A chart is a visual representation of data in a table, especially attributes of geographic features, that can quickly convey information that would otherwise take a long time to summarize and understand. You can use a chart to display, compare, and query your geographic and tabular data effectively. Charts in ArcView are especially powerful because they are dynamically linked to your maps.  For example, you can select map features in a view and they will be highlighted in your view, table, and chart.

A chart references data in a table in your project and defines how it will be displayed. A chart is dynamic so it reflects the current status of the data in the table. If you edit the table in ArcView, the chart will immediately reflect the edit. If the tabular data source is edited, the change will be reflected in the table and the chart when you choose Refresh from the Table menu or the next time you open the project.

A chart represents all the records in a table unless you have selected a subset of records. You can select records in several ways, such as selecting in the table, building a query, or, if the table you’re charting is a theme attribute table, selecting features on a view. Anytime you change the selected records, the chart immediately reflects the new selection.

The same tabular data can be displayed on more than one chart. Different charts representing your data can be created for different purposes. Six different chart gallerys, such as the bar chart gallery and the pie chart gallery, each contain a variety of chart styles for you to choose from.

The chart user interface

A chart is displayed inside a window. When you resize a chart's window the chart redraws to fit the new size of the window.

When you are working with a chart you will see the chart's menus, buttons and tools.

See also

ArcView's user interface

Working with charts in a project

Overview of creating a chart


Working with charts in a project

An ArcView project can contain any number of charts.

To see which charts are in a project

 Click on the Charts icon in the Project window. The charts in the project are shown in the list.

To open a chart

 Double-click the chart's name in the list of charts in the Project window, or select the chart's name and click Open.

To close a chart

 From the File menu, choose close, or click the close control on the chart's window.

To create a new chart

 To create a chart, open a theme's attribute table or some other table that you have added to your project. With the table the active window, click the Create Chart button [image] to display the Chart Properties dialog. Make the desired selections to define the chart, then click OK. For complete step-by-step instructions, see Overview of creating a chart.

To rename a chart

 Select the chart’s name the Project window, then select Rename from the Project menu. Type a new name in the Rename dialog and click OK. The new name will be shown in the Project window and on the chart’s title bar the next time you open the chart.

To save the work you do with a chart

 To save any project component save the project. Choose Save Project from the File menu or click the Save Project button. See Saving your work.

To copy a chart from one project to another

 To get a chart in another project and put it into your current project, select Import from the Project menu. This will copy all the components of the other project into the current one. To delete components you don't need, choose Delete Component from the Project menu. Don't delete the table which contains the data referenced by the chart. See Importing other projects.

To delete a chart

 Select the chart’s name in the Project window, then select Delete from the Project menu. You will be asked to confirm that you want to delete the chart.


ArcView Error Messages

Occasionally a non-friendly error message may appear while you are using ArcView. Many of these error messages occur when ArcView reaches an unstable state due to a lack of system resources, such as disk space or memory.

Which error did you get?

Assertion Error

Bus Error

Error calling unlink for file <file>, Returned error code 13

Fatal Error

Illegal Instruction

MEM BAD POINTER

MSEEK

No Free Channels

Segmentation Violation

See also

Avenue Error Messages


Assertion Error

Assertion Errors come from ArcView when an unexpected condition occurs. The error shows the file name and line number of the source code where the error was tripped. This error is similar to a Fatal Error in the type of coding error it reveals, but is not as severe as a Bus Error or an Illegal Instruction.

Also see Frequently Asked Questions topics for examples of assertion errors.


Bus Error

A bus error is a hardware exception for disk accesses which violate memory protection constraints. This error is similar to an Illegal Instruction in the type of coding error it reveals, and is more severe than an Assertion Error or a Fatal Error. This error is more prevalent on UNIX.

The error can occur for any number of reasons, but the most prevalent is that you have exceeded the memory (swap space and/or RAM) on the machine.

If processing data, try to split it up into smaller units to allow the process to complete. Increase the swap or memory if possible.


Fatal Error

Fatal Errors come from ArcView when an unexpected condition occurs. This error is similar to a Assertion Error in the type of coding error it reveals, but is not as severe as a Bus Error or an Illegal Instruction.


Illegal Instruction

Illegal Instruction errors often include the terms fatal exception, unhandled exception, and invalid page fault. They usually point to low-level code problems within ArcView, such as a floating point exception (illegal divide by zero) or an invalid pointer. This error is similar to a Bus Error in the type of coding error it reveals, and is more severe than an Assertion or a Fatal Error. These errors are nonrecoverable, so ArcView will terminate, and will need to be restarted.

If you are using Windows, more information can be found by querying Microsoft's Knowledge Base from their web page at www.microsoft.com. In particular, see document Q150314.


MEM_BAD_POINTER

The MEM_BAD_POINTER message is generated by the SmartHeap memory management code, which is part of ArcView for Windows. The message appears whenever SmartHeap manipulates an area of memory which has been corrupted (freed twice, never allocated, overwritten, etc.).


MSEEK

Typically this low-level error indicates that there is not enough disk or swap space to complete the operation. This is an internal ESRI routine. Free up disk space, clean out the /tmp or TEMP directory, and/or add more swap space to rectify the problem.


No Free Channels

In most cases, channels refers to the number of file handles available for the system to use, as statically declared memory.

On Windows, the number of file descriptors is set in your CONFIG.DOS (see its FILES line). By increasing the descriptors, you can increase the number of channels as well.

On some UNIX platforms you can alter the number of descriptors using the limit command from a UNIX prompt, for example:

% limit descriptors 128

You may need root privileges to perform this action. If you are also using ARC/INFO, you should check its installation and system documentation before making this change.

If you alter the number of descriptors on Windows, you will need to reboot your machine for the new value to take affect.


Segmentation Violation

Segmentation Violations are caused by attempts in the low-level ArcView code to access a memory address for which it doesn't have permission, such as accessing another process's memory space or trying to write to a read-only section of memory. After a Segmentation Violation ArcView is in an unstable state, so you should quit ArcView and then restart it.


Error calling unlink for file <file>, Returned error code 13

Unlink errors occur when you try to delete a file from disk which ArcView still references. You must make sure that ArcView has completely released the file before trying to delete it from disk.

The most common example is when you try to delete an FTab using Avenue. FTab.DeActivate is not enough. ArcView may hold onto the .dbf file even when you would expect it to let go. Follow these steps instead:

1	You must delete the theme. If you CUT the theme, the clipboard will still have a reference to it.

2	You must remove any variables referencing the FTab. So, if have a statement like this in your script

myFTab = theTheme.GetFTab

Then you must eliminate the reference by myFTab:

myFTab = nil

3   Force garbage collection so ArcView drops all access to the file:

av.PurgeObjects

After that, you should be able to delete the file.


Calibrating the screen

In some cases, ArcView considers the screen resolution to be the logical dots per inch provided by the window manager. For some machines, this is an appropriate measure. On other machines, this measure is not accurate. For example, on some machines an ArcView inch is actually 1.25 inches. You may want to calibrate your screen and instruct ArcView to make the appropriate adjustment.

To calibrate the screen

1	Using a ruler whose units are inches, measure the width of the area of the screen whose pixels are illuminated.

2	Measure the height of the same area.

3	Create a script with the following line:
System.SetScreenSizeInches(12.5 @ 9.0) 'width @ height

4	Compile and run the script

5	To make this calibration permanent, add the line in Step 3 to the startup file in the installation etc directory.

Notes

 All calculations that use the dots per inch of the screen, like the View's scale, the Layout's grid, and ArcView's text rendering engine will incorporate the adjustment into their calculation.

 One inch is the equivalent of 2.54 cm.


Frequently asked questions about annotation
Questions about Annotation

What do you need help with?

Annotation centered on a point feature of a PC ARC/INFO coverage shifts up and to the right when I draw or import it into ArcView. Why?

Why can I change the size of some annotation themes and not others?

I repaired a project containing themes based on ARC/INFO annotation, and now there are problems. Why?


Annotation centered on a point feature of a PC ARC/INFO coverage shifts up and to the right when I draw or import it into ArcView. Why?

PC ARC/INFO and ArcCAD do not preserve the alignment properties of pieces of annotation; they rely on correct sizing and a redefining of the text string's lower-left origin. So when the size is off by the factor of 1.5, everything, except left justified text, is misaligned.

"Size" in all ARC/INFO annotation has a single meaning regarding fonts (equal to font size), but from the user perspective we can recognize two meanings:

    Size that corresponds to character size.

    Size that corresponds to the sum of the character size and line spacing.

One of two meanings is chosen by specifying the TEXTSET (i.e., font) to be used. For TEXTSETs based on IGL fonts, SIZE is the character size; for IntelliFont-based fonts, SIZE is 1.5 times character size.

ArcView Annotation has no way of knowing which TEXTSET was meant to be used, because this information is not a part of annotation coverage data.

The consequence is that annotation coverages built for IGL fonts will not size properly when used in ArcView (all text will be 1.5 times smaller) when compared to how it appears in PC ARC/INFO and ArcCAD.


Why can I change the size of some annotation themes and not others?

Annotation can be stored in either Map Units (where the size is set explicitly in ARC/INFO) or in Page Units (where the size is not set, or is set to zero in ARC/INFO). If the annotation's size was set when the coverage was created, the size of the text symbol used for the annotation theme cannot be manipulated in ArcView (you can still change the symbol's font, style, and color, however). When the size of the annotation has not been set in ARC/INFO, you can change the font, style, color, and size of the symbol used for the annotation.

To have annotation stored in Page Units scale with the features on the map, use the Advanced options on the Legend Editor.

1	Set the Map Units from View Properties.

2	Open the Legend Editor for the annotation theme.

3	Press the Advanced button.

4	Check Scale Symbols on, then enter the scale you prefer, then press OK.

5	Press Apply on the Legend Editor. The annotation will now scale with the features.


I repaired a project containing themes based on ARC/INFO annotation, and now there are problems. Why?

Temporary attribute tables may not be recreated correctly for annotation themes in projects where the data has moved. When you reopen the projects and use project repair to tell ArcView the new location for the source data, the fields in the tables may be empty or missing. Workaround: Add the annotation themes again.


Frequently asked questions about ArcView for UNIX
Questions about ArcView for UNIX

What do you want help with?

On my Compaq's Digital UNIX keyboard, the Delete key doesn't delete the vertex or selected features as it should.

On my Compaq's Digital UNIX machine, why do Null numbers in ArcView display differently than on other platforms?

If I rlogin or telnet to a Compaq's Digital UNIX machine from a machine not running the Motif Window Manager, starting ArcView or dismissing windows in ArcView sometimes gives me an error message.

In OpenLook, if I click or double-click the File menu with the Left mouse button, sometimes ArcView crashes.

The Flexlmserver won't run when I'm on a Solaris 2.5 (or later) machine.

Why can’t I save an ArcView project file to a SGI IRIX 5.3 machine?

What can you tell me about the timeout date for ESRI keycodes for the next century.

Some of the dropdown tools appear white or gray on my machine.

On my SGI machine, I get an error message when I try to connect to the Oracle database. Why?

What can I do with DLL and DLLProc classes on UNIX?

When I start ArcView GIS Version 3.1, I get strange font error messages on the console.

Does the Hewlett-Packard 9000 Series 700/8x7 workstation use 7-bit fonts by default?

What is the difference between using ARC/INFO commands and system commands to move or copy data?

I am an ARC/INFO user. How do I name my data so a Windows-based and UNIX-based ArcView user can access it?


On my Compaq's Digital UNIX keyboard, the Delete key doesn't delete the vertex or selected features as it should.

When this happens, set the following environment variable before starting ArcView:

setenv OIT_DELETEISBACKSPACE FALSE

To delete selected features you can also use the Delete Features option from the edit menu.

Only set this variable if the delete functionality is not working. Setting this variable changes the behavior of the delete key when working with text in dialog boxes or script editor. The delete key will delete text to the right rather than deleting to the left as normal. If you want the DELETE key to delete text the normal way, then you need to set OIT_DELETEISBACKSPACE to TRUE.


On my Compaq's Digital UNIX machine, why do Null numbers in ArcView display differently than on other platforms?

Compaq's Digital UNIX does not support the Null number. On other platforms, the Null number displays as NaN, but on Compaq's Digital UNIX, it will be 0. For example,

MsgBox.Info(-1.Sqrt.AsString, "")

will print "0" instead of "NaN" on this platform.


In OpenLook, if I click or double-click the File menu with the Left mouse button, sometimes ArcView crashes.

This is not a problem with Motif. Workaround: Always use the right mouse button to click the File menu, or start ArcView using Motif instead of OpenLook by using this setting:

setenv OIT_LOOK MOTIF


If I rlogin or telnet to a Compaq's Digital UNIX machine from a machine not running the Motif Window Manager, starting ArcView or dismissing windows in ArcView sometimes gives me an error message.

If you rlogin or telnet to a Compaq's Digital UNIX machine from a machine not running the Motif Window Manager (for example: a Solaris 2 machine, or a PC running an X Windows emulator using MS Windows Manger), starting ArcView or dismissing windows in ArcView sometimes gives you error messages. Workaround: In your .cshrc, set OIT_WINMGR to OPENLOOK for the Solaris 2 example and set OIT_WINMGR to MSWIN for the PC example.

setenv OIT_WINMGR OPENLOOK

or

setenv OIT_WINMGR MSWIN


The FLEXlmserver won't run when I'm on a Solaris 2.5 (or later) machine.

If Solaris 2.5 or later has kernel configured for rlim_fd_max > 1024, then the FLEXlmserver won't run.

Patch:	None

Workaround: Start the server in a csh script, and include this statement before the lmgrd line:

limit descriptors 1024


Why can’t I save an ArcView project file to a SGI IRIX 5.3 machine?

Creating a project file in ArcView 3.x on SGI IRIX 6.2 may not allow you to save this file to an SGI IRIX 5.3. To avoid compatibility problems, save the project to a UNIX machine not running IRIX 5.3.


What can you tell me about the timeout date for ESRI keycodes for the next century?

Previously the 'no timeout' date for ESRI keycodes was '31-dec-99'. It has been changed to '1-jan-00' to reflect the true FLEXlm 'no timeout' date. The licenses associated with a FEATURE line containing '1-jan-00' will never time out, even past January 1, 2000. Any date previous to or past January 1, 2000 will time out on that specific date. An example of the true FLEXlm timeout date is as follows:

SERVER siddhartha 7231d6d7 1700

DAEMON ESRI $AVHOME/sysgen/ESRI

FEATURE ArcView3 ESRI 1.000 1-jan-00 100 6B9E90713DD1D7186F9E ""

FEATURE ArcView31 ESRI 1.000 1-jan-00 100 6B9E90713DD1D7186F9E ""

FEATURE AVSpatial1 ESRI 1.000 1-jan-00 100 ABEEC071C216096CAC78 ""

For ArcView 3.1 and beyond, and for ARC/INFO Version 7.1.x and 7.2.x, ESRI Keycode Support will generate licenses with the '1-jan-00' timeout. All other pre-existing ARC/INFO and ArcView products will stop working on '31-dec-99' if not converted using the new adminlicense utility.

What is ADMINLICENSE?

ADMINLICENSE is a utility which will verify and convert your existing license.dat file. The ADMINLICENSE utility has three options:

'-verify' - this verifies the contents of your license.dat file.

'-convert' - this option will convert your license file timeout dates that have 31-dec-99 to the correct no timeout date of 1-jan-00.

'-help' - prints this message.

The '-verify' option takes the pathname to a license.dat file and will verify the contents of that file. Fix any errors by editing the license.dat file and repeat until no errors exist. There are 66 possible error messages within the '-verify' option. Each describes the problem and some indicate which line in your license file is incorrect.

The '-convert' utility will not work on non ESRI features.


Some of the dropdown tools appear white or gray on my machine.

To resolve this, access your .Xdefaults file

setenv XENVIRONMENT $HOME/.Xdefaults

and set the following resource in your local .Xdefaults file to

Mwm.OpenInterface*foreground: black


On my SGI machine, I get an error message when I try to connect to the Oracle database. Why?

If you are running ArcView GIS on SGI and are receiving errors when connecting to Oracle, the errors may be due to a problem with referencing the yellow pages. One of the following options may resolve this problem:

1. Add your user name to the /etc/passwd file on the SGI.

2. Go to the $AVHOME/lib directory and create the following links

libsocket/so  /usr/lib.libc.so.1

libnsl.so  /usr/llib/libc.so


What can I do with DLL and DLLProc classes on UNIX?

The DLL and DLLProc on UNIX are neither usable nor supported at this time. These classes allow you to execute shared library functions from Avenue.

Warning!   There are many problems and limitations with this functionality. If you proceed to use it, you do so at your own risk.


When I start ArcView GIS Version 3.1, I get strange font error messages on the console.

warning font "-dt-interface system-medium-r-normal-l*************:"

cannot be loaded, loading default font instead, while initializing

fonts def font initializing windows "winerr".

The font warning message is a problem in the new Common Desktop Interface(CDE). This is easily resolved with the following workaround. You need to edit the Dtwm file under the /usr/dt/app-defaults/<locale> directory. Depending on the locale you are using (i.e., C, en_US, etc.), navigate to that directory and edit the Dtwm file. To determine which locale you are using, type:

# cd /usr/dt/app-defaults

# ls

If there is more than one locale under this directory, cd to all the locales and edit the Dtwm file under each locale. The example below shows how to edit the Dtwm file under the C locale directory.

As root,

# cd /usr/dt/app-defaults/C

# vi Dtwm

Change the following lines from

Dtwm*FrontPanel*highResFontList: \

    -dt-interface system-medium-r-normal-m*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*:

Dtwm*FrontPanel*mediumResFontList: \

    -dt-interface system-medium-r-normal-s*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*:

Dtwm*FrontPanel*lowResFontList: \

    -dt-interface system-medium-r-normal-xs*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*:

to

Dtwm*FrontPanel*highResFontList: \

    -dt-interface system-medium-r-normal-m*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Dtwm*FrontPanel*mediumResFontList: \

    -dt-interface system-medium-r-normal-s*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Dtwm*FrontPanel*lowResFontList: \

    -dt-interface system-medium-r-normal-xs*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

IBM RISC System/6000 Workstations only:

As root,

# cd /usr/lpp/X11/lib/X11/app-defaults

# vi Mwm

Change to following line from:

Mwm*fontList:  -dt-interface system-medium-r-normal-L*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*:

to

Mwm*fontList:  -dt-interface system-medium-r-normal-L*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Note   Remove the ":" at the end of strings. This change does not require a log out or reboot of the system to become active.


Does the Hewlett-Packard 9000 Series 700/8x7 workstation use 7-bit fonts by default?

Yes.

NOTE TO INTERNATIONAL USERS: By default, the ArcView GIS Version 3.1 interface (dialog boxes, text input, etc.) on the HP uses 7-bit fonts. To initialize 8-bit fonts (iso8859) that contain special characters which support Western European languages, enter:

setenv OIT_FORCEHPROMAN8 FALSE


What is the difference between using ARC/INFO commands and system commands to move or copy data?

If you have ARC/INFO and want to move a coverage that is used in a project:

Use the ARC/INFO COPY and KILL commands to copy and delete coverages. Using system commands (e.g., cp -r, rm -r) causes problems with opening the project that uses the data.

If you do not have ARC/INFO and want to copy a coverage:

1. Copy both the coverage directory and the INFO directory to the new location.
2. Edit the project file (<project>.apr) to change the data pathnames to point to the new location of the coverage.

If you do not have ARC/INFO and want to delete a coverage:

Use "rm -r" to remove the coverage directory and the INFO directory. This is not recommended, however, if you have more than one coverage, because deleting the INFO directory will corrupt those coverages.


I am an ARC/INFO user. How do I name my data so a Windows-based and UNIX-based ArcView user can access it?

The native DOS and UNIX file system naming conventions differ significantly. PC filenames and directories can be up to eight characters long, with an optional filename extension of up to three additional characters, separated from the name by a period. UNIX file and directory names can be up to 32 characters long.

To make data sources with non-PC-compliant names accessible by Windows-based and UNIX-based users of ArcView GIS, rename coverages to be PC-compliant with ARC/INFO RENAME command. To make data sources in a workspace PC-compliant, use ARC/INFO CONVERTWORKSPACE command. Renaming UNIX ARC/INFO data source files and directories to be 8.3 compliant may significantly reduce complications that could arise between file systems.

If you use UNIX ARC/INFO data sources with subclasses, make sure the subclass names are five characters or less.


Frequently asked questions about ArcView working with specific extensions
Questions about ArcView working with specific extensions

Some of the features in ArcView’s default user interface may be disabled in some instances when you have certain extensions loaded.

Choose extension to display its list of incompatible features:

3D Analyst

Database Access

Tracking Analyst

StreetMap

If an extension is not listed, then there are no special circumstances under which ArcView’s normal functionality will be unavailable when that extension is loaded.


ArcView and 3D Analyst

The following ArcView features will be disabled under the following conditions when the 3D Analyst extension is loaded:

  Create Buffers – The Create Buffers choice in the Theme menu will not be enabled if your view only has TIN or Surface themes. The buffer wizard will not show TIN or Surface themes in its list of themes to buffer.  3D shapefiles can be buffered, however the resultant buffers will be 2D shapes.

  Shape Properties – The Shape Properties popup menu choice on the View document will not be enabled for TIN or Surface themes.  However, you will be able to edit the Z values of 3D shapefiles using the Shape Properties dialog box.

  Labeling – None of the labeling tools will be available for TIN and Surface themes that are active in your view.

  Legend Tool Extension – The custom legend tool will not show TIN themes in the list of themes that can be used to construct a legend.

  GeoProcessing Extension – The GeoProcessing wizard will not be available when there are only TIN or Surface themes in a view, and will not show TIN or Surface themes in the GeoProcessing wizard with the other themes in a view.


ArcView and Database Access

The following ArcView features will be disabled under the following conditions when the Database Access extension is loaded:

  Create Buffers – The Create Buffers choice in the Theme menu will not be enabled if your view only has Database themes in it. The buffer wizard will not show database themes in its list of themes to buffer.

  Shape Properties – The Shape Properties popup menu choice on the View document will not be enabled for database themes.

  GeoProcessing Extension – The GeoProcessing wizard will not be available when there are only database themes in a view, and will not show database themes in the GeoProcessing wizard with the other themes in a view.


ArcView and Tracking Analyst

The following ArcView features will be disabled under the following conditions when the Tracking Analyst extension is loaded:

  Create Buffers – The Create Buffers choice in the Theme menu will not be enabled if your view only has Tracking themes in it. The buffer wizard will not show Tracking themes in its list of themes to buffer.

  Shape Properties – The Shape Properties popup menu choice on the View document will not be enabled for Tracking themes.  However, you will be able to edit the M values of measured shapefiles using the Shape Properties dialog box.

  Legend Tool Extension – The custom legend tool will not show Tracking themes in the list of themes that can be used to construct a legend.

  GeoProcessing Extension – The GeoProcessing wizard will not be available when there are only Tracking themes in a view, and will not show Tracking themes in the GeoProcessing wizard with the other themes in a view.


ArcView and StreetMap

The following ArcView features will be disabled under the following conditions when any of the StreetMap extension versions are loaded.

  Create Buffers – The Create Buffers choice in the Theme menu will not be enabled if your view only has Basemap themes. The buffer wizard will not show Basemap themes in its list of themes to buffer.

  Shape Properties – The Shape Properties popup menu choice on the View document will not be enabled for Basemap themes.

  Labeling – None of the labeling tools will be available for Basemap themes that are active in your view.

  Legend Tool Extension – The custom legend tool will not show Basemap themes in the list of themes that can be used to construct a legend.

  GeoProcessing Extension – The GeoProcessing wizard will not be available when there are only Basemap themes in a view, and will not show Basemap themes in the GeoProcessing wizard with the other themes in a view.


Frequently asked questions about data conversion
Questions about Data Conversion

What do you need help with?

When I use MIFSHAPE on Windows I get an error "Problems creating dbf part of shape file". What is the problem?

I moved the IMPORT71 utility to a new directory on my PC and it won't run. Why not?

Can I use 8-bit characters for my output data source name when I use IMPORT71 on Windows?

I ran IMPORT71, but I never got the "Import complete" message. What happened?

I used both IMPORT and IMPORT71 on a file on my PC. I get an error when I try to add the coverage I created with IMPORT. Why?

When I try to use import or mifshape on UNIX I get errors, like "unable to create coverage" or "FATAL ERROR". What's going on?


When I use MIFSHAPE on Windows I get an error "Problems creating dbf part of shape file".  What is the problem?

You may encounter the following error using MIFSHAPE on Windows when you try to write the shapefile to a directory that is non-8.3 compliant, or if you try to convert or write to a file which sits at the root directory:

"Problems creating dbf part of shape file"

To avoid the error, ensure all the directory names for the output file contain 8 characters or less, and/or ensure that neither the MIF file nor the output occur at the root directory (for example, at C:\).


I moved the IMPORT71 utility to a new directory on my PC and it won't run. Why not?

The IMPORT71 utility must reside in the bin32 directory where you installed ArcView in order for it to run.


Can I use 8-bit characters for my output data source name when I use IMPORT71 on Windows?

IMPORT71 on PCs only support 7 bit ASCII characters in the name given as the 'Output Data Source' name. This means the output name must be given in English even if you are using an non-English version of ArcView. By default, ARC/INFO coverage names are in UNIX's ISO/EUC code page. Since IMPORT71 does not perform any code page conversion, the output name of the coverage will be in the Windows code page while the data will remain in the ISO/EUC code pages. The workaround is to use IMPORT71, add this coverage to a view, and then convert it to a shapefile, for which you can use any 8 bit or multi-byte character name.


I ran IMPORT71, but I never got the "Import complete" message. What happened?

You ran out of disk space. Run IMPORT71 again, and ensure that you have enough disk space to store the output file.


I used both IMPORT and IMPORT71 on a file on my PC. I get an error when I try to add the coverage I created with IMPORT. Why?

You'll get the error "Feature Table has error, unable to make Theme" if you try to add a PC ARC/INFO coverage (the type created with the IMPORT utility) from a folder which contains an INFO folder.

While these two utilities create coverages, they create very different types of coverages, and they cannot be kept in the same directory. IMPORT71 creates a workstation ARC/INFO coverages, whose attributes are stored in a folder called INFO. Attributes of multiple workstation ARC/INFO coverages can be stored in the same INFO folder. IMPORT creates a PC ARC/INFO coverage, whose attributes are stored in dBASE files inside the coverage folder. Since ArcView detected the INFO folder in this location, it assumes all the coverages have their attributes there. This error message is telling you that ArcView can't find your coverage's attribute files.

You can either run IMPORT again on those .e00 files, but in a new folder; or you can copy the coverages you created with IMPORT to a new folder using Explorer or an operating system command.

Note   You CANNOT move folders created with IMPORT71 due to the fact that the attributes are stored in the INFO folder. Moving just the coverage folder will break the link between the INFO folder (where the attributes are) and the coverage folder. You will need to run IMPORT71 again instead.


When I try to use import or mifshape on UNIX I get errors, like "unable to create coverage" or "FATAL ERROR". What's going on?

Look for one or more capital (uppercase) letters in the pathname to your workspace. If at least one letter in the pathname of the directory has a capital letter, you cannot use these data conversion utilities. Rename the directory to use all lowercase letters.


Frequently asked questions about fonts
Questions about fonts

What do you need help with?

Can I change the fonts used in ArcView's interface, such as in tables, charts, and the Project window?

When I open an ArcView 2.1 project (originally created under Windows 3.11) in Windows NT, the font in the Table of Contents looks oddly spaced. Why?

I'm using the Large Fonts option for my Windows desktop installation and notice that the window titles are too large for the allotted space on the title bar. Also the contents of some dialog boxes overlap a little.

What can you tell me about Arabic code pages?


Can I change the fonts used in ArcView's interface, such as in tables, charts, and the Project window?

These fonts cannot be changed. However, you can change the font used in a view's Table of Contents. See the sample script tocfont.ave.

You can also change the font size in the Script Editor. From the Script menu, choose Properties, and in the dialog that appears, select which font you want (S, M, L).


When I open an ArcView 2.1 project (originally created under Windows 3.11) in Windows NT, the font in the Table of Contents looks oddly spaced. Why?

By default, ArcView uses the Arial font for the Table of Contents, and for some reason this font is not installed in your NT environment. Simply (re)install the Arial font. If, for some reason, you do not have the Arial font to install, choose a different font and specify the font for the Table of Contents by either using the sample script mentioned above, or putting this code in your startup script, or by using TOC Defaults.

'Set this to exactly the font and style you want

TOCFont = Font.Make("Times","Normal")

TOCTextSym = TextSymbol.Make

TOCTextSym.SetFont(TOCFont)

TOC.SetDefaultSymbol(TOCTextSym)


I'm using the Large Fonts option for my Windows desktop installation and notice that the window titles are too large for the allotted space on the title bar. Also the contents of some dialog boxes overlap a little.

This problem appears especially as screen resolution is reduced to 800x600 and 640x480. To fix this, use the Windows Control panel to reset the fonts to Small Fonts.


What can you tell me about Arabic code pages?

The code pages win1256.nls and 8859-6.nls were added at ArcView Version 3.0a. These code pages are needed when displaying Arabic characters in ArcView.


Frequently asked questions about geocoding
Questions about Geocoding

What do you need help with?

My addresses don't match even though I've lowered the spelling sensitivity and minimum match score.

The Batch Match and Interactive Match buttons in the Geocode Addresses dialog box are disabled.

How do I know if a theme is matchable?

I can't find the geocoding index files.

I want to see the Geocoding Editor for editing or adjusting matching preferences when an address doesn't match.

How can I geocode street intersections?

How can I place the geocoded points away from the street centerlines?


My addresses don't match even though I've lowered the spelling sensitivity and minimum match score.

Each address component needs to be stored in separate fields in the reference theme's attribute table. For example, prefix direction, street name, street type, and suffix direction, etc., must be stored in separate fields.

In your address event table, the Address field should only contain information of house number, prefix or suffix direction, street name and street type. State and ZIP codes should be stored in other separate fields.

If the data files are correct, check the address standardization in the Geocoding Editor. If the values of an event address's  standardized components are different from what are stored in the reference theme, candidates may not be found. Use the Edit Standardization dialog box in the Geocoding Editor to update the standardized values.


The Batch Match and Interactive Match buttons in the Geocode Addresses dialog box are disabled.

Make sure that you have selected a data field for the Address field and a data field for the Zone field in the dialog box if an address style requiring a zone is used for the matchable theme.


How do I know if a theme is matchable?

If a theme is matchable, the Locate button will be enabled when the theme is active.


I can't find the geocoding index files.

Geocoding index files are saved in the ArcView work directory if the data source directory is read-only. You can change the location of the ArcView work directory in the Project Properties dialog box.  See Geocoding Index for details.


I want to see the Geocoding Editor for editing or adjusting matching preferences when an address doesn't match.

In the Locate dialog box, choose Preferences to display the Geocoding Preferences dialog box. Check the box "Review candidates during interactive matching when..." and options underneath it. ArcView will display the Geocoding Editor when any one of the selected conditions is met during locating an address.


How can I geocode street intersections?

You can geocode street intersections using an intersection delimiter - "&" by default, such as 'Post Ave & E Dayton St'.  See Geocoding Street Intersections.


How can I place the geocoded points away from the street centerlines?

In the Geocode Addresses dialog, specify an offset distance. Geocoded points will be placed at the distance away from the street segment. ArcView will locate the address along the correct side of the street by looking at whether the parity of the event's house number is even or odd.

For locating a single address using the Locate Address dialog, offset distance can be specified using Avenue.


Frequently asked questions about images
Questions about images

What do you need help with?

I have a high-resolution color card, and my images seem to be drawing slowly.

When I draw my image catalog none or not all of my images are displayed. Why?

I set up my image catalog, but the images aren't found. What is wrong?

The images in my image catalog don't use the same colormap. What can I do to improve how my image catalog displays?

I can't display TIFF/LZW compressed image data.

My grid with negative values is converted to non-negative values when I change its colormap.

How does ArcView map the colors in my image?

Is UNC (Universal Naming Convention) supported with images?

See also

Frequently asked questions about JPEG


I have a high-resolution color card, and my images seem to be drawing slowly.

Images may draw more slowly if you use a transparent color. Usually happens with certain high-resolution color cards. Change the transparent color to something else to improve performance.


When I draw my image catalog none or not all of my images are displayed. Why?

Either the images were found to have errors or could not be found. If an image has an error in it or it is not found, then it is ignored and not displayed. Images in an image catalog must be specified with a full path. If they are specified with a partial path they may or may not be found and thus displayed.


I set up my image catalog, but the images aren't found. What is wrong?

For success in using image catalogs as themes in ArcView, ensure that the field names of the table are in uppercase (capitals).


The images in my image catalog don't use the same colormap. What can I do to improve how my image catalog displays?

An image catalog's legend is created from the first image in the catalog. It is assumed that all images in the catalog have the same colormap.

For cases where the images do not have the same colormap, you can use the following workaround if you have workstation ARC/INFO  and GRID. It converts the pseudocolor images into truecolor. Thus the images do not get displayed from a colormap, but from the truecolor values defined with each image. Use the following AML.

/*  fixband.aml - make multiband true color images from pseudocolor ones

/*

/*  This AML is handy to workaround the ArcView issue whereby

/*  pseudocolor single-band image catalogues display poorly

/*  when the colormap required differs amongst the individual images.

/*  This AML expects to see TIFF images and be run in the

/*  directory in which the images reside.

/*

/* Make a file imagelist

&sys \ls *.tif > imagelist

/*

/*

&s fileunit [open imagelist status -read]

&s image [read %fileunit% status]

/*

&do &while %status% = 0

  imagegrid %image%.tif %image%grid %image%.clr

  /*

  grid

  red_band   = COLOR2RED(%image%grid,%image%.clr)

  green_band = COLOR2GREEN(%image%grid,%image%.clr)

  blue_band  = COLOR2BLUE(%image%grid,%image%.clr)

  makestack %image%stk list red_band green_band blue_band

  quit

  /*

  &s byebye [delete %image%.tif -file] [delete %image%.tfw -file]

  &s byebye [delete %image%.clr -file]

  gridimage %image%stk # %image%.tif tiff

  kill %image%grid

  kill %image%stk

  kill red_band

  kill green_band

  kill blue_band

  &s image [read %fileunit% status]

/*

&end

/*

&s [close %fileunit%]

&s byebye [delete imagelist -file]

/*

&return


I can't display TIFF/LZW compressed image data.

Support for TIFF/LZW requires an optional utility for ArcView. Contact ESRI's Desktop Order Center for information on obtaining this option.


My grid with negative values is converted to non-negative values when I change its colormap.

ArcView, like ARC/INFO, can't have a negative index to a colormap, so the number is converted to its absolute value.


How does ArcView map the colors in my image?

ArcView uses a static color lookup table. The colors in the image are mapped to the closest value. This way a variety of images can be displayed at the same time. This static color lookup table cannot be changed. This behavior is different than ARC/INFO, which can set the colormap either dynamically or statically.


Is UNC (Universal Naming Convention) supported with images?

ArcView supports UNC for adding image themes, and in image catalogs. UNC is not supported for either TIFF 6.0 or IMAGINE images.


Frequently asked questions about JPEG
Questions about JPEG

What do you need help with?

Why does my view change when I export it to JPEG? Where does the output file go and what is it called?

How does ArcView handle the colors in my maps when exported to JPEG? What is the safety Palette?


Why does my view change when I export it to JPEG? Where does the output file go and what is it called?

The View.ExportToJPEG request was originally written to support the ArcView Internet Map Server (IMS) extension, so it behaves somewhat differently than the other Export options. The things you should be aware of are noted below. If you want to avoid the behavior noted below, you can use the ExportToJPEG request on the PixMap  class instead.

Things to be aware of when using View.ExportToJPEG

 Table of Contents is hidden

ArcView IMS automatically hides a view’s Table of Contents while it is being served to the Web. This helps remind ArcView IMS users that the view is being served and that they normally shouldn’t make any changes to the contents of the view while it is being served. The behavior was not changed when ExportToJPEG was added to core ArcView. You can move your mouse over the left edge of the view till you see the cursor change, then restore the Table of Contents by dragging the mouse to your right until you see the Table of Contents reappear.

 View window changes size

ArcView IMS automatically resizes the view window to the size you specify as the output size.

 Output is stored in your /tmp or TEMP folder

You cannot specify an output location for the JPEG file. It is stored in your /tmp (UNIX) or TEMP (Windows) folder.

 Output file name is unique

ArcView IMS requires that all served views have a unique name; therefore, you do not have control over what the output file is called.


How does ArcView handle the colors in my maps when exported to JPEG? What is the safety palette?

When you export your views or layouts to JPEG format (if you have licensed support for this format), ArcView creates images of them.

By default, ArcView tries to use a special color palette, called the 'safety palette', to create these images. The 'safety palette' is a set of 216 colors that will not normally appear dithered (speckled) when the image is displayed in most standard web browsers, like Netscape and Internet Explorer. By using the safety palette, ArcView tries to ensure that the colors in your maps will appear solid instead of being dithered when people look at them in a web browser.

Because the safety palette has fewer colors than ArcView's normal color palette, maps with a wide range of colors may therefore look slightly different when they are saved as an image in the safety palette. For this reason, ArcView automatically does not use the safety palette when:

 Your view contains a theme based on an image, such as a satellite image or air photograph.

 Your view contains a grid theme which you have classified into more than 10 classes.

How to turn the safety palette off using Avenue

If you don't want to use the safety palette for any of the JPEGs created by ArcView from the views or layouts in your project, you can use Avenue to do this. Each of the ExportToJPEG requests take a boolean as the final argument to indicate whether to use the safety palette or not. For example, this code will output a file which will not use the safety palette:

myView   = av.GetActiveDoc

myExtent = myView.ReturnExtent

myFile   = myView.ExportToJPEG( myExtent, 300, 300, Nil, FALSE )

What colors are used when the safety palette isn't used?

JPEGs created by ArcView will be in 24-bit color because JPEG is a 24-bit color format.

When the safety palette isn't used, you get a wider range of colors but some of the colors in your image may appear dithered when viewed on the Web. This is particularly noticeable with yellows and browns. Ultimately, this is a trade off: The safety palette results in solid colors which look better and provide better backgrounds for lines and text than dithered colors. Not using the safety palette may retain the original look of your map better.

Note for advanced users

If you want to ensure that the use of the safety color palette does not alter any of the colors you choose for your maps, use the safety.avp color palette file that the ArcView installed in your AVHOME\symbols directory, and select colors for use on your maps from this palette. The safety.avp color palette file contains the set of 216 colors that are in the safety palette. Using these colors will ensure that you get WYSIWYG colors across ArcView and web browsers, with no dithering on the web browser. To use the safety.avp palette:

1	From ArcView's Window menu, choose Show Symbol Window.

2	In the Symbol window, click the Palette Manager button [image].

3	From the Type list, choose Color.

4	Click the Clear button. This will remove all the existing colors from the Color palette (making it easier for you to limit your color choices to the palette you are about to load in).

5	Click Load and in the dialog that appears, navigate to the AVHOME\symbols directory and click safety.avp, then click OK. The colors in the safety palette will be loaded into the Symbol window.

6	Use the colors in this palette for all the symbols on your map. (If you use the Legend Editor to symbolize one of the themes in your map with a color ramp, the colors in the ramp are not limited to colors in the safety.avp you loaded. Instead, you will have to manually replace each of the colors in the ramp with one of the colors in safety.avp).

Remember that ArcView will use the safety color palette when it generates images (with the exceptions mentioned above) irrespective of whether or not you load the safety.avp palette file. By loading and using the colors in safety.avp you are simply able to choose colors that match the safety color palette used in image creation, so that the colors in your map don't change when it is saved as an image.

Useful resources

"Microsoft Site Builder: The safety palette":

http://www.microsoft.com/workshop/design/safety/

"Graphics and palettes":

http://ds.dial.pipex.com/pixelp/wpdesign/wpdgraph.htm

ESRI is not responsible for these web pages.


Frequently asked questions about layouts
Questions about Layouts

What do you need help with?

Why do I get an empty (shaded pattern) frame when I try to create chart or table frames?

When I check the Preserve View Scale option in the View Frame Properties dialog box, the scale bar alters its size.  How can I bring the size back to normal?

Sometimes the layout document does not draw a grid even when the ‘Show Grid’ option is turned on.

How can I create a layout on multiple page sizes without resizing my graphics?

Every time I add, move and resize graphics on the layout, the display refreshes.  Is there a way to prevent redraws every time something is changed on the layout?

I want to make a layout of my view at a certain scale, but the scale on my layout is different than the one on my view.  How can I print my view at a specific scale?

I want the scale bar on my layout to be set to a specific ratio, 1"=1500'.

Layout templates with several views seem to transpose view frames.

Grouped view frames in a Layout template do not update views correctly.

Creating a chart frame from a pie chart seems to create a blank frame.

Sometimes table and chart frames produce undesirable results.  For example, I'll see a small gray square graphic at one corner of the table.  Is there any way to access or manipulate individual components of these frames?

The table frame does not show all visible fields in my table document.

Exporting layouts to different interchange file formats seems to create very large files.  What is the cause of these large file sizes?

Why don't views exported to PostScript new open in layout Picture Frames?

When I export my layout to eps, I can't open those files in Adobe Illustrator?

Sometimes ArcView doesn't prompt for save while exiting ArcView.

Rotating a north arrow does not rotate its associated text correctly.

When importing an EPS file into a layout using a picture frame, the image seems to rotate 90 degrees.

Files exported to CGM do not gray scale colors properly.

When exporting my layouts to CGM, all the lines are wide.

I can't access layout templates on my PC in projects created in the Workstation version of ArcView.

PaintBrush displays wrong colors when I open a BMP file created in ArcView.

I cannot import an EPS file that was exported from ArcView using the Enhanced EPS option.

When I use a layout template, my text is created with an unexpected font.


Why do I get an empty (shaded pattern) frame when I try to create chart or table frames?

The Chart and Table documents must be open in the current project in order to display them in the layout document as Chart and Table frames respectively. You may minimize these documents if you don't want them to be on the screen.


When I check the Preserve View Scale option in the View Frame Properties dialog box, the scale bar alters its size.  How can I bring the size back to normal?

Checking the Preserve View Scale option causes the scale bar to change the view frame scale; consequently it resizes itself to the new scale. If you want to maintain the size of the scale bar, double-click the Scale Bar frame to display the Scale Bar Properties dialog box and disable the Preserve Interval option.


Sometimes the layout document does not draw a grid even when the ‘Show Grid’ option is turned on.

This may happen when your layout window is very small. Increase the size of the layout window to draw grid.


How can I create a layout on multiple page sizes without resizing my graphics?

To create a layout for multiple page sizes:

1	Store your layout as a template.

2	Open a new layout.

3	Set the desired page size.

4	Choose Use Template.

5	Select the template that you created earlier.

The new layout will be updated to fit your new page size.


Every time I add, move and resize graphics on the layout, the display refreshes.  Is there a way to prevent redraws every time something is changed on the layout?

Graphics are redrawn after any of its properties (size, position, etc) are changed. But many times, when a frame or text graphic is added, moved or resized, more than that graphic redraws. There are ways to minimize the area that is being redrawn:

If you are adding  frames and text to a layout, when the properties dialog box opens, move it off the layout page, and if possible, off the layout document window.  This reduces the redraw area.

 	Be wary of placement and movement.  A ‘rectangle’ created from the graphic’s old and new locations is the redraw area.  If parts of other graphics lie underneath the ‘rectangle’, those parts of the graphic will also redraw.

 	If you move graphics and dialog boxes to locations that cross the view frame, expect a longer redraw time.  If you don’t want long redraws, avoid crossing large areas of the view frame.

 	Resizing the view frame will redraw the view frame,  scale bar frame and all graphics between them.


I want to make a layout of my view at a certain scale, but the scale on my layout is different than the one on my view.  How can I print my view at a specific scale?

To ensure your view will appear in a layout at a certain scale:

On the view, set the Map Units from the View Properties dialog box.

On the layout, from the View Frame Properties dialog box, for scale, select User Specified Scale and enter the scale you want to print the view data.


I want the scale bar on my layout to be set to a specific ratio, 1"=1500'.

To set the layout's scale bar to 1" = 1500':

1	On the view, set the map units to inches.

2	Set the view scale to 18000 (12 inches per foot multiplied by 1500).

3	On the layout, when adding the view frame, make sure preserve view scale is enabled.

4	Add layout text: 1"=1500'.


Layout templates with several views seem to transpose view frames.

ArcView stores view document names in alpha-numeric order. The first view document in the list will be placed in the first view frame, the second view document in the list will be placed in the second view frame, and so on. This may some times produce undesirable results. To ensure the order of populating view frames with existing views, name your view documents in alpha-numeric order.


Grouped view frames in a Layout template do not update views correctly.

Attempting to use a template that is originally stored with a view frame which is grouped with other graphics (say a neatline around a view frame) does not update the view frame correctly. A workaround to this problem is not to group view frames when you store them as layout templates.


Creating a chart frame from a pie chart seems to create a blank frame.

ArcView 3.0 in Win95 and WinNT (version 4.02) support pie charts in layouts, but ArcView 3.0 in Windows 3.1, WFW, and Unix platforms does not support bringing pie charts into layouts. Use other type of charts such as bar charts.


Sometimes table and chart frames produce undesirable results.  For example, I'll see a small gray square graphic at one corner of the table.  Is there any way to access or manipulate individual components of these frames?

Use Simplify to explode layout frames into simple graphic shapes. Once a layout frame is converted into simple graphic shapes, you can manipulate the properties of these shapes in the same manner as any other graphic shapes. The following are some of the cases where Simplify may be a useful feature:

You can Simplify a legend frame into a set of points, lines, rectangles, and text graphics to manipulate the appearance of a legend frame.

You can Simplify a table frame to alter text font and color and to remove unwanted graphics from the table frame.

You can Simplify a chart frame to change default solid fill colors to pattern fills and to remove unwanted graphics or chart legend text from the chart frame.

Please note that the frame's live link to its associated document will be lost when you Simplify a layout frame.


The table frame does not show all visible fields in my table document.

Table frames display only a limited number of fields in a layout. Usually table frames are limited to draw the first 80 characters worth of data. For example, if your table contains 20 fields, each field being 10 characters wide, a table frame can display only the first 8 fields although the corresponding table document is wide enough to display all 20 fields. A workaround to this problem is either to hide some of the fields, or create multiple table frames with different set of fields in each table frame.


Exporting layouts to different interchange file formats seems to create very large files.  What is the cause for these large file sizes?

The file size generally varies based on the size of your data. However, images with transparent colors and point/iconic markers with transparent background colors seems to create larger files. Avoid using transparent colors in images and use TrueType marker symbols.


Why don't views exported to PostScript New open in layout Picture Frames?

Picture frames support Level 1 PostScript and Encapsulated PostScript.  Encapsulated Postscript New and Enhanced PostScript are  Level 2 PostScript.  If you export views and layouts using  Encapsulated  PostScript New or print to file using the Enhanced PostScript driver, the file cannot be opened in a picture frame.


When I export my layout to eps, I can't open those files in Adobe Illustrator?

Adobe Illustrator (version 4.1) supports encapsulated postscript, but does not give you the ability to open and edit ArcView .eps files.  Adobe Illustrator will display ArcView .eps files using  “Place Art”.  The bounding box of the file displays with an X in the middle.  The data prints correctly.  For more information, consult the Adobe Illustrator manual.


Sometimes ArcView doesn’t prompt for save while exiting ArcView.

Certain operations like moving a scalebar or changing page setup don't prompt for save. This is a known problem. Make sure you explicitly save the project before exiting ArcView.


Rotating a north arrow does not rotate its associated text correctly.

North arrow's text rotation is incorrect when you rotate a north arrow beyond 90 degrees. This is a known limitation in ArcView. Ungroup the north arrow and rotate individual text strings.


When importing an EPS file into a layout using a picture frame, the image seems to rotate 90 degrees.

Make sure to set the layout page orientation to portrait mode before you export the layout to an EPS file. This will allow you to import the file back into ArcView in the correct orientation.


Files exported to CGM do not gray scale colors properly.

ArcView does not support 256 color gray scale in CGM export files.


When exporting my layouts to CGM, all the lines are wide.

ArcView's CGM does not support line widths less than 1 point.


I can’t access layout templates on my PC in projects created in the Workstation version of ArcView.

Layout Templates are not stored as part of the project. Instead, they are stored in a TEMPLATE.DEF file in your work directory. When you display the Template Manager, your default templates will take precedence over the system template file (found in the etc directory where ArcView is installed). This approach allows you to use the same templates in multiple ArcView projects.

To use the same templates on a PC that were originally created on a Workstation platform, copy the new TEMPLATE.DEF file to your %HOME% directory on the PC.


PaintBrush displays wrong colors when I open a BMP file created in ArcView.

This is a known limitation in ArcView.


I cannot import an EPS file that was exported from ArcView using the Enhanced EPS option.

This is a known limitation in ArcView. Picture frames support Level 1 PostScript and Encapsulated PostScript. If you export a view or layout using ArcView's PostScript New (EPS), print views and layouts to file using Enhanced Postscript or import any file created using Level 2 PostScript, the file cannot be opened in a picture frame. Export views or layouts to another ArcView export format supported by picture frames on your platform. To bring tables and charts into a layout picture frame, you can print to file.  Both will open and display correctly in the picture frame.


When I use a layout template, my text is created with an unexpected font.

Layout template fonts normally default to Arial. Some computers do not have the Arial font installed, the first font in the alphanumeric list of fonts, such as Animals or Architecture will be used instead. To change the font, select the text or frame and choose the appropriate font from the font palette.


Frequently asked questions about map libraries
Questions about Map Libraries

What do you need help with?

Can I build spatial and attribute indices for map library and ArcStorm themes?

I only get part of a feature when I identify or select features in my library theme.

I've followed the necessary steps to access my map library, but it still doesn't appear when I choose the Libraries option in the Add Theme dialog.

I've just added my library themes to a new view, but when I turn them on, different tiles draw.

I can't access my ARC/INFO libraries from my PC

What pathname formats can I use to access my libraries? (Windows)

Why does the Avenue request Theme.ReturnAOI return a null Rect?


Can I build spatial and attribute indices for map library and ArcStorm themes?

Yes. However, the spatial indices built for library themes are not persistent, which means they only affect the current ArcView session and are not used by subsequent ArcView sessions. This is because you do not have write access to the library workspace. When you create a spatial index for the library theme, a temporary index file will be written to your HOME directory for each tile you have selected in your Area Of Interest.

It is recommended that you build spatial indices for your library with ARC/INFO. Then they will be persistent.

Attribute indices are also not persistent and are placed in a temporary directory. On PC platforms, this is the TEMP directory while on UNIX platforms, it is the TMPDIR directory (usually /tmp). Since ARC/INFO attribute indices are not recognized by ArcView, the temporary attribute indices are the only ones that can be used with ArcView.


I only get part of a feature when I identify or select features in my library theme.

ArcView does not combine features which cross library tile boundaries into a single feature.

To combine ArcStorm features which cross tile boundaries

1	Open the table of the library layer theme.

2	Make the Object__id field active.

3	Choose Summarize from the Field menu.

4	Click the Add button to add the Merge Shapes definition to the right hand list. Click OK.

5	Select a view to put the new theme into when prompted.


I've followed the necessary steps to access my map library, but it still doesn't appear when I choose the Libraries option in the Add Theme dialog.

In order for ArcView to be successful in determining the location of all of the LIBRARIAN map library data (tiles), the map library should use full pathnames in the LOCATION field of the INDEX coverage. The LOCATION field may also contain relative pathnames, or a pathname which is partly made up of an environment variable. Ensure the environment variable is set before starting the ArcView session, or at least before you try to add libraries using the Add Theme dialog.

Tip	ArcView only creates the list of libraries once per ArcView session, so if you have not set up the library correctly, fix the pathnames, exit ArcView, then restart ArcView to see the updated list of libraries.


I've just added my library themes to a new view, but when I turn them on, different tiles draw.

ArcView determines an Area Of Interest for each theme when it is first added to a view by choosing the center tile of the library. However, if the center tile lacks data for that layer, ArcView selects the next tile near the center. If that tile lacks data, ArcView proceeds until it finds a tile with data and that is the tile that draws. To set a common Area Of Interest for all layers, use the Area Of Interest tool.


I can't access my ARC/INFO libraries from my PC.

See Accessing ARC/INFO libraries (Windows ArcView) for details on how to set up your PC to access ARC/INFO map libraries.

Tip	ArcView only creates the list of libraries once per ArcView session, so if you have not set up the library correctly, fix the pathnames, exit ArcView, then restart ArcView to see the updated list of libraries.


What pathname formats can I use to access my libraries? (Windows)

ArcView can read ARC/INFO LIBRARIAN libraries and ArcStorm libraries when they use any pathname convention supported by ARC/INFO. Pathnames are stored in the INFO file $ARCHOME/tables/libraries, in the $ARCHOME/arcstorm files, and possibly in the INDEX.PAT INFO file of each library.

A map library can use UNIX pathnames which contain PC drive letters. For example, if a UNIX workstation called robot is mounted on drive D, and a map library is located at /robot1/maplib, any of the following formats will work (case is not important):

/D/MAPLIB/DATABASE

D:\MAPLIB\DATABASE

/ROBOT1/MAPLIB/DATABASE


Why does the Avenue request Theme.ReturnAOI return a null Rect?

Theme.ReturnAOI returns a null Rect, even if AOI (Area Of Interest) is set. The AOI for a theme is not propagated to its view automatically. However, setting an AOI for a view propagates the AOI to all its themes (this is what is done from the interface). If you programmatically set the AOI on the theme, you'll need to set it on the view as well.


Frequently asked questions about using ArcView for Windows on a network
Questions about using ArcView for Windows on a network

What do you need help with?

My PC is connected to a NetWare server that has a shared copy of Windows, a shared copy of ArcView, and my data. When I try to access data with ArcView, I get an Assertion error.

I have LAN Workplace for DOS with the NFS Client. If I try to read in more then ten or eleven themes from a connected UNIX machine, I get a error that says error reading drive A.

Can I use Pathworks with ArcView for Windows to access data off a Compaq's Digital machine running OpenVMS?


My PC is connected to a NetWare server that has a shared copy of Windows, a shared copy of ArcView, and my data. When I try to access data with ArcView, I get an Assertion error.

If you are using NETx as your NetWare Client Software, an upgrade to VLMs will most likely solve the problem. VLMs are the new standard DOS/Windows clients. NETx is no longer being developed by Novell, and they are encouraging their users to upgrade. You can download VLMs from CompuServe, their ftp server, or their web site.


I have LAN Workplace for DOS with the NFS Client. If I try to read in more then ten or eleven themes from a connected UNIX machine, I get a error that says error reading drive A.

Yes. Increase the buffer_memory parameter on the ETHDRV.LWP (or ETHDRV.XLN) in the CONFIG.SYS file. The default is 8192. Increasing the buffer space to 16384 will allow you to add more themes into ArcView. The more memory you allocate for buffer space, however, will be taken from RAM.


Can I use Pathworks with ArcView for Windows to access data off a Compaq's Digital machine running OpenVMS?

ArcView for Windows can read 8.3 VMS format coverages on a VAX. Since VMS interprets the arc.dir file as a directory, you must run this command in all the VMS INFO workspaces you plan to use with ArcView for Windows to allow the PC to access attributes from coverages:

set file /enter=arc.__dir arc.dir


Frequently asked questions about online help
Questions about online help

What do you need help with?

The Find tab on my UNIX workstation is empty. How do I generate the full-text search index?

How do I get help on highlighted text in a script window when I'm on a UNIX workstation?

I pressed the F1 key when a dialog box was displayed, but the context-sensitive help topic didn't appear.

How do I integrate my own help topics with ArcView's help system?

How do I assign help topics to custom controls?

How do I build help on UNIX?

Can I use the same source files to generate help on Windows and UNIX platforms?

How do I print an ArcView help topic on UNIX?

When I try to customize my ArcView help Find tab on Windows 95/98, I receive an error message. Why?


Generating full-text search indexes on UNIX
The Find tab on my UNIX workstation is empty. How do I generate the full-text search index?

If the Find tab on a UNIX platform displays empty, you need to rebuild the full-text search index as follows:

1.  From the Find tab, click the Rebuild button.

2.  In the dialog that appears, check the Customize Settings option, then click Continue.

3.  You should now see a list of help files. Choose only those that you want to perform full-text search on. Note: ArcView's help system is designed to accommodate extension products, such as the Network and Spatial Analyst extensions. Thus, you'll see references to these help files in the list, even though you may not have purchased these extensions. Make sure you exclude these help files from your selection. Click OK.

4.  In the Build Options dialog, check Exclude Untitled Topics and click Continue. The help system will now rebuild the full-text search index.


How do I get help on highlighted text in a script window when I'm on a UNIX workstation?

When you highlight a request in a script window and press the Help button [image], the list of classes that contain that request appears, allowing you to select the particular class you're interested in. Sometimes, HyperHelp incorrectly displays the names of the classes. For instance, you may see "Untitled topic" listed instead of the actual class name. Although the list is incorrect, selecting the topic will jump to the help topic of a class that does actually contain the request.


I pressed the F1 key when a dialog box was displayed, but the context-sensitive help topic didn't appear.

If you choose the Help Topics button from the Help menu but don't choose a particular help topic (i.e., you leave the dialog containing the Help Contents, Index and Find tabs displayed), and then use context sensitive help (i.e. press F1 when a dialog box is displayed), the context-sensitive help topic sometimes doesn't appear.

This isn't a problem if you have already chosen a help topic, or if you close the help dialog before getting context-sensitive help.


Integrating a help file with ArcView's help
How do I integrate my own help topics with ArcView's help system?

The contents of ArcView's online help are defined by an ASCII contents file (arcview.cnt in the help directory) that you can easily customize to include your own help files. For example, if you have developed some custom tools and you want to add help about them to ArcView's help system, you would write the topics, save them as .rtf files, compile them into a help file (.hlp file), and then edit the arcview.cnt to add references to this help file and the topics it contains.

Let's say you've compiled a help file called "myappl.hlp" and want topics from it to appear in ArcView's Help Contents "What's new" book. All you need to do is add statements to the "What's new" book like these:

2 Using new controls=USING_NEW_CONTROLS@myappl.hlp

.

.

.

2 Other new features=OTHER_NEW_FEATURES@myappl.hlp

Text to the left of the equal sign is the title you'll see in the Contents tab; text to the right of the equal sign is the topic ID and help filename of the topic to be displayed.

If you've created a separate contents (.cnt) file for your help and want to combine it with ArcView's, you'll need to add an ":include" command at the appropriate place in the arcview.cnt:

:include myappl.cnt

To merge index entries in your help file with ArcView's, add an ":Index" command to the existing list at the top of the arcview.cnt:

:Index My Application Help= myappl.hlp

After you save your edits to arcview.cnt, put your help file, associated contents file (if you created one), and your edited arcview.cnt in the Help install directory (e.g., $AVHOME\help). If you've done everything right, you'll see your help topics and index entries displayed in ArcView's Contents and Index tabs, respectively, the next time you start ArcView help.

Note  It's a good idea to make a backup copy of the arcview.cnt (e.g., arcview.bak) before editing it.


How do I assign help topics to custom controls?

ArcView no longer requires that you include L footnotes in help topics that you write to provide context-sensitive help for new controls. A control's Help Topic Property is now given as its topic ID (its # footnote in the source help file).


How do I build help on UNIX?

Online help for ArcView on UNIX is delivered using HyperHelp. Source help files (.rtf files) need to be compiled on UNIX using the HyperHelp compiler from Bristol Technology Inc. for delivery with HyperHelp. Open Interface help files are no longer supported by ArcView on UNIX. Bristol Technology Inc. can be contacted at 39 Old Ridgebury Road, Danbury, CT 06810-5113, USA. (203) 798-1007. www.bristol.com.


Can I use the same source files to generate help on Windows and UNIX platforms?

Yes. If you are developing your own online help and adding it to ArcView's help system, you can use the same help source files (.rtf files) to generate help for all platforms. Note that the help files themselves (.hlp files) are not compatible across platforms, because they have to be compiled separately on each platform using different compilers (i.e., WinHelp for Windows and HyperHelp for UNIX).


How do I print an ArcView help topic on UNIX?

HyperHelp's printing features allow you to print out any number of help topics. Before you can print, however, you must configure HyperHelp to recognize the printer you want to use. For instructions, refer to Configuring HyperHelp to print help topics to a printer. If you're interested in configuring HyperHelp to print to a file, see Configuring HyperHelp to print help topics to a file.


When I try to customize my ArcView help Find tab on Windows 95/98, I receive an error message. Why?

Most likely you're receiving the error "Unable to display Find tab. (177)" when you're using the Find Setup Wizard's 'Customize search capabilities' option and including a subset of help files. To build the Find tab, you'll need to use the Select All button to select all ArcView help files, if subsets don't work. (Or choose the 'Minimize database size [recommended]' or 'Maximize search capabilities' options, which again builds the Find tab using all the help files in ArcView.)


Frequently asked questions about printing
Questions about Printing

What do you need help with?

My pen plotter does not operate correctly with ArcView.

I can’t print images with my pen plotter.

Nothing happens when I try to print EPS files created in ArcView to an HP650.

How can I increase ArcView’s printing speed while printing raster data?

I am not able to print charts and tables from their respective documents.

Fill pattern backgrounds print opaque even though the background is explicitly set to transparent in default.avp. Fill patterns reduce in size as well.

Is there a way to print only a selected set of rows in a table?

Printing a letter size layout on a large page format printer such as an HP650C uses the entire E size sheet of paper.  Is there a way to avoid wasting paper?

Nothing happens when I try to print from ArcView on my PC.

The Print to File option does not seem to have any effect when I print to a file instead of printing to a printer device on my PC.

I get a PostScript error while printing over a network printer using NewSprint Version 2.2.

When I print using a Window's driver, certain features don't print at all or print incorrectly.

Printing an image with transparency through a Windows driver overloads printer memory.

Strange fonts appear in my hardcopy (and sometimes in the wrong position), when I print through a Windows driver.

 My files are always clipped when I print them.


My pen plotter does not operate correctly with ArcView.

If your plotter output contains random lines or is otherwise corrupted, make sure you are using the correct cabling for your plotter. This often indicates that certain handshaking parameters required by your plotter are not set correctly. Check the manufacturer's documentation for your plotter to make sure the plotter communication parameters are set correctly and to make sure your cable meets the required specifications.


I can’t print images with my pen plotter.

Most pen plotters and HP-GL drivers do not support raster data. Therefore, you cannot print bitmaps, images or iconic markers on pen plotters.


Nothing happens when I try to print EPS files created in ArcView to an HP650.

First check that your printer accepts Level 2 PostScript. Also, be aware that a PostScript file created using ArcView 3.0 may be incompatible with HP650 PostScript printers. In this case, install ArcView 3.0a or higher.


How can I increase ArcView’s printing speed while printing raster data?

The default is Normal, which samples the image, taking one pixel out of every two. High resolution uses all pixels in the image. Low resolution  samples one pixel out of every four. Thus, if you have a large image that is displayed in a very small space, use low output resolution.


I am not able to print charts and tables from their respective documents.

A workaround to these limitations is to create table and chart frames in your layout document and print from there. To benefit from the more advanced features for placing tables in a layout, use the gtable.ave script available in your $AVHOME\samples\scripts directory.


Fill pattern backgrounds print opaque even though the background is explicitly set to transparent in default.avp. Fill patterns reduce in size as well.

You may see these problems on non-PostScript printers. Use vector fill patterns instead. Vector fill patterns are available to you in carto.avp and hatch.avp; you can find them in the Symbols directory. See the Palette Manager help topic for further details on how to bring these fill patterns into your symbol pallette.


Is there a way to print only a selected set of rows in a table?

ArcView prints the entire table. You can, however, export the selected records to a new dBase file, add the new table in ArcView, and print it.


Printing a letter size layout on a large page format printer such as an HP650C uses the entire E size sheet of paper. Is there a way to avoid wasting paper?

ArcView's Basic Postscript writes a generic Encapsulated PostScript file that does not include printer specific instructions for clipping a page to the actual size of the layout. Thus, the HP650 printer uses the entire length of the page even when a letter size layout is printed. ArcView's Enhanced PostScript has correct pagesize information and will correctly instruct the printer to cut the page.


Nothing happens when I try to print from ArcView on my PC.

A printer may fail to print for a wide variety of reasons:

Make sure that the selected printer matches the printer you are using.  Choose Print Setup from file menu and check the active printer.

Check the status of your print job in the Print Manager.  If the print job is stalled, you may be able to restart it by choosing the Resume Printing button.

Make sure your network connection is installed correctly.  If you are printing over the network, make sure your network connection is installed correctly. Check with your network administrator for assistance.

Try printing the document to a file and send the file to the printer using Print command on DOS.

Try printing from other Windows applications to verify whether it's a device or a connection problem or a problem with printing from ArcView.

Note  Some plotters have multiple operation modes.  Make sure you are using the correct translator for the operating mode to  which you have set the plotter. This is especially important while you  are printing over the network. Refer to the manufacturer's documentation  for details on which plot languages your plotter supports and how to switch  between them.


The Print to File option does not seem to have any effect when I print to a file instead of printing to a printer device on my PC.

In order for ArcView to write the plot to a file correctly, make sure you use the Printer Control Panel in Windows and setup routing to a file option rather than a port such as LPT1 or COM1.

When the printer driver's port is not set to the file option, specifying a file name in print dialog box has no effect; i.e., it does not create a plot file.


I get a PostScript error while printing over a network printer using NewSprint Version 2.2.

If you have NeWSprint version 2.2 and you experience problems printing from ArcView, you should edit the etc/arcview.pps file in ArcView's installation directory. Find this line of code:

/gt{get}bd

and add a '%' at the beginning of it as shown below:

%/gt{get}bd

This should correct the problem. You should contact your System Administrator to update the above file if you are running the software over a network.

Note  An updated patch for NeWSprint Version 2.2 from Sun Microsystems has rectified the printing problem at ESRI.


When I print using a Windows driver, certain features don't print at all or print incorrectly.

Try an updated printer driver. You can also try to rasterize the file on the PC rather than on the printer, if the driver offers this option. Another possible solution is to print to a file, then print from a DOS prompt. This takes the print spooler out of the equation which may work around the problem.


Printing an image with transparency through a Windows driver overloads printer memory.

Images and transparency do require a large amount of printer memory. Try rasterizing the file on the computer rather than the printer, if the option is offered by your Windows driver. Other options include PostScript, ArcPress, or third party software that creates a rasterized file the printer won't have to process.


Strange fonts appear in my hardcopy (and sometimes in the wrong position), when I print through a Windows driver.

To get rid of the strange fonts in your hardcopy, bring up your printer's Properties menu, click Print Processor (on the General tab), and click the Always spool RAW datatype check box to activate it.

Note  Consult Windows online help index if you need to know how to access the Properties menu for your printer.


My files are always clipped when I print them.

Consult your printing manual for minimum margin distances. For example, HP750 printers must have a 0.67 margin on the leading and trailing edge of the printout or it will be clipped. Becoming familiar with the orientation of hardcopy as it comes off the printer and printer margins will help you solve most clipping problems.


Frequently asked questions about projections
Questions about Projections

What do you need help with?

I can't line up my decimal degree data with my projected data.

I can't see my data when I project it.

I want to create a projected view with graphics and text labels on some of the features.

The measure tool shows different values when used on views in different projections.

Polygons don't shade correctly when I zoom in near the horizon of my projected view.

I’ve got some data in one projection, and some data in another projection. Can I add both of them to the same view and display them together by choosing a projection for the view?

My data has coordinates which exceed the -180, -90, 180, 90 degree box. Why do they disappear when I project my view?

Why can’t I see my graphics after I change projections?


I can't line up my decimal degree data with my projected data.

All data must be in the same coordinate space to align in a view. All data must be in decimal degrees to be projected by ArcView. ArcView handles projections at the view level.


I can't see my data when I project it.

ArcView assumes that the coordinate units of the source data are in decimal degrees. If the data source is in coordinate units other than decimal degrees (for example, the data has been projected using ARC/INFO), then ArcView cannot project it on the fly.


I want to create a projected view with graphics and text labels on some of the features.

Project the view before adding your graphics. This will ensure proper placement. Graphics may shift when you project and unproject it due to precision differences between the coordinates. Also, if a graphic crosses over the horizon line, it will become a NULL shape (i.e., it will disappear forever).


The measure tool shows different values when used on views in different projections.

There are four places where distances and geographic coordinates interact in ArcView:

1    Using the Measure Tool when Map Units are Decimal Degrees

This returns the distance between the given points along the surface of the spheroid that represents the earth (GRS 80). This is the "true" undistorted distance between the two points. It is calculated using the Avenue request Units.ConvertDecimalDegrees (not Units.Convert).

If the map units are set to unknown (but are really decimal degrees) then you will get results based on the length of a degree at the equator.

2    Using the Measure Tool when the view has been projected

This returns the distance between the given points along the plane upon which the earth has been projected. Because the process of projecting a spheroid onto a plane results in distortion, this distance will be distorted, and usually won't be the same as the "true" distance returned when map units are decimal degrees.

3    Theme on Theme selection and Spatial Join when Map Units are Decimal Degrees

These will produce incorrect results for two reasons. The first problem is that the length of a degree on the surface of the earth varies depending on where that degree is. Thus a buffer of one degree around the Mississippi River will be thinner in Minnesota than it is in Louisiana. The second problem is that when the distance units are not decimal degrees, the input buffer distance (for Theme on Theme selection) must be converted from distance units to decimal degrees. This is done by simply using the factor of 111194 meters / degree, which is valid along the equator but isn't valid anywhere else. An arbitrary value must be used because we don't know where the distance is that is being converted. Please note that the way to get around the second problem is to set both map units and distance units to Unknown.

4    Theme on Theme selection and Spatial Join when the view has been projected

All theme on theme selection and spatial join geometric operations are performed in the projected units, so performing these operations when a view is projected will return the most accurate results.

Note 	A more accurate measure of the distance between two points is available from Avenue in a new request added to compute the geodesic between two points. See the ReturnGeodesicDistance request on the Spheroid class for more information.


Polygons don't shade correctly when I zoom in near the horizon of my projected view.

This is caused by polygons not getting clipped correctly along the horizon line. Displaying projected shapes involves a tradeoff between correctness and speed. By default, ArcView utilizes the fastest method available. The speed and accuracy of projection can be controlled by an Avenue enumeration PrjDisplayQualityEnum. The default display quality is set to #PRJ_DISPLAYQUALITY_FAST, which ensures a fast projection at the price of accuracy. You can set it to #PRJ_DISPLAYQUALITY_CLEAN, which ensures an accurate projection at the price of speed.

If you find that this solution does not work for you, and you are projecting themes based on shapefiles, you might try “cleaning” your shapefile to ensure the integrity of the shapes. See Ftab.ExportClean for more information.


I’ve got some data in one projection, and some data in another projection. Can I add both of them to the same view and display them together by choosing a projection for the view?

No. ArcView doesn’t check to see what map projection your data is in when you add a theme, so it will allow you to add themes to a view even if their data sources use different projections. However these themes will not align correctly, and you will get erroneous results if you perform queries and analysis. It is up to you to ensure that all the data you display as themes in one view are either a) in decimal degrees so you can display the view in any projection you choose, or b) already stored in the same projection (i.e. the projection and all the projection parameters are the same). There is one exception to this rule. If your view contains projected images or grids, you can add spatial data in decimal degrees to the view and set the projection for the view to be the same as the projection used by image or grid, in order to align the decimal degree data with the raster data. Images and grids are not projected by the projection setting you choose for a view.

If you want vector data sources stored in different projections to align in the same view in ArcView, you will need to use the PROJECT command in ARC/INFO to project them to a common projection, or you can use 'Projector!' ($AVHOME\samples\ext\prjctr.avx), a sample extension provided with ArcView, to convert coverages or shapefiles into new shapefiles which use a common projection.


My data has coordinates which exceed the -180, -90 and 180, 90 degree box. Why do they disappear when I project my view?

ArcView's "world" for decimal degree data falls between -180, -90 and 180, 90 degrees. Coordinates outside that window may not appear when you project the view.


Why can’t I see my graphics after I change projections?

If you specify a projection for a view that contains graphics, especially graphic text they may disappear, or appear distorted. This is especially true if your new projection introduces a horizon line. Your graphics are not gone, but may need to be recreated. In general you should specify the projection you want to use before adding graphics and text to a view.


Frequently asked questions about SQL
Questions about SQL

What do you need help with?

PC Platforms

Why are queries slower in ArcView GIS version 3.1 than in ArcView GIS version 3.0a?

I don't have ODBC installed on my PC. Can I still use SQL connectivity?

How do I get an ODBC driver for Microsoft's Access (.MDB) database?

Why does nothing appear in the SQL Connect drop-down list?

Why do quote characters appear around table and field names in the SQL Connect dialog?

I'm using a file-based ODBC driver such as Paradox, dBASE, Btrieve,  Excel, or text. Why can I only see tables in my project directory?

How can I get My Excel data into ArcView?

Can I use 16-bit ODBC drivers with ArcView in Windows 95?

Can I use my old ODBC drivers after ArcView upgrades the ODBC version?

How can I connect to a database automatically when starting PC versions of ArcView?

Why are some numeric values given a precision of six in SQL tables?

Why are sql tables missing when I open a project and click cancel when prompted to connect?

Why are tables and/or fields not listed when I use a text file ODBC driver?

UNIX Platforms

How can I query SYBASE table and column names that are in mixed or upper case?

General

Can I use views, system tables, or tables owned by other users in my SQL queries?

Is there any limit on the length of SQL statements?

How can I use the 'order by' and the 'group by' clauses in the SQL Connect dialog?

Can I use the SQL delimiter AS to alias field names in my SQL statements?

How can I use ArcView to edit tables in my RDBMS?

How can I  execute an ORACLE stored procedure with ArcView?

Why are there no tables listed when I connect with the SQL Connect dialog?

Why are there no tables listed when I type the name of a valid database user in the OWNER textbox?

Error Messages

Why do I get the message 'ODBC32.DLL not found' or 'ODBCINT.DLL not found' when I start ArcView?

Why do I get an invalid license error when using an Intersolv driver?


Why are queries slower in ArcView GIS version 3.1 than in ArcView GIS version 3.0a?

Queries are slower in ArcView GIS version 3.1 because we have made many changes to SQL Connect on the PC. These changes were necessary because in version 3.0a, we used a 3rd party product with SQL Connect that has since become out dated. Since this software is not current, there have been many problems reported involving compatibility with newer drivers. To ensure that ArcView version 3.1 will be compatible with current and future ODBC drivers, we have re-engineered SQL Connect using a native ODBC implementation.

While queries are slower with the new implementation, SQL Connect is much more stable than it was in ArcView GIS 3.0a and virtually all of the compatibility problems have been solved.


I don't have ODBC installed on my PC. Can I still use SQL Connectivity?

If you do not have ODBC installed, ArcView will automatically install it. If you have an older version of ODBC, ArcView will upgrade it to version 3.50.360, but you will still be able to use older ODBC drivers. ArcView does not come with ODBC drivers, you must purchase and install these separately.


How do I get an ODBC driver for Microsoft's Access (.MDB) database?

There is a Microsoft Access ODBC driver for Windows that comes with both Microsoft Office and Microsoft Access. However, this driver is not supported by Microsoft for non-Microsoft Office applications. Microsoft also sells the ODBC driver separately.


Why does nothing appear in the SQL Connect drop-down list?

You must set up any ODBC data sources with the ODBC data source administrator in the Control Panel before connecting to a database.


Why do quote characters appear around table and field names in the SQL Connect dialog?

Some databases require a database specific character (usually a quote character) around certain table and field names in ODBC SQL statements. For example, Access table and field names that have spaces need to be surrounded with back quote ( ` ) characters. ArcView automatically determines the correct character to use by making a call to the driver.

Queries using table or field names that do not require the quote characters are not effected when quotes are used. Also, you can type statements into the dialog without using quote characters and as long as the quotes are not required, the query will work properly.

NOTE: When a table in a database has field names with space characters, the spaces also appear in the corresponding ArcView table. If the table is exported to a dBASE or INFO file, the spaces are replaced with underscore characters (_) in the exported table. If the table is exported to a delimited text file, the spaces are preserved in the exported table.


I'm using a file-based ODBC driver such as Paradox, dBASE, Btrieve,  Excel, or text. Why can I only see tables in my project directory?

ArcView will only list tables in your project directory in the SQLConnection dialog box. However, your ODBC driver will have a syntax for specifying other tables. Use that syntax and specify any tables you want.


How can I get My Excel data into ArcView?

Data in Microsoft Excel can be accessed directly using a Microsoft Excel ODBC driver and ArcView’s ODBC connectivity. The data in the Microsoft Excel file must be first divided into tables by assigning a name to a block of cells which represent a table. In Microsoft Excel Version 7.0, this is done in the following way:

1	Highlight the block of cells that will represent a single table in ArcView.

2	From the Insert menu, choose Name and then Define to display a menu where the name of the block can be specified.

3	Type the name to be assigned to the highlighted cells. This is the name that will appear in the tables list on the SQL Connect dialog in ArcView. Several tables can be defined in this way on the same worksheet. A drop-down list of these tables is provided above the upper left corner of the spread sheet area.

4	Using the ODBC Administrator in the control panel, configure the Excel ODBC driver to access the Excel workbook file.

Start ArcView and from the Project menu, choose SQL Connect. Pick the Excel ODBC connection listed in the connections drop-down and click connect. The tables defined in the Excel workbook file are listed and can be made into ArcView tables using SQL select statements.


Can I use 16-bit ODBC drivers with ArcView in Windows 95?

No, in Windows95, ArcView can only use ODBC drivers that can be configured using the 32-bit ODBC administrator. The 32-bit administrator can only configure 32-bit ODBC drivers.


Can I use my old ODBC drivers after ArcView upgrades the ODBC version?

Since the ODBC version installed with ArcView is backward compatible, older ODBC drivers should function properly.


How can I connect to a database automatically when starting PC versions of ArcView?

To automatically connect to a database when starting ArcView, you must add the Avenue code for connecting to the database to the bottom of the $AVHOME/etc/startup file. Since the startup file is always executed when you start ArcView, your connection will also always be established. For example, the following code added to the bottom of the startup file will establish a connection to an ORACLE server on the host Nessie when ArcView is started:

' Connect to oracle

aCon = SQLCon.find("I - oranes")

aCon.Login("SRVR=oranesie;UID=snoopy;PWD=snoopy")

if (aCon.IsLogin) then

  MsgBox.Info("Logged into ORACLE server Nessie","Connected")

else

  MsgBox.Error(" Failed to connect to ORACLE server Nessie","Connection Falied")

end

Note: The aLoginString for the aCon.Login(aLoginString) request must have all the information needed to make the connection. If this string is incorrectly formatted or missing information, the connection will fail when ArcView starts. Refer to your ODBC documentation to find the correct format of this string for your driver.


Why are some numeric values given a precision width of six in SQL tables?

If a field is stored in a database with a data type of either float or double and the ODBC driver does not provide a precision, ArcView will give the field a precision width of six. In previous versions of ArcView this rule was only applied to float type fields.

If you don’t want the field to have a precision width of six in ArcView, change the data type of the field in the database so that it has a fixed precision.


Why are sql tables missing when I open a project and click cancel when prompted to connect?

If you open a project that contains sql tables and click cancel when prompted to connect, sql tables and other objects that use these tables (XY event themes, charts, etc.) will be missing. In previous PC versions of ArcView, empty sql tables were created that could be restored if the connection was re-established after opening the project.

To restore the sql tables and associated objects, re-open the project and provide the correct user name and password when prompted to connect.


Why are tables and/or fields not listed when I use a text file ODBC driver?

If a text file has an extension (i.e. .txt, .csv) and the file name is used as the table name, tables and fields may not be listed in the SQL Connect dialog. To resolve this problem:

 Go to the driver configuration in the ODBC administrator and look in the advanced options. If the driver allows you, set the table names so they do not have an extension.

 If there is no table name option, remove the extensions from the text file names. If the table names are still not listed, check the driver configuration to make sure that the driver is including files that do not have extensions.


How can I query SYBASE table and column names that are in mixed or upper case?

If you are using a UNIX version of ArcView, you may not be able to access SYBASE tables and columns that have upper or mixed case names.

To resolve this problem, re-configure the SYBASE SQL Server so that the sort order is case insensitive. Alternatively, a View can be created in SYBASE that allows a table and its columns to be referenced with lower case names. Upper or mixed case values in the table do not need to be converted.


Can I use views, system tables, or tables owned by other users in my SQL queries?

Yes. ArcView does not examine the SQL Statement you construct. The ODBC or DBI driver will reject the statement if it is not well-formed SQL. Therefore, any legal SQL statement can be used, including statements referring to views, system tables, or tables owned by other users. Only tables owned by the current user will appear in the list of tables.


Is there any limit on the length of SQL statements?
Is there any limit on the length of an SQL statement?

Not in ArcView, but check the documentation with your ODBC driver for other limits.


How can I use the 'order by' and the 'group by' clauses in the SQL Connect dialog?

The order by and the group by clauses can be used in SQL statements created in the SQL Connect dialog. The way in which you enter these clauses, however, depends on the SQL statement. If there is no where clause in the statement, order by and group by must be entered in the From box, otherwise they have to be used in the Where box. For example:

The statement:

 "Select country, sum(population) From cities Group By country Order By country"

Must be entered as follows in the SQL Connect dialog:

Select: country, sum(population)

From: cities Group By country Order By country

Where:

Where as the statement:

 "Select country, sum(population) From cities Where country =’UK’ Group By country Order By country"

Must be entered as follows in the SQL Connect dialog:

Select: country, sum(population)

From: cities

Where: country = 'UK' Group By country Order By country


Can I use the SQL delimiter AS to alias field names in my SQL statements?

The SQL delimiter AS can be used to alias field names in SQL statements. An example of an SQL statement that uses an "AS" delimiter is shown below:

Select field1 As alias name From table1


How can I use ArcView to edit tables in my RDBMS?

To edit tables in an RDBMS such as ORACLE, use the Avenue request anSQLCon.ExecuteSQL(astring) to execute data manipulation and data definition statements. For example, the following script connects to an ORACLE server using ODBC, creates a table called atable and inserts four records:

theCon = SQLCon.find("I - oranes")

theCon.Login("SRVR=oranessie;UID=snoopy;PWD=snoopy")

theCon.ExecuteSQL("create table atable (afield NUMBER(8))")

for each i in 1..4

  theCon.ExecuteSQL("insert into atable values ("+i.asString+")")

end

Note: With PC Versions of ArcView, once the ExecuteSQL request is issued, the changes are automatically committed to the database. It is not possible to use this request to rollback changes made previously.


How can I execute an ORACLE stored procedure with ArcView?

To execute an ORACLE stored procedure, you can use the Avenue request anSQLCon.ExecuteSQL. For example, the following script executes the procedure oraproc using ODBC from a PC version of ArcView:

theCon = SQLCon.find("oracle")

theCon.Login("SRVR=oranessie;UID=snoopy;PWD=snoopy")

theCon.ExecuteSQL("begin oraproc; end;")

This request will simply send the command to the database and will not retrieve values returned by the procedure.


Why are there no tables listed when I connect with the SQL Connect dialog?

There are no tables listed when you connect because the database user you used to connect does not own any tables in the database. To see tables that you can access, type the name of a database user in the owner text box who owns tables that you have permissions to select.

In previous PC versions of ArcView, it was possible to type "*" in the owner text box to see all of the tables that you can access in the database. With the current ArcView version, typing "*" in the owner text box will not list any tables. You must enter another database users name completely in order to see that users tables in the tables list.


Why are tables not listed when I type the name of a valid database user in the OWNER textbox?

If you type a valid database user name in the OWNER textbox and no tables are listed, there are a couple things that you can check. First, make sure that you have select permissions on one or more of the database user’s tables. Also, make sure that you have typed the name in the proper case. For example, some ODBC drivers require that you type ORACLE user names in upper case and SYBASE user names are case sensitive.


Why do I get the message 'ODBC32.DLL not found' or 'ODBCINT.DLL not found' when I start ArcView?

PC versions of ArcView  require ODBC to be installed before starting ArcView. When ArcView is installed on a PC, it automatically installs ODBC.

To re-install ODBC, either re-install ArcView or if your ODBC driver installation installs ODBC (most do), you can re-install your ODBC drivers.


Why do I get an invalid license error when using an Intersolv driver?

If you are using the Intersolve ODBC driver version 2.11, you may get a message warning that you are not licensed to use the driver. To solve this problem, copy the IVODBC.LIC file from your Windows system directory to the arcview\bin(16 or 32) directory. This problem does not occur with newer Intersolv drivers.


Frequently asked questions about symbols
Questions about Symbols

What do you need help with?

The selected symbol doesn't seem to update in the "preview" area of the Symbol Window.

I loaded an ARC/INFO shadeset into ArcView. Why doesn't the color of my legend (or graphic) change when I use one of those symbols?

How do I rotate a graphic?

I have copied a graphic from a view to a layout, but it doesn't appear on the layout page.

How do I change ArcView's display fonts?

Are custom color settings remembered by ArcView?

What are ArcView's limitations for displaying or interpreting marker symbols?

Why does ArcView's performance slow down after I cut or copy and then paste graphics?

I am having a difficult time learning the symbol class and all of its subclasses in Avenue. What is the easiest way to go about learning how to use these classes?

Does ArcView remember which symbol palettes I have loaded for each of my projects?

Why does the relationship between the size and interval of a VectorPen seem to change when I load it into the SymbolWin?

Why do some marker symbols rotate and others do not?

There are some multi-colored marker and pen symbols in the symbol palettes. I would like to change both of the colors, but I only seem to be able to change just the foreground color. Why?

My composite symbols aren't scaling properly.

Can I use .bmp files to create stipple marker symbols in Avenue or in the Symbol Window?

Sometimes my marker symbols that I created from bitmaps are reversed. How can I avoid this?

I have chosen one of the Arrow line symbols, but I don't always see the arrows. Where are they?

Cap and join settings for my line symbols aren't working.

Sometimes I see lots of spikes on my line symbols.


The selected symbol doesn't seem to update in the "preview" area of the Symbol Window.

The panel immediately below the top row of buttons in the Symbol Window is used for displaying the current (default) symbol. The current symbol is the symbol that will be used the next time you draw a shape of that type. It is not used to display the currently selected graphic symbol property or the selected symbol choice in the Legend Editor. You need to unselect all graphics in order to preview the current symbol in the "preview" area of the Symbol Window.


I loaded an ARC/INFO shadeset into ArcView. Why doesn't the color of my legend (or graphic) change when I use one of those symbols?

An ARC/INFO shadeset is loaded into ArcView's Symbol Window  as fill patterns only, not colors.


How do I rotate a graphic?

Select the graphic or graphic group and use the Layout menu selection Store North Arrows. Use the North Arrow manager to add the graphic back to the layout and from the north arrow manager you may rotate that graphic.


I have copied a graphic from a view to a layout, but it doesn't appear on the layout page.

Create a tool for your layout GUI and attach Script1 as the apply event. Optionally attach Script2 as the update event. This permits you to select and copy graphics in a view document, then make your layout document the active document and click this tool. You need to drag and draw a rectangle of similar proportions to the graphic(s) you copied. The graphics will be pasted into this rectangle.

'Script1

theLayout = av.GetActiveDoc

r = theLayout.ReturnUserRect

if (r <> nil) then

  theLayout.GetGraphics.Paste

  theLayout.GetGraphics.SetSelectedExtent(r)

end

'Script2

theLayout = av.GetActiveDoc

pasting = FALSE

if (Clipboard.The.HasKindOf(graphic)) then

  pasting = TRUE

end

if (pasting) then

  SELF.SetVisible(TRUE)

  SELF.SetEnabled(TRUE)

else

  SELF.SetVisible(FALSE)

  SELF.SetEnabled(FALSE)

end


How do I change ArcView's display fonts?

There is only one place where can you change the display font for ArcView: a View document's Table Of Contents. This can be accomplished using Avenue. First of all you will need to make a TextSymbol object:

ts = TextSymbol.Make

ts.SetFont(Font.Make("Helvetica","Bold")

ts.SetSize(14)

'To change the default font of the table of contents (TOC)

'for all of your View Documents use:

TOC.SetDefaultSymbol(ts)

'The above lines may be inserted into the $AVHOME/etc/startup

'file, which will customize your TOC permanently.

'To change the font of the table of contents (TOC) in one of

'your View Documents use:

myTOC = av.GetProject.FindDoc("View1").GetTOC

myTOC.SetSymbol(ts)


Are custom color settings remembered by ArcView?

No. ArcView does not retain custom colors, and does not allow custom colors to be added to the color palette. It is possible to use Avenue to create a palette of custom colors.


What are ArcView's limitations for displaying or interpreting marker symbols?

For the most part ArcView's marker symbols are created from icon or bitmap files. All of these markers are actually squares with bits that are set to form the marker you see. So essentially, marker symbols are images that have an origin at a particular point on a view or layout document's display.

When a marker is resized in one of ArcView's displays, the new size is actually recalculated from the original marker and then drawn to the screen. For large icons, (32x32, 64x64, or 128x128 pixels) there are performance issues when (re)drawing many marker symbols. This may be why it appears to take longer for point themes to draw, even though logic would dictate that points are the simplest geometric primitive and therefore faster.

Because of these performance issues many of ArcView's markers are created from smaller icon files (8x8, or 16x16) to increase drawing speed. However, there is a downside to this as well: the quality of the displayed marker is generally not very good, especially for diagonals or arches.

Here are additional recommendations for which icon file format to use based on which hardware platform you are running ArcView: For UNIX and Windows users, the Xbitmap (.xbm) file format is preferred.

A note of caution for users who are using Windows .bmp files made with Paintbrush. Paintbrush icon files have two options, "Colors" and "Black and White". Both of these options are multi-byte files. ArcView determines how markers are imported based on whether the icon file is single-byte or multi-byte; single-byte icons are imported as marker style #BASICMARKER_STYLE_STIPPLE and multi-byte icons are imported as marker style #BASICMARKER_STYLE_ICON. Thus, there are two issues: first, users cannot create a marker of style #BASICMARKER_STYLE_STIPPLE or #BASICMARKER_STYLE_OPAQUESTIPPLE from Avenue if using Windows .bmp files; second, markers of style #BASICMARKER_STYLE_ICON cannot have a selection color applied to them, so this fact should be a consideration for users who wish to use icons created from .bmp files to symbolize point feature themes.

Windows 3.1 is also limited by the inability to load icons that have bitmaps larger than 8x8 in size.

Sometimes an icon file will still display in ArcView with some extraneous bits set. If this happens there is one last procedure that seems to work well. Place a white (or whatever color the background is) bit in each of the corners of the icon file when making it.


Why does ArcView's performance slow down after I cut or copy and then paste graphics?

When a graphic is cut or copied it is loaded in to memory. ArcView's clipboard is capable of holding as many graphics as available memory permits. Thus, it is possible to copy huge quantities of graphics into the clipboard. However, because these objects remain in the clipboard to be pasted again and again, other operations in ArcView may suffer performance slow-downs. To avoid these slow-downs, after cutting or copying large numbers of graphics, select just one graphic and then copy it but don't necessarily paste it anywhere. This will free most of the memory that ArcView's clipboard was using.


I am having a difficult time learning the symbol class and all of its subclasses in Avenue. What is the easiest way to go about learning how to use these classes?

Fortunately, there are now many examples of how to use symbols in the Avenue Scripts libraries. Just open a Script Editor and select "Examples: Avenue Script Library..." from near the bottom of the Help menu. Select the symbols topic and choose a script with a title that closely matches the topic that you are interested in.


Does ArcView remember which symbol palettes I have loaded for each of my projects?

No, this function would be quite simple to implement if ArcView's users were limited to loading only ArcView palette files and ARC/INFO line and shade sets. However, because ArcView users may create their own symbol palettes, import icons, use custom ARC/INFO symbol sets, and not be constrained to setting environment variables for the locations of ArcView's data files, it was felt that it would be too difficult to keep track of all the potential files that could be associated with the symbol window.

There, is an easy way to maintain agglomerated symbol palettes in ArcView, which is to load all the symbols and symbol sets needed and then use the Make Default button in the palette manager. This creates a default.avp file in $HOME directory on UNIX, and in the Current Working Directory on Windows. If this file is needed for all projects, then rename the original default.avp file in ArcView's symbols directory to default.old, and then copy the new default.avp file to the symbols directory.


Why does the relationship between the size and interval of a VectorPen seem to change when I load it into the SymbolWin?

When VectorPen symbols are read by the SymbolWin, the size is reset to become 1 (the default value for the SymbolWin), and the interval is not reset. If the size of the VectorPen symbol is changed in the SymbolWin to match its size when it was created, then the relationship between size and interval is effectively restored. A rule of thumb for creating VectorPen symbols is to set the size to 1 and then set the interval sized based on that.


Why do some marker symbols rotate and others do not?

Multi layer/color markers symbols cannot be rotated in ArcView 3.x. This means that any marker symbol that shows with more than one color in the symbol window will not rotate.


There are some multi-colored marker and pen symbols in the symbol palettes. I would like to change both of the colors, but I only seem to be able to change just the foreground color. Why?

You cannot change the color of each layer in a multi-colored symbol in the symbol window. This can be done from Avenue by issuing the SetColorLock(false) request on the layer of the symbol that you cannot change in the symbol window.


My composite symbols aren't scaling properly.

Composite symbols (symbols created in Avenue made up of several individual symbols) may not scale properly when you specify the size for the composite symbol. When you specify a size for a composite symbol, all the individual symbols making up that symbol are also set to that size. For example, imagine you have a composite symbol that is made from three marker symbols of sizes 8,12, and 20. If you specify a size of 14 for the composite symbol, then each symbol within the composite will be set to 14.


Can I use .bmp files to create stipple marker symbols in Avenue or in the Symbol Window?

No, black & white Windows .BMP files are still multi-byte icon files. ArcView will only use single-byte bitmaps to create stipple markers. Single bit TIFF (.tif) or X-bitmap (.xbm) files usually work fine.


Sometimes my marker symbols that I created from bitmaps are reversed. How can I avoid this?

Single-bit tiff marker symbols will usually be reversed, and sometimes markers made from .bmps will be reversed. If possible use Xbitmaps (.xbm).


I have chosen one of the Arrow line symbols, but I don't always see the arrows. Where are they?

The interval between arrows may be too small on short lines or short line segments for an arrow to appear.


Cap and join settings for my line symbols aren't working.

Cap and join settings for pen symbols do not work correctly for some displays.


Sometimes I see lots of spikes on my line symbols.

Certain cap and join settings cause lines wider than 5 or 6 to sometimes draw with spikes.


Frequently asked questions about tables and charts
Questions about Tables and Charts

What do you need help with?

Editing Tables

Can I edit more than one table at a time?

When my table is in edit mode, why can’t I resize the field?

Why does ArcView sometimes truncate a numeric value after I add it to a table?

How can I make a field of unique ID’s?

Can I access a table in ArcView while editing it in another program?

After performing a calculate on a field, why can’t I edit a value in the table?

Why isn’t a new field removed after I choose Undo Edit from the Edit menu?

Why does ArcView crash or appear to corrupt my table when I use the calculator?

How does ArcView manage tabular edits?

dBASE Tables

Why does a dBASE file exported from Microsoft Access contain extra zeros in number fields?

Why are records displayed in ArcView after they have been deleted in dBASE?

Delimited Text Tables

Why are some numbers displayed as 0.00 in delimited text file tables?

Why are some fields not displayed in comma delimited text file tables?

How are string values in delimited text files interpreted differently with the current ArcView version?

General

Can I delete a file that has been added to ArcView such as a DBF file or a coverage?

Can I delete a table file from disk using Avenue?

Can I export a table onto itself (to convert to a shapefile, for instance)?

How do I sort selected records?

Can I have two fields in a table with the same name?

When are attribute indexes used in tabular queries?

How can I tell a number field from a string field?

Are there any limitations when I work with tables?

Are there any limitations on file and directory names referenced in ArcView?

When are attribute queries case sensitive and when are they case insensitive?

How can I query a field if it has wildcard characters like ? or *?

Why are aliased field names sometimes truncated or changed when exported?

What range of dates can be stored in ArcView tables?

How can I improve the time it takes to find a record?

What happens if I'm using a shapefile or a table and someone deletes the file from disk?

Error Messages

Why do I get errors when I use a shapefile after separately editing its dBASE file ?

When saving edits, why does the status bar freeze before 100% with the error "file system is full"? (UNIX)

When trying to edit a table, why do I get the error Assertion "self-->RecMapFile" failed at line 1171 of file "..\vtab\vtab.c"?

Why do I get errors when using certain Table requests?

Why do I get a read/write access error when querying indexed fields?

Charts

Why do I get the "Too much data. Please select fewer rows" message when trying to chart a table with more than 100 records?

Why are there slices missing when I make a pie chart from certain fields?


Can I edit more than one table at a time?

Yes, but you can't edit the same table in two different windows. If you edit a table in one window, you may notice that you'll have to refresh any tables showing the same data.


When my table is in edit mode, why can’t I resize the field?

You can’t resize a field while the cursor is flashing in one of the cells in the table. To deactivate the cursor, hit escape or select another tool. Once this is done, you will be able to resize any of the fields.


Why does ArcView sometimes truncate a numeric value after I add it to a table?

When you enter an integer that is larger than the width of an integer field, ArcView will truncate the digits to the right until the number fits in the field. When you enter a decimal number that is larger than the width of a decimal field, ArcView may truncate or round the number depending on the conditions. The following describes what ArcView does under each condition:

  If the number has more digits before the decimal place than the field allows, the number will be truncated.

  If the number has more digits after the decimal place than the field allows, the number will be rounded.

For Example:  For a field defined as type: number,  width: 4, decimal places: 2

1.23 is a valid number for this field and remains 1.23

12.348  is truncated to 12.34

1.348 is rounded to 1.35


How can I make a field of unique ID’s?

A field of unique ID’s can be created by using the field calculator and the rec iterator variable. For example, the following expression executed in the field calculator, populates an integer field with a unique integer for each record:

[anintfld] = rec + 1

With this calculation, [anintfld] will be given the value 1 for the first record, 2 for the second record, 3 for third record, etc.

Notes

The rec iterator variable should ONLY be used with the field calculator.

If the table is sorted before the calculation is performed, the records may not appear to be numbered in sequential order. This is because the rec iterator variable returns the VTab record number. This record number may not be the same as the table’s row number after it has been sorted. If the table is later unsorted, the records will appear in sequential order.

If you want the field to contain unique ID’s based on the current sort order instead of the VTab’s record number, use the following expression in the field calculator:

 av.FindDoc("Table1").ConvertRecordToRow(rec)

Note that "Table1" should be replaced with the table that you are using.


Can I access a table in ArcView while editing it in another program?

You should not access a table in ArcView if you or someone else is editing the same data with another program. If you attempt this, you may corrupt the table.


After performing a calculate on a field, why can’t I edit a value in the table?

This problem happens on UNIX machines running Open Windows. Moving the mouse outside the ArcView application window and then back again will usually allow you to edit the table. Another option is to use Common Desktop Environment (CDE) instead of Open Windows.


Why isn’t a new field removed after I choose Undo Edit from the Edit menu?

The Undo Edit choice does not apply to changes that alter the structure of the table such as adding or deleting fields. However, if you want to restore a field that you have deleted, choose Stop Editing from the Table menu and click No when asked to save the edits.


Why does a dBASE file exported from Microsoft Access contain extra zeros in number fields?

Microsoft Access adds trailing zeros to all number fields when exporting tables to dBASE files. These zeros will also appear in ArcView when you create tables from these files. You can remove extra zeros by editing the table in ArcView (either manually or through an Avenue script) and saving the data back out to the table.

Microsoft Access may also offer other export options that don't add trailing zeros; check your Access documentation.


Why does ArcView crash or appear to corrupt my table when I use the calculator?

When you edit a table, ArcView creates temporary files in the work directory called delta*.*. These files are used to record edits that you make so they can be undone if you choose not to accept the changes.  When you use the calculator on a large table, you are updating a lot of records and therefore, the delta files become large and can fill up the hard disk. If ArcView attempts to write to the delta files when there is no disk space available, ArcView will either crash or the table will appear corrupted. In the latter case, the data is not really corrupted, ArcView just displays it improperly. If the data file is used at another time, it will appear as it should.

To resolve this problem, choose properties from the project menu and set the work directory to a location that has plenty of disk space. Then perform the calculation again.


How does ArcView manage tabular edits?

ArcView manages tabular edits by using temporary files called delta files (i.e. delta1.dbf, delta1.rcm, delta1.log). These files are created by ArcView to record changes made to a table or shapefile while being edited. ArcView maintains this information so you can undo or redo changes during an editing session.

Delta files are created in the project’s working directory which is $HOME by default. You can change the project’s working directory using the project’s property dialog box or by choosing Set Working Directory on a View’s File menu. You can also set the project’s working directory using the Avenue request SetWorkDir. Unless ArcView exits abnormally, these files are automatically deleted when an editing session is completed. If you are not editing a table or shapefile and you are not using the lock manager, you can delete any delta files that you find on your system.

An ArcView editing session requires additional disk space to maintain the delta files and perform operations like saving edits. Make sure that the disk space available in the working directory is greater than the size of the table or shapefile that you are editing.

Note that the above applies to edits that you perform with the interface or using the WithRecovery Avenue requests (i.e., StartEditingWithRecovery, StopEditingWithRecovery(savedits)). If you use the SetEditable Avenue request to edit tables, the delta files are not created, but you cannot undo your edits.


Why are records displayed in ArcView after they have been deleted in dBASE?

When you delete a record in dBASE, a flag is set to indicate that the record has been deleted, but the record is not physically removed. ArcView does not recognize the delete flag and displays these records in the table.

To physically remove these records, you must pack the table in dBASE.


Why are some numbers displayed as 0.00 in delimited text file tables?

When a delimited text file is added as a table, ArcView uses the value with the largest number of decimals to determine the field’s precision. This may cause a problem if the text file contains numbers in scientific notation. For example, if ArcView determines a field’s precision to be 2, the value 2.34e-4 will be rounded to 0.00.

To solve this problem, add extra zeros to scientific notation values in the text file. In the above example, if you change 2.34e-4 to 2.34000e-4, ArcView will display the value as 0.00234.


Why are some fields not displayed in comma delimited text file tables?

If some of the fields are not displayed it is normally because there are commas in the second line of the text file that are not delimiters. ArcView uses the second line of the file (first record of the table) to create the fields for the table. When there are non-delimiter commas in this line, ArcView has trouble determining how to divide the file into fields.

For example, the following text file will not load correctly:

field1, field2, field3

123, "Smith, John", abc

123, "Doe, Jane", def

However, if any other records contain non-delimiter commas, the table will load properly. The text file below, for example, will load properly:

field1, field2, field3

123, "Smith John", abc

123, "Doe, Jane", def

Note, if there are other records in the table containing commas that are not delimiters, make sure the non-delimiter commas are part of a quoted string.


How are string values in delimited text files interpreted differently with the current ArcView version?

In previous versions of ArcView, values in the string fields of delimited text tables were not trimmed. Therefore, Value1 and Value2 below would appear in a table from a delimited text file as "   Value1" and "   Value2":

field1, field2

123,   Value1

123,"   Value2"

In the current version of ArcView, non-quoted values in string fields of delimited text tables are trimmed. Therefore, Value1 and Value2 above appear as "Value1" and "   Value2" in tables in the current version of ArcView.

If older Avenue scripts accounted for the spaces in the delimited text tables, queries from these scripts may not select any records in the current version of ArcView. Also, If you export delimited text files to dBASE or INFO files, the strings are trimmed with the current ArcView version, but not with older versions. Therefore, if you try to join a table exported from the current ArcView version to a table exported from an older ArcView version, there may be no matching records. The solution is to trim the values in the string field of the table that was exported from the older version of ArcView.


Can I delete a file that has been added to ArcView such as a DBF file or a coverage?

You should not delete a file that has been added to ArcView. Instead, you should delete the theme or table that is based on the file and then delete the file.


Can I delete a table file from disk using Avenue?

You should NOT attempt to delete a table file from disk using Avenue. If you must do this, remove all references to the table, null any local variables and issue the request av.PurgeObjects. It is recommended, however, that you avoid doing this if at all possible.


Can I export a table onto itself (to convert to a shapefile, for instance)?

You should never export a table onto itself. Instead, you should export to a new file, then rename the file(s) to overwrite your old file.


How do I sort selected records?

There are two ways to sort selected records. You can either export the selected records to a file and then re-add that file and sort it, or sort the table and then click the promote button - bringing the sorted records to the top.


Can I have two fields in a table with the same name?

You can have two fields with the same name, but ArcView won't let you do anything with the second field except display it. For example, you can't use the Query Builder to query the second (rightmost) instance of the field. To get around this you can either drag and drop the second instance of the field so that it is to the left of the first instance, or choose Properties from the Table menu to either rename or hide one of the instances of the field.

The above conditions also apply if you join two tables and the source and destination tables have common field names. In addition, a source table field index is not carried over to the destination table if the field name is not unique after the join.


When are attribute indexes used in tabular queries?

Attribute indexes are used in tabular queries under the following conditions:

  Simple Queries - A simple query is a query that has only a single condition.

([aCharFld] = "a") 	' Uses index
(([aCharFld] = "a") or ([aNumFld] = 10)) 	' Does not use an index

  Queries that make exact matches (= operator).

([NumField] = 10) 	' Uses index
([NumField] > 10) 	' Does not use an index

  Non-floating point number and string field types.

  Queries enclosed in parenthesis.

( [Zip] = "01002") 	' Uses index
[Zip] = "01002" 	' Does not use index

  String fields less than 80 characters wide.

  VTabs that do not have a definition bitmap.

  Queries that run an Avenue script or use an Avenue expression will not use an index.

([StrFld] = "a String") 	' Uses index
([StrFld] = 2.AsString) 	' Does not use index
(av.run("script1", [StrFld])) 	' Does not use index

You can tell if ArcView is using an index if no progress bar if displayed while the query executing. These conditions also apply when the aVTab.Query request is used.


How can I tell a number field from a string field?

Numeric values appear right justified while string values appear left justified in a table.


Are there any other limitations when I work with tables?
Are there any limitations when I work with tables?

The maximum size of an ArcView table is 4 billion records. Null values appear as zeros. However, the file formats you use may have their own limits and use of memory. Some of these limits are listed below.

dBASE file limitations

  Limited to a maximum of 255 fields

  Only uppercase A-Z, numbers, and _ (underscores) are allowed in field names. Invalid characters such as # or - are replaced with _ characters. Lower case letters are converted to upper case when stored in the dBASE file.

  Field names must start with a letter. If you try to use an underscore or a number as the first character in the field name, ArcView will convert it to Z when saving the field ("9field" is converted to "ZFIELD").

  Field names are limited to 10 characters.

  A String field can contain a maximum of 254 characters.

Note: ArcView assumes the dBASE files are in dBASE IV format.

Memo fields are not supported.

INFO file limitations

  The combined width of all the fields can’t be greater than 4,096 bytes.

  Field names can’t contain blanks, = (equal), or commas.

  Field names limited to 16 characters.

  A string field can contain a maximum of 320 characters.


Are there any limitations on file and directory names referenced in ArcView?

There are the following limitations on file and directory names referenced in ArcView.

  Spaces, periods, and other non-alphanumeric characters in file or directory names may cause problems. Always use alpha-numeric characters, dashes and underlines for file and directory names used with ArcView.

  Under Windows, long filenames (over 11 characters) may cause some problems for certain operations. Avoid using long filenames for files or directories. We recommend following the 8.3 naming conventions when naming all files.


When are attribute queries case sensitive and when are they case insensitive?

 Non-Indexed Queries

An non-indexed query, is an attribute query that does not use an attribute index. Refer to the FAQ When are attribute indexes used in tabular queries? to determine if your query is a non-indexed query. By default, non-indexed queries are not case sensitive. For example, if we issue the query:

Country = "france"

A record that has either the value "france" or "France" would be selected.

If you want to make a case sensitive non-indexed query, execute the following request in a script before running the query:

String.SetCaseSensitiveCompare(TRUE)

Once this request is executed, the above query will only select records that have the value "france" and not records with the value "France".

 Indexed Queries

An indexed query is an attribute query that uses a field index. These types of queries are usually case sensitive, but may not be if the table has only a few records, the field width is small or if there is little variability in the field values.


How can I query a field if it has wildcard characters like ? or *?

If a field contains wildcard characters like ? or *, you can use the \ escape character to allow the characters to be interpreted literally in a query. For example, to query a record that has the value ** in a field called rating, you would construct the query as follows:

[rating] = "\*\*"


Why are aliased field names sometimes truncated or changed when exported?

When a table is exported, aliases are used for field names in the exported table. If a field has an alias that is not a valid field name for the type of table being created, ArcView will truncate or change the field name so that it is valid.

Refer to the tables FAQ Are there any limitations when I work with tables? for a listing of field name limitations.


What range of dates can be stored in ArcView tables?

ArcView GIS will recognize dates from January 1, 0000, to December 31, 9999, in dBASE files and from January 1, 1000, to December 31, 9999, in INFO files. Dates outside of this range are returned as either unreliable dates or null dates.

Delimited text files store dates as either strings or numbers that can be converted to dates with Avenue. The date range for delimited text file tables is determined by how they are created. If they are created by exporting tables from ArcView, then the date range depends on the data source of the original table (INFO, dBASE, etc.). If they are created by another source, then the date range is limited to the Avenue date range.


How can I improve the time it takes to find a record?

Using the Find tool to select a record in a large table (greater then 100,000 records) may be slow especially if you are searching for a short string (only 2 or 3 characters long) that is stored in a larger field (i.e. a field that is 16 characters wide). If you need to find a record in a large table, you should use the Query Builder and if possible, create an index on the field that you are querying.


Why do I get errors when I use a shapefile after separately editing its dBASE file?

You should never edit a shapefile’s dBASE file unless you are in ArcView and the table representing the dBASE file is associated with a theme. Tables in ArcView that are associated with themes are given a name like "Attributes of <theme name>" by default. If you need to edit the dBASE file with Avenue, use an FTab instead of a VTab.


When saving edits, why does the status bar freeze before 100% with the error "file system is full"? (UNIX)

When ArcView saves edits on a table, a temporary file is created in the /tmp directory. If the temporary file is larger than the space available in /tmp, this error will occur. To avoid this problem, set an environment variable named TMPDIR to a directory that has more space available. The temporary files will then be written to the TMPDIR directory instead of the /tmp directory.


When trying to edit a table, why do I get the error Assertion "self-->RecMapFile" failed at line 1171 of file "..\vtab\vtab.c"?

You will see this error if you are working on a Windows platform and the work directory is on a read-only networked drive. To solve the problem, make the Project Window active and from the Project menu, choose Properties. In this menu, set the Work Directory to one in which you have write permissions.


Why do I get errors when using certain Table requests?

As with most Avenue document requests, the document must be open when the request is executed.  Make sure the table is open before issuing Table requests.


Why do I get a read/write access error when querying indexed fields?

Normally this means that you have deleted the index files, but not performed a remove index on the field in ArcView.  When you make a query, ArcView tries to access the deleted index files and you get the error.

To solve this problem, make the indexed field active and choose Remove Index from Field menu. If several fields are indexed, repeat this process for each indexed field.


Why do I get the "Too much data. Please select fewer rows" message when trying to chart a table with more than 100 records?

The default maximum number of records for a chart is 100 records if you are only charting one field, 50 records if you are charting two fields, and so on. This limit may be changed with Avenue using the aChartDisplay.SetMaxDataPoints(aNumber) request.


Why are there slices missing when I make a pie chart from certain fields?

If your pie chart is missing slices for some records, it is usually because the chart field contains negative, zero or null values. A field containing these values may be more appropriately represented using one of the other types of charts (i.e., line charts). If a pie chart must be used, select only records with values other than null, zero or less than zero.


Frequently asked questions about themes
Questions about Themes

What do you need help with?

I can't see all of my feature classes when I add themes.

When I try to add a PC ARC/INFO coverage as a theme, I get an error message "Feature Table <coverage> has error, unable to make Theme."

I get an Assertion error when I try to add ARC/INFO coverages as themes. What do I need to do?

I get an error opening a project that contains a theme who's definition is based on a field from a spatial join.

After spatially joining two themes, I can't join another table to the theme's attribute table.

I'm doing theme-on-theme selections and spatial joins with shapefiles that contain Zs and/or Ms. How are these operations done?

What is the limit to the number of shapes I can add to my shapefile?

Some shapefiles and coverages don’t appear in the list when I add themes on my UNIX workstation.

Are there any limits to what I can name my shapefiles?

I'm editing a shapefile which resides on a network drive. Why am I prompted to save my changes to a new shapefile?

What happens if I'm using a shapefile or a table and someone deletes the file from disk?

I want to convert my theme to a shapefile. Why is the Convert to Shapefile option is dimmed out?

See also

Questions about views


I can't see all of my feature classes when I add themes.

Click once on the folder icon by the data source name to expand the data source to see the feature classes when you add themes.


When I try to add a PC ARC/INFO coverage as a theme, I get an error message "Feature Table <coverage> has error, unable to make Theme."

One cause of this error is a mixed workspace. ArcView returns this error when it tries to open a PC ARC/INFO coverage which sits in a workstation ARC/INFO workspace. Copy the PC ARC/INFO coverage to an empty directory or a directory that does not contain workstation coverages. Keep PC ARC/INFO coverages in one workspace, workstation ARC/INFO coverages in another.


I get an Assertion error when I try to add ARC/INFO coverages as themes. What do I need to do?

If you get this error when you add an ARC/INFO coverage to a map:

"Assertion: number of bits in range"

you may need to use the ARC/INFO BUILD/CLEAN your coverage in ARC/INFO before you can add it as a theme in ArcView.


I get an error opening a project that contains a theme who's definition is based on a field from a spatial join.

When a project opens, objects in the project get recreated. But there is no way to control the order in which they are recreated. In this case, the theme definition is trying to run before the spatial join has occurred. Therefore the theme definition field is not yet present, so an error occurs.

There are two workarounds:

Perform the spatial join, then convert the joined theme to a shapefile. This shapefile will have all the attributes from the joined themes. Create the theme definition on the item of your choice.

Perform the spatial join, but only use a field on the original theme to build a theme definition.


After spatially joining two themes, I can't join another table to the theme's attribute table.

When the source table has joined fields, ArcView will not allow a join (spatial or table) between the destination table and the source table. In this case, do the table join first and then do the spatial join.


I'm doing theme-on-theme selections and spatial joins with shapefiles that contain Zs and/or Ms. How are these operations done?

Theme-on-theme selections and spatial joins using shapefiles that contain Zs and/or Ms are done planimetrically.


What is the limit to the number of shapes I can add to my shapefile?

The only limiting factors to the number of shapes you can have in a shapefile are disk space and memory (used when you edit the file). ArcView itself does not have a limit.


Some shapefiles and coverages don’t appear in the list when I add themes on my UNIX workstation.

Look for a capital (uppercase) letter in the pathname to your workspace. If your shapefiles and coverages are sitting on a UNIX workstation, and at least one letter in the pathname of the directory has a capital letter, the sources will not appear in the Add Theme dialog. Rename the directory to use all lowercase letters. You may also get an error if you try to write a shapefile to a UNIX directory where the path to the directory contains at least one capital letter.

Also ensure that the name of the shapefile is in lowercase letters. ArcView can find a shapefile named, for example, theme.shp, but not one called THEME.SHP, THEME.shp or Theme.shp. (The Windows operating systems ignore case, so this is not an issue on the PC.)

Spaces in directory names and shapefile names should also be avoided.


Are there any limits to what I can name my shapefiles?

Always use alpha-numeric characters, dashes and underlines for file and directory names used with ArcView, including names for shapefiles and files for printing. Spaces, periods, and other non-alphanumeric characters in file or directory names may cause problems on all platforms. Any rules that normally apply to naming files for your operating system apply.

Under Windows, long filenames (over 11 characters) may cause some problems for certain operations. Avoid using long filenames for files or directories. We recommend following the 8.3 naming conventions when naming all files.

Under UNIX, capital letters in the shapefile name are not supported.


I'm editing a shapefile which resides on a network drive. Why am I prompted to save my changes to a new shapefile?

In some situations when you edit a shapefile over a network you may not have network permission to write to the directory in which the file resides, even though the file itself is read/write. In this case, ArcView will let you start editing the file, but when you stop editing or save the changes, you'll be prompted to save the changes to a new file.


What happens if I'm using a shapefile or a table and someone deletes the file from disk?

ArcView will be in an unstable state if you delete data out from under it. If you get an "Unable to open" message, it is because ArcView can no longer find the data source on disk.

What should you do if you get the message?

For themes     If your theme is turned on at the time the file is deleted from disk, you'll get an error message each time the view redraws, as when you turn a theme on or off, or zoom in, or resize the view. You can turn the theme off to avoid the messages, but it is best to delete that theme from your view using Delete Themes from the Edit menu.

For tables     The cells of the table will become blank when you get the error message. Close the table and delete the table from your project. To do this, make the Project Window active, then click on the table's name, then choose Delete from the Project menu.


I want to convert my theme to a shapefile. Why is the Convert to Shapefile option is dimmed out?

The Convert to Shapefile option is dimmed out if :

 the Shape field in the attribute table of the active theme is hidden. To make the Shape field visible if it is hidden, click the Open Theme Table button [image] to open the theme's attribute table, choose Properties from the Table menu, and in the list of visible fields check the Shape field if it is not currently checked.

 you do not have write access to the data source used by the active theme

 the active theme is a database theme, and it does not have a selected set of features.


Frequently asked questions about views
Questions about Views

What do you need help with?

My theme is checked on in the Table of Contents but it doesn't draw.

How do I know when ArcView is finished drawing my view?

The scale bar is empty after I've added a theme to my view.

I'm trying to select or identify just one point, but I get several at the same time.

Selected polygons don't highlight in the selection color.

 I pressed ESC to stop the view from drawing. Now when I draw graphics, either nothing or the selection handles appear. What's wrong?

I defined a Hot Link for my theme, but when I click on a feature I get an error message that says it can't find my image, project and text files.

Find doesn't find any features when I type in a number.

I want to improve the performance of drawing, spatial joins, theme on theme selection, and feature identification.

I don't get the results I expect when using Select By Theme with certain themes. What's happening?

When ArcView performs a spatial join or a theme-on-theme selection on an unprojected view, the operation takes a few seconds. Why does it take longer when my view is projected?

My ArcView 1 views look different when I import them into ArcView 3.

When I run ArcView on my UNIX workstation, other applications don't display with the right colors.

See also

Questions about themes


My theme is checked on in the Table of Contents but it doesn't draw in my view.

Here are a few things to look for if your theme doesn't draw:

A display property may be set for your theme. A theme's display property defines the range of scales at which a theme is drawn on the view. It's possible that the scale of your view is currently outside this range of scales. To display your theme, set the theme's display property so the theme is always drawn regardless of scale. You can also display your theme by zooming in or out on the view or setting the view's scale so that the scale is within the range of scales defined for the theme's display property.

Your view may be displaying an area where your theme has no features. To display your theme you can zoom or pan to a different part of the view, or zoom out to the full extent of the view. To zoom in on the area covered by the features in the theme make the theme active and then choose Zoom to Active Theme.

Another theme in the view may be drawn on top of your theme. The theme at the top of the Table of Contents is always drawn on top of the other themes in the view. To display your theme you can drag it up to the top of the Table of Contents. This will change the order the themes are drawn in. You can also display your theme by turning off (i.e., unchecking) any themes above it in the Table of Contents that may be hiding its features.

A feature selection may be defined for your theme. A theme's feature selection defines which features in the theme's data source will be included in the theme. Your theme may not be displayed in the view because none of its data source's features meet the selection criteria. To display your theme you can clear the feature selection definition or redefine it in the Theme Properties dialog box.

The theme is being drawn but you can't see the symbols. Look at your theme's legend in the Table of Contents. The symbol(s) used to draw your theme may be the same color as the background of the view (white), or the same color as a theme that your theme is drawn on top of. It is possible that your theme is symbolized in the transparent color. If your theme contains polygon features, it is also possible that these features are being drawn with the empty fill pattern and no outline symbol. If any of these conditions apply, double-click on your theme's legend in the Table of Contents to edit it.

Check to see if they've been turned off using an Avenue View request. View requests View.StopDraw, StopAllDraw, and SuspendDraw let you control when a view is drawn or refreshed. You can force the view to redraw by resizing the view window, by turning a theme off and then on again, or by running this one-line script

  View.SuspendDraw(False)

Which technique you need to use will depend on which method was used to halt the drawing process.

If you still can't display your theme, we recommend that you cut this theme from your view and add it back again. In this way, you will be able to set all the properties for the theme, and see if you can get it to draw.


How do I know when ArcView is finished drawing my view?

The view is finished drawing when the ESRI logo (four squares) in the lower right corner of the application window is pressed out. While the view is drawing, the logo is pressed in. You don't need to wait for the view to finish drawing to use ArcView - you can open other documents, Identify features, add other themes, etc.


The scale bar is empty after I've added a theme to my view.

The Map Units are not set. Set them using View Properties.

ArcView will set the Map Units to decimal degrees and the Distance Units to feet for you if it detects that the extent of the first theme you add to a view is within a rectangle of -200,-100 and 200,100.


I'm trying to select or identify just one point, but I get several at the same time.

If you zoom in, you will be able to select or identify a single point more easily. If the points are exactly on top of each other, select the points first by using the Select tool. Then open the theme's table, promote the selected records, and then select the record you want.


My ArcView 1 views look different when I import them into ArcView 3.

This may happen for many different reasons.

ArcView 3 uses a different color palette than ArcView 1 and tries to match the ArcView 1 color as closely as possible.

ArcView 3 does not honor ArcView 1 theme selections. If your theme had a definition in ArcView 1 you need to redefine it in ArcView 3.

ArcView 3 requires an attribute table for each theme and does not display the outlines of polygons as a line theme unless there is an Arc Attribute Table (AAT) associated with the lines.


Selected polygons don't highlight in the selection color.

Check to see if your polygons are shaded using the empty fill pattern, which is the one in the upper-left corner of the Fill Palette. If there is no fill pattern the polygon will not shade with the selection color. If you use the transparent color, which is the symbol with an X in the upper-left corner of the Color Palette, your polygons will highlight in the selection color when chosen.


I defined a Hot Link for my theme, but when I click on a feature I get an error message that says it can't find my image, project and text files.

By default, the Hot Link function looks for files in the current work directory. To find files in other locations, you must specify complete pathnames to the files when defining your Hot Links.


Find doesn't find any features when I type in a number.

Find searches for text strings in character fields. If the number you are searching for is in a numeric field, you might try these alternatives:

Use the Query Builder to select the features you are trying to find.

If you have write permission to the theme's table, you can make its table editable. Then add a new string field to your table and calculate the new field to equal the numeric field. When you use Find it will use this character field.


I want to improve the performance of drawing, spatial joins, theme on theme selection, and feature identification.

Create a spatial index on a theme's Shape field to improve ArcView's performance of these operations.

If a spatial index does not exist, ArcView automatically creates one when you perform a spatial join or a theme on theme selection If you have write access to the source data directory, the index will be persistent and remain after your ArcView session is complete. If you do not have write access to the source data directory, ArcView removes the index. ArcView stores the spatial index in two files that have the name of the theme name as a prefix and the following suffixes: .sbn and .sbx. They are stored in the same directory as the source data for the theme. To create a spatial index, make the Shape field of the theme's table the active field and choose Create Index from the Field menu.


When I run ArcView on my UNIX workstation, other applications don't display with the right colors.

On a typical 256 color (8 bit) pseudo-color device ArcView allocates a color cube of 216 colors, and a gray scale ramp of 32 gray colors. ArcView allocates its colors read-only from the default colormap of the X11 server. Because the X11 server allocates colors based on exact color matching some applications may fail to allocate colors after ArcView has been started. A work-around for these cases is to reduce the size of ArcView's colormap.

From Avenue, use the Display.SetColorMapSize request to limit the number of colors used by ArcView. For example, to limit ArcView's colormap to 27 colors, enter this into a script, compile it and run it:

Display.SetColorMapSize(27,0)

Then start the other applications, and then use this request to reset the size of ArcView's colormap to (216, 32).

This line could also be added to the ArcView's startup file, which resides in the etc directory or folder where ArcView is installed.


I don't get the results I expect when using Select By Theme with certain themes. What's happening?

One or both of your themes is probably a multi-part theme. Multi-part themes contain many features which share a single record in the Feature Table (FTab).

Examples of multi-part features:

 The Hawaiian islands, which are made up of several islands but share one record in the attribute table for US states.

 A county that contains lakes which contain islands. The county and its islands comprise a single record.

 A highway, which may be broken up by street intersections, but which is still a single highway.

For example, if you're trying to find all the states which border Wisconsin, you'll get both parts of Michigan, even though only the northern "half" actually borders Wisconsin.

If you need to decompose multi-part features, you can write an Avenue script using the request that best fits your purpose:

aPolygon.Explode

aPolyLine.Explode

aMultiPoint.asList

All three return a list of elementary shapes composing the original multi-part shape.


I pressed ESC to stop the view from drawing. Now when I draw graphics, either nothing or the selection handles appear. What's wrong?

Pressing ESC (or using View.SuspendDraw) tells ArcView to halt all drawing to the view. That's why graphics you add after pressing ESC don't appear. Simply turn off a theme, then turn it on again to force ArcView to refresh the window. (Resizing the view window also causes the view to refresh.)


When ArcView performs a spatial join or a theme-on-theme selection on an unprojected view, the operation takes a few seconds. Why does it take longer when my view is projected?

ArcView calculates the distances of features in theme-on-theme selections and spatial joins in projected space (that is, in the map units of the view, which are projected if a projection has been specified for the view) rather than the units in which the spatial data is stored. This may sometimes result in Select By Theme operations and spatial join operations involving distance calculation to seem slower than ArcView 2.x. when a projection has been specified for the view you are working with.


Adding a chart to a layout

 When used in a layout, a chart is contained in a frame. Chart frames contain a representation of a chart. When a chart frame is created, you select the chart that you want displayed in the frame. This chart must be open or the chart frame will display a solid rectangle.

Any changes you make to the chart are reflected in the chart frame. The changes to the frame can occur either in real time or only when the layout window is active.

Chart frames display in one of two qualities, Draft or Presentation. Draft quality provides the quickest redisplay. It shows a solid rectangle containing the name of the chart. Presentation quality provides a quality graphical representation at the expense of display speed.

Chart frames can also be created without being associated to a chart. You can create templates from the layout to use in map production. When you use the template, the chart frame is filled by a chart in the project. The ability to create layouts with blank frames that can be filled with charts by subsequent sessions or with scripts, is an important tool for automating map production tasks. See Using a layout as a cartographic template.

To break the live link between a chart and a chart frame on a layout, select the chart frame with the Pointer tool [image] and choose Simplify from the Graphics menu. This converts the contents of the chart frame into individual graphics. Choose Group from the Graphics menu to group these graphics together so you can easily move and resize the frame as desired. Note that you cannot restore a live link that has been broken in this way.

Notes

 The Display property Always is not working correctly for chart frames.  When this property is selected, any changes made to table and chart documents are not always reflected in its corresponding chart frame.  You should use the When Active display property instead.

 Simplifying a chart frame cannot be undone.

 There is a limit to how many records chart frame can represent from a table: 100 records if you are only charting one of the fields in the table, 50 records if you are charting 2 fields, and so on. One special case is if your chart frame contains a chart based on a selected subset of records from a large table; if you unselect all the records in the table so that the number of records represented by the chart exceeds the limit, your chart frame will not redraw properly. Instead, your chart frame will reflect the previously selected subset.


Adding a legend to a layout

 Legends are contained within frames in the layout. Legend frames contain a representation of a view's Table of Contents. When you create a legend frame, it is associated with a view frame. Whichever themes are drawn in the view will be shown in the legend. If the view frame is live linked, and a theme is turned on or off, the legend updates accordingly by adding or removing the theme symbol and text.

Legend frames are drawn in one of two qualities, Draft or Presentation. Draft quality provides the quickest redisplay. It shows a solid rectangle containing the name of the view frame that the legend is associated with. Presentation quality provides a quality graphical representation at the expense of display speed.

Legend frames can also be created without being associated to a view frame or they can be associated with an empty view frame. You can create templates from the layout to use in map production. When you use the template, the legend frame is filled after the associated view frame is filled by a view in the project. The ability to create layouts with blank frames that can be filled with legends by subsequent sessions or with scripts, is an important tool for automating map production tasks. See Using a layout as a cartographic template.


Adding a neatline to a layout

A neatline is a border that surrounds some or all elements on a map. ArcView’s neatline tool gives you several options for deciding how to add a neatline to your map.

Neatline that is inset from the page margins

1	Click the neatline button

2	Choose the Inset Neatline from margins option and click OK

Neatline that surrounds all graphics

1	Click the neatline button

2	Choose the Place around all graphics option and click OK

Neatline that surrounds just the selected graphic(s)

1	Select the rectangle tool [image].

2	Draw a rectangle around the graphics you want to select

3	Click the neatline button.

4	Choose the offset from selected graphics option and click OK.


Adding a north arrow to a layout

 North arrows are contained within frames in the layout. When you create a north arrow frame you select a style of north arrow to place on the layout. You can also choose an angle (in degrees) that the north arrow should be rotated.


Adding a scale bar to a layout

 Scale bars are contained within frames in the layout. When you create a scale bar frame, it is associated with a view frame. If the view frame is live linked, and the scale of the view is changed by zooming in or out, the scale bar will update accordingly.

When you add a scale bar frame, there are a number of different graphical styles to choose from as well as a numeric style. You define the units that the scale bar will represent and the value for each interval in the scale bar.

Scale bar frames can also be created without being associated to a view frame or associated with an empty view frame. You can create templates from the layout to use in map production. When you use the template, the scale bar frame is filled after the associated view frame is filled by a view in the project. The ability to create layouts with blank frames that can be filled with Scale bars by subsequent sessions or with scripts, is an important tool for automating map production tasks. See Using a layout as a cartographic template.

Note In order to create a scale bar, the view must have its map units defined. See Setting map units.


Adding a table to a layout

 When used in a layout, a table is contained in a frame. Table frames contain a representation of a table. When a table frame is created, you select the table that you want displayed in the frame. This table must be open or the table frame will display a solid rectangle.

The table frame only displays the portion of the table that is currently visible in the table document. Any changes you make to the table are reflected in the table frame. For example if you resize the table to show a different number of fields or records, the table frame will reflect the changes. Changes to the frame can occur either in real time or only when the layout window is active.

Table frames display in one of two qualities, Draft or Presentation. Draft quality provides the quickest redisplay. It shows a solid rectangle containing the name of the table. Presentation quality provides a quality graphical representation at the expense of display speed.

Table frames can also be created without being associated to a table. You can create templates from the layout to use in map production. When you use the template, the table frame is filled by a table in the project. The ability to create layouts with blank frames that can be filled with tables by subsequent sessions or with scripts, is an important tool for automating map production tasks. See Using a layout as a cartographic template.

Notes

 The Display property Always is not working correctly for table frames.  When this property is selected, any changes made to table documents may not be reflected in its corresponding table frame. You should use the When Active display property instead.

 To break the live link between a table and a table frame on a layout, select the table frame with the Pointer tool [image] and choose Simplify from the Graphics menu. This converts the contents of the table frame into individual graphics. Note that you cannot restore a live link that has been broken in this way.

 A table frame can only display a limited number of the fields in your table. Usually, table frames will only display the first 80 characters worth of data. If the fields visible in your table are together more than 80 characters wide, only the left most fields will be displayed. For example, suppose all the fields in your table are ten characters wide. If more than eight of these fields are visible in your table, only the first eight fields will appear on the layout. To get around this limitation, you can either hide some of the fields in the table by making the table active and choosing Properties from the Table menu, or you can add more than one table frame, or print your table to a Postscript file and then place that file on the layout as a picture.

 Any action done to a table, including selections, joins, promotes, additions, deletions, etc., will change the table document and its properties, which causes the table frame in your layout to redraw. Depending on the number of table frames in the layout and the size of the table they represent, redraw speed can range from a few seconds to more than a minute per table frame.

 If a table document is changed as a result of a change to the table data, the corresponding layout table frame is regenerated and redrawn, while the other, unchanged table frames are just redrawn.  Each table frame will pop up one at a time.

 A resize to the layout document window will result in a quick redraw of all frame graphics, including table frames.

 Simplifying a table frame cannot be undone.

Tips

 If you just want to show specific fields in table frame you must edit the properties for your table document. First, make your table active, choose Properties from the Table menu, make sure the fields you want to show are checked (not hidden), then hide any fields you don't want to appear in the table frame.

 Table frame redraw can be interrupted by clicking the mouse outside the layout document window.  Once drawing is interrupted, the table frames that were not regenerated will appear in draft mode (gray box).

 Changing the widths and order of fields in a table will not trigger a redraw of its corresponding table frame in your layouts.

 Sometimes the text for data in one field in a table frame overlaps the text in another field. You can workaround this by simplifying the table and changing the text size so it is small enough to fit without overlapping other text.


Adding a view to a layout

 When used in a layout, a view is contained in a frame. View frames contain a representation of a view. When a view frame is created, it can be made either Live or Static.

A statically linked frame contains a snapshot of a view's data. The snapshot remains the same regardless of whether the source view changes or not.

Live links establish a connection to the source view so that changes in the view are reflected in the frame. The update to the frame can occur either in real time or only when the layout window is active.

View frames display in one of two qualities, Draft or Presentation. Draft quality provides the quickest redisplay. It shows a solid rectangle containing the name of the view. Presentation quality provides a quality graphical representation at the expense of display speed.

View frames can also be created without being associated to a view. You can create templates from the layout to use in map production. When you use the template, the view frame is filled by a view in the project. The ability to create layouts with blank frames that can be filled with views by subsequent sessions or with scripts, is an important tool for automating map production tasks. See Using a layout as a cartographic template.

View frames may have additional frames attached to them containing scale bars and legends.


Adding imported graphics to a layout

 When a graphic from another software is imported into a layout it is placed into a Picture frame. Imported graphics cannot be edited, per se, though they can be grouped, resized, etc.

All platforms

Band Interleaved by Line (*.bil)

Band Interleaved by Pixel (*.bip)

Band Sequential (*.bsq)

CompuServe GIF (*.gif)

Encapsulated PostScript (*.eps)

ERDAS GIS (*.gis)

ERDAS LAN (*.lan)

IMPELL Bitmap (*.rlc)

MacPaint (*.mcp)

Nexpert Object Image (*.nbi)

Postscript (*.ps)

Sun Raster (*.rs)

TIFF Bitmap (*.tif)

Windows Bitmap (*.bmp)

X-Bitmap (*.xbm)

Windows

Windows Metafile (*.wmf)

Picture frames display in one of two qualities, Draft, or Presentation. Draft quality provides the quickest redisplay. It shows a solid rectangle containing the name of the imported graphics file. Presentation quality provides a quality graphical representation at the expense of display speed.

Picture frames can also be created without being associated to a graphics file. The ability to create layouts with blank frames that can be filled with imported graphics by subsequent sessions or with scripts, is an important tool for automating map production tasks. You can also create a picture frame that does contain an imported graphic, and store the layout as a template. You can then use this template to create layouts that will contain the imported graphic. See Using a layout as a cartographic template.

Note Windows users have full access to the graphics clipboard, and can copy and paste directly between ArcView and other graphical applications.


Adding a title to a layout
Adding text or a title to a layout

1	Select the Text tool [image].

2	Click where you want your text to begin.

3	Type your text  in the Text Properties dialog and click OK

4	Optionally, from the Window menu choose Show Symbol Window and change the font, style, size, or color  of your title.

Tip   You can copy text from another application, like a text editor or word processor and paste it into the Text Properties dialog.


Aligning graphics

You can align selected graphics with one another. To do so

1	Select the graphics you want to align.

2	From the Graphics menu choose Align.

3	Set the alignment parameters and Click OK.

Tips

 When you use the buttons on the left, the graphics in the diagram will reposition to reflect how your selected graphics will be repositioned.

 You can also align one or more graphics to the margins of the layout page.

. The lines you graphics are aligned to are known as guides. By default the horizontal guide is set at the left of the selected bounds of all currently selected graphics. The vertical guide is set at the top of the selected bounds of all currently selected graphics

 Use the Vertical Alignment and Horizontal Alignment options to additionally resize graphics when you align them For example, the colors from a legend that was simplified (represented on the left) were aligned to appear as each of the other three configurations. By checking the Equal spacing option under Vertical alignment and setting that value to zero, the colors were moved together. Using similar settings for under the Horizontal alignment settings the same simplified legend can be aligned to resemble the rightmost examples.


Changing graphic properties

The properties, or symbol, of a graphic differ depending on the type of graphic. You can change the properties of a graphic by using the Pointer tool [image] and double-clicking on it.

Polygonal graphics

Polygonal graphics can be filled (i.e. rectangles, circles, etc.). You can change the following properties for polygonal graphics:

 Foreground fill (transparent, opaque, or pattern) and color

 Background fill (transparent, opaque, or pattern) and color

 Thickness and color of the outline

Line graphics

You can change the following properties for line graphics:

 Line type (pattern)

 Thickness

 Cap (butt, round, or square)

 Join (miter, round, or square)

 Foreground color

Point graphics

 Pattern

 Foreground color

 Size (Diameter)

Text graphics

You can change the following properties for text graphics:

 Font

 Size

 Style (normal, bold, italic, bold-italic)

 Color


Defining the layout page

When you want to create a map using a layout you will need to define some characteristics of the layout page. These include: page size, page units, orientation, and margins.

Page size

There are a number of large and small format sizes provided by default in ArcView. If you need a size other than these, you can use a custom page size and define its width and height. The default page size is derived from your printer.

Page units

Select page units from a list of choices. The default page units are inches.

Orientation

Choose between landscape and portrait orientation for the layout page. The default orientation is derived from your printer. If you change the orientation, any new layouts will use the new orientation as the default.

Margins

Define margins for the page or use your printer's default margins.

Output resolution

Defines the resolution the layout is printed and exported at.


Exporting a layout

You can export a layout to a file in any of a number of supported output formats. ArcView exports to the following formats:

	UNIX	Windows
Placeable Windows Metafile		x
Windows Metafile		x
Windows Bitmap		x
Encapsulated PostScript - New	x	x
Encapsulated PostScript - Old	x	x
Adobe Illustrator	x	x
CGM Binary	x	x
CGM Charater	x	x
CGM Clear Text	x	x
JPEG	x	x


Graphic types

The drawing tools let you draw the following types of graphics on your view or layout:

 Points

 Straight lines

 Line with two or more points

 Rectangles

 Circles

 Polygons

The text tool [image] lets you draw text on your view or layout.

The frame tools let you draw the following graphics on your layout:

 ViewFrame - Show a View document

 LegendFrame - Show a Legend for a ViewFrame

 ScaleBarFrame - Show a Scale bar for a ViewFrame

 NorthArrow - Show a North Arrow

 ChartFrame - Show a Chart document

 TableFrame - Show a Table documemt

 PictureFrame - Import graphics from another file.


Grouping and ungrouping graphics
To group and ungroup graphics

You may want to group several graphics so that their relative positions will not be lost when you move them, especially after you have aligned them.

To group graphics:

1   Use the [image] tool to select the graphics you want to group.

2   Either click the [image] button or choose Group from the Graphics menu.

Once grouped, you can change the properties of all graphics, i.e., font, color, outline, etc. However, you cannot change the properties of individual graphics in a group, for example, you can't change the color of a single graphic. Therefore, it is necessary to Ungroup your graphics.

To ungroup graphics:

1   Use the [image] tool to select the graphic group(s) you want to ungroup

2   Either click the [image] button or choose Ungroup from the Graphics menu.


How to be successful printing maps from ArcView

This topic will help you make the right choices when it comes to printing your map or data from ArcView. There are three categories of considerations you should be aware of when it comes to printing maps, Printer-specific, Map-specific, and System-specific.

Printer Specific considerations: The following is a list of factors that can significantly influence the speed and quality of your printed output.

 Paper quality. Bond paper is the most common and least expensive kind of paper you can use to print maps. Bond paper can be used to produce a reasonably nice map when your printer’s quality mode to ‘draft’ or ‘high-speed’. This will keep the printer from putting too much ink on the page. There are more expensive, higher quality bond papers typically called ‘coated bond’ or ‘heavy bond’, which will work well for your printer’s higher quality settings. There are also glossy film paper types you can use to give your output a photographic quality. These higher quality kinds of paper are more expensive than bond paper. Generally, printer manufacturers recommend specific kinds coated or glossy film paper for their printers because the inking process for each kind of printer is optimized specifically for the requested type of paper. If you do not use the recommended kind of glossy film, you may find the ink does not adhere to the paper or does not mix properly.

 Printer quality setting. This is generally analogous to the amount of ink used when your map is printed. More ink will result in a richer appearance, but it may also saturate lower quality paper, causing the ink to bleed or run-off. If your printer’s quality setting is too high, your paper may actually be limp with moisture after printing. It will also look more like an impressionist painting than the precise graphic you had in ArcView.

 Margins. Every printer has a set of margins cannot print beyond on a given page size. For letter size printers, ArcView is usually able to detect what these margins are when you create a layout document. But if your default printer is not the printer you intend to use, and you have already created a letter size layout, then follow these steps to be sure ArcView is displaying the proper margins for your page:

1	Choose Print Setup from the Layout document’s file menu.

2	Choose the printer you want to use, and set any necessary properties, and click OK.

This should change the margins of your page. If you are not printing a letter size layout, you will need to consult your printer manual to find out what the printer’s internal margin settings are for that page size. Once you know these margins, choose Page Setup from the Layout document’s Layout menu and make the appropriate settings.

 Printer calibration.  On your color maps, you may notice the colored and black ink do not exactly align. Or, you may notice your lines are not perfectly straight. These are symptoms which indicate your printer needs to be recalibrated. Consult your printer manual for the manufacturer’s instructions on how to recalibrate your printer.

 Level of PostScript support. Some printers have a PostScript card, which means they can accept PostScript output from ArcView. Generally, this will afford you the highest quality of output because PostScript is the most robust graphics metafile format. However, like many technologies, PostScript has evolved since its creation and not all printers have the most current level of support. PostScript Level I is the most basic level of PostScript support, and in 1998 is almost entirely out of use.  PostScript Level II is the level of support that most printer manufacturers include with their printers. PostScript Level III is now available, but not widely used.  ArcView has two PostScript output drivers, ArcView Enhanced, and ArcView Basic. These will be options on ArcView’s Print dialog if your printer can accept PostScript output. ArcView’s Enhanced driver is a PostScript Level II and will not work on a PostScript Level I printer. ArcView’s Basic driver is PostScript Level I and will work on a PostScript Level I or PostScript Level II printer, but the quality is not nearly as good as the enhanced driver. You can send any PostScript file produced in ArcView to a PostScript Level III printer

Map Specific considerations: The colors you choose for your map and how you display any raster data or images you may be using can affect the quality of your printed maps.

 Color. Every printer manufacturer puts ink on the page a little differently, and the inks they use can be different as well. Thus, different printers produce different results and getting an identical pair of maps from two different printers is not possible. But, if you know the general characteristics of your printers, you can get the best results. One way to benchmark your printers is to use the calibrat.apr sample project that is located in ArcView’s samples/other directory. This project contains a layout with six blocks of colors. Print this layout using the various settings for each of your printers, compare the output to get a general idea of how each printer’s settings treats the same colors. You will see that even ‘simple’ concepts like getting red, blue, or green to look the same on the page as they appear on your screen is actually rather involved. This stems from the fact that inks used by the various printer manufacturers are mixed differently and produce different results. For instance, a bright blue or green on your screen usually prints much darker on paper, because the blue ink is darker. It is not possible to make a color more vivid than the basic colors of ink used. Printers make colors darker by adding black, blue, or red dots. Light colors or pastels are produced by leaving white spaces on your paper. The clearest way to understand this is to try printing a white square on a pink piece of paper. Most ink jet printers use fairly bright colors of ink, cyan, yellow, and magenta are the most typical. When you are using lower quality paper, the black ink used to make the colors darker on your map usually exaggerates the darkness in the color, this is especially true in humid environments.

You will also note a higher printer quality setting will effectively darken colors on lower quality paper because the paper becomes saturated with ink.

Mismatches between your screen and printed output will occur if your video device is limited to 256 colors. Thus, your monitor cannot display the array of colors available in ArcView’s color palettes, but your printer can.

 Image/Raster data. There are two considerations when using raster data to make a map in ArcView. First is color, in the sense of getting the colors you expect on the printed page. The second is to be aware of printer and system resources, so you don’t exceed them when you print your map.

With respect to color, the key is understanding the above discussion on the relationship between paper quality and the printer’s quality setting. Raster data can vary a great deal, or change very subtly over a large amount of space. You will need to experiment with different types of paper in your printer and its various settings before you will arrive at the best quality. One typical result when printing images is the image appears to be muddy. This happens when adjacent colors mix at the point where they meet on the page. To eliminate this problem, either reduce the printer’s quality setting, use better paper, or both.

Maps are some of the most complicated graphics to print. The more information you include in your map, the more complex the print job will be, meaning more system resources will be required to process the job. When you add imagery to the map, especially with transparent cells, the amount of resources needed to process the print job can become quite large. One way to reduce the amount of information in a map is to reduce the number of cells that are being sampled from the image. In most cases, you can do this without visibly reducing the quality or content of the image. In ArcView’s page setup dialog, the last setting, called Output Resolution, is set to normal by default. Change this setting to low to reduce the number of cells sampled . Specifically, this setting affects how images are sampled when ArcView exports or prints them. High means that every cell in the image is read, Normal means that every other cell is read, and Low means that every fourth cell is read.

System Specific considerations: There will be times you may not be able to reduce the amount of information in your map so it will print on your printer, given its resources. The following are some suggestions to better use the system you have.

 Where your output is being processed prior to printing. Your output is either being processed in the printer’s memory, or on your hard drive. Especially for large maps, it will be best to process your map on your hard drive because you will likely have more disk space than your printer has memory. While this will take longer, it will allow you to print a larger or more information-rich map.

 Image output resolution. As noted above, in the Map-Specific considerations section, you can reduce the output resolution in ArcView’s page setup dialog. If your map is mostly an image, this can reduce the required resources to almost half, or even a quarter of what is necessary.

 Obtain more, better, or dedicated resources. If you are finding your maps consistently push the limits of your system, you may find it necessary to dedicate a system for printing maps. This will allow the entire system’s resources to be exclusively used for your print jobs. You can also purchase additional memory for your printer.

 When nothing else works. ESRI provides a product called ArcPress, which can process your map into the native raster format for your printer. ArcPress allows the output, no matter how large, to be sent to the printer as a stream of information to be printed, not processed by your printer.


How to be successful publishing maps from ArcView

This topic will help you make the right choices when it comes to publishing your map from ArcView. The goal of this topic is to show you the issues and how they can be dealt with when you need to publish ArcView's output.

In a very general sense publishing a map made in ArcView consists of exporting a layout to the PostScript (New) format and sending that file to a printer or imagesetting service bureau (service provider). There are some difficulties to this seemingly simple process. Many are within your control to address, while some will get worked out over time as you and your service provider gain understanding of what of what is required to be successful. Most of these issues will center around color, in particular, getting the colors you expect.

Color Proofing

The proper and sensitive handling of color dramatically impacts the effectiveness of your map. When you're making a map in ArcView you only have your computer screen to use with respect to establishing relationships between the features and elements on your map based on the colors and symbols used to represent them. If you were to print your map to several common desktop color printers, you would find there are dramatic differences in color from your screen to the printouts and between each of the printouts. The differences between your screen and what comes out on a given printer is partially due to the fact that your screen is based on the RGB (Red, Green, and Blue) color model and your printer is very likely based on the CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and blacK or Khroma) color model. These are mathematical representations of color, and for the most part will translate with reasonable accuracy (very bright or metallic RGB colors will not translate well to CMYK, and the full range of light or pastel CMYK colors do not translate well to RGB). The major differences between the results of each printer are due to the type of ink and the quality of paper, and combinations of the two. The same difficulties will hold true when you are publishing a map. The resolution and quality of the publisher's output is going to be much better than the average desktop printer, but the color handling is still going to depend on the inks and the paper quality. However, as you establish a working relationship with a service provider you should find a desktop printer that closely approximates your service provider's output, this will allow you to do much of your own color proofing.

However, there are some things available to you through your service provider that can help you through this sometimes frustrating process.

 Color Proofing systems - Some service provider may have a color proofing system which can approximate combinations of inks and paper types through the use of color profiles. These systems range in price from expensive to extremely expensive, so it is not cost effective for you to obtain one.  Your service provider can use a color proofing system and produce several printouts of your ArcView PostScript file, which will sometimes result in a good match, and then your printer can use the ink and paper combination represented by the color profile, if available, when publishing your map.

 Color Correction - Color correction is the process of substituting a specific RGB value in ArcView's PostScript file for a CMYK value that will be different than the default value for whatever color profile your printer is using. Color correction can be done at two times. First, you can just change the colors you use in ArcView based on your own common sense abilities to derive a color that will produce the desired result on your printer's proofing system. Second, you can process your ArcView PostScript file in another graphics package which will allow you (or preferably an experienced graphic artist) to specify that RGB values in your ArcView PostScript be reproduced with a specific CMYK value in a new PostScript file that is produced by the graphics software package. Nearly all high-end graphics software packages support this second type of color correction.

When it comes to getting the right colors, you should keep in mind that it is an iterative process that can take as much time as it took to produce the map.

Selecting a service provider

Printing and publishing is a big business all over the world, meaning  you usually will have a choice when it comes to who you will work with to publish your maps.  It pays to shop around, especially if you don't have much experience with publishing. You will learn a lot as you meet with service providers and discuss your options and the services they provide. If possible select a service provider who has experience publishing maps. If the service provider also has in-house graphic arts expertise who could help you with color proofing or color correction.


Moving a graphic

When you select a graphic you can move it in two ways: interactively with the mouse, and using the Size and Position choice from the Graphics menu.  On the layout, you can also move a graphic using the keyboard arrow keys.

Moving with the mouse

To move a graphic, press and hold the mouse button within a selected graphic or graphics, then drag to a new location. A faint outline of the selection follows the mouse movement; the graphic re-draws in the new location once the mouse button is released.

Moving with the Size and Position choice from the Graphics menu

To move a graphic to an explicit location, you can use the Size and Position control from the Graphics menu. This creates a dialog box in which you can type the position of the graphic in page units.

Moving with arrow keys

To move a layout graphic in increments, you can use the arrow keys on the keyboard to "nudge" the graphic.  Each arrow keystroke moves the graphic one point (1/72 of an inch).

See also

Selecting a graphic


Overview of creating a layout

You create a layout from the components in your project such as views, charts, and tables. You can also draw various graphics on the layout too.

Open or create a project

If you have not yet opened a project, choose Open Project or New Project from the File menu to either open an existing project or create a new one.

Create a new layout in your project

On the Project window select the Layouts icon and then press the New button. A new layout will appear in your project.

Define the layout page

Before you begin adding things to the layout, you should define some of its characteristics like units, page size, orientation and margins.

Add a view

To create a map for output containing geographic data you must first add a view to your layout. When you add the view you can choose to make it live linked. This causes any changes in the view to be reflected in the layout. If you decide not to live link your view, it will not change in the layout even if you make changes to the view.

Add a legend

After adding a view you can add a legend to the layout. The legend will show the symbology for the themes that are displayed in the view.

Add a scale bar

There are a number of different styles of scale bars supported by ArcView. After you select a view to associate the scale bar to, you can select the type of units, interval values and number of intervals that the scale bar will have.

Add a title

When you are satisfied with the geographically based parts of your layout you can add a title to it.

Create graphics

If you need to add any graphic (points, lines, circles, etc.) you can do so.

Add other graphics to the layout

There are a number of additional "standard" graphics you can add to your layout. You can place both ArcView tables and charts on the layout if so desired in your output product. You can also choose from a provided list of north arrows, or import a file from a another graphics package into the layout.

Arrange the layout graphics as needed

When all of the graphics you want are present in the layout you can use a number of different tools to arrange them as needed. Among the actions you can perform on layout graphics are the following: align, bring to front, group, etc.

Assign patterns, colors and fonts to the graphics

By double-clicking any graphic in the layout you can change its properties. In the case of a view or legend, you will see a properties menu. For any graphic primitive you will see ArcView's Symbol Window.

Print the layout

When you are finally satisfied with your layout you can send it to a printer.


Printing a layout

 ArcView supports a variety of ways for getting hardcopy output. The printing tools within ArcView allow you to print Layouts to either native printers or ArcView's own output formats.

See also

Page Setup

Print

Print Setup

Exporting a layout


Resizing a graphic

When you select a graphic you can resize it in two ways: interactively with the mouse or using the Size and Position choice from the Graphics menu.

Resizing with the mouse

You can resize a graphic with the mouse by positioning the mouse on a handle and dragging. The corner handles provide stretching that will maintain the aspect ratio (i.e. if you stretch a square from one of its corner handles it will still be a square when you are done). The side handles allow you to resize in the horizontal or vertical directions. A faint outline of the graphic being stretched follows the mouse movement, and the graphic is redrawn when the mouse button is released.

Resizing with the Size and Position choice from the Graphics menu

If you choose to resize the graphic in a more precise manner you can use the Size and Position choice from the Graphics menu. This will present a dialog box that allows you to define an exact size and position for the graphic.

See also

Selecting a graphic


Selecting a graphic

When you select a graphic with the [image] tool, ArcView brackets the graphic with handles. In most cases, eight handles appear for a graphic, one at each corner and one at each edge of the graphic's bounding box.

There are two selection methods: point and box.

To select at a single point

   Click on it. This will select the top-most graphic at the location you clicked.

To select using a box

   You can click-drag a box to select all the graphics that fall entirely within the selection rectangle.

Note   Normally, when you select a graphic, any currently selected graphics will become unselected. If you hold down the SHIFT key, each additional selection you make will be added to the previous selection.

  Related topics


Types of frames

A frame is a container for one of three types of data: a representation of another ArcView project component (i.e. a view, chart, or table), commonly used map graphics (i.e. scale bars, legends, and north arrows) or an imported graphic.

The Frame tool [image] is used to create each of the frame types. This tool lets you create the following types of frames:

 View frames contain a representation of a view. View frames may have additional frames attached to them containing scale bars and legends.

 Legend frames contain the data in the Table of Contents for the view contained in the view frame that the legend frame is linked to.

 Scale bar frames contain scale bars that are derived from the view contained in the view frame that the scale bar frame is linked to.

 North arrow frames contain a north arrow.

 Chart frames contain a representation of a chart.

 Table frames contain a representation of a table.

 Picture frames contain graphics that are created by importing a graphics file.


Using a layout as a cartographic template

You may want to create a layout that you will use as a cartographic template. You can create a layout containing empty view frames that have legends and scale bars associated with them. The template can then be used to create layouts.

As an example you could perform the following actions to create a template:

1	Create a layout.

2	Use the View frame tool [image] to add a view frame that contains an empty view.

3	Use the Legend frame tool [image] to add a legend frame that is connected to the view frame: ViewFrame1: <Empty View>.

4	Use the Scale bar frame tool [image] to add a scale bar frame that is connected to the view frame: ViewFrame1: <Empty View>.

5	Use the North arrow frame tool [image] to add a north arrow.

6	If desired, add a neatline.

7	If desired, add a title.

8	Manipulate these graphics into the required positions.

9	Choose Store As Template from the Layout menu to save the layout in the default set of templates.

You can now create a layout using your new template.

When you click OK, ArcView will write the current list of templates to a new file called template.def located in your project's working directory.

Your default templates will take precedence over the system defaults, so when you execute the Use Template control, you will see your templates instead of ArcView's default templates.


Using the grid

The grid provides a mechanism for registering the positions of graphics to uniform intervals on the layout page. A grid is based on one of the subdivision levels of the chosen page units (inches, centimeters, etc.). When a graphic is created, moved, or stretched when the grid is active, each of its coordinates are snapped to the nearest grid point.


What is a layout?

A layout is a map that lets you display views, charts, tables, imported graphics, and graphic primitives. The layout is used to prepare these graphics for output from ArcView.

A layout defines what data will be used for output and how they will be displayed. A layout can be dynamic because it allows you to make specific graphics live. When a graphic is live, it reflects the current status of the data. For example, if the data in a view changes, the layout automatically reflects the change.

The same data can be displayed on a number of different layouts. Think of each layout as being a different way of presenting the data. If you are doing a marketing presentation you will probably want to present data differently than if you are doing cartographic production. With ArcView, a different layout of the data can be created for each application. Using Avenue you can extend the power of ArcView by creating custom functions, user interfaces and cartographic templates that will assist you in creating output.

What a layout can contain

The Layout provides the standard graphics and operations one would expect in a typical 'drawing' package.

These graphics are drawn using the Draw tools [image] and include points, lines, polygons, rectangles, and circles.

The Layout also contains objects specific to the ArcView environment, including frames containing ArcView views, charts, and tables, and ancillary objects such as legends and scale bars.

Printing layouts

You can print a layout or export a layout to a number of formats to use with other software packages.


Working with layouts in a project

An ArcView project can contain any number of layouts.

To see which layouts are in a project

 Click on the Layouts icon on the Project Window. The layouts in the current project are shown in the list.

To create a new layout

 With the Layouts icon selected, click the New button at the top of the Project window. ArcView creates a new layout and its name will appear in the list of layouts in the project. ArcView names new layouts in numerical order: Layout1, Layout2, Layout3, etc. See Overview of creating a layout. You can also double-click the Layouts icon to create a new layout.

To open a layout

 Double-click the layout's name in the list of layouts in the Project window, or select the layout's name and click the Open button.

To close a layout

 From the File menu, choose Close, or click the close option on the layout's window (This option varies according to the GUI you are using).

To rename a layout

 Click once on the layout in the list in the Project window and choose Rename from the Project menu. A layout's name is also a layout property you can edit.

To save the work you do with a layout

 In ArcView, you save the work you do with any project component by saving the project. To save your project, choose Save Project from the File menu or click the Save Project button [image]. See Saving your work.

To copy a layout from one project to another

 If you want to copy a layout from another project into your current project, you should import the other project into your current one using Import on the Project menu. This will copy all the components of the other project into your current project. You can then delete the components that you don't require using Delete from the Project menu.


Zooming in and out on a layout

There are a number of different zooming operations you can perform on a layout. Use these to help you in the placement of layout graphics.

 Zoom to Page button

Zooms to the full extent of the page. Click this button when you want to be able to see everything in a layout.

 Zoom to Actual Size button

Click this button to see the layout displayed at its actual size.

 Zoom to Selected Graphics button

When you have graphics selected on a layout, click this button to zoom to these graphics.

 Zoom In button

Zooms in on the center of a layout.

 Zoom Out button

Zooms out from the center of a layout.

 Zoom In tool

Zooms in to the position you click or the area you define on a layout.

 Zoom Out tool

Zooms out from the position you click or the area you define on a layout.

 Pan tool

At any time, you can pan the layout by dragging it in any direction with the Pan tool.


Accessing ARC/INFO libraries

Viewing ARC/INFO Map LIBRARIAN libraries or ArcStorm database libraries is easy with ArcView. You can add any layer of a library as a theme for display and query.

Accessing your library

To view UNIX map libraries from ArcView, you must make ArcView aware of the ARC/INFO installation that contains the libraries by setting an ARCHOME system environment variable. This environment variable can be set outside of ArcView. For example, if you are using ArcView on a workstation, you can set the environment variable in your .login file.

To set the location from within ArcView, add the following line to a script which you can compile and run. Substitute the example ARC/INFO location for your own.

System.SetEnvVar("ARCHOME","/disk1/arcinfo/arcexe70")

If you set ARCHOME this way, the environment variable only affects the current ArcView session. If you quit ArcView then start it again, you’ll need to set the environment variable for the new session.

Another way to set the ARCHOME environment variable for ArcView is to add this line to the startup file in the ArcView installation etc folder. First make a backup copy of the startup file, then add the line. Every user who starts ArcView from that installed location will have ARCHOME set automatically for them.

Notes

 ArcView creates a list of libraries the first time you press the Libraries button on the Add Theme dialog. ArcView maintains this list throughout the ArcView session. If you add or delete libraries, you will need to restart ArcView to see the updated list.

 Viewing libraries from ArcView does not use an ARC/INFO license.

 Features do not cross tile boundaries. Each part of the feature split by the tile boundary has a separate record in the theme's attribute table.

 Tile boundaries do not display. This is because the border arcs of the coverage of each tile are coded with a special "hidden symbol" value which is honored by both ARC/INFO and ArcView. To see the tile boundaries, add the INDEX coverage of the library as a theme. If the INDEX coverage is also coded with the hidden symbol (it doesn't seem to draw), you can convert it to a shapefile and then add the shapefile to the view.

 ArcView does not honor the access set up by the Librarian Administrator. All libraries are accessed with browse access.

 You cannot edit a library's table.

 Library-based themes are not available for Dynamic Segmentation.

 Annotation for library-based themes must have an attribute table (TAT).

 For more information about ARC/INFO libraries or 8.3 naming conventions, please refer to the appropriate ARC/INFO documentation.

What do you want to do?

Access ARC/INFO libraries  from Windows

Create a stand-alone ARC/INFO map library on Windows

See also

ARC/INFO coverages

Adding a theme to a view

Frequently asked questions about Libraries


Accessing ARC/INFO libraries (Windows ArcView)

To view UNIX map libraries from Windows, establish an environment variable named ARCHOME. ARCHOME must be set to the location of the UNIX version of ARC/INFO that manages the libraries.

There are three ways to set ARCHOME. Select the one that works best for you.

1	Set in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file (Windows 95) or from System in the Control Panel (Windows NT). This will affect every ArcView session on this machine.

2	Set in ArcView’s startup file, which can be found in the etc folder in the installation directory. This will affect every ArcView session which uses this copy of ArcView.

3	Set from a Script within ArcView. This will only affect the current ArcView session.

Even if you’ve set ARCHOME in your AUTOEXEC.BAT or in ArcView’s startup file, you can always override that setting with a script in your ArcView session. This setting is only good for that ArcView session.

Setting ARCHOME in your AUTOEXEC.BAT

You may use either the UNIX file-naming convention or the DOS file-naming convention when setting ARCHOME. For example, if you added ARCHOME to your AUTOEXEC.BAT you could use either of these formats:

set ARCHOME=/disk1/arcinfo/arcexe70

OR

set ARCHOME=d:\arcinfo\arcexe70

This pathname must adhere to an 8.3 naming convention to ensure success in accessing your library. It should not contain spaces or periods.

An advantage to using the UNIX file-naming convention is that if your UNIX disks get re-mounted on different drives on your PC you won't have to reset ARCHOME.

 Windows 95 specific

Under Windows 95, the ARCHOME environment variable can be set in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file.

 Windows NT specific

Under Windows NT, the ARCHOME variable can be set via the System Dialog Box under Control Panel in the Main Program Group.

Setting ARCHOME in the startup file

Using an editor, open up the startup file, which can be found in the etc folder of ArcView’s installation directory. Add a line to the end of the file which uses the Avenue SetEnvVar request to set a system environment variable. Set the ARCHOME variable to the location of your UNIX ARC/INFO. For example:

System.SetEnvVar("ARCHOME","/woody3/arcinfo/arcexe70")

Setting ARCHOME in a script

Open a new script, then add this line to it (substituting the location of your copy of ARC/INFO). Then compile the script and run it to set ARCHOME.

System.SetEnvVar("ARCHOME","/buzz1/gis/arcinfo/arcexe70")

Setting up your PC network

The disk where ARC/INFO resides must be NFS-mounted on the PC. Also, any disks required by the library and its tiles must be NFS-mounted. For example, /disk1 is where your copy of ARC/INFO lives, and your library resides on /disk2. You must mount both /disk1 and /disk2 to access your library from the PC.

After ArcView knows where the library and its tiles are, it needs to know how to map UNIX pathnames to the corresponding PC drives. For example, you may have /disk1 mounted on your PC as D:\. ArcView must be able to map the UNIX pathname /disk1/data/lib/atlanta/tile1 to D:\DATA\LIB\ATLANTA\TILE1. A networking product is needed to provide ArcView with the information needed to map UNIX pathnames to the corresponding PC drives.

If your network solution is not listed below, you may need to create a file called DRIVEMAP.TXT. See Drive Mapping for more information.

 Networking Software

ArcView under Windows NT has been tested and is compatible with Chameleon NFS from NetManage, and SAMBA. Other NFS client software products may work as well.

Chameleon NFS and SAMBA under Windows NT allow access to non-8.3 data. Other NFS products may work as well.

See also

ARC/INFO coverages

Area Of Interest

Creating a stand alone ARC/INFO map library (Windows ArcView)


Accessing External Databases with SQL Connect

You can access data in external databases using ArcView’s SQL connection feature. This feature allows you to query a database using SQL and store the returned records in an ArcView table. The ArcView tables cannot be used to modify the database directly, but you can execute data manipulation and data definition SQL statements with SQL connect using Avenue.

ArcView uses ODBC to connect to external databases on PC platforms. See Setting up a database connection with ODBC for more information.

On UNIX platforms, ArcView uses ESRI's DATABASE INTEGRATOR. See Setting up a database connection with the DATABASE INTEGRATOR for more information.


Accessing HyperHelp's online help
Accessing HyperHelp's online help (UNIX only)

HyperHelp's online help provides a quick way to find information, including how to perform certain tasks.

To access HyperHelp's online help

1  Display an ArcView help topic.

2  Click on the Help button in the far right hand corner of the window, and choose How to Use Help. (Two windows appear on the screen--one called  'How to Use Help' and a second called 'How to Use HyperHelp'.)

3  From the How to Use HyperHelp Contents tab, open the How To book.

4  Display the help topic of your choice.

Note  To return to ArcView Help, exit from HyperHelp, then restart ArcView Help. (You can exit HyperHelp quickly from the 'How to Use Help' window. From the File menu, choose Exit.)


Accessing ESRI on the Internet

You can access announcements about new products and updates, answers to the most frequently asked questions, workarounds, and other technical reference materials via ESRI's Internet based services. While the Internet is not an official channel to ESRI's Technical Support Center, you can download technical information via FTP or exchange public messages with other users via the ARCVIEW-L discussion list or the ArcView Discussion Forum.

Internet services are available to you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. All you need is access to the Internet network.

ESRI's World Wide Web home page

For the latest news about ESRI's products and services, visit our World Wide Web home page at www.esri.com. Here you'll find information on ESRI software development, training and educational services, books and publications, User Conference information, ArcData Publishing Program and much more.

ArcView Discussion Forum

From ESRI's web page (www.esri.com) you can register to join, at no charge, an ArcView-centric discussion forum. Communicate with other ArcView users, share Avenue scripts, and learn more about ArcView from its user community.

ARCVIEW-L

Once you are connected to the Internet, you may subscribe to ARCVIEW-L. This discussion list provides a forum for you to communicate with other users about ArcView technical software issues. While not a link to our Technical Support team, it is a valuable source of information and is occasionally used by ESRI to make announcements to the ArcView user community.

ARCVIEW-L is a technical question/answer forum for ESRI clients to discuss issues relating to ArcView. The format of the list is question/summary. In order to keep the traffic at a reasonable level, please reply to the person posting the question who will summarize the answers and post them to the list.

To subscribe, send a message to "arcview-l-request@esri.com" with a subject line of "subscribe". If your reply address is not the one you want used, please specify on the subject line the address you wish to have subscribed (in other words, send "subscribe address").

To post to the list, send a message to "arcview-l@esri.com". If you have problems subscribing or unsubscribing, send a message to "arcview-l-human@esri.com".

FTP

To access technical materials via anonymous FTP, use the command FTP redlands.esri.com or FTP 198.102.62.1. Log in using anonymous FTP login.

login: anonymous

Passwd: your E-mail address

Technical Support files are located in the /pub/techsupport  directory. Index and help files are available within the directory structure.

While ESRI does not charge for these services, you may be billed by your online service provider for the use of their services.

While these online services are generally available worldwide, users outside of the United States should contact their International Distributor for information regarding the availability of these services in their country. You should also refer to Getting Product Support Worldwide.


Activating code page functionality

ArcView code page functionality, by default, is disabled.  To activate it, you will need to modify <arcview>/etc/startup;  the standard startup file executed by ArcView enables ArcView code page functionality by adding the following Avenue request to the end of the startup file:

av.SetCodepageConvert(true)

‘True’ means to enable code page functionality, ‘False’ to disable it.

ArcView’s default (or native) code page is pre-set to the current operating system’s code page.  ArcView’s native code page can be viewed in Drive Code Page Profile discussed in the next section.

Important:  The above Avenue request must be inserted to the end of <arcview>/etc/startup file.


Adding code page definition file

To add a code page definition file, create a <codepage>.nls file in <arcview>/codepage directory.  Code page definition file must adhere to the following rules:

 DOS (OEM) code page definition file name must begin with 'DOS'. (i.e. 'DOS437.nls').

 Windows (ANSI) code page definition file name must begin with 'WIN' (i.e. 'WIN1252.nls').

 Unix (ISO) code page definition file name must begin with '8859-' (i.e. '8859-1.nls').

 Mac code page definition file name must begin with 'MAC' (i.e. 'MAC10000.nls').

 Code page definition file must have '.nls' file suffix.

 Any line which starts with a single quotation mark (') is treated as a comment line; no processing will be done.  This is a good place to indicate the name of the code page being defined.

 <Unicode value>  <Code Point value>.  Unicode values allow us to map any one code page to another. The code point value is the index for a specific character within a code page.  In the example below, the code point value of 80 would be the character 'Ç'.  All values must be represented in hexadecimal.

The first few lines of a definition file 'DOS437.nls' looks like below:

‘DOS Code Page 437

 ‘Unicode 	Code Point

00c7	80

00fc	81

00e9	82

00e2	83

00e4	84

00e0	85

00e5	86

00e7	87

00ea	88

00eb	89

00e8	8a

00ef	8b

. . .

. . .

Since code point values from 1 to 127 in all code pages are identical, the ArcView code page conversion is triggered only when a character with code point value between 128 to 256 is encountered.  Hence, the initial entry in <codepage>.nls should be 128 (0x80).

Theoretically, you can add your own multi-byte code page definition file; however, it is not recommended.  ArcView uses built-in algorithms to convert between multi-byte code pages (i.e., between Shift-JIS and EUC).  This is necessary because each multi-byte code page can support up to fifteen thousand unique characters.


Adding external image formats to ArcView

You can now add any image format to ArcView at any time. An ImgDLL class has been added to ArcView that allows you to add any image format to ArcView. Through the use of defined exported entry points the ImgDLL class can communicate with an external image format DLL that you create to supply ArcView with the information about and data for your image format. An extension can be created that registers your external image format DLL to ArcView allowing any user to access your image format as an image theme. Once the external image format DLL is registered users interact with the image formats data sources like they would any other supported image data sources. The would create an image theme with the Add Theme dialog. The panning, zooming, and other operations behave just as they do for all image themes. Once you supply a user with your external image format DLL and extension any user can access your image format.

Each time an image theme created from anImgDLL is drawn, the external image format DLL is used to extract only the image data visible in the current display area. Through the defined exported entry points ArcView will pass a map extent, image width, and image height needed to display all or part of your image. The external image format DLL then needs to take this information and create a temporary BIL/BIP/BSQ image that ArcView then uses for display. Interactions with this temporary image are handled by ArcView and are transparent to the user. This allows you to access any part of your image format that is needed. If your image format contains multiple resolutions or a thumbnail, you can access the proper resolution needed for the passed map extent, image width, and height. This reduces resampling time causing the image to display faster. You have complete control on how you want to access your image format.

What do you want to know about adding an external image format?

Creating an extension to load the external image format

Needed exported entry points in the external image format DLL

Creating the temporary BIL/BIP/BSQ image file

Specification of BIL/BIP/BSQ image format


Albers Equal-Area map projection

The Albers Equal-Area Conic projection uses two standard parallels to reduce some of the distortion produced when only one standard parallel is used. Although neither shape nor linear scale are truly correct, the distortion of these properties is minimized in the region between the standard parallels. This projection is best suited for land masses that extend more in the east-to-west orientation than those lying north to south.

Method of projection    Conic. In this projection, the meridians are equally-spaced straight lines converging at a common point. Poles are represented as arcs rather than by single points. Parallels are unequally-spaced concentric circles, whose spacing decreases toward the poles.

Lines of secancy    Two lines, the standard parallels defined by degrees latitude.

Linear graticules    All meridians.

Properties

Shape    Shape along the standard parallels is accurate and minimally distorted in the region between the standard parallels and those regions just beyond. The 90-degree angles between meridians and parallels are preserved, but because the scale along the lines of longitude does not match the scale along lines of latitude, the final projection is not conformal.

Area    All areas are proportional to the same areas on the Earth.

Direction    Locally true along the standard parallels.

Distance    Projection distances are best in the middle latitudes. Along parallels, scale is reduced between the standard parallels and increased beyond them. Along meridians, scale follows an opposite pattern.

Limitations

Best results for regions predominantly east-west in extent and located in the middle latitudes. Total range in latitude from north to south should not exceed 30 - 35 degrees. No limitations on east to west range.

Uses and applications

 Used for small regions or countries, but not for continents.

 Conterminous United States, normally using 290 30' and 450 30' as the two standard parallels.  For this projection, the maximum scale distortion for the 48 states is 1.25 percent.

 Recommended choice of standard parallels can be calculated by determining the range in latitude from degrees north to south and dividing this range by six. Using the 'One-Sixth Rule' to determine standard parallels means that the 1st standard parallel is the southern boundary plus one-sixth the range and the 2nd standard parallel the northern limit minus one-sixth the range. There are also other possible approaches.


Annotation in ArcView

Annotation Characteristics

Annotation has many characteristics which are defined in ARC/INFO, such as size, symbol, offset, and text string. These characteristics are stored as part of the feature. ArcView honors these characteristics.

Map Units and Page Units

One characteristic of annotation is its size. In ARC/INFO, size may be set to map units or to page units. If you have ARC/INFO you can find out which type of units are being used, by listing the $SIZE pseudo item in ARCEDIT. If the $SIZE value is greater than 0, then the annotation is in map units. If the $SIZE value equals 0, then the annotation is in page units.

ArcView uses these ARC/INFO values. If the annotation is in map units its size cannot be changed in ArcView, however, the annotation will scale if you zoom in or out or resize the view. If the annotation is in page units, you can manipulate the size of the annotation in ArcView, however, the annotation will not scale if you zoom in and out or resize the view.

Other annotation characteristics which can be controlled by ArcView are font and color.

Types of annotation

There are two types of annotation and ArcView supports them both.

One type of annotation is stored in annotation subclasses and has a text attribute table (TAT). This type of annotation can be created with ARC/INFO version 6.0 and higher. For annotation coverages that already have an attribute table, ArcView builds a temporary attribute table in memory which contains the annotation's LEVEL and SYMBOL characteristics, as these characteristics don't normally appear on the TAT. This temporary table is joined to the original TAT.

The other type is annotation created by earlier versions of ARC/INFO and PC ARC/INFO, and do not have text attribute tables. Their attributes are stored in a TXT file. For this type of annotation, a temporary attribute table is built on-the-fly when you add it as a theme in ArcView. This attribute table may contain fields which store the annotation's LEVEL and SYMBOL characteristics (the Avenue programmer can control this - see the "Changes regarding annotation between ArcView GIS versions 2.x and 3.x" section below). This temporary table is stored in the temporary directory and is deleted when the project is closed. Any edits you make to this temporary table will be lost since ArcView deletes the table when you close the project.

Note	    TXT annotation is not supported as themes from ARC/INFO libraries. You will need to build an attribute table (TAT) for the layer first.

Each temporary table exists for the length of the ArcView session. They are recreated each time a project which contains annotation themes is opened.

You may use the LEVEL and SYMBOL fields when classifying in the Legend Editor or for setting a theme definition in the Theme Properties dialog to control what appears in the theme.

Arrows

Arrows are leader lines created in ARC/INFO which connect annotation to a feature. ArcView displays these arrows.

Converting Annotation to a shapefile

ArcView handles annotation as polygon shapes by looking at the control points which determine each string's bounding box. If you convert an annotation theme to a shapefile, the resulting shapefile contains polygons.

Changes regarding annotation between ArcView GIS versions 2.x and 3.x

By default, ArcView GIS version 3.x no longer appends the SYMBOL and LEVEL fields to the table of themes based on ARC/INFO annotation coverages. At ArcView 2.x, these fields were generated in a temporary file, then joined to the annotation theme’s attribute table on the fly when you added the theme.

If you prefer to have ArcView generate the SYMBOL and LEVEL fields for you, add this line to the end of the startup file in the installation etc directory. This request will cause ArcView to treat annotation themes as it did at ArcView 2.x.

FTab.SetAnnoAddFieldsPreference(TRUE)

If the annotation theme’s table already contains a SYMBOL and/or LEVEL field, ArcView will not append those fields, unless FTab.SetAnnoAddFieldsPreference is set to TRUE. (The SYMBOL and LEVEL fields can be permanently added to the attribute table of an annotation coverage using ARC/INFO’s ADDTEXT command.)

For annotation coverages which do not have attribute tables (for example, PC ARC/INFO coverages), ArcView will continue to generate and join the temporary SYMBOL and LEVEL fields automatically when the theme is added.

When you open or import an ArcView 2.x project which contains annotation themes in ArcView 3.x, the SYMBOL and LEVEL fields will be joined to the themes’ tables automatically.


ArcView Bug Report

Instructions and Description of Bug Report

Use a separate form for each individual bug or enhancement request.

To complete the bug report, type or write an answer on each line after the colon or question mark. Skip the lines with given default answers. Some lines require a specific answer from a list of choices or special instructions. Please read the following description for those lines in the report.

Category   Choose one of the following keywords only (please use lowercase letters):

3dext - The 3D Analyst extension.

appframework - Application Framework, including IAC, DocGUIs, general extension issues, the clipboard, and customization panel.

avenue - ArcView's programming language.

avlock - The File Lock manager.

businessext - The Business Analyst extension.

cadview - The CAD Reader extension.

charts - The Chart used for business-type graphics.

connectivity - ArcView on a network, connection between machines.

data - The data and projects (such as AVTUTOR) released with ArcView.

dataconversion - IMPORT, IMPORT71, and MIFSHAPE conversion utilities.

dbaccess - The Database Access extension for accessing SDE data.

dialogs - The Dialog Designer extension.

digitizing - Using a digitizing tablet with ArcView.

dyn-seg - Dynamic segmentation, as in finding events on route systems.

general - Interface and consistency, including specific hardware issues.

geocoding - Address matching and locating.

graphics - Shapes and text which can be added to a View or Layout.

helpsys - All online documentation, and the Help system itself.

imageext - The Image Analysis extension.

inetmap - The Internet Map Server extension.

installation - The installation scripts, guides, and release notes.

labeling - Labels on the view, created with the Label tool or Auto-label.

layouts - The Layout used for map compositions.

mil_dataext - The Military Data Reader extensions (ADRG, CADRG, CIB, and NITF image formats).

networkext - The Network Analyst extension.

printing - All output to printers and plotters.

projections - Map projections of views.

projects - The ArcView project used to organize the ArcView components such as views, tables, charts, layouts, and scripts.

reportwriter - The Report Writer extension.

sample_exts - The sample extensions provided with ArcView.

sample_scripts - The sample scripts provided with ArcView.

scripts - The Script Editor, for coding with Avenue.

shapeediting - Shapefile editing.

shapesZM - Problems you find which are unique to shapefiles using Z and M values.

spatialext - The Spatial Analyst extension.

sql - Connections to external databases, such as Oracle, Informix, and Sybase.

streetmap - The StreetMap and StreetMap 2000 extensions.

symbology - Symbols, fonts, palettes, and loading custom symbol sets.

tables - The Table used for tabular information.

thematicmap - Theme legends and thematic mapping.

themes - All data sources including ArcView shapefiles, feature and image sources (such as JPEG and IMAGINE).

tools - The tools and wizards provided with core ArcView, such as for Advanced Geoprocessing, TOC Defaults, and creating buffers.

trackingext - The Tracking Analyst extension.

views - The View, including theme on theme selection and spatial joins.

vpfview - The VPF Reader extension.

Short Description    A short headline to describe the problem in not more than 72 characters on a line.

Severity   Severity of the bug. Use whole number from 1 (most severe) to 5 (least severe) only.

Is this an enhancement   Y for YES or N for NO; uppercase letter only.

Is this a showstopper   Y for YES or N for NO; uppercase letter only.

Long Description    A description in detail to explain the problem such as how the bug was found or how to reproduce the problem. Enclose your script if the problem is related to the script.

To submit a bug report

Click once on Submit a bug or enhancement report.

~~ Cut the lines above and send the portion below to ESRI ~~

ArcView Bug Report

Submitter Information

Name:

Company:

Registration Number:

Phone Number:

Bug Information

Software: ARCVIEW

Version: 3.1

Phase: release

Hardware Platform(s):

Version of Operating System(s):

Category:

Short Description:

Severity:

Is this an enhancement?:

Is this a showstopper?:

Long Description:


ArcView documents code page support

Due to the different characteristics (i.e. file header, usage history, . . .) of the various ArcView supported documents, code page settings are determined by file type as follows:

 dBASE file.

When reading dBASE files, the code page of the file is determined according to the:

1. Language ID in the dBASE file header (29th byte), if present.

2. ArcView Drive Code Page Profile setting.

3. Operating system native code page.

When a new dBASE file is created,  the data will be written according to the:

1. ArcView Drive Code Page Profile setting, if present; No Language ID written to file header.

2. ANSI code page with dBASE's ANSI language ID (0x57) tagged to the file header.

 INFO file.

When reading and writing INFO files, the code page of the file is determined as follows:

1. ArcView Drive Code Page Profile setting, if present.

2. ISO code page (i.e. ISO8859-1. . .), based on operating system locale setting.

 Other file types. . .

When reading and writing of other files (i.e. .txt, .ave. . .) are set based on the:

1. ArcView Drive Code page Profile.

2. Operating system native code page.

You may check the code page of current document by choosing ‘Code Page...’ from the <document> menu.  For example, to find out the code page of an active table, Choose ‘Code Page...’ from Table menu; to find out the code page of active script, choose ‘Code Page...’ item from Script menu, and so on.

For more information, see RPC code page support.


ArcView Palette files

In addition to the default ArcView palette file, default.avp, ArcView comes with many useful palettes that you can use with specific applications. You can load these palettes from the Palette Manager. The palettes are located in the symbols installation directory. These palette files are:

amfm.avp

Marker palette - 24 markers. Contains symbols typically used in AM/FM applications.

arrows.avp

Marker palette - 25 markers. Contains arrows of various styles that can be used to indicate direction.  The symbols that are green with a black outline are special in that you can change the foreground color, but not the outline color.

c256.avp

Color palette - 166 colors.  These colors are derived from ArcView’s core algorithm for deciding which colors are available in Microsoft Windows while using a 256 color display device driver.

carto.avp

Fill palette and Pen palette- 48 vector fill patterns. They are based on the patterns in the ARC/INFO shadeset carto.shd.  There are also 28 pen symbols representing the different types of vector pen symbols available in ArcView.

colornam.avp

Color palette - 112 colors including white, black, and transparent. These colors were derived from the ARC/INFO shadeset colorname.shd.

colormrk.avp

Marker palette - 50 markers. These symbols are all special in that you can change the foreground color, but not the outline color.

crime.avp

Marker palette - 63 markers. These symbols are designed to be used in crime mapping applications, and represent all major types of crimes as defined by the U.S. Department of Justice.

envtl.avp

Marker palette - 58 markers.  These symbols are typically used in oil spill applications or other hazardous materials accidents that affect the surrounding wildlife. These symbols are based on an international standard which additionally requires that you supply a species number in some cases.

forestry.avp

Marker and Pen palette - These symbols represent the different types of features that are mapped on forest fire fighting maps currently used by the U.S. Forest Service. There are 21 marker symbols and 10 line symbols.

geology.avp

Marker  and Pen palette - These symbols represent the major and minor types of geologic features as defined by the U.S.G.S. Open File Report 95-525. There are 108 marker symbols representing minor geologic features and 168 line symbols representing major geologic features.

hatch.avp

Fill palette - 60 vector fills. These fill symbols represent six different hatch patterns with ten evenly progressing densities. As opposed to the fill symbols in carto.avp, these symbols designed to aid in mapping quantitative data rather than qualitative data.

hardware.avp

Color palette - 17 basic colors with high contrast between the colors. This is based on the ARC/INFO shadeset color.shd. White, black, and transparent are also included.

hazmat.avp

Marker palette - 19 markers. These are the federal hazardous materials warning labels for the United States.

icons.avp

Marker palette - 54 markers. Contains a wide variety of markers, some are based on the ARC/INFO markersets plotter.mrk and template.mrk. Others are based on commonly used social, economic, military, and political icons.

mineral.avp

Marker palette - 41 markers. Contains markers associated with mining and resource extraction activities and applications, includes many USGS symbols.

municipl.avp

Marker palette - 88 markers. Contains markers associated with municipal activities and applications, including many USGS symbols and common urban signs. The symbols that are blue with a white background are special in that you can change the foreground color, but not the background color.

north.avp

Marker palette - 11 markers. Contains an assortment of north arrows.

oilgas.avp

Marker palette - 90 markers. Contains markers associated with oil and gas industry activities and applications. Includes all USGS symbols for oil and gas mapping

rainbow.avp

Color palette - 259 colors based on a color ramp from red to violet; white, black, and transparent are also included. Some colors may appear indistinguishable from others on some monitors.

raster.avp

Fill palette and Marker palette - 33 fill patterns.  The fill patterns are used in the Legend Editor for Unique Value legends in the random symbols button.  135 marker symbols.  These are some of the common marker symbols used in previous versions of ArcView.  All of these marker symbols have TrueType counterparts in ArcView 3.0.

realty.avp

Marker palette - 43 markers.  Contains symbols commonly used by real estate professionals.

rgbtxt.avp

Color palette - 626 colors based on an encyclopedic color list available in X (rgb.txt). Some colors may appear indistinguishable from others on some monitors.

safety.avp

Color palette - 216 colors. These color represent the colors that most web browser software packages will not dither. By using these colors when making maps that you export to GIF, you will see that your web browser does not dither these colors when the image is viewed as part of an HTML file.

transp.avp

Marker and Pen palette - 89 markers containing common highway and street signs and 34 highway, railroad, and dashed road symbols.

usgs.avp

Marker palette - 43 markers. Contains markers used in U.S. Geological Survey topographic maps.

water.avp

Marker palette - 50 markers. Contains markers associated with water resource management activities and applications, including many USGS hydrology symbols.

weather.avp

Marker and Pen palette - 185 markers containing both USGS weather station symbols and common wind rose symbology for meteorological applications.  The 16 pen symbols represent warm, cold, occluded, and stationary weather fronts in two different styles and directions.


ArcView shapefiles

ArcView shapefiles are a simple, non-topological format for storing the geometric location and attribute information of geographic features. A shapefile is one of the spatial data formats that you can work with in ArcView.

The shapefile format defines the geometry and attributes of geographically-referenced features in as many as five files with specific file extensions that should be stored in the same project workspace. They are:

.shp - the file that stores the feature geometry.

.shx - the file that stores the index of the feature geometry.

.dbf - the dBASE file that stores the attribute information of features. When a shapefile is added as a theme to a view, this file is displayed as a feature table.

.sbn and .sbx - the files that store the spatial index of the features. These two files may not exist until you perform theme on theme selection, spatial join, or create an index on a theme's Shape field. If you have write access to the source data directory, the index files will be persistent and remain after your ArcView session is complete. If you do not have write access to the source data directory, they will be removed when you close the project or exit ArcView.

.ain and .aih - the files that store the attribute index of the active fields in a table or a theme's attribute table. These two files may not exist until you perform Link on the tables. If you have write access to the source data directory, the index files will be persistent and remain after your ArcView session is complete. If you do not have write access to the source data directory, they will be removed when you close the project or exit ArcView. See Indexing a table.

Why use ArcView shapefiles?

 Shapefile features display more rapidly on a view.

 You can work with a theme based on a shapefile format the same as any other feature data sources that ArcView supports, such as setting the theme's properties and performing spatial analysis.

 You can edit the features of themes based on shapefiles only.

 You can create a new theme that's based on the shapefile format.

 You can create shapefiles by converting other geo-referenced data formats such as ARC/INFO coverages and popular desktop mapping data formats. (In ARC/INFO, use the command ARCSHAPE to convert coverages into shapefiles; use SHAPEARC to convert shapefiles into coverages. See the appropriate ARC/INFO documentation for more information.)

See also

Overview of data you can use in ArcView.

Editing features of a theme based on a shapefile

Creating a new theme in a view

Converting a theme based on other data sources to a shapefile


ArcView standard code page definition files

ISO 8859-1	Latin-1 (Western European - Danish, Dutch, English, Faeroes, Finnish, French, German, Icelandic, Irish, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish)
ISO 8859-2	Latin-2 (Eastern European - Albanian, Czech, English, German, Hungarian, Polish, Rumanian, Serbo-Croatian, Slovak, Slovene)
ISO 8859-3	Latin-3 (Southeastern European - Afrikaans, Catalan, Dutch, English, Esperanto, German, Italian, Maltese, Spanish, Turkish)
ISO 8859-5	English & Cyrillic-Based - Bulgarian, Byelorussian, English, Macedonian, Russian, Serbo-Croatian, Ukrainian
ISO 8859-7	English & Greek
ISO 8859-9	Latin-5 (Western European & Turkish)
MS-DOS 437	MS-DOS Latin US
MS-DOS 737	MS-DOS Greek
MS-DOS 850	MS-DOS Latin 1
MS-DOS 852	MS-DOS Latin 2
MS-DOS 855	MS-DOS Cyrillic
MS-DOS 857	MS-DOS Turkish
MS-DOS 863	MS-DOS French Canada
MS-DOS 865	MS-DOS Nordic
MS-DOS 866	MS-DOS Cyrillic CIS 1
Windows 1250	Windows Latin 2 (Central Europe)
Windows 1251	Windows Cyrillic (Slavic)
Windows 1252	Windows Latin 1 (ANSI)
Windows 1253	Windows Greek
Windows 1254	Windows Latin 5 (Turkish)
Windows 1255	Windows Hebrew
Shift-Jis	Japanese PC
EUC (Japanese)	Japanese workstation
EUC (Traditional Chinese)	Traditional Chinese workstation
BIG5	Traditional Chinese PC


ArcView's user interface

In ArcView you work with views, tables, layouts, charts and scripts stored in one file called a project. You work with one project at a time in ArcView. Projects enable you to keep all the components together that you need for a specific task or application.

The Project window

When you create a new project or open an existing one, a Project window will appear in the ArcView window. This lists all the components of the project and enables you to manage them.  Double-click a component's name to open it. The title bar of the Project window shows you the name of the project. See Project window.

View, table, chart, layout, and script windows

When you open one of the components of a project, it is displayed inside its own window. You can have any number of windows open in ArcView, but at any time there is only one active window. The active window is the window you are currently working with.

All the windows that are currently open inside the ArcView window are listed at the bottom of the Window menu in the ArcView menu bar. The first window in this list is the Project window.

To make a window active, simply click inside it or on its title bar, or choose it from the list in the Window pulldown menu at the top of the ArcView window. When you open a window it automatically becomes active. If part of a window is hidden by others, making it active will bring it to the top.

When you perform an action in ArcView, it usually applies to the active window. ArcView's user interface changes according to what is in the active window. So for example, when the Project window is active, you will see the buttons, tools and menus for working with projects.

Menu bar

This bar along the top of the ArcView window contains ArcView's pulldown menus. To choose a menu choice from a pulldown menu, you can use the mouse or a keyboard shortcut. Some keyboard shortcuts are listed in the menus. Others depend on the graphical user interface (GUI) system you are working with. The contents of the menu bar change according to what is in the active window.

Button bar

This bar located beneath the Menu bar in the ArcView window contains buttons giving you quick access to various controls. Click on a button to choose it. The contents of the button bar change according to what is in the active window.

Tool bar

This bar located beneath the Button bar in the ArcView window contains various tools you can work with. If you are working on the Project window or on a script, there is no tool bar. You click on a tool to choose it. This will change the cursor to reflect the tool you have chosen. The tool remains selected until you choose another one. The contents of the tool bar change according to what is in the active window.

The Table of Contents

Each view has a Table of Contents that lists the themes in the view and shows what symbols and colors they are drawn with. You also use the Table of Contents to control how the view is drawn. See Table of Contents.


ARC/INFO coverages

ARC/INFO coverages are a topological data structure for geographic features. The coverage format is suitable for spatial analysis and large geographic data management applications. Defining spatial features topologically in a coverage can optimize data storage by reducing coordinate redundancy, and facilitate a number of key spatial operations such as polygon overlay, pathfinding through connectivity of arcs and contiguity analysis that can be performed in ARC/INFO.

ARC/INFO coverage format is one of the most popular and widely available spatial data formats found in digital mapping and GIS applications.

ARC/INFO coverage feature classes

In ARC/INFO coverages, features are stored as vector data and their attributes are stored in tables known as attribute tables. Each class of features stored in a coverage has its own attribute table. Attribute tables contain one record for each feature of that class in the coverage.

 Points

Points represent features found at discrete locations, such as telephone poles, wells and mountain peaks.

 Arcs

Arcs represent linear features such as streams, streets and contours.

 Polygons

Polygons represent areas enclosed by specific boundaries, such as countries, states, land parcels and soil types. The boundaries of polygons in a coverage can be displayed irrespective of whether the coverage contains arc features.

 Label points

Label points are points inside polygons that have the same attributes as the polygons. One way to use label points is to symbolize polygons using different point symbols according to their attributes.

 Nodes

Nodes are the endpoints of the arcs making up arc features and polygon features. A node occurs at the point where two or more arcs meet and at each end of a dangling (unconnected) arc.

 Routes

Routes are linear features composed of one or more arcs or parts of an arc. For example, a highway may be composed of a number of connected arcs. Sets of routes with similar attributes are stored as a subclass. A coverage can therefore contain several different route systems. For example, a street coverage may contain bus routes and delivery routes.

 Regions

Regions are polygon features composed of one or more polygons. For example, when the state of Hawaii is stored as a region you can work with it as a single feature even though it is made up of several polygons. The polygons in a region may overlap. A coverage can contain several different subclasses of regions.

 Annotation

Annotation is text stored in a coverage to label the features it contains. Annotation stores text strings, text characteristics and shape points used to position each text string.

Using ARC/INFO coverages in ArcView

An ARC/INFO coverage can contain one or more classes of features. For example, a coverage containing polygon features will also contain label points. In addition, a coverage containing polygons such as land parcels may also contain arc features recording information about the boundaries between the parcels.

In ArcView each theme in a view can represent data from one feature class. When you add an ARC/INFO coverage to a view you can choose which feature class in the coverage you wish to use.

ARC/INFO coverage data management systems

Some coverages are organized into libraries to facilitate the management of large spatial databases. These libraries are stored either in ARC/INFO LIBRARIAN format or in ArcStorm database format. ArcStorm (Arc Storage Manager) is ARC/INFO's spatial database manager.

In these libraries, coverage data is stored as different layers. Each layer is divided into different spatial tiles. In ArcView you work with the layers in a library in the same way as you use a coverage that is not in a library. However, you can't specify specific spatial tiles in a layer. When you use a library layer in ArcView, by default its center tile is set to the Area of Interest; however, all tiles can be accessed.

For more information, see Accessing ARC/INFO libraries.


ARC/INFO GRID data

The GRID format is a proprietary ESRI format that supports 32-bit integer and 32-bit floating-point raster grids.

Grids are especially suited to representing geographic phenomena that vary continuously over space, and for performing spatial modeling and analysis of flows, trends, and surfaces such as hydrology.

With ArcView's Spatial Analyst Extension you can convert themes based on vector features to grids. You can also derive grids from various spatial analysis operations. Grids can be added to views as grid themes. You can classify the grid cells in various ways and choose different colors for each class.

Alternatively, if you don't use the Spatial Analyst extension, you can add a grid to a view as a single band image. (ArcView does not require grids to use a specific file extension as it does for other image files.) The default colormap for a grid is initialized from a colormap if one is found on disk. Given a grid named soils, ArcView looks for a colormap file named soils.clr. The colormap file can be created by ARC/INFO's IMAGEGRID command or a text editor. The colormap file is an ASCII file that has lines of 4 numbers separated by spaces. Each line defines a color for a certain value in the grid. The first number on a line is the value, the second is the amount of red, the third is the amount of green, and the last is the amount of blue. The combination of the amounts of red, green, and blue define the color to be used for that value in the grid. Below you will find an example of a colormap file.

0 255 255 255

1 255 0 0

2 0 255 0

3 0 0 255

4 255 255 0

5 255 0 255

6 0 255 255

If no colormap file is present, ArcView assigns the default nominal colormap for integer grids and the default gray scale colormap for floating point grids.


AVBIN

AVBIN is an environment variable set in ArcView's startup script that references the binary directory in ArcView's installation directory. For UNIX, AVBIN simply references $AVHOME/bin. When you run ArcView in a 32 bit Windows environment (Windows NT or Windows 95), AVBIN references $AVHOME/bin32.


AVEXT

AVEXT is an environment variable set in ArcView's startup script that references the default ArcView extension directory. This directory contains the extension files (.avx) for ESRI's extension products - Spatial Analyst, Network Analyst, DBThemes, etc.. The extension files in the directories referenced by AVEXT and USEREXT appear in the extension dialog.  If you want other extensions to appear in the extension dialog, you must move extension files to these directories or change the value of these environment variables with the system request SetEnvVar. For example, if you want to examine the extensions available in the samples directory through the extensions dialog, you might change USEREXT to $AVHOME/samples/ext with the following code.

system.SetEnvVar( "USEREXT", "$AVHOME/samples/ext".AsFileName.GetFullName)

For UNIX, AVEXT references the directory $AVHOME/ext. For Windows, when you use a 32 bit operating system (e.g. Windows NT or Windows 95), AVEXT references the directory $AVHOME/ext32.


AVHOME

AVHOME is ArcView's installation directory. The environment variable AVHOME is set by ArcView and is available for you to use in scripts within the ArcView application.


Before Calling for Technical Support

Before you call ESRI for technical support, you should be at your computer with ArcView running and prepared to give the following information:

 The version of ArcView you are using

 To find the current version number, choose About ArcView from the Help menu.

 Your registration and product identification numbers

To find your registration number, choose About ArcView from the Help menu. Your product identification number (Product ID, or PIN) is assigned to you when you register your product.

 The type of hardware you are using, including network hardware

 The operating system you are using

 The exact wording of any messages that appeared on your screen

 What happened and what you were doing when the problem occurred

 How you tried to solve the problem


Behrmann map projection

The Behrmann projection is a special case of the Equal-Area Cylindrical projection in which the standard parallel is 30 degrees.

See also

Equal-Area Cylindrical map projection


BMP

BMP files are Windows bitmap images. They are usually used to store pictures or clip art, that can be moved between different applications on Windows platforms. The following types of BMP files can be displayed:

 BMP files storing data using either 1, 4, 8, or 24 bits per pixel

By default, ArcView looks for BMP images when they have these file extensions:

 .bmp

To modify the extensions list, use the ISrc.SetExtensions request.

Compressed BMP files are not supported.

OS/2 bitmap images are also considered BMP files. This type of BMP file is not supported.


Brunei

The national coordinate system of Brunei makes use of the Rectified Skew Orthomorphic map projection with parameters appropriate to the locale.


BSQ, BIL, and BIP

In addition to proprietary image formats, ArcView also provides a method for reading in and displaying uncompressed, band interleaved by line, band interleaved by pixel, and band sequential image data. By creating an ASCII description file that describes the layout of the image data, black-and-white, grayscale, pseudocolor and multiband image data can be displayed without translation into a proprietary format. The ASCII description files support the following formats:

 Single-band images

 Band sequential (BSQ) multiband images

 Band interleaved by line (BIL) multiband images

 Band interleaved by pixel (BIP) multiband images

SPOT Image Corporation distributes BIL files along with the required ASCII description files for display in ArcView.

By default, ArcView looks for BSQ, BIL, and BIP images when they have these file extensions, respectively:

 .bsq

 .bil

 .bip

To modify the extensions list, use the ISrc.SetExtensions request.

To obtain image data, contact:

SPOT Image Corporation

1897 Preston White Drive

Reston, Virginia 22091

 (703) 620-2200


Calling ESRI Technical Support in the United States

Using ESRI's Complimentary Support Service

Users in the United States who have registered their software are eligible to receive complementary support directly from ESRI’s Technical Support Center for a period of 60 days. If you have not registered your software, you may do so by completing and mailing the ESRI Registration Card that came in the box or by calling ESRI at (800) 447-9778. In either case, the complementary support period begins with your first call for technical support.

To contact ESRI's Technical Support Center:

Phone:	(909) 793-3774

Fax:	(909) 792-0960

E-mail:	support@esri.com

Hours:	6:00am to 6:00pm Pacific Time, Monday through Friday, except ESRI holidays.

Pay-as-you-go Support

Users in the United States may purchase technical support by simply calling ESRI’s Technical Support Center and charging the service to a VISA, MasterCard, or American Express credit card. You will be charged $25 per incident.

ASAP Support for Single Users

Single-User ASAP Support Services in the United States receive:

 Unlimited access to ESRI's Technical Support Center for one year

 Discount pricing on software upgrades for one year

 Complimentary one year subscription to Desktop Notes bi-monthly newsletter

To subscribe to ASAP Support Service, contact ESRI’s Desktop Order Center:

Phone:  (800) 447-9778

Fax:  (909) 307-3039

E-mail:  info@esri.com

Hours:  7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time, Monday through Friday, except ESRI holidays

ESRI technical support services are subject to prices, terms, and conditions in place at the time the service is used.


Cassini Soldner map projection

This transverse cylindrical projection, maintains scale along the central meridian and all lines parallel to it, and is neither equal-area nor conformal. It is most suited for large scale mapping of areas with predominantly north-south in extent.

Method of projection   A transverse cylinder is projected onto the globe conceptually, and is tangent along the central meridian. Cassini is analogous to the Equirectangular projection in the same way that the Transverse Mercator is to the Mercator projection. This projection may also be referred to as the Cassini Soldner, since ArcView actually uses the formulae based on the more accurate ellipsoidal version developed in the 19th Century.

Point of tangency    Conceptually a line, specified as the central meridian.

Linear graticules    The Equator, central meridian, and each meridian 90 degrees from the central meridian.

Properties

Shape    No distortion along the central meridian. Distortion increases with distance from the central meridian.

Area    No distortion along the central meridian. Distortion increases with distance from the central meridian.

Direction    Generally distorted.

Distance    Scale distortion increases with distance from the central meridian; however, scale is accurate along the central meridian and all lines perpendicular to the central meridian.

Limitations

Should be used primarily for large scale mapping of areas near the central meridian. Transverse Mercator often preferred because of difficulty measuring scale and direction on Cassini. Since the scale is constant along any straight line on the map that is parallel to the central meridian, the projection is more suitable for regions that are north-south in extent than for regions extending in other directions.

The projection is neither equal-area nor conformal, but is a compromise of both features.

Uses and applications

Formerly used by the Ordnance Survey in Great Britain. Still used in Cyprus, Denmark, Germany, Malaysia, and former Czechoslovakia.


Choosing a font

First of all, what is a font? A font is the combination of typeface (Times, Courier, Helvetica, etc.) size (usually in points, e.g., 10 pt), and style (bold, italic, etc.). It is important to choose a font that is appropriate for what you are labeling, or in the case of marker symbols, appropriate for what you're representing. For labeling, the two most important considerations are readability and whether you have already used that font to label another type of feature. In general, the most important features should receive the most readable labels. Use serif typefaces and upper-case letters for more readable labels because sans-serif typefaces or lower-case letters aren't as legible. It is generally not good to use the same font to label different kinds of features; use the following as a guideline:

Water features - Italicized labels, often blue in color, and use large labels for the largest features.

Capitals (State or National) - Uppercase, sometimes bold-faced.

Streets - If you are labeling most or all streets in a map, use a normal style sans-serif typeface. If you're labeling just a few major streets, use a normal serif font.

Areas  - If the area you are labeling is large, consider using a wide or a double-wide font. You can also achieve this effect by inserting one or two spaces between each character of your label.

Points  - If the points you are labeling are tightly clustered, consider using a narrow font, such fonts are usually labeled as such, e.g., Arial Narrow.

Another consideration is whether to mix typefaces. Many cartographers advise against the practice of mixing typefaces. This is mainly because maps that employ more than one typeface can be confusing to the reader. However, in cases where the case of large maps where there is a large amount of information and many types of information it is certainly acceptable to mix typefaces.


 Common map scales with equivalents in feet and miles

Map scale	One inch on the map represents	One mile on the Earth is represented on the map by
1:1,000	83.42 feet	63.36 inches
1:1,200	100	52.80
1:2,000	186.24	31.68
1:2,400	200	26.40
1:2,500	208.56	25.30
1:4,800	400	13.20
1:5,000	417.12	12.67
1:6,000	500	10.56
1:9,000	750	7.04
1:9,600	800	6.60
1:10,000	834.24	6.34
1:12,000	1000	5.28
1:15,840	1320	4
1:20,000	1668.48	3.17
1:24,000	2000	2.64
1:25,000	2085.60	2.53
1:31,680	0.500 miles	2
1:50,000	0.789	1.27
1:62,500	0.986	1.014
1:63,360	1	1
1:80,000	1.26	0.792
1:100,000	1.58	0.634
1:125,000	1.97	0.507
1:126,720	2	0.5
1:250,000	3.95	0.253
1:500,000	7.89	0.127
1:1,000,000	15.78	0.063
1:2.000,000	31.56	0.032
1:3,000,000	47.35	0.021
1:5,000,000	78.91	0.013
1:10,000,000	157.82	0.006
1:25,000,000	394.57	0.002

Examples

USGS 7.5 quad sheet1:24,000

British Ordnance Survey 'Pathfinder' 1:25,000

USGS 15 min quad sheet  1:62,500

British Ordnance Survey 'Landranger' 1:50,000

USGS 30 x 60 minute quad sheet 1:100,000

See also

Common map scales with equivalents in meters and kilometers


Common map scales with equivalents in meters and kilometers

Map scale	One cm on the map represents	One km on the Earth is represented on the map by
1:1,000	10 meters	100 cm
1:1,200	12	83.33
1:2,000	20	50
1:2,400	24	41.66
1:2,500	25	40
1:4,800	48	20.83
1:5,000	50	20
1:6,000	60	16.66
1:9,000	90	11.11
1:9,600	96	10.42
1:10,000	100	10
1:12,000	120	8.33
1:15,840	150	6.32
1:20,000	200	5
1:24,000	240	4.17
1:25,000	250	4
1:31,680	317	3.16
1:50,000	500	2
1:62,500	625	1.60
1:63,360	634	1.58
1:80,000	800	1.25
1:100,000	1000	1
1:125,000	1250	0.80
1:126,720	1267	0.79
1:250,000	2500	0.40
1:500,000	5000	0.20
1:1,000,000	10 km	0.10
1:2.000,000	20	0.05
1:3,000,000	20	0.03
1:5,000,000	50	0.02
1:10,000,000	100	0.01
1:25,000,000	250	0.004

Examples

USGS 7.5 quad sheet1:24,000

British Ordnance Survey 'Pathfinder' 1:25,000

USGS 15 min quad sheet  1:62,500

British Ordnance Survey 'Landranger' 1:50,000

USGS 30 x 60 minute quad sheet 1:100,000

See also

Common map scales with equivalents in feet and miles


Configuring HyperHelp to print help topics to a file
Configuring HyperHelp to print help topics to a file (UNIX only)

You can configure HyperHelp to print to a file instead of a printer using HyperHelp's printer setup dialogs. Depending on your set up, you can create a generic EPS or PCL print file that does not take advantage of any special characteristics of your printer, or generate PostScript or PCL output that is specific to the printer. Step-by-step instructions are presented below for configuring HyperHelp to do either.

To print to a 'generic' EPS or PCL file

1  Start ArcView and display a help topic.

2  From the File menu, choose Printer Setup.

3  Set Output Format to Generic (File Only).

4  If you don't have write access to your $AVHOME/help directory, enter a path and filename in the File Name field (e.g., $HOME/helptopic).

5  Click Apply (to make your changes take effect and dismiss the dialog).

6  From the File menu, choose Print. When the Print dialog appears, the highlighted topic is the one currently selected for printing. You can highlight a different topic, or hold down the Shift or Control key (and click) to select additional topics.

7  Click OK to print to a file. (Use the 'lp' or 'lpr' command from your system's command line to print out the file whenever you're ready.)

To print to a Postscript or PCL print file that is specific to your printer

1  Start ArcView and display a help topic, preferably the one you want to print.

2  From the File menu, choose Printer Setup.

3  Set Output Format to Printer Specific.

4  If the Printer field does not contain your printer with a port specified as FILE: (e.g., HP Laser Jet IV PCL Cartridge on FILE), install your printer.

5  In the Printer Setup dialog, click Install.

6  In the Printer Installation dialog, click Add Printer.

7  In the Add Printer dialog, highlight the description in the Printer Devices list box that best matches your printer. (If your printer is not in the list box, contact your printer vendor for a printer description (PPD) file.)

8  In the Current Port Definitions list box, highlight FILE:=. (Specifying the port as FILE: allows HyperHelp to create a print file instead of sending output to a printer.)

9  Click Add Selected, then Dismiss.

10  The Printer Installation dialog now lists the printer and port you installed. Click Dismiss.

11  Make the printer you installed the default printer. In the Printer Setup dialog, click Options.

12  In the Options dialog, display the Printer Name drop-down list (click arrowhead opposite the field) and choose your particular printer, with port specified as FILE:.

13  Set any other options using the drop-down lists and click OK.

14  In the Printer Setup dialog, check that your default printer appears in the Printer Field.

15  Set any other options, as appropriate.

16  To save your settings as defaults, click Save.

17  To apply your changes and dismiss the dialog, click Apply.

18  From the File menu, choose Print. When the Print dialog appears, the highlighted topic is the one currently selected for printing. You can highlight a different topic, or hold down the Shift or Control key (and click) to select additional topics. Click OK.

19  When the Print To File menu appears, specify where the file should be printed.

20  Click OK to print to the file. (Use the 'lp' or 'lpr' command from your system's command line to print out the file whenever you're ready.)


Configuring HyperHelp to print help topics to a printer
Configuring HyperHelp to print help topics to a printer (UNIX only)

If you can not print a help topic to your local printer using the Print option on HyperHelp's File menu, most likely you need to configure HyperHelp to recognize the printer you want to use. The process involves a series of steps, all of which can be performed using HyperHelp's printer setup dialogs. Follow the step-by-step instructions below to configure HyperHelp for printing. (For more information, access HyperHelp's online help.)

To begin the configuring process

1  Start ArcView and display a help topic, preferably the one you want to print.

2  From the File menu, choose Printer Setup.

3  Set Output Format to Printer Specific.

4  If your printer isn't displayed in the Printer field, click Options and look for it in the Printer Name drop-down list. If it's listed, select it, click OK, and skip to step 15. If your printer isn't listed, click Cancel, and install it.

To install a printer

5  In the Printer Setup dialog, click Install.

6  In the Printer Installation dialog, click Add Printer.

7  In the Add Printer dialog, highlight the description in the Printer Devices list box that best matches your printer. (If your printer is not in the list box, contact your printer vendor for a printer description (PPD) file.)

8  Highlight a printer port in the Current Port Definitions list box.

9  If your printer port is not listed, click Define New Port. In the Ports dialog, define a new port, modify an existing one, or remove one you don't want. (The Spooler option automatically creates ports for each available printer queue returned by the lpstat -a command [may not be supported on all platforms]). Click Add-Replace, then Dismiss.

10  In the Add Printer dialog, make sure your printer and port are both highlighted. Click Add Selected, then Dismiss.

11  The Printer Installation dialog now lists the printer/port you added. Click Dismiss.

To specify a default printer and set other options

12  In the Printer Setup dialog, click Options.

13  In the Options dialog, display the Printer Name drop-down list (click arrowhead opposite the field) and choose a printer.

14  Set any other options using the drop-down lists and click OK.

15  In the Printer Setup dialog, check that your default printer appears in the Printer Field.

16  Set any other options, as appropriate.

17  To save your settings as defaults, click Save.

18  To apply your changes and dismiss the dialog, click Apply.

To print a help topic to your printer

19  From the File menu, select Print.

20  When the Print dialog appears, the highlighted topic is the one currently selected for printing. You can highlight a different topic, or hold down the Shift or Control key (and click) to select additional topics.

21  Click OK to print.

Notes   To print a single topic quickly, place the cursor in a help topic's window, right-click the mouse to display a popup menu, and choose Print Topic.


Printer ports

A printer port is an alias for the print command, and appears as part of the Printer Name in the Printer Setup dialog. Port definitions have the following format:

<port>=<print_command>

where <port> can be any name you choose except FILE:, a reserved port name for sending output to a file. (Using the printer queue name as the <port> name is a good idea.) The <print_command> is the command for sending output to the printer port.

Examples of port definitions are

hplj3=lp -d hplj3

LOCAL=lp -d ps

Terappin=lpr


Printer description (PPD) files
PPD files

The HyperHelp install includes PPD files for the most commonly used printers. These files are stored in $AVHOME/hyperhelp/xprinter/ppds. The filename_map.txt file in this directory identifies PPD files associated with certain printers, in columns one and two respectively. If none of the entries in the file match your printer, obtain a PPD file from your printer vendor and copy it with a ".ps" extension to the aforementioned directory.


Creating a custom default.prj file

ArcView’s default projection specifications are stored in a file called default.prj, which can be found in the etc folder in ArcView’s installation directory. You can create your own file that contains a set of default projection specifications that you use most often or for which you have established custom parameters. Your file will appear as one of the categories in the Projection Properties dialog box.

To create a default projection specification file (default.prj)

1	Write a script which creates a coordinate system (which contains your customized projection) and writes the results to an ODB file. See an example script at CoordSys.

2	Rename the output ODB file to default.prj and copy it to your HOME directory.

3	Start ArcView if you haven’t already.

4	Open an existing project or open a new view.

5	From the View menu choose Properties. The View Properties dialog displays.

6	Press the Projection button. Note the status bar at this point: the system default.prj file is read first, then your customized default.prj is read. The Projection Properties dialog appears.

7	Choose your coordinate system from the Category list. Your projections appear in the Type list.

Notes

 The best way to customize default.prj is by using the steps above. Using a system editor to modify the default.prj may have undesirable effects and is not recommended.

 It is recommended that you keep your custom default.prj in your HOME directory. This way other users can still use the default projections if they wish. However, you may swap your default.prj with the system default.prj if you never have need of the default projections. But make a backup copy of the system version first!

Description of the default.prj file contents

Each line in default.prj describes a parameter of a projection. Not all parameters are needed for all projections. Here is a description of some of the projections in the system default.prj.

The second line of default.prj indicates that all of these projections are collected into a single CooSys (Coordinate System):

(CooSys.1

Name:	"Projections of the World"

Default:	110

Projections:	113

Projections:	105

Projections:	104

Projections:	110

Projections:	111

Projections:	102

Projections:	103

Projections:	112

Projections:	106

Projections:	109

Projections:	101

Projections:	107

Projections:	108

)

Note that Projection object number 105 above points to this Eqarcyl (Equal-Area Cylindrical) object:

(Eqarcyl.105

Description:	"Projections of the World ; Behrmann"

Ellipsoid:	1000

Lambda0:	0.0

PhiS:	0.52359877559830

)

And note that this Eqarcyl object points to Ellipsoid object number 1000. Looking at the end of default.prj, you'll see the list of ellipsoids (spheroids) supported by ArcView. Note that Elpsoid object 1000 indicates that the above projection uses the Sphere spheroid.

(Elpsoid.1000

Name:	"Sphere"

Radius:	6370997.0

Eccentricity:	0.0

Type:	10

Units:	0x07

)

But there's more to the Eqarcyl description:

(Eqarcyl.105

Description:	"Projections of the World ; Behrmann"

Ellipsoid:	1000

Lambda0:	0.0

PhiS:	0.52359877559830

)

Lambda0 indicates the reference longitude. PhiS indicates the Standard Parallel.

If you open Projection Properties and set the Category to Projections of the World, and the Type to Equal-Area Cylindrical, you can see these settings on the interface.

Other examples from default.prj

(Trnmerc.539

Description:	"State Plane - 1927 ; Missouri, Central"

Ellipsoid:	1001

FalseEasting:	152400.30480060962145

FalseNorthing:	0

Lambda0:	-1.61442955809475

Phi0:	0.62540964863130

k0:	0.99993333333333

)

This State Plane zone is made up of a Transverse Mercator  (Trnmerc) projection. The properties of a Transverse Mercator projection are the Clarke 1866 spheroid, a False Easting and a False Northing (in meters), a Central Meridian (Lambda0), a Referencre Latitude (Phi0) in radians, and a scale factor  along the Central Meridian (k0).

(Lambert.573

Description:	"State Plane - 1927 ; Kentucky, North"

Ellipsoid:	1001

FalseEasting:	609601.21920243848581

FalseNorthing:	0

Lambda0:	-1.47043989480522

Phi0:	0.65449846949787

Phi1:	0.66264333934051

Phi2:	0.68009663186046

)

This State Plane zone is made up of a Lambert projection. The properties of a Lambert Conformal Conic projection are the Clarke 1866 spheroid, a False Easting and a False Northing parameter (in meters), a Central Meridian (Lambda0), a Reference Latitude ( Phi0) in radians, and the first and second Standard Parallels (Phi1 and Phi2, respectively) in radians.

(Oblmerc.634

Description:	"State Plane - 1927 ; Alaska, Zone 1"

Ellipsoid:	1001

FalseEasting:	5000000.0

FalseNorthing:	-5000000.0

LambdaC:	-2.33292343349909

Phi0:	0.99483767363677

AlphaC:	-0.64350110879601

k0:	0.9999

)

This State Plane zone uses a projection called Hotine Oblique Mercator. Its additional properties are the Longitude of the Central Point (LambdaC), and the Azimuth of the Central Point through a Central Point of 0,0 (AlphaC).

See also

Map projections


Creating a Graticule or Grid with the Graticule and Grid Tool Extension
Creating a Graticule or Grid with the Graticules and Measured Grids Extension

When the Graticule and Grid Tool extension is loaded, a new button is added to your layout interface. This tool becomes active once you have a viewframe based on a view in your layout. To use this tool just click its button which will cause the Graticule and Grid  Wizard to open. Follow the instructions in the wizard to create your graticule or grid.

Tips

 The graticule or grid  that is created as a result of using the Graticule and Grid wizard is a graphic, and will not automatically update when you make changes to the view it is based on.

 The graticule or grid that is created can be Ungrouped, which will allow you to make further refinements to its appearance.


Creating a Legend with the Legend Tool Extension

When the Legend Tool extension is loaded, a new tool is added to your layout interface. This tool becomes active once you have a view in your project. To use this tool just select it and click at the location in your layout where you want the lower left corner of your legend to be placed. This will cause the Custom Legend Wizard to open. Follow the instructions in the wizard to create your legend.

Tips

 The legend that is created as a result of using the Custom Legend wizard is a graphic (versus a legend frame), and will not update automatically when you make changes to the view or themes that the legend is based on.

 The legend that is created can be Ungrouped, which will allow you to make further refinements to its appearance.

 When you specify that a specific number of columns be used, the legend that results may not have that number of columns. This is because the Legend Tool is making sure that no theme titles are at the bottom of one column, while its symbols are at the top of the next column.

 If the resulting legend appears unbalanced, i.e., having a relatively small number of elements in one column, you should try choosing a different number of columns, which often resolves this situation.


Creating a stand-alone ARC/INFO map library (Windows ArcView)

ARC/INFO map libraries can be copied locally to your PC and used by ArcView.

To create a stand-alone library

1.    On the workstation, copy the library directory to a location where you have write access.

% cd /path/to/the/library

% ls

lib

% cp -r lib /mydir/pclib

2.    Navigate to the new directory, then copy the $ARCHOME/tables directory to it. Make sure you copy it from the 7.n $ARCHOME so that the directory will be in the new 8.3 format. A 6.n $ARCHOME directory will not be in the correct format.

% cd /mydir/pclib

% cp -r $ARCHOME/tables .

Your library directory will now look something like this:

3.    At the pclib directory level start ARC 7.0.n.

4.    Convert the database directory and all the tile workspaces to 8.3 format, if they are not in it already.

% cd ..

% arc

Arc: CONVERTWORKSPACE NEW database

Arc: CONVERTWORKSPACE NEW tile1

Arc: CONVERTWORKSPACE NEW tile2

...

5.    Copy the pclib directory to the PC.

6.    Start ArcView on the PC.

7.    From the Project menu, choose Add Table.

8.    Navigate to the \PCLIB\TABLES directory.

9.    In the List Files of Type box, choose INFO.

10.    Double-click the libraries file.

11.    From the Table menu, select Start Editing.

12.    Update the value of the Location field. Change it to the library's location on the PC. Also delete all records that point to other libraries. This will increase the speed at which ArcView will read this file.

Libraries table before editing:

Name	Location
REDPROP	$SAMPLESHOME/REDLANDS/LIB/PROPERTY/DATABASE
ALASKA	/oxford1/data/libtest2/database
DCW	/prog/dcw/database
ALASKA-UCASE	/OXFORD1/DATA/LIBTEST2/DATABASE
LIB	/path/to/the/library/database
Libraries table after editing:

Name	Location
LIB	C:\PCLIB\DATABASE
13.    From the Table menu, select Stop Editing and save your edits.

14.    Make the Project Window active and select Add Table from the Project menu.

15.    Navigate to the \PCLIB\DATABASE\INFO directory.

16.    Double-click the index.pat file.

17.    From the Table menu, select Start Editing.

18.    Edit the Location field in index.pat to represent the new data location. An easy way to do this is to make the Location field active, select Calculate from the Field menu, and enter this expression in the Field Calculator dialog:

"C:\PCLIB\"+[Tile-name]

Click OK on the Field Calculator dialog.

19.    Fron the Table menu, select Stop Editing and save your edits.

20.    Set the ARCHOME environment variable to the \PCLIB directory. This can be done in several ways. For example:

 Add this line to the \ETC\STARTUP file in ArcView's installation directory.

System.SetEnvVar("ARCHOME", "C:\PCLIB")

Start ArcView.

 From Windows 95 you can edit your AUTOEXEC.BAT and add this line.

set ARCHOME=C:\PCLIB

Restart Windows, then start ArcView.

 From Windows NT, set the environment variable from the System Control Panel.

 Add this line to a script.

System.SetEnvVar("ARCHOME", "C:\PCLIB")

Compile the script and run it. If you choose this method, you will need to write, compile and run this script with each ArcView session. You might consider making this script the startup script for the project.

21.    Open a new view by double-clicking the View icon on the Project window.

22.    Click the Add Theme button [image].

23.    Click the Lirbaries button. Your library will appear in the list.

See also

Accessing ARC/INFO libraries_(Windows ArcView)


Creating complex multi-layer CompositeArcInfoPen Symbols

When it comes to taking the trial and error out of creating your own symbols, especially the complex multi-layered line symbols, there are some helpful bits of information you should know.  This topic will address how to create CompositeArcInfoPens that contain more than one layer of VectorPenMarker symbols that need to exactly aligned.  You will see how to use the SetInterval and SetMarkLayer requests on the VectorPenMarker class. To do this you will go step by step through the process of creating a complex symbol that looks like this:

The following exploded view of this symbol shows that two VectorPenMarker symbols were used within a CompositeArcInfoPen symbol. For line 1, the dash pattern is created by using a dash symbol and repeating it five times, then skipping one width, drawing one width, skipping one width, drawing one width, skipping one width; and repeating that over the length of the line. The reason to use a dash marker symbol instead of a BasicPen symbol with a pattern is because the patterns of Basic Pen symbols do not scale when a symbol is resized, but the intervals of VectorPenMarkers do. For line 2, the marker needs to be repeated at a distance that is greater than can be supported by merely applying a template, i.e., a template of 19 would place many times too many markers. Also, a template of 19 would begin drawing immediately at the left end of the line.  To solve the problem of increasing the distance to the point a template becomes useful, we increase the interval to a value of  6.5.  Then to offset the marker from the beginning of the line, we use a positive MarkLayerX value to offset it to the right.

The following Avenue code was used to make this symbol, and will add it to your current pen palette:

'** Make Vertical line

mrk1 = BasicMarker.Make

mrk1.SetStyle(#BASICMARKER_STYLE_PATTERN)

mrk1.SetFont(Font.Make("ESRI Geology","Normal"))

mrk1.SetCharacter(35)

vpm1 = VectorPenMarker.Make(mrk1)

vpm1.SetTemplate("13")

vpm1.SetInterval(6.5)

vpm1.SetMarkLayer(6,0)

vpm1.SetSize(24)

'** Make Dashed line

mrk2 = BasicMarker.Make

mrk2.SetStyle(#BASICMARKER_STYLE_PATTERN)

mrk2.SetFont(Font.Make("ESRI Geology","Normal"))

mrk2.SetCharacter(249)

vpm2 = VectorPenMarker.Make(mrk2)

vpm2.SetTemplate("511111")

vpm2.SetSize(24)

'** Make Composite Symbol

aSymList = SymbolList.FromList({vpm1,vpm2})

aCAIP = CompositeArcInfoPen.Make(aSymList)

'** Add Symbol to Pen Palette

av.GetSymbolWin.Open

av.GetSymbolWin.SetPanel(#SYMBOLWIN_PANEL_PEN)

p = av.GetSymbolWin.GetPalette

pl = p.GetList(#PALETTE_LIST_PEN)

pl.Add(aCAIP)

av.GetSymbolwin.RefreshPalette(#PALETTE_LIST_PEN)


Creating an extension to load the external image format

Creating an extension to load your external image format is quite easy. First you will want to open a new project in ArcView. Then you need to create 4 scripts. These 4 scripts will be populated with the contents of the example scripts given below for creating the MrSID Image Support extension. The 4 scripts should be name with the name given on the first line of the script and modified to contain information for your external image format and not MrSID. After all 4 scripts are compiled you want to run the make extension script, and your extension will be created. The .avx file created can be placed in ArcViews ext directory, or in a directory pointed to by the $USEREXT environment variable. After this you will be able to load it with the Extension Manager dialog.

The following scripts are the scripts that were used in and to create the MrSID Image Support extension. The first is the script that was used to create the extension file. It is used only to create the extension file and is not included in the extension.

' ExternalImage.MakeExt

theExt = Extension.Make("c:\mrsid.avx".AsFileName,

                        "MrSID Image Support",

                        NIL,

                        NIL,

                        {})

theExt.SetAbout("Extends ArcView to support MrSID images (v3.1).")

theExt.SetExtVersion(3100)

theExt.SetCanUnloadScript(av.FindScript("ExternalImage.CanUnload"))

theExt.SetLoadScript(av.FindScript("ExternalImage.Load"))

theExt.SetUnloadScript(av.FindScript("ExternalImage.Unload"))

theExt.Commit

You will need to change the name of the extension file and the name of the extension in the Extension.Make request to reflect your image format. You will also need to change the about string given by theExt.SetAbout to reflect information for your image format. You may want to change the version number also, or leave it to reflect the version number for ArcView.

The next script is the load script. It is used to register your external image format DLL with the ImgDLL class when the extension loads, so that users have access to your image data sources.

' ExternalImage.Load

ImgDll.RegisterFormat("$AVBIN\avmrsid.dll".AsFileName,

                      "sid",

                      "bip")

You will need to change the path and name of the DLL give by the first argument of the ImgDLL.RegisterFormat to point to your external image format DLL. The second argument should be changed to a three character extension that will be used to both identify your external image format from others and be used to browse for image data sources in the Add Theme dialog. Your image data source must have a file extension that matches what is given here. The last argument will need to be changed to "bil" or "bsq" if that is the type of temporary image file your external image format DLL creates.

The next script is the unload script. It is used to unregister your external image format DLL from the ImgDLL class when the extension is unloaded.

' ExternalImage.Unload

ImgDll.UnregisterFormat("sid")

You will need to used the three character extension that you registered your external image format DLL with instead of "sid".

The last script is the can unload script. It is used to check if ArcView currently is using your external image format DLL. If it is then the Extension Manager dialog will not let the user unload the extension. If it is not then you will be able to unload the extension.

' ExternalImage.CanUnload

av.PurgeObjects

if (ImgDll.GetFormatUseCount("sid") = 0) then

  return(TRUE)

end

return(FALSE)

You will need to used the three character extension that you registered your external image format DLL with instead of "sid".


Creating the temporary BIL/BIP/BSQ image file

When ArcView needs a piece of an external image format image the external image format DLL is used to extract only the external image format image data needed. ArcView will pass a map extent, image width, and image height needed from your external image format image. The external image format DLL then needs to take this information and create a temporary BIL/BIP/BSQ image that ArcView then uses. The external image format DLL is responsible to access the correct part of the external image format image, resample it to the resolution ArcView asked for, and properly set the georeferencing image for the temporary BIL/BIP/BSQ image. The georeferencing information for the BIL/BIP/BSQ image is stored in the .hdr file with the keywords XDIM, YDIM, ULXMAP, and ULYMAP. These need to be set to the correct coordinates according to the your external image format georeferencing and the piece of image you are extracting. The following is a theoretical example. Say you have an external image format image that has a width of 2500 pixels and a height of 4000 pixels. It has a cellsize of 10 and the coordinate of the center of the upper-left pixel is 330000, 6500000. This upper-left corner of the image will have the coordinate 329995, 6500005 and the lower right corner will have the coordinate of 354995, 6460005. If ArcView asks for the following area (mbr defines an extent, mbr[0] is the left side of that extent, mbr[1] is the top of that extent, mbr[2] is the right side of that extent, and mbr[3] is the bottom of that extent):

mbr[0] = 340000

mbr[1] = 6486666

mbr[2] = 349999

mbr[3] = 6480000

width = 600

height = 400

your external image format DLL should return a BIL/BIP/BSQ .hdr file like:

BYTEORDER M

LAYOUT BIP

NROWS 400

NCOLS 600

NBANDS 1

NBITS 8

ULXMAP 340000

ULYMAP 6486666

XDIM 16.665

YDIM 16.665

Basically, you can use the following equations to figure it out:

XDIM = (mbr[2] - mbr[0]) / width

YDIM = (mbr[1] - mbr[3]) / height

ULXMAP = mbr[0] + (XDIM / 2)

ULYMAP = mbr[1] - (YDIM / 2)

XDIM and YDIM should always result in the same number. The aspect ratio between mbr and width/height should always be the same.

Now the above only works it the mbr falls within the extents of the external image format image. In the case that the two extents intersect or the mbr is completely outside of the extent defined in the external image format image you would not want to create a temporary BIL/BIP/BSQ image as big as the width and height given to you, but a temporary BIL/BIP/BSQ image that would cover the intersected portion. The next example is when the two extents intersect. If ArcView asks for the following area:

mbr[0] = 340000

mbr[1] = 6490000

mbr[2] = 360000

mbr[3] = 6476666.666667

width = 600

height = 400

your external image format DLL should return a BIL/BIP/BSQ .hdr file like:

BYTEORDER M

LAYOUT BIP

NROWS 400

NCOLS 450

NBANDS 1

NBITS 8

ULXMAP 340016.6666667

ULYMAP 6489983.333333

XDIM 33.333333333

YDIM 33.333333333

The calculations for XDIM, YDIM, ULXMAP, and ULYMAP do not change in the case above. But NROWS and NCOLS should be adjusted with the following equations (remember to always round up to the closest integer. For below x_min, y_min, x_max, and y_max refer to the full external image format image extent.

NCOLS = ((mbr[2] Min x_max) - (mbr[0] Max x_min)) / XDIM

NROWS = ((mbr[1] Min y_max) - (mbr[3] Max y_min)) / YDIM

The only case not taken care of is when mbr[0] is less than the minimum x extent of the external image format image or when mbr[1] is greater than the maximum y extent of the external image format image. An example of this case is when the mbr falls completely outside of the external image format image extent. If ArcView asks for the following area:

mbr[0] = 310000

mbr[1] = 6600000

mbr[2] = 550000

mbr[3] = 6440000

width = 600

height = 400

your external image format DLL should return a BIL/BIP/BSQ .hdr file like:

BYTEORDER M

LAYOUT BIP

NROWS 100

NCOLS 63

NBANDS 1

NBITS 8

ULXMAP 330000

ULYMAP 6500000

XDIM 400

YDIM 400

The calculations for XDIM, YDIM, NROWS, and NCOLS do not differ from the above example. But ULXMAP and ULYMAP are the same as the center of the upper left pixel in the image (not from the mbr). Basically if part of the mbr is outside the extent of the external image format image you do not want to just fill a temporary BIL/BIP/BSQ image with 0 values to make sure you fill all of the width/height you are given. A zero value will be displayed as a color and possibly mask out other data.


Creating your own fonts

What you will need to build your own fonts.

Because ArcView does not generate TrueType fonts, you will need to acquire other software to create your own fonts. When evaluating a software package that produces TrueType fonts, consider the ease of use of the editing environment in the font software. This is important because some font software is strongly oriented for producing typographic fonts and not generalized for producing graphics or symbols.

The fonts ESRI provides with ArcView 3.x were built using a combination of other software packages. Fontographer 4.1/PM by Altsys Corporation was used to position each character and generate the font files, but Aldus Freehand 5.5 by Macromedia Inc. was used to do much of the artwork, which was then copied and pasted into Fontographer. See Software packages that edit or generate TrueType fonts for more information about Fontographer and other software tools for fonts.

Creating your symbols

The amount of work you will need to do will depend on how much of the artwork for your font is already in digital form, and the ability of your font generating software to import your pre-existing artwork. If you don’t already have the artwork in digital form, you will need to create this artwork. It will be most comfortable for you to do this in whatever graphics software you are used to working with and then export or copy and paste the artwork into the software that will generate the font.

A TrueType, or any other type of font, is capable of storing many characters. The way these characters are usually referenced is by an ASCII character index. The ASCII character index is a set of numbers ranging from 0 to 255. Some of these characters are reserved for system characters like carriage returns. ArcView can create marker symbols for characters in the ASCII ranges of 33-125 and 161-255. Thus, any artwork you place in your font that is within those ASCII ranges will be used by ArcView.

What you need to know about creating a font

Here are some definitions, terms, and concepts that pertain to fonts and the creation of fonts.

Font guidelines - control things like where a descender or ascender portion of a character begin and end. This diagram shows a simplified view of how a character may look when positioned between the standard guidelines in a font software package:

Font Metrics - control how much space is left before and after a given character in a font. You will need to adjust your character's metrics if you need to make symbols that will overlay others that are not of the same proportions, or if your character is to be rotated about a point that is not the geometric center. Because metrics can be set in a variety of ways you should read the font metrics section in your font software’s manual to fully understand how your font software addresses this task. Here are some general scenarios for character positioning for ArcView, the red "X" shows the point that this character will be rotated about if you set a rotation angle in ArcView.

Tips

 ArcView must be restarted to expose newly installed fonts to ArcView's font manager.

 Do not edit a font that is currently installed. This can result in the system becoming unstable or crashing.

 Essentially your goal is to create one continuous path that traces through your symbol. This method of graphical representation is a precept of the TrueType format. If you are not successful here, your symbol may appear to be reversed in parts like donut holes or separate entities like the dot on an "i".

 If you intend to use your font on UNIX, do not use the Windows Only symbols option in your font software when you generate your font file.

 ArcView does not read the hints contained in TrueType fonts, so you do not need to set them.

Using symbols contained from a Workstation ARC/INFO markerset.

You can create a TrueType font by using the Artwork already contained in your ARC/INFO marker sets. The effort required to create a TrueType font will depend on the complexity of the markers in the markerset you want to use. The following is a general procedure for converting a markerset to a TrueType font:

1	If the markerset contains multi-layer markers, then you must convert the markerset to a new markerset where each layer is represented as a separate marker. If all the layers for the markers exist as characters in an ARC/INFO font, then you can just create the new markerset from font.

2	Write an AML that will create a postscript file that contains one large (8" x 8" is adequate) representation of each marker. Use ARCPLOT to display each symbol into a display 1040 2 file. The following is an example, fill in the blanks with information appropriate for your needs.

Arcplot:  hardcopy postscript pattern%i%.eps

          pagesize 8 8

          markerset __________

          markersymbol __

          markersize __

          marker 4 4

Or you can process many symbols by using a loop:

&si = 1

  &do &until %I% = 20 (number of patterns)

    hardcopy postscript pattern%i%.eps

    pagesize 8 8

    markersymbol %i%

    markersize __

    marker 4 4

    &sv I =%i% + 1

  &end

3	Import each PostScript file into your font software. Depending on the complexity of each character you will have to do some editing in the font software.

Using your fonts in ArcView

Once you have installed your fonts on your system you can use Avenue to create your custom ArcView marker palette. You will need to print out the character map for your new font making sure the ASCII reference number is used to label each character on the printout. Use the following steps in ArcView to create your new palette:

1	Open the Symbol Window and use the Palette Manager to clear the Marker Palette.

2	Create a Script document and then click here to get the Avenue source code to create a single layered marker symbol and add it to the palette, or click here to get the Avenue source code to create a multi-layered (composite) marker symbol

3	Repeat Step 2 for each marker symbol you intend to make.

4	Click the Save button in the Symbol Window's Palette Manager to write your palette out as an ArcView palette file.


Customer services

You can contact any of ESRI's customer service groups via telephone, fax, or E-mail during our normal business hours, Monday through Friday, excluding ESRI holidays.

ESRI Corporate Offices

380 New York Street

Redlands, CA  92373

Phone:  (909) 793-2853

Fax:  (909) 793-5953

Hours :  8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time

Customer Service (for billing, shipping, and order status)

Phone:  888-377-4575  x1670

Fax:  (909) 307-3082

E-mail:  service@esri.com

Hours:  8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time

Desktop Order Center (for ordering and product information)

Phone:  (800) 447-9778

Fax:  (909) 307-3039

E-mail:  info@esri.com

Hours:  7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time

International Customer Services

Customer services for users outside of the United States are provided by the International Distributor responsible for the distribution and sales of desktop software in the user’s country.  Please refer to Getting Product Support Worldwide.


Customizing ArcView's symbol palettes

You can use several sources as the basis for customizing the symbols you use in ArcView. You can

   Import bitmap graphics and use them to create customized point symbols.

   Use the characters of a font as marker symbols by clicking the Create Markers button in the Font Palette.

   Load the symbols from ARC/INFO shadesets and linesets into fill and pen palettes..

   Load the symbols contained in additional palette files that come with ArcView. These files are located in the symbols directory or folder of the installation.


Cutting and Pasting Graphics

1	Select the graphics that you want cut using the pointer tool [image].

2	From the Edit menu choose Cut

3	From the Edit menu choose Paste

Tips

 To paste graphics into a different document, make the target document active before you choosing Paste from the Edit menu.

 It is not advisable to cut from a layout and paste into a view, or from a view into another view with a different projection or map units because ArcView places graphics based on their coordinates. In the above cases, the coordinate spaces for layouts and views will most likely not any overlapping space. It is especially inadvisable to cut and paste text or graphic groups that contain text from one view into a another view in a different projection.


Differences between CompositeArcInfoPen and CompositePen classes

ArcView was originally released with one way for creating a multi-layer line symbol. The Avenue class that supports this is called CompositePen. ARC/INFO also has a way to display multi-layered line symbols; Many ARC/INFO users noted that the display capabilities in ArcView were inferior to ARC/INFO when it came to making maps with multi-layer line symbols. This made it impossible for larger organizations who needed to show the same data in ArcView and ARC/INFO to show that data in an identical fashion.

Therefore, a new Avenue class has been added to ArcView to address this issue.  CompositeArcInfoPen Avenue class provides ARC/INFO-like behavior in Line Symbols when you import them from an ARC/INFO line symbolset. You can also create pen symbols in ArcView that will behave like ARC/INFO line symbols by using the CompositeArcInfoPen Avenue class. The purpose of this topic is to describe the differences between these classes so you will understand why things work they way they do. The following properties of ARC/INFO line symbols are preserved in the CompositeArcInfoPen class:

1	Size:  The component symbols, or layers in CompositeArcInfoPen symbols are sized independently, meaning that when you set the size of a CompositeArcInfoPen symbol in ArcView's symbol window, each of the component symbols is increased or decreased by a factor that is relative to its originally specified size. This is unlike the existing CompositePen class where the new size is applied to each of its components, making them all the same size.

2	Interval Scaling:  When CompositeArcInfoPens are resized, not only the width of the symbol is changed but the Interval, Template, and MarkLayer settings are also scaled. The existing CompositePen class only scales the width of the symbols, ignoring intervals and patterns.

3	Color:  You cannot use ArcView's symbol window to change the color of all, or any layers within aCompositeArcInfoPen symbol. This follows the ARC/INFO model for symbols where color is a unique property of a symbol, and to change it would be to create a new symbol.  You can use ArcView's symbol window to change the colors of the existing CompositePen symbols if the component layers do not have their ColorLock Property set to true.


Displaying the tics for an ARC/INFO coverage on a view

1	Add the tic file to your project as a table. For ARC/INFO coverages, the tic file resides in the info directory in the coverage’s workspace. Change the file type to INFO, then find the file which has the same name as your coverage with a .TIC extension. For PC ARC/INFO coverages, the tic file is a dBASE file which resides in the coverage's directory and is named tic.dbf.

2	Create a new view or open an existing view.

3	Choose Add Event Theme from the View menu.

4	Select the XY button if the XY Event panel is not already displayed.

5	Select the tic table from the Table list.

6	ArcView will fill in the X field and Y fields for you, so all you need to do is click OK. A new theme, with the same name as the tic table, will be added to your view.


Drive Mapping (Windows ArcView)

Windows ArcView can access image catalogs, ArcStorm libraries, and LIBRARIAN libraries which exist on UNIX workstations. However, these data types store full pathnames to UNIX data. ArcView must translate these pathnames into something the Windows machine can understand using drive mapping.

Typically, ArcView understands two types of pathnaming conventions:

   UNIX style, such as /disk1/imagecat/info

   DOS style, such as C:\LOCALLIB\ARCSTORM

Each combination of networking software and operating system on Windows machines result in the file systems being mapped a certain way. See Installing ArcView for Windows on a network. If your network solution doesn’t use one of the conventions shown above, or if you find that you still cannot access your UNIX image catalogs or map libraries after mounting all the appropriate UNIX file systems, you can create a file which tells ArcView how to map your file systems.

When accessing map libraries or image catalogs, ArcView looks for a file named DRIVEMAP.TXT. DRIVEMAP.TXT is an ASCII file which must contain lines of the form:

<drive> = <UNIX-host>:<path>

For example,

K = yale:/yale1

L = oxford:/oxford1/data

where yale:/yale1 is directly or indirectly mounted on the K drive and oxford:/oxford1/data is mounted on the L drive. You may use upper or lower case in this file, and there must be spaces on either side of the equal sign (=).The order in which the drives appear in this file is not important.

ArcView searches for DRIVEMAP.TXT in this order:

1	The Windows applications directory (for example, C:\WINDOWS)

2	Your HOME directory (for example, C:\MYDIR)

3	The local root directory (for example, C:\)

4	The ArcView installation directory (for example, C:\ARCVIEW)

The first DRIVEMAP.TXT found is used.

If the DRIVEMAP.TXT file is present it will be consulted first when mapping UNIX pathnames to PC drives. For map libraries, this file will be re-read each time the Library button is selected on the dialog that appears when you choose Add Theme from the View menu.

If a UNIX pathname cannot be mapped to a drive after consulting DRIVEMAP.TXT then the operating system will be queried.


Equal-Area Cylindrical map projection

Method of projection    Cylindrical. This is a normal, perspective projection onto a cylinder tangent at the Equator.

Points of intersection Tangent or secant.

Linear graticules

Meridians and parallels are straight lines at right angles to each other. Meridians are equally spaced and 0.32 times the length of the Equator, when the Equator is the standard parallel. The farther the standard parallel is from the Equator, the greater the length of the meridians. Poles are lines of length equal to the Equator.

Properties

Shape    Shape is true along the standard parallels of the normal aspect. Shape distortion is severe near the poles of the normal aspect.

Area    There is no distortion of area.

Direction    Local angles are correct along standard parallels or standard lines. Direction is distorted elsewhere.

Distance    Scale is true along the Equator. Scale distortion is severe near the poles of the normal aspect

Limitations

Recommended for narrow areas extending along the central line. Severe distortion of shape and scale near the poles.

Uses and applications

 Suitable for equatorial regions.

 Suitable for regions of north-south extent or those following an oblique central line, when using a transverse or oblique view, respectively.


Equidistant Azimuthal map projection

The most significant characteristic of the Equidistant Azimuthal projection is that both distance and direction are accurate from the central point. This projection can accommodate all aspects, equatorial, polar and oblique.

Method of projection    Planar. The world is projected onto a flat surface from any point on the globe. Although all aspects are possible, the one used most commonly is the polar aspect, in which all meridians and parallels are divided equally to maintain the equidistant property. Oblique aspects centered on a city are also common.

Point of tangency    A single point, usually the North Pole or the South Pole, but can be any other point. This point is defined by degrees of latitude and longitude.

Linear graticules

Polar: Straight meridians are divided equally by concentric circles of latitude.

Equatorial: The Equator and the projection's central meridian are linear and meet at 90 degrees.

Oblique: The central meridian is straight but there are no 90-degree intersections except along the central meridian.

Properties

Shape    All shapes are distorted except at the center, and increasingly from the center.

Area    Distortion increases outward from the center point.

Direction    True directions from the center outward.

Distance    Distances for all aspects are accurate from the center point outward. For the polar aspect, the distances along the meridians are accurate but there is a pattern of increasing distortion along the circles of latitude, outward from the center.

Limitations

Usually limited to 90 degrees from the center, although it can project the entire globe. Polar-aspect projections are best for regions within a 30-degree radius because there is only minimal distortion (Roblin).

Degrees from center    15    30     45     60     90

Percent scale distortion along parallels  1.2   4.7   11.1   20.9   57

Uses and applications

 Routes of air and sea navigation. These maps will focus on an important location as their central point and use an appropriate aspect:

Polar aspect: Descriptive polar regions and polar navigation.

Equatorial aspect: Locations on or near the Equator, such as Singapore.

Oblique aspect: Locations between the poles and the Equator, such as large-scale mapping of Micronesia.

 If this projection is used on the entire globe, the immediate hemisphere can be recognized and resembles the Lambert Azimuthal projection.  The outer hemisphere greatly distorts shapes and areas. In the extreme, a polar-aspect projection centered on the North Pole will represent the South Pole as its largest outermost circle. The function of this extreme projection is that, regardless of the conformal and area distortion, an accurate presentation of distance and direction from the center point is maintained.


Equidistant Conic map projection

The Equidistant Conic projection is the most simple conic projection. It is equidistant.

Method of projection    Cone is tangential if only one standard parallel is specified and secant for two standard parallels. Graticules are evenly spaced. The space between each meridian is equal, as is the space between each of the concentric arcs that describe the lines of latitude. The poles are represented as arcs rather than points.

Lines of contact    Dependent upon the number of standard parallels.

Tangential projections: One line, indicated by the standard parallel.

Secant projections: Two lines, specified as 1st and 2nd standard parallels.

Linear graticules    All meridians.

Properties

Shape    Local shapes are true along the standard parallels. Distortion is constant along any given parallel. Distortion increases with distance from the standard parallels.

Area    Distortion is constant along any given parallel. Distortion increases with distance from the standard parallels.

Direction    Locally true along the standard parallels.

Distance    True along the meridians and the standard parallels. Scale is constant along any given parallel, but changes from parallel to parallel.

Limitations

Range in latitude should be limited to 30 degrees.

Uses and applications

 Regional mapping of mid-latitude areas with a predominantly east-west expanse.

 Common for atlas maps of small countries.

 Used by the Soviet Union for mapping the entire country.


Equidistant Cylindrical map projection
Equidistant Cylindrical

The Equidistant Cylindrical map projection is an alternative name for the Plate Carree map projection.


ERDAS

The following types of ERDAS images can be displayed:

 ERDAS Rev 7.3 .lan and .gis files

 ERDAS Rev 7.4 .lan and .gis files

By default, ArcView looks for ERDAS images when they have these file extensions:

 .lan

 .gis

To modify the extensions list, use the ISrc.SetExtensions request.

The ERDAS image file formats are proprietary. For more information contact:

ERDAS

2801 Buford Highway, Suite 300

Atlanta, Georgia 30329

USA

(1) 	248-9000

See also

IMAGINE image format


Fonts that come with ArcView

You should receive six TrueType fonts with ArcView. These fonts are automatically installed when you install ArcView. These fonts are called:

ESRI Cartography

ESRI Crime Analysis

ESRI Environmental & Icons

ESRI Geology

ESRI Geometric & Symbols

ESRI Oil, Gas, & Water

ESRI Transportation & Municipal

ESRI Weather


Needed exported entry points in the external image format DLL

The external image format DLL is used to query basic information about the input image and to extract temporary BIL/BIP/BSQ images for display. The external image format DLL must contain the following exported entry points:

 IsValidFile

 QueryImageInfo

 GetImage

The external image format DLL can also contain the following optional exported entry point:

 QueryBandStats

Each of the these entry points are described below:

/* Local definitions. */

/* The ImgDLL external image DLL supports the following functions.  Each of

 * these are defined as typedefs below.

 *

 +  int IsValidFile(path) - Returns TRUE if the input path name points to a

 *   valid image file. FALSE is returned otherwise.

 *

 +  int QueryImageInfo(path, nbands, width, height, mbr) - Queries the input

 *   image defined by path for the number of bands, image width in pixels,

 *   image height in pixels and the geo-referenced minimum bounding

 *   rectangle.  The mbr is expressed as left, top, right and bottom.

 *   TRUE is returned on success, FALSE is returned otherwise.

 *

 +  int GetImage(path, out_path, clip_mbr, out_width, out_height) - Extracts

 *   an image from path into the temporary image out_path in the output format

 *   defined when the format is registered with ImgDLL with the RegisterFormat

 *   class request. The output format must be either a BIL, BIP, or BSQ image.

 *   The clip_mbr is the extent needed from the image in map coordinates.

 *   The out_width and out_height is the needed size for the temporary output

 *   image in pixels. The mbr is expressed as left, top, right and bottom.

 *   TRUE is returned on success, FALSE on error.

 *

 + int QueryBandStats(path, band, stats) - Queries the input image defined by

 *   path for the given band for the band stats.  The stats are returned as min,

 *   max, mean and stdev. This function is optional.

 */

typedef int (*IsValidFileFuncType)(char *);

typedef int (*QueryImageInfoFuncType)(char *, long *, long *, long *, double *);

typedef int (*GetImageFuncType)(char *, char *, double *, long, long);

typedef int (*QueryBandStatsFuncType)(char *, long, double *);


Geographic

Although Geographic is an option in ArcView's Projection Properties dialog box, it is not a map projection. Its principal use in the context of the dialog box is to remove the projection associated with the view.

The Geographic Reference System consists of latitude and longitude. This system treats the globe as if it were a sphere or spheroid. The sphere is divided into 360 equal parts called degrees. Each degree can be further subdivided into 60 minutes, each composed of 60 seconds. The standard origin is where the Greenwich Prime Meridian meets the Equator. All points north of the Equator and east of the Prime Meridian are positive. The origin divides the globe into four quadrants: northwest, northeast, southwest and southeast. Each line of longitude runs north and south and measures the number of degrees east or west of the Prime Meridian. Values range from positive 180 to negative 180 degrees. Lines of latitude run from east to west and measure the number of degrees north or south of the Equator. Values range from the North Pole, at positive 90 degrees, to the South Pole which is located at negative 90 degrees.


Accessing the Geoprocessing wizard

The wizard-based interface in the Geoprocessing extension lets you perform new spatial analysis functions in ArcView.

To access the wizard

1	Load the Geoprocessing extension.

2	Open a view and make it active.

3	From the View menu, choose Geoprocessing Wizard.

See also

What can you accomplish with Geoprocessing?

Geoprocessing wizard options


geoproc more clip
Clipping features

Use the clip operation when you want to cut out a piece of one theme using another theme as a "cookie cutter". For example, you may want to select a county boundary from your counties theme to extract the roads from your roads theme to create a new theme containing a smaller number of roads.

For this process you can use the Clip option in the GeoProcessing Wizard, but remember to first select the county polygons defining the clip area before starting the Clip wizard. Enter the roads data as the input theme and the county boundaries as the polygon overlay theme. The clipping theme is used as the "cookie cutter" to clip the roads. Then, check the "Use selected feature only" box to use the selected features as your clipping area. Then specify the output theme name or use the default name, clip1.shp.

Using Clip in the GeoProcessing wizard

Select input theme to clip: Choose from the list of themes, which includes all feature themes in your view, the theme you want to use as the input theme. The features of this theme will be clipped by the features of the overlay theme. You will see the number of features in this theme displayed once you select it.

Use selected features only: If the input theme has some selected features, you can check this box to use only the selected features in the clip operation.

Select a polygon overlay theme: Choose an overlay theme from the list of polygon themes. You will see the number of features in this theme displayed once you select it.

Use selected features only: If the overlay theme has some selected features, you can check this box to use only the selected features as the clip region.

Specify the output file: Browse for or enter the shapefile name that will be used to store the results of the clip operation. You may also choose to use the default output filename.


geoproc more dissolve
Dissolve features based on attributes

Use the Dissolve process when you want to remove boundaries or nodes between adjacent polygons or lines that have the same values for a specified attribute. For example, Dissolve could be used to create a theme showing sales regions by salesperson where each salesperson is responsible for several counties. Sales territories can be established by removing shared county boundaries from those counties represented by same salesperson. These territories can also include summaries of any additional attributes like total revenue.

This process can be accomplished using the Dissolve wizard. Counties.shp would be the dissolve theme and sales_person would be the attribute on which to dissolve. An output theme name should be specified as well or just use the default, disslv1.shp. The next step is to decide if additional fields (attributes) should be summarized in the output theme. For instance, revenue figures generated by each salesperson could be summarized as total revenue for each sales region.

Using Dissolve in the GeoProcessing wizard

Step 1

Select a theme to dissolve: Choose from the list of themes, which includes all feature themes in your view, the theme you want to dissolve.

Select an attribute to dissolve on: Choose the attribute from the selected theme containing the values you want to use to dissolve the theme’s features.

Specify the output file: Browse for or enter the shape filename that will be used to store the results of the dissolve operation.

Step 2

Choose one or more additional fields and operations to be included in the output file: You can choose to add one or more fields from your theme’s attribute table. These fields will be summarized as specified. To select more than one, or a range of themes and summary operations, use the Control or Shift keys in conjunction with your mouse click.


geoproc more intersect
Intersecting features based on attributes

Use the Intersect process when you want to integrate two spatial data sets while preserving only those features falling within the spatial extent common to both themes. For example, suppose you are a builder and want to build a retirement center within the city boundaries. You will want to create a theme which assigns land use information (like building codes) to your parcel data so you can look for areas meeting the requirements for medium density multi-unit dwellings.

In this example, two themes are necessary. The input theme will contain the land use data and the intersect (overlay) theme will contain parcels information.

The Intersect process computes the geometric intersection of the two themes and adds it to your view as a new theme named itsct.shp (by default). The input theme can be a line or polygon theme. The overlay theme must be a polygon theme. The overlay theme’s features will split the input theme. Any features in the input theme that are not overlaid by features in the overlay theme will not be added to the new theme. The output shapefile’s features will be of the same type as the input theme features. When intersecting features of the input theme with the polygons of the overlay theme, the attribute tables are also updated. The attribute table for the output shapefile includes the attributes from the input and overlay theme.

Using Intersect in the GeoProcessing wizard

Select input theme to intersect: Choose from the list of themes, which includes the polygon and line feature themes in your view, the theme you want to use as the input theme. The features of this theme will be intersected by the features of overlay theme. You will see the number of features in this theme displayed when you select it.

Use selected features only: If the input theme has some selected features, you can check this box to only use the selected features in the intersect operation.

Select the overlay theme: Choose an overlay theme from the list of polygon themes. You will see the number of features in this theme displayed when you select it.

Use selected features only: If the overlay theme has some selected features, you can check this box to only use the selected features in the intersect operation.

Specify the output file: Browse for or enter the shapefile name that will be used to store the results of the intersect operation. Or you may just use the default.


geoproc more merge
Merging features

Use the Merge process when you want to create a new theme containing two or more adjacent themes of the same shapefile type. For example, you may want to merge or append highway data delivered as a series of tiles. Merge allows you to append the data while maintaining the attributes contained in whichever shapefile you select.

Using Merge in the GeoProcessing wizard

Select themes to merge: Choose two or more themes that are of the same geometry type. The Finish button will not be enabled until you have two or more themes of the same type selected. You can use the Control and Shift keys in conjunction with your mouse click to select more than one or a range of themes.

Use Fields from: Choose the theme that contains the attributes you want to use in the theme that will result from this merge operation. If each of the other chosen themes have the same fields, then all cells in the attribute table of the merged theme will be populated. If any of the other input themes have additional fields, that data will not be included. If any of the other input themes are missing the fields, then no data will be added to those fields for the features of the selected theme.

Note: The dropdown list of available themes will not be activated until two or more themes of the same shapefile type have been selected for merging. To select more than one theme, you need to hold down the Shift key.

Specify the output file: Browse for or enter the shapefile name that will be used to store the results of the merge operation.


geoproc more sjoin
Assigning data by location

Use Assign data by location when you want to use a spatial relationship to join data from the attribute table of one theme to the attribute table of another theme. Depending on the type of data you have, the join will be one of three types of spatial relationships: 'nearest', 'inside', or 'part of'.

Nearest

If you're assigning data from a point theme to another point theme OR you're assigning data from a point theme to a line theme, a 'Distance' field is automatically added to the theme you're assigning data to, along with any other data in that theme. This 'Distance' field contains the distance to the nearest feature.

Example: If you assigned data from a theme of U.S. state capitols to a theme of all U.S. cities, a 'Distance' field would be added to the theme of U.S. cities. This field would contain the distance of the nearest state capitol to each city.

Or, if you performed the reverse and assigned data from a theme of all U.S. cities to a theme of U.S. state capitols, a 'Distance' field would be added to the theme of U.S. capitols. This field would contain the distance of the nearest city to each state capitol. Since there are fewer state capitols than there are U.S. cities, not every U.S. city will be included in the joined table.

Inside

If you're assigning data from a polygon theme to a point, line, or polygon theme, the data will be joined to the point, line, or polygon that is contained by each of the polygons.

Example: A businessperson might have a theme of counties with demographic data and another theme of customer points. If the demographic data were joined to the customer table, it could be used for customer profiling, which in turn could save money in advertising. Assign data by location would assign the respective county demographic data to the customer points falling within the county polygons. If there were customer points that did not fall inside any polygons, empty data cells would be created for those customers, since no polygon data was available to join.

Part of

If you're assigning data from a line theme to another line theme, data will be assigned from lines that are 'part of' (a sub-set of) the lines you're assigning data to.

Example: A transportation engineer might have a theme of streets under construction and another theme of all the city streets. To help prioritize which streets to fix first, the engineer would want to join the theme of streets under construction to the theme of all city streets. Assign data by location would join the construction data for the streets that were part of the city streets theme. Any streets under construction that are not part of the city street network would not be joined.

Using Assign data by location in the GeoProcessing wizard

Select a theme to assign data to: Choose the theme that you want to assign data to. The attribute table of this theme is called the destination table.

Select a theme to assign data from: Choose the theme that you want to assign data from. The attribute table of this theme is called the source table. The data from the source table that has a 'nearest', 'inside', or 'part of' relationship to the data in the destination table will be joined.

Note	When the process is complete, the destination table will contain the joined data.


geoproc more union
Unioning features

Use the Union process when you want to produce a new theme containing the features and attributes of two polygon themes. Let’s look at using Union to provide the basis for performing an erosion analysis of soils during a flood. Some combinations of slope and soil type represent high risk for erosion, and knowing where these conditions are enables risk assessment of crops. For instance, rocky or sandy soil on a relatively steep slope could represent flash-flooding dangers to either crop or grazing agricultural activities during rainstorms.

For this example of the Union process, polygon themes for slope and soil type data are needed. The boundaries of slope (areas that have the same range of slope angle with respect to elevation change) would be used as the input theme. The soil type data will be used as the overlay or Union theme. The result will be a new theme named union1.shp (default name). Union1.shp contains the spatial combination of information with attribute data, permitting evaluation of erosion potential.

Using Union in the GeoProcessing wizard

Select input theme to union: Choose the theme you want to use as the input theme for the union operation. You will see the number of features in this theme displayed when you select it.

Use selected features only: If the input theme has any selected features, check this box to only use the selected features in the union operation.

Select polygon overlay theme to union: Choose the theme you want to use as the overlay theme. You will see the number of features in this theme displayed once you select it.

Use selected features only: If the overlay theme has selected features, check this box to only use the selected features in the union operation.

Specify the output file: Browse for or enter the file name that will be used to store the results of the union operation.


Georeferenced Images
How images are registered to a map

Images are stored as raster data, where each cell in the image has a row and column number. Shapefiles and ARC/INFO coverages are stored in real-world coordinates. In order to display images with coverages or shapefiles, it is necessary to establish an image-to-world transformation that converts the image coordinates to real-world coordinates. This transformation information is typically stored with the image.

Some image formats, such as ERDAS, IMAGINE, BSQ, BIL, BIP, GeoTIFF, and grids, store the georeferencing information in the header of the image file. ArcView uses this information if it is present. However, other image formats store this information in a separate ASCII file. This file is generally referred to as the world file, since it contains the real-world transformation information used by the image. World files can  be created with any editor. They can also be created using ARC/INFO’s REGISTER command.

World file naming conventions

It’s easy to identify the world file which should accompany an image file: world files use the same name as the image, with a "w" appended. For example, the world file for the image file mytown.tiff would be called mytown.tiffw and the world file for redlands.rlc would be redlands.rlcw. For workspaces that must adhere to the 8.3 naming convention, the first and third characters of the image file’s suffix and a final "w" are used for the world file suffix. Therefore, if mytown.tif were in a an 8.3 format workspace, the world file would be mytown.tfw. If redlands.rlc was in an 8.3 format workspace, its world file would be redlands.rcw.

For images that lack an extension, or have an extension that is shorter than three characters, the "w" is added to the end of the file name without altering it. Therefore the world file for the image file terrain would be terrainw; the world file for the image file floorpln.rs would be floorpln.rsw.

How the georeferencing information is accessed

The image-to-world transformation is accessed each time an image is displayed (e.g., when you pan or zoom). The transformation is calculated from one of the following sources, listed in order of priority:

•	the world file

•	the header file (if the image type supports one)

•	from the row/column information of the image (an identity transformation)

Because a world file has higher priority, you can override the header file transformation information by creating your own world file.

World file contents

The contents of the world file will look something like this:

                  20.17541308822119

                   0.00000000000000

                   0.00000000000000

                 -20.17541308822119

              424178.11472601280548

             4313415.90726399607956

When this file is present, ArcView performs the image-to-world transformation. The image-to-world transformation is a six-parameter affine transformation in the form of:

x1 = Ax + By + C

y1 = Dx + Ey + F

where

x1 = calculated x-coordinate of the pixel on the map

y1 =  calculated y-coordinate of the pixel on the map

x = column number of a pixel in the image

y = row number of a pixel in the image

A = x-scale; dimension of a pixel in map units in x direction

B, D = rotation terms

C, F = translation terms; x,y map coordinates of the center of the upper-left pixel

E = negative of y-scale; dimension of a pixel in map units in y direction

Note  The y-scale (E) is negative because the origins of an image and a geographic coordinate system are different. The origin of an image is located in the upper-left corner, whereas the origin of the map coordinate system is located in the lower-left corner. Row values in the image increase from the origin downward, while y-coordinate values in the map increase from the origin upward.

The transformation parameters are stored in the world file in this order:

                  20.17541308822119 - A

                   0.00000000000000 - D

                   0.00000000000000 - B

                 -20.17541308822119 - E

              424178.11472601280548 - C

             4313415.90726399607956 - F

Note    ArcView does not rotate, or warp, images. If your world file has non-zero rotation terms (D and B parameters), the image may change its position relative to vector data in the same view when you zoom or pan. Use the ARC/INFO RECTIFY command to properly rotate the image.


Getting Product Support Worldwide

ESRI's International Distributors offer a variety of support services to the users in their region. These services are briefly outlined in the following paragraphs. Users outside of the United States should contact their distributor for more information. A list of ESRI's International Distributors is included at the end of this section.

Product Registration

Users outside of the United States should register their software with the International Distributor in their country. Users may do so by completing and mailing, or faxing, the International Registration Form that came in the box to their International Distributor.

Electronic Services

Online support services via CompuServe and the Internet network are available worldwide to all users. Please contact your International Distributor for information about accessing these services.

Direct Support

Direct support for users outside of the United States is provided by the International Distributor responsible for the distribution and sales of ESRI's desktop software in your country.

Contacting Your Distributor

ESRI International Distributors and the countries they serve are listed below. If there is no distributor in your country, or if you are unable to reach them, please contact ESRI, Redlands, International Marketing by phone at (909) 793-2853 x1235, or by fax at (909) 793-5953, or by email to intl-mktg@esri.com.

Country	Distributor
Algeria	See France
Angola	See South Africa
Antarctica	See New Zealand
Argentina	Aeroterra S.A.
	Phone: +54-1-311-4127
	Fax: +54-1-311-8591
	Email: info@aeroterra.com
Australia (technical support)	ESRI-Australia
	Email: support@esri.com.au
Australia	ESRI-Australia, Perth (Head Office)
	Phone: +61-8-9242-1005
	Fax: +61-8-9242-4412
	Email: perth@esri.com.au
	ESRI-Australia, Melbourne
	Phone: +61-3-9882-6222
	Fax: +61-3-9882-8512
	Email: melbourne@esri.com.au
	ESRI-Australia, Sydney
	Phone: +61-2-9241-2138
	Fax: +61-2-9241-1249
	Email: sydney@esri.com.au
	ESRI-Australia, Hobart
	Phone: +61-3-6223-1999
	Fax: +61-3-6223-1988
	Email: hobart@esri.com.au
	ESRI-Australia, Canberra
	Phone: +61-2-6239-5460
	Fax: +61-2-6239-5459
	Email: canberra@esri.com.au
	ESRI-Australia, Brisbane
	Phone: +61-7-3831-3210
	Fax:     +61-7-3831-3214
	Email:  brisbane@esri.com.au
	ESRI-Australia, Adelaide
	Phone: +61-8-8215-0011
	Fax: +61-8-8215-0022
	Email: adelaide@esri.com.au
Austria	Datamed GmbH
	Phone: +43-1-878-06
	Fax: +43-1-878-0699
	Email: egon@datamed.co.at
	Web:   www.datamed.co.at
Bahamas	See Jamaica
Bahrain	Micro Center
	Phone: +973-533-887
	Fax: +973-532-228
	Email:  microcen@batelco.com.bh
Bangladesh	See Singapore
Barbados	International Development Advisory Services
	Miami, Florida Phone: +305-665-8303
	Miami, Florida Fax: +305-665-8063
	Email: info@idasnet.com
	Web:  www.idasnet.com
Belarus	See Russia
Belgium	See The Netherlands
Bolivia	Geosystems SRL
	Phone:  +591-3-431-229
	Fax: +591-3-430-720
	Email:  geosys@bibosi.scz.entelnet
Bosnia &	GISDATA Sarajevo
Herzegonvina	Phone: +387-71-646-905
	Fax:     +387-71-646-905
	Email:  boric.milosevic@gisdata.hr
	Web:    www.gisdata.com
Botswana	See South Africa
Brazil	GEMPI
	Phone: +55-11-853-9277
	Fax: +55-11-852-5585
	Email: gempi@br.homeshopping.com.br
Brunei	See Singapore
Bulgaria	GIS Invest
	Phone: +359-2-560871
	Fax: +359-2-567195
	Email: gisinv@virbus.bg
Burma	See Thailand
Burundi	See Kenya
Cambodia	See Thailand
Canada (technical support)	ESRI-Canada, Toronto (Head Office)
	Phone: +416-441-0337
	Fax: +416-441-6838
	Email: support@esri.ca
Canada	ESRI-Canada, Toronto (Head Office)
	Phone: +416-441-6035
	Fax: +416-441-6838
	Email: info@esri.ca
	Web:   www.esri.ca
	Quebec Region
	ESRI-Canada Limited (Montreal)
	Phone: +514-875-8568
	Fax: +514-875-9362
	Email: quebecsales@esri.ca
	Pacific Region
	ESRI-Canada Limited (Vancouver)
	Phone: +604-682-4652
	Fax: +604-682-5692
	Email: pacificsales@esri.ca
	Atlantic Region
	ESRI-Canada Limited (Halifax)
	Phone: +902-423-5199
	Fax: +902-492-3912
	Email: atlanticsales@esri.ca
	Prairies Region
	ESRI-Canada Limited (Edmonton)
	Phone: +403-262-3774
	Fax: +403-263-4023
	Email: prairiesales@esri.ca
Chile	INCOM
	Phone: +56-2-233-9935
	Fax: +56-2-251-9369
	Email: jesilva@incom.cl
	Web:   www.incom.cl
China	Super Full Technology Co., Ltd.
	Phone: +86-10-6554-1618-21
	Fax: +86-10-6554-4600
	Email:  officxsf@public3.bta.net.cn
	salesxsf@public3.bta.net.cn
	techxsf@public3.bta.net.cn
Colombia	PROSIS S.A.
	Phone: +57-1-635-7350
	Fax: +57-1-635-7260
	Email: hgutierr@prosis.com
	Web:   www.prosis.com
Costa Rica	Geotecnologias S.A
	Phone: +506-280-5479
	Fax: +506-253-8907
	Email: geogis@sol.racsa.co.cr
Croatia	GISDATA d.o.o.
	Phone: +385-1-233-8555
	Fax: +385-1-233-8525
	Email: andrej.loncaric@gisdata.hr
	Web:   www.gisdata.si
Cyprus	See Greece
Czech Republic	ARCDATA Prague
	Phone: +420-2-249-11310
	Fax: +420-2-249-11309
	Email: marketing@arcdata.cz
Denmark	Informi GIS A/S
	Phone: +45-45-28-00-00
	Fax: +45-45-93-34-44
	Email: klausg@informi.dk
	Web:   www.informi.dk
Djibouti	See Kenya
Ecuador	IDS
	Phone: +593-2-527-882
	Fax: +593-2-501-070
	Email:  ortegaj@uio.satnet.net
Egypt	Quality Standards
	Phone: +20-2-361-2344
	Fax: +20-2-360-4899
	Email: s_awad@gse.ie-eg.com
El Salvador	GBM El Salvador
	Phone: +503-289-5011
	Fax: +503-289-2838
	Email: fcaceres@gbm.net
Eritrea	See Kenya
Estonia	See Finland
Ethiopia	See Kenya
Fiji	See New Zealand
Finland	Meridian Systems Oy
	Phone: +358-9-469-0500
	Fax: +358-9-469-0501
	Email: esri-marketing@meridian.fi
	Web:   www.meridian.fi
France	ESRI-France
	Phone: +33-1-462-36060
	Fax: +33-1-450-70560
	Email: avant-vente@esri.fr
Germany	ESRI-Germany
	Phone: +49-8166-677-0
	Fax: +49-8166-677-111
	Email: info@esri.de
Ghana	SAMBUS Company Ltd.
	Phone: +233-21-773-883
	Fax: +233-21-777-082
	Email: sambus@ncs.com.gh
Greece	Marathon Data Systems
	Phone: +30-1-689-8866   +30-1-689-8868
	Fax: +30-1-689-8825
	Email: akontos@leon.nrcps.ariadne-t.gr
Greenland	See Denmark
Grenada	See Jamaica
Honduras	Ingenieria Gerencial
	Phone: +504-225-3756
	Fax:     +504-225-4540
	Email:   igesa@gbm.hn
Hong Kong	Horizon Technologies
	Phone: +852-2730-6883
	Fax: +852-2730-3772
	Email:  wtang@esri.com.hk
Hungary	Geocomp, Ltd.
	Phone: +361-452-1230
	Fax: +361-452-1231
	Email: geocomp@ind.eunet.hu
Iceland	See Norway
India	ESRI-India (National Institute of Information Technology [NIIT] GIS Ltd.)
	Phone: +91-11-620-3801
	Fax: +91-11-620-3838
	Email: dineshg@niitdel.niit.co.in
Indonesia	ESRI-South Asia
	Phone: +62-21-570-7685
	Fax: +62-21-570-7686
	Email:  rina@esri.co.id
Ireland	See United Kingdom
Israel	Systematics Technologies
	Phone: +972-3-649-5111
	Fax: +972-3-647-1094
	Email: yossil@systematics.co.il
Italy	ESRI-Italia
	Phone: +39-6-406-961
	Fax: +39-6-4069-6800
	Email: sgizzi@esri.it
	Web:   www.esri.it
Ivory Coast	See France
Jamaica	Fujitsu-ICL Caribbean Ltd.
	Phone: +809-926-7567
	Fax: +809-929-6645
	Email: silburn@fj-icl.com
	Web:   www.fj-icl.com
Japan	PASCO Corporation
	Phone: +81-3-3715-1601
	Fax: +81-3-3715-1607
	Email: kikaku@pasco.co.jp
Jordan	InfoGraph
	Phone: +962-65-603-546
	Fax: +962-65-602-891
	Email: infograph@globalone.com.jo
Kazakhstan	See Russia
Kenya	Thunder International
	Phone: +254-2-718321 +254-2-721852
	Fax: +254-2-721852
	Email:  tikenya@form-net.com
Korea	CADLAND, Inc.
	Phone: +82-2-3473-4888   +82-2-557-3766
	Fax: +82-2-3474-2090
	Email: cadland@inet.co.kr
Kuwait	Diyar United Trading and Contracting Co.
	Phone: +965-434-0560
	Fax: +965-431-5107
	Email: e.arab@duc.com.kw
Latvia	See Finland
Laos	See Thailand
Lebanon	Khatib & Alami
	Phone: +961-1-868478
	Fax: +357-462-5753
	Email: info@gis.kacec.com.lb
Lesotho	See South Africa
Lithuania	HNIT-Baltic GeoInfoServisas
	Phone: +370-2-250-575
	Fax: +370-2-250-576
	Email:  info@hnit-baltic.lt
Luxembourg	See The Netherlands
Macau	See Hong Kong
Macedonia	GISDATA Skopje
	Phone: +389-91-205-838
	Fax: +389-91-126-077
	Email:  gisdata@unet.com.mk
	Web:    www.gisdata.hr
Madagascar	See France
Malawi	See South Africa
Malaysia	ESRI-South Asia
	Phone: +60-3-757-9930
	Fax: +60-3-757-9679
	Email: daniel@esri.com.my
Malta	Panta Computer Co. Ltd.
	Phone: +356-492-741
	Fax: +356-492-744
	Email:  acamilleri@panta-computer.com
Mexico	Sistemas de Informacion Geografica, S.A.
	Phone: +52-5-575-4585   +52-5-575-6690
	Fax: +52-5-575-2146
	Email: adavila@iserve.net.mx
	Web:    www.geocentro.com
Moldova (Republic of)	See Romania
Monaco	See France
Morocco	Geomatic
	Phone: +2122-200163
	Fax: +2122-223867
	Email:  uc@mbox.azure.net
Myanmar	See Thailand
Namibia	See South Africa
Netherlands	Logisterion b.v.
	Phone: +31-10-217-0700
	Fax: +31-10-413-9693
	Email: herbold@logisterion.nl
Netherland Antilles	See Barbados
New Zealand	Eagle Technology Group
	Phone: +64-9-300-3400
	Fax: +64-9-300-3440
	Email: bruce_harold@eagle.co.nz
	Web:   www.eagle.co.nz/eagle/ etframe.htm
Norway	Geodata AS
	Phone: +47-2-290-1800
	Fax: +47-2-290-1890
	Email: olbjorn@geodata.no
	Web:   www.geodata.no
Oman	Khatib & Alami Consolidated Engineering Co.
	Phone: +968-602-016   +968-602-076
	Fax: +968-602-098
	Email:  knamct@gto.net.com
Pakistan	Pakistan Resources Development Services, Ltd.
	Phone: +92-21-453-0926
	Fax: +92-21-453-4619
	Email: sales@prds.isb.erum.com.pk
Panama	GeoInfo Internacional, S.A.
	Phone: +507-223-8162
	Fax: +507-223-7885
	Email: geoinfo@pananet.com
Paraguay	See Chile
Peru	Telematica
	Phone: +511-421-6690
	Fax: +511-221-7800
	Email: info@telematica.com.pe
	Web:   www.digicomp.com.pe
Philippines	Geodata Systems Technologies, Inc.
	Phone: +63-2-637-4447/8
	Fax:    +63-2-633-6873
	Email: geodata@mozcom.com
Poland	ESRI-Poland
	Phone: +48-22-256-482
	Fax: +48-22-255-705
	Email: esripol@ikp.atm.com.pl
Portugal	Octopus
	Phone: +351-1-793-1274
	Fax: +351-1-795-4451
	Email: market@octopus.pt
	Web:   www.octopus.pt
Qatar	Mannai Trading Company
	Phone: +974-412-555
	Fax: +974-411-982
	Email:  VENU@QATAR.NET.QA
Romania	Geosystems-Romania
	Phone:  +40-1-231-13-81
	Fax:  +40-1-231-12-77
	Email:   geosystems@starnets.ro
Russia	DATA+
	Phone: +7-095-254-9335
	Fax: +7-095-254-6565
	Email: market@dataplus.msk.su
Rwanda	See Kenya
St. Lucia	See Barbados
Saudi Arabia	Moammar Information Systems
	Phone:  +966-1-463-1270
	Fax:  +966-1-465-9035
	Email:  mismail@khaleej.net.bh
Senegal	See France
Singapore	ESRI-South Asia
	Phone: +65-735-8755
	Fax: +65-735-5629
	Email:  jdurana@esri.com.sg
Slovak Republic	ArcGEO Information Systems Spol.s.r.o.
	Phone: +421-7-5787-313
	Fax: +421-7-5787-314
Slovenia	GISDATA  d.o.o.
	Phone: +386-61-314-457
	Fax: +386-61-1323-336
	Email: gisdata.support@gisdata.si
	Web:   www.gisdata.si
South Africa	GIMS
	Phone: +271-1-315-0390
	Fax: +271-1-315-0395
	Email: patrick@gims.com
Spain	ESRI-Spain
	Phone: +34-1-559-4375
	Fax: +34-1-559-7071
	Email: info@esri.es
Sri Lanka	EMSO Limited
	Phone: +94-1-435-059
	Fax: +94-1-447-881
Suriname	ICAD n.v.
	Phone: +597-400150
	Fax: +597-401314
	Email: icad@leda.sr.net
Sweden	ESRI-Sweden
	Phone: +46-23-84090
	Fax: +46-23-84485
	Email:  info@esri.se
	Web:   www.esri.se
Switzerland	ESRI-Germany (Swiss Office)
	Phone: +41-1-364-1964
	Fax: +41-1-364-1969
	Email:  info@esri.ch
Syria	Hi-Tech House
	Phone: +963-11-542-8071
	Fax: +963-11-542-2832
Taiwan	Hitron Technology Inc.
	Phone: +886-2-298-3456
	Fax: +886-2-298-2200
	Email: chuck@hg.ht.net.tw
Tanzania	See Kenya
Thailand	ESRI-Thailand
	Phone: +66-2-678-0707
	Fax: +66-2-678-0321-3
	Email:  krairop.l@cdg.co.th
Tobago	See Trinidad
Trinidad	Fujitsu-ICL Caribbean
	Phone: +809-623-2826/2827/2828
	Fax: +809-623-4314
	Email: jinnah@fj-icl.com
	Web:    www.fj-icl.com
Tunisia	Graphtech
	Phone: +216-1-767-042
	Fax:     +216-1-750-454
	Email:   Magdi.gaafar@graphtech.com.tn
Turkey	Islem GIS
	Phone: +90-312-468-0830
	Fax: +90-312-467-4148
	Email: mtankut@islem.com.tr
UAE	See United Arab Emirates
Uganda	See Kenya
Ukraine	ECOMM
	Phone: +380-44-294-4218
	Fax: +380-44-261-1992
	Email: es@ecomm.kiev.ua
United Arab Emirates	GISTEC
	Phone:  +971-6-723-636
	Fax:      +971-6-724-490
	Email:   gistec@emirates.net.ae
United Kingdom	ESRI-(UK)
	Phone: +44-1-923-210-450
	Fax: +44-1-923-210-739
	Email: info@esriuk.com
United States of America	ESRI
	Phone:  +909-793-2853
	Fax:      +909-307-3070
	Email:   info@esri.com
	Web:     www.esri.com
Uruguay	See Argentina
Venezuela	Grupo ESRI de Venezuela
	Phone: +58-2-285-1134
	Fax: +58-2-285-0714
	Email: esriccs@ven.net
Vietnam	See Thailand
Yemen	NATCO
	Phone: +967-1-267-795
	Fax:     +967-1-267-796
	Email:  NATCO.BISI@Y.NET.YE
Zambia	See South Africa
Zimbabwe	See South Africa
Everywhere else	ESRI-Redlands
	International Marketing
	Phone: +909-793-2853 ext 1235
	Fax: +909-793-5953
	Email: intl-mktg@esri.com
	ESRI-Europe
	Phone: +31-10-217-0690
	Fax: +31-10-217-0691
	Email: avanwing@esri.com and europe@esri.com


Gnomonic map projection

The Gnomonic projection is an azimuthal projection that uses the center of the Earth as its perspective point. All great circles are straight lines, regardless of the aspect. This is a useful projection for routes of navigation because the great circles highlight routes with the shortest distance.

Method of projection    This is a planar perspective projection, viewed from the center of the globe.  The projection can be any aspect.

Point of tangency

A single point anywhere on the globe.

Polar aspect: North Pole or South Pole.

Equatorial aspect: Any point along the Equator.

Oblique aspect: Any other point.

Linear graticules    All meridians and the Equator.

Properties

Shape    Increasingly distorted from the center, moderate distortion within 30 degrees of the center point.

Area    Distortion increases with distance from the center; moderate distortion within a 30-degree radius of the center.

Direction    Accurate from the center.

Distance    No line has an accurate scale, and the amount of distortion increases with distance from the center.

Scalar distortion for Polar Aspect

Degrees from Center 	 15.0	30.0	45.0 	60.0

Meridian Distortion (%)	7.2	33.3	100.0	300.0

Latitude Distortion (%)	3.5 	15.5	41.4	100.0

Limitations

This projection is limited by its perspective point and cannot project a line that is 90 degrees or more from the center point; this means that the equatorial aspect cannot project the poles, and the polar aspects cannot project the Equator.

A radius of 30 degrees produces moderate distortion, as indicated in the table above. This projection should not be used more than about 60 degrees from the center.

Uses and applications

 All aspects: Routes of navigation for sea and air.

 Polar aspect: Navigational maps of polar regions.

 Equatorial aspect: Navigational maps of Africa and the tropical region of South America.


Graticule_and_Grid_Tool_Extension
Graticules and Measured Grids extension

The Graticule and Grid Tool extension gives you the ability to create a customized graphic representation of a graticule or measured grid on a  view frame in your layout.

A graticule is set of lines and labels that represent the locations of latitude and longitude. The following display options are available:

 Labels and tic marks at the edge of the view frame, or additionally include line of latitude and longitude on top of the viewframe.

 The interval in Degrees, Minutes, and Seconds, for latitude and longitude.  The Wizard will initially display a value that should work well for your viewframe.

 The style of the symbols that will be used to represent the labels and lines in your graticule.

A measured grid is set of lines or tic marks and labels that represent linear distance in meters on your viewframe. This is unlike an index grid which imposes arbitrarily sized cells over a map that are used to index the features on the map. The origin for the measured grid is the center of the viewframe. The following display options are available:

 The interval in meters for the grid.  The Wizard will initially display a value that should work well for your viewframe.

 The style of the symbols that will be used to represent the labels and lines in your grid.

You also have options for displaying borders around your viewframe or graticule or grid.  You can choose the line style and text alignment for borders.

If the viewframe you are using contains projected data, then you will only be able to place a measured grid around it.


Grayscale images

Grayscale images do not contain a colormap. The pixel values in the image are interpreted as gray shades with lower pixel values assigned darker shades of gray. Grayscale images usually require 256 shades of gray.

ArcView assigns gray shades to specific pixel values of an image depending upon the information available about the range of pixel values in the image. If the range can be determined (without reading the entire image file), a linear contrast stretch is performed on the image when it is displayed. For example, the statistics file (.sta extension) accompanying an ERDAS .lan image contains the minimum and maximum pixel values in the image from which a contrast stretch can be performed. When no information about the range of pixel values is available, no contrast stretch is performed.

See also

Editing an image's legend

Supported image formats


Great Britain
Great Britain National Grid

The Great Britain National Grid is a Transverse Mercator on the Airy spheroid. The central meridian is scaled to 0.9996. The Origin is 49 degrees N and 2 degrees W.

Method of projection    Cylindrical, transverse projection with the central meridian centered along a particular region.

Lines of secancy    Two lines parallel with and 180 km from the central meridian at 2 degrees W.

Linear graticules    The central meridian.

Properties

Shape    Conformal, therefore small shapes are maintained accurately.

Area    Distortion increases beyond Great Britain as the distance from the central meridian increases.

Direction    Local directions are maintained accurately.

Distance    Scale is accurate along the lines of secancy 180 km from the central meridian. Scale is compressed between the lines of secancy and expanded beyond them.

Limitations

Suitable for Great Britain. Limited in east-west extent.

Uses and applications

 The national projection for Great Britain, used for large-scale topographic mapping.


Hammer-Aitoff

The Hammer-Aitoff projection is a modification of the Lambert Azimuthal Equal-Area projection.

Method of projection     Modified azimuthal. The central meridian is a straight line half as long as the Equator. The other meridians are complex curves, concave toward the central meridian, and unequally spaced along the Equator. The Equator is a straight line, all other parallels are complex curves, concave toward the nearest pole, and unequally spaced along the central meridian.

Point of tangency     Central meridian at the Equator.

Linear graticules     The Equator and central meridian are the only straight lines.

Properties

Shape     Distortion increases away from the origin.

Area     Equal-area.

Direction     Local angles are true only at the center.

Distance     Scale decreases along the Equator and central meridian as distance from the origin increases.

Limitations

Useful only as a world map.

Uses and applications

 Thematic maps of the whole world.


HOME

ArcView uses the HOME directory for your default working directory and the initial current directory.

If your have defined HOME through your operating system, ArcView uses that value. If you have not specified HOME, ArcView attempts to establish HOME in its startup script. ArcView looks for a writable directory searching for environment variables TEMP, CWD and AVHOME. If ArcView cannot find a writable directory in one of these three options, you will get a warning message when you start ArcView instructing you to define HOME.


Hotine Oblique Mercator map projection
Hotine Oblique Mercator

The Hotine Oblique Mercator map projection is used for Alaska State Plane Zone 1.

See also

Oblique Mercator map projection


How to get help

To find out what a button, tool, or menu choice does

 Move the cursor over it but do not select it. A short description will appear in the status bar. (Not available for menu choices on some platforms.)

To get help about a button, tool, or menu choice

1	Click the Help button [image].

2	Click the button, tool, or menu choice you want to get help about.

To get help about a dialog box

 Press the F1 key on your keyboard when the dialog box is displayed.

To browse the contents of ArcView's help

1	From the Help menu, choose Help Topics.

2	Click the Contents tab.

To search the index of ArcView's help

1	From the Help menu, choose Help Topics.

2	Click the Index tab.

To search ArcView's help for a particular word

1	From the Help menu, choose Help Topics.

2	Click the Find tab.

To get help about the currently selected class, request or enumeration in a script

1	Double-click or drag-select the term you want help for in the script you are working on.

2	Click the Script Help button [image].


How to obtain data for use in ArcView

Data that comes with ArcView

ArcView comes with a full set of ready-to-use general purpose data. For many applications, you'll find this is the only data you need. You can use this data by itself to create maps in ArcView. You can also use this data as a base to which to add your own data. For example, you can make a map of the world and then add your own tabular data about the world's countries and cities to the map.

ESRI's ArcData program

A full range of off-the-shelf geographic data is available from ESRI and its business partners via the ArcData program. This data offers a very cost-effective way to acquire GIS capabilities, especially as, in most cases, you'll immediately be able to use ArcView to join your own tabular attribute files to ArcData for display, query and analysis. Look for the information in the ArcView software package about how to get your copy of the ArcData catalog, or see our web page at http://www.esri.com.

Other third party data suppliers

An increasing number of third party companies are making data available in ARC/INFO and shapefile format. These include not only commercial data suppliers, but also local, state and national government agencies and academic institutions. Many users of GIS are willing to share their data with other interested users.

Finding data on the Internet

Data that can be used in ArcView is being made available on the Internet by many organizations and agencies. An excellent starting point is the US Federal Geographic Data Committee's web page at http://www.fgdc.gov. On this page, the National Geospatial Data Clearinghouse contains links to hundreds of organizations that maintain and provide GIS data, both in the US and around the world. In some cases, you can download the data directly and use it in ArcView.

ESRI's web page (http://www.esri.com) also contains links to organizations that maintain and provide GIS data. From the web page you can check out the Data Hound: it's a good place to start your quest for data. The Data Hound offers links to other GIS sites that offer free, downloadable data.

Other data formats

In addition to ARC/INFO coverages and ArcView shapefiles, ArcView also supports many other formats, such as CAD drawings (via its CAD Reader extension), various image formats, and MapInfo Interchange files (via the MIFSHAPE utility. See Overview of data you can use in ArcView and How to work with data from other sources.

Using tabular data

In ArcView, any tabular data containing X,Y coordinates can be displayed on a view as point features. In addition, tables containing references to geographic features such as street addresses can be given X,Y coordinates in ArcView by geocoding. This means that in most cases you don't need to manually digitize geographic data that is tied to point locations. Instead, you can display your existing tabular files directly on a view.

Tabular data for use in ArcView can be created and edited using almost any spreadsheet, database, word processor or editor that can save files in the supported formats. See Adding tabular data.

Creating spatial data in ArcView

You can create your own spatial data in ArcView. You can use existing data as a base for your new data, or you can create spatial datasets entirely from scratch. You can input features using the mouse or, with ArcView's Digitizer extension, a digitizing tablet.

Creating spatial data with other ESRI products

You can create spatial data for use in ArcView with ESRI's other GIS products. Contact ESRI Marketing for details about any of these and other products:

 ARC/INFO has a complete range of digitizing, production, conversion and editing tools.

 PC ARC/INFO has a similar set of data creation tools for use on PCs.

 ArcCAD, ESRI's GIS product that runs with AutoCAD, lets you digitize maps using AutoCAD and then convert them, or your existing AutoCAD drawings, into ARC/INFO coverages.

Service bureau and GIS consultants

In the event you have a special requirement for custom geographic data that you can't meet through ESRI's ArcData program, other third parties or by creating the data yourself, one solution is to contact one of the many service bureaus or GIS consulting companies who can produce data in ARC/INFO format to your specification. ESRI also offers these services through its production and application consulting divisions. Contact ESRI Marketing for details.

This production work may involve digitizing or scanning your original hardcopy maps and documents, interpreting air photographs and images, converting your existing digital data into ARC/INFO format, or carrying out field surveys.


How to Register Your Software

Users in the United States will receive the following benefits when they register their desktop software:

 60 days of complimentary technical support for new purchases.

(period begins with your first call for support)

 30 days of complimentary technical support for all upgrades.

(period begins with your first call for support)

 Complimentary subscription to ARC News.

(ESRI's quarterly newsletter)

 Special product announcements.

(get the latest news about our hot new products)

Users in the United States can register their desktop software by completing and mailing the ESRI Registration Card that came in the box, or by calling ESRI at (800) 447-9778.

Users outside of the United States should refer to the section in this document titled Getting Product Support Worldwide.


How to work with data from other sources

ArcView can work directly with a variety of data formats. For data formats that are not directly supported by ArcView, data conversion utilities abound. Many data conversion utilities are listed below; however, the utilities are not limited to those listed here. Many other companies provide utilities for purchase; those are not listed here.

ADRG files

ARC Digitized Raster Graphics files can be added as themes if you load the ADRG Image Support extension.

ARC/INFO .e00 interchange files

Use one of ArcView's IMPORT data conversion utilities to convert the file into a coverage which can be used as a theme source.

ARC/INFO coverages - converting to shapefile format

Both ARC/INFO and the Data Automation Kit (Windows only) provide conversion utilities which convert data from coverage format to shapefile format (SHAPEARC). Information about ARC/INFO or the Data Automation Kit can be found at www.esri.com or by contacting ESRI.

Atlas GIS Geo .agf files

Download the free translator from ESRI's web page at www.esri.com to convert the agf file into a shapefile. (ESRI also provides a shapefile-to-Atlas-Geo converter at the same location.)

Both ARC/INFO and the Data Automation Kit (Windows only) provide conversion utilities which convert data from Atlas format to a coverage (ATLASARC). Information about ARC/INFO or the Data Automation Kit can be found at www.esri.com or by contacting ESRI.

CAD drawings

ArcView supports MicroStation design (.dgn) files and two kinds of AutoCAD drawing files, .dwg files (Windows only) and .dxf files (Drawing Interchange files). Before you use CAD drawings in ArcView you must first load the CAD Reader extension.

ARC/INFO provides a conversion utility which converts data from DXF format to a coverage (DXFARC). Information about ARC/INFO can be found at www.esri.com or by contacting ESRI.

CADRG files

Compressed ARC Digitized Raster Graphics files can be added as themes if you load the CADRG Image Support extension.

CIB files

Controlled Image Base files can be added as themes if you load the CIB Image Support extension.

DLG

Both ARC/INFO and the Data Automation Kit (Windows only) provide conversion utilities which convert data from DLG format to a coverage (command name varies). Information about ARC/INFO or the Data Automation Kit can be found at www.esri.com or by contacting ESRI.

ER Mapper

To get shapefiles into ER Mapper, you can use the Shp2erv sample script, which can be found at ESRI's script pool at http://www.esri.com/arcscripts. The script exports a point, line, or polygon theme into an ER Mapper vector file.

GPS data

You can use the GPS2Shp sample script which can be found in AVHOME\samples\scripts, or you can use the Tracking Analyst extension to read GPS data in ArcView.

IMAGINE files

ERDAS IMAGINE files can be added as themes if you load the IMAGINE image extension.

JPEG files

JPEG image files can be added as themes and into layouts if you load the JPEG image extension.

MapInfo .mif/.mid files

Use the MIFSHAPE data conversion utility to convert mif files into shapefiles. (A conversion utility to convert shapefiles to mif files can be found at ESRI's web site at http://www.esri.com/arcscripts.)

NITF files

National Image Transfer Format files can be added as themes if you load the NITF Image Support extension.

Surfer

To get shapefiles into Surfer, you can use the Shape2DXF_30 sample script, which can be found at ESRI's script pool at http://www.esri.com/arcscripts. The DXF can then be brought into Surfer.

TIGER

Both ARC/INFO and the Data Automation Kit (Windows only) provide conversion utilities which convert data from TIGER format to a coverage. Information about ARC/INFO or the Data Automation Kit can be found at www.esri.com or by contacting ESRI.

USGS DEM file

A United States Geological Survey Digital Elevation Model can be imported directly into ArcView using either the Spatial Analyst or 3D Analyst extensions.

US DMA DTED

United States Defense Mapping Agency Digital Terrain Elevation Data file can be imported directly into ArcView using either the Spatial Analyst or 3D Analyst extensions.

VPF

Vector Product Format data can be read directly into ArcView as long as the VPF Viewer extension is loaded.

Is the format you're interested in not listed above?

New conversion utilities are being written all the time. Be sure to check in with ESRI's web page at www.esri, and check the User Scripts section for other conversion utilities. Specifically see http://www.esri.com/arcscripts for Avenue scripts.

ARC/INFO provides a full complement of data converters, as does the Data Automation Kit (DAK) (Windows only). Information about ARC/INFO or the DAK can be found at www.esri.com or by contacting ESRI.

Company names and software names are registered trademarks of their respective owners.

Web page locations are subject to change without notice.

Please read the disclaimer before using any sample scripts and extensions found on ESRI's web pages.


Image catalogs

An image catalog is an organized collection of spatially referenced geographic images that can be accessed as one logical image theme. Image catalogs typically contain images that depict the same thematic information for a given geographic area of interest.

Add image catalogs to a view as you would a single image. See To add an image catalog for more information.

An image catalog can be stored in either an INFO or dBASE file.

The legend of image theme created from an image catalog is based on the first image found in the image catalog. All legend settings from the first image in the image catalog are used for each image in the image catalog except the lookup. Each image in an image catalog is stretched with a separate linear lookup. The linear lookup is the default two standard deviation linear lookup based on the statistics available for the image. Only ERDAS .lan, BIL/BIP/BSQ, GRID, and IMAGINE images carry statistics with the image, so all other image formats will not actually be stretched.

The linear and interval stretching methods in the image legend dialog are disabled for image themes based on image catalogs.

For image catalogs which are on UNIX but are accessed from Windows, ArcView must be able to find the pathnames across the network. See Drive Mapping for more information.

How to create your own image catalog

If you have a number of images that you would like to work with as one theme, you can create your own image catalog. For example, you may have a series of air photographs covering a particular study area, or a sequence of contiguous satellite images, and you want to be able to add these to your view as one theme instead of lots of individual themes.

Ideally, there should be at least a two pixel overlap between neighboring images in the image catalog to reduce the chance of gaps between the images during display. Any of ArcView’s supported image formats can be placed into an image catalog. ArcView determines how it will display the images in an image catalog based on the characteristics of the first image in the catalog, so it’s important that all images in a catalog are of the same type: all black and white, all grayscale, all pseudocolor, or all true color.

To create your own image catalog

1   Find out the spatial extent of each image. The spatial extent of an image is the x,y coordinate of the top left corner of the top left pixel in the image, and the x,y coordinate of the bottom right corner of the bottom right pixel in the image. An easy way to find out the spatial extents of the images you wish to add to an image catalog is to create a new view and add each image to it as an individual theme. Then, for each of these themes, click the Theme Properties button . The Definition panel of the dialog that appears shows you the spatial extent of the image in terms of the Left, Right, Top and Bottom coordinates. Write these values down. (Once you’ve got the values, you can delete the view you created).

2   Create a new table in ArcView in which to store the definition of the image catalog. Add five fields to the table with the names shown below, in the same order. The field names must be in upper case. You can choose any field width and number of decimal places for these fields that is appropriate for your data. For example, the IMAGE field you add should be wide enough to accommodate the full pathname of each image in your image catalog.

Field Name	Type	Description

IMAGE	String	The full pathname to image

XMIN	Number	The image’s minimum extent in the X-axis

YMIN	Number	The image’s minimum extent in the Y-axis

XMAX	Number	The image’s maximum extent in the X-axis

YMAX	Number	The image’s maximum extent in the Y-axis

3   Add the names of the images as records to the new table. For each image you want in the image catalog, enter the full pathname in the IMAGE field. Then enter the image’s extent in the XMIN, YMIN, XMAX, and YMAX fields.

ArcView will use the x,y coordinates stored in this image catalog definition table only to decide which image to display as you change the extent of a view to which you have added this image catalog. The coordinates are not used to register the images to geographic space. Each image must be individually registered before being placed in an image catalog. The coordinates in the image catalog take precedence over those stored with the image in cases where the coordinates differ.

4   Choose Stop Editing from the Table menu and save your changes. The table is saved as a dBASE file. If you want this image catalog definition table to be saved in INFO format, choose Export from the File menu. Once you have saved the table, you do not need to retain it in your project. You can now add this image catalog to any view, as described above.


Image data

An image is a graphic representation or description of an object that is typically produced by an optical or electronic device. Some common examples of image data include remotely sensed data, such as satellite data, scanned data, and photographs.

Image data is a form of raster data where each grid-cell, or pixel, has a certain value depending on how the image was captured and what it represents. For example, if the image is a remotely sensed satellite image, each pixel represents light energy reflected from a portion of the Earth's surface. If, however, the image is a scanned document, each pixel represents a brightness value associated with a particular point on the document.

With ArcView you can display image data and feature-based spatial data together in views. ArcView can display and print black and white, grayscale, pseudocolor and true color images. You can also include them in a layout.

To add an image to a view, see Adding a theme to a view.

To change the way an image looks and to derive additional information from an image you can edit an image's legend.

Images are often used as the background to views, with spatial data being drawn on top of them. Themes representing images are therefore normally moved to the bottom of the view's Table of Contents, so that they are drawn on the view first.

The main difference between image data and feature-based spatial data is that images do not contain attribute data about the features they show.

Image types

The range of values the pixels in an image can assume depends upon the number of bits (binary digit) used to store pixel data. The more bits, the greater the range of possible values. For example, if one bit is used to store pixel values, the number of unique values that can be expressed is 2¹, or two. With eight bits, 2 [image]  or 256 unique values can be expressed.

Image data can be organized in a number of ways depending upon the particular image format. Typically, the image data file contains a header record that stores information about the image such as the number of rows and columns in the image, the number of bits per pixel, the color requirements and the georeferencing information. Following the image header is the actual pixel data for the image. The internal organization of the image data is dependent upon the image format. Some formats contain only a single band of data, while others contain multiple bands.

There are four types of images:

 monochrome

 pseudocolor

 grayscale

 true color/multiband

Each image type has its own characteristics. ArcView supports all of the above types of images in any one of several formats.

Each image type has a different format. Some represent data with one or eight bits per pixel and others use sixteen, twenty-four or thirty-two bits. Some formats are uncompressed while others reduce storage requirements by compressing the data.

See also

Editing an image's legend

Supported image formats

How images are registered to a map

Image resampling


IMAGINE

IMAGINE (.img) files are produced using the IMAGINE image processing software created by ERDAS.

To use IMAGINE images with ArcView you must first load the IMAGINE image extension.

By default, ArcView looks for IMAGINE images when they have these file extensions:

 .img

To modify the extensions list, use the ISrc.SetExtensions request.

The following is not supported by ArcView for the IMAGINE image file format:

 Floating point data.

 Signed data.

 Special stretches and display filters. ArcView will use the statistics found in the IMAGINE image file to apply a 2 standard deviation linear stretch by default.

The IMAGINE image file format is proprietary. For more information contact ERDAS US corporate headquarters:

ERDAS

2801 Buford Highway NE

Atlanta, Georgia 30329-2137

USA

(404) 248-9000

For users outside the US, obtain information on who to contact from their web page at www.erdas.com.

See also

ERDAS image formats


IMPORT71 utility (Windows ArcView)

IMPORT71 is a stand-alone program that converts an ARC/INFO interchange file created on any other operating system into a ARC/INFO 7.x coverage or grid. If you receive ARC/INFO data in interchange format you can use IMPORT71 to convert it to a data source in a format that can be added to a project or view in ArcView.

IMPORT71 ships with ArcView for Windows (NT and 95) and appears as a program item in the ArcView program group. To run IMPORT71, double-click the IMPORT71 program item in the ArcView program group to display the dialog box. You can also run the program from the MS-DOS prompt, passing the parameters on the command line. The executable is located in the installation bin32 directory.

Note that IMPORT71 automatically senses the type of file to be imported and performs a UNIX-to-DOS conversion.

When to use IMPORT versus IMPORT71

ArcView ships with two import utilities. Use this table to decide which is right for you.

IMPORT71	IMPORT
Double precision (if the export file was created from a double precision data source)	Single precision. Can accept export files created of double precision data sources, but truncates output to single precision unless the SHIFT parameter is used
No restrictions on data source size	10000 arcs per polygon
Creates an 8.3 workstation ARC/INFO 7.x workspace (INFO)	Creates a PC ARC/INFO coverage (dBASE)
Supports import of all formats supported by the ARC/INFO EXPORT command (except TINs and fonts).	Supports import of all features classes (except subclasses and nodes), grids and INFO files.
Dialog box options

Export filename - the exported filename. Include the file’s .e00 extension. Use Browse to locate the file you which to import if you wish.

Output data source - the name of the data source you will create. Use Browse to locate the folder in which you wish to create the data source. Note, however, that you will still need to enter a file name for the output data source - Browse only lets you pick the directory to store it in.

Command line Syntax

IMPORT71 	[interchange_file] [output] {/T}

[interchange_file] - the prefix name of the ARC/INFO interchange file to be converted to a coverage or database data file. You can supply a pathname as part of the specification. The source of the data creates an interchange file with a command named EXPORT. [interchange_file] may consist of more than one physical file when the maximum number of lines one file can contain was reached before all data was converted during EXPORT. EXPORT always appends .Enn (where nn is a number 00-99) to each physical file of an interchange file as it is created in order to keep multiple files in order. Therefore, if [interchange_file] contains the coverage RIVERS, the following physical files may exist:

RIVERS.E00, RIVERS.E01, RIVERS.E02, and so on up to RIVERS.E99.

Do not specify the extension when entering [interchange_file]. IMPORT71 will convert every file it finds with a prefix [interchange_file] and an extension of .Enn.

[output] - the name of the file to create.

{/T} - optional keyword to run in Test mode. If you do not use this option, the IMPORT71 dialog will appear containing the [interchange_file] and [output] information you specified on the command line. You must then press the OK button to start importing the file. If you use the /T option, the dialog does not appear but your file imports. Note that if you use this option you may not be offered warning messages if you enter any parameters incorrectly.

Examples

The following examples indicate how to run IMPORT71 from the DOS prompt from the directory that contains the executable. To run IMPORT71 from the program group, supply only the parameters when prompted.

C:\ARCVIEW3\BIN32> IMPORT71 C:\INTER\TRACTS.E00 C:\STDYAREA\TRACTS

Imports an interchange file named TRACTS.E00 from the C:\INTER directory and creates a coverage named TRACTS in the C:\STDYAREA workspace.

C:\ARCVIEW3\BIN32> IMPORT71 C:\INTER\MYGRID.E00 C:\GRIDS\MYGRID

Imports an interchange file named MYGRID.E00 from the C:\INTER directory and creates a grid named MYGRID in the C:\GRIDS directory.

Notes

 The precision of the data created by IMPORT71 is determined by the data the interchange file was created from. For example, if the interchange file was created from a double precision coverage, IMPORT71 import the coverage as double precision. However, if the interchange file was created from a single precision coverage, the file will be imported to a single precision coverage.

 IMPORT71 does not require a hardware key.

 IMPORT71 can read interchange files which contain either a LF, CR or CR/LF end of line sequence.

 Data created by IMPORT71 will not be accessible by PC ARC/INFO or ArcView version 1.0.

 The IMPORT71 utility must reside in the bin32 directory where you installed ArcView in order for it to run.


Importing ARC/INFO linesets that contain Linetype Marker or Linetype VertexMarker symbols

When you import ARC/INFO linesets that contain LINETYPE MARKER, or LINETYPE VERTEXMARKER symbols there are some details you will need to address. ArcView indirectly supports ARC/INFO line symbols that reference TrueType fonts for their marker symbols. If you have ARC/INFO line symbols that reference IGL or Postscript font characters, you will need to create TrueType versions of these fonts. See Creating your own fonts for additional information about creating TrueType fonts for use with ArcView.

In order for ArcView to make use of the TrueType font you used to create your ARC/INFO line symbols, you will need to rename that font using a third party font editing/conversion software package. Rename this font as follows:  "ESRI ArcInfo xxx", where xxx is the internal reference number that ARC/INFO used to map marker symbols from fonts, you can get this number by using the LINEINFO command in ArcPlot, it will immediately follow the word marker that denotes the linetype is of LINETYPE MARKER. This is not the number that shown when you use the ARC/INFO command SHOW TEXTFONT or the Font ID number in the $ARCHOME/locale/c/fontindex file.  This internal reference number is available in the font.ndx file in your ARC/INFO installation ($ARCHOME/etc/font.ndx).  See Software packages that edit or generate TrueType fonts if you do not already have software that can edit/rename fonts. The reason this is necessary is because ARC/INFO uses this only this internal reference number to identify the font within the LINESET. Once outside the ARC/INFO environment, i.e., ArcView on a PC, there’s no way for ArcView to know what font matched this internal reference number.

If you do not have a properly named version of the TrueType font you used in ARC/INFO, or you created your own TrueType font based on a IGL or PostScript font, you should still import your LINESET file because it contains all the other settings for each line symbol in that file. ArcView will preserve these settings, so all you will have to do is use Avenue to change the marker symbol property for each symbol that is imported.

Another potential consideration is which characters ArcView can use in a font. ArcView does not read characters in the ASCII ranges of 0-32 and 121-160. However, IGL fonts in ARC/INFO can use these ranges and therefore your line symbols that reference markers may refer to these marker symbols, making it impossible for ArcView to create the correct symbol.


IMPORT utility

IMPORT is a stand-alone program that converts an ARC/INFO interchange file (.e00) created on any other operating system into a data file. If you receive ARC/INFO data in interchange format you can use IMPORT to convert it to a data source in a format that can be added to a project or view in ArcView.

What do you want to do?

 Import an interchange file on Windows (into a PC ARC/INFO coverage)

 Import an interchange file on Windows (into workstation ARC/INFO format)

 Import an interchange file on UNIX


IMPORT utility (UNIX ArcView)

IMPORT is a stand-alone program that converts an ARC/INFO interchange file created on any other operating system into an ARC/INFO coverage or database data file. If you receive ARC/INFO data in interchange format you can use IMPORT to convert it to a data source in a format that can be added to a project or view in ArcView for UNIX.

IMPORT ships with ArcView for UNIX. The executable is located in the installation bin directory.

USAGE: IMPORT [interchange_file] [output]

[interchange_file] - the prefix name of the ARC/INFO interchange file to be converted to a coverage or database data file. You can supply a pathname as part of the specification. The source of the data creates an interchange file with an ARC command named EXPORT. [interchange_file] may consist of more than one physical file when the maximum number of lines one file can contain was reached before all data was converted during EXPORT. EXPORT always appends .enn (where nn is a number 00-99) to each physical file of an interchange file as it is created in order to keep multiple files in order. Therefore, if [interchange_file] contains the coverage RIVERS, the following physical files may exist:

rivers.e00, rivers.e01, rivers.e02, and so on up to rivers.E99.

[output] - the name of the coverage or database data file.

Note   If importing an interchange file that was created on a Windows machine, you may need to use a dos2unix utility on the interchange file before using IMPORT.

Example

The following example indicates how to run IMPORT from your UNIX workstation from the directory that contains the executable.

% cd <install_directory>/arcview3/bin

% import /user/soils.e00 /user/soils

Imports an interchange file named soils.e00 from the /user directory and creates a coverage named soils in the same directory.


IMPORT utility (Windows ArcView)

IMPORT is a stand-alone program that converts an ARC/INFO interchange file created on any other operating system into a PC ARC/INFO coverage or database data file. If you receive ARC/INFO data in interchange format you can use IMPORT to convert it to a data source in a format that can be added to a project or view in ArcView for Windows.

IMPORT ships with ArcView for Windows and appears as a program item in the ArcView program group. To run IMPORT, double-click the IMPORT program item in the ArcView program group or run the program from the MS-DOS prompt. The executable is located in the installation bin32 directory.

If you start IMPORT by double-clicking its program item, you'll be prompted for parameters. Supply the parameters based on the Syntax discussion below. If you run the program this way, you won't have to enter the command name itself, just the parameters. If you execute the program from the MS-DOS prompt or create a batch, you must specify the command name. If the installation bin32 directory is not in your PATH, supply the full path to the program.

Note that this version of IMPORT automatically senses the type of file to be imported and performs a UNIX-to-DOS conversion.

Syntax

IMPORT 	[interchange_file] [output] {SHIFT {x_shift} {y_shift}}

[interchange_file] - the prefix name of the ARC/INFO interchange file to be converted to a coverage or database data file. You can supply a pathname as part of the specification. The source of the data creates an interchange file with an ARC/INFO command named EXPORT. [interchange_file] may consist of more than one physical file when the maximum number of lines one file can contain was reached before all data was converted during EXPORT. EXPORT always appends .Enn (where nn is a number 00-99) to each physical file of an interchange file as it is created in order to keep multiple files in order. Therefore, if [interchange_file] contains the coverage RIVERS, the following physical files may exist:

RIVERS.E00, RIVERS.E01, RIVERS.E02, and so on up to RIVERS.E99.

There’s no need to specify the extension when entering [interchange_file]. IMPORT will convert every file it finds with a prefix [interchange_file] and an extension of .Enn.

[output] - the name of the data source to be created. You may include a full pathname.

SHIFT - a double precision interchange file will be imported. If the SHIFT keyword is not specified, IMPORT will display a warning message indicating that the data will be truncated, and the file will be imported to a single precision coverage.

{x_shift}  {y_shift} - the values to be subtracted from each X and Y coordinate value of [interchange - file].  Therefore, {x_shift} and {y_shift} must be positive numbers.

The values used by the SHIFT option to shift coordinate values are calculated as follows:

1	If {x_shift} and {y_shift} are specified, their values are used to shift the coordinates.

2	If {x_shift} and {y_shift} are not specified, or are both 0, IMPORT will use the values of the XYSHIFT.DBF file carried in the [interchange_file].

3	If {x_shift} and {y_shift} are not specified, or are both 0, and [interchange_file] does not contain an XYSHIFT.DBF file, the x and y coordinate values of the TIC that has the closest absolute value to 0,0 will be used to shift the coordinate values

Examples using IMPORT from the DOS prompt

The following examples indicate how to run IMPORT from the DOS prompt from the directory that contains the executable.

C:\ARCVIEW\BIN32> IMPORT C:\INTER\TRACTS C:\STDYAREA\TRACTS

Imports an interchange file named TRACTS.E00 from the C:\INTER directory and creates a coverage named TRACTS in the C:\STDYAREA workspace.

C:\ARCVIEW\BIN32> IMPORT C:\INTER\EXCOVPAT C:\COVERS\EXCOV

Imports an interchange file named EXCOVPAT.E00 from the C:\INTER directory and creates a database data file named EXCOV.DBF in the C:\COVERS directory.

C:\ARCVIEW\BIN32> IMPORT C:\PROPERTY\PARCELS PARCELS SHIFT

Imports a double precision interchange file named PARCELS.E00 from the C:\PROPERTY directory and creates a PC ARC/INFO (dBASE) coverage named PARCELS in the current directory. The coverage is converted to double precision based on the contents of the XYSHIFT.DBF information stored in the PARCELS.E00 file.

Example using IMPORT from the program group

To run IMPORT from the program group, double-click the icon, then supply only the parameters when prompted.

Importing ARC/INFO 7.x data formats

This version of IMPORT does not support the conversion of workstation ARC/INFO grids, route systems, region data sources, node attributes, or annotation TAT files. Only the attribute tables are imported, as .INF files. If your .e00 file contains these data types, you have two options:

1	You can use the IMPORT71 utility.

2	If you or your data provider have ARC/INFO version 7.x, you can move the data directly onto a PC by using the 8.3 file naming convention for coverages and workspaces. Data in this format can be moved without conversion. Please consult the appropriate ARC/INFO documentation for details.

Notes

 If IMPORT detects a polygon with more than 10000 arcs in the export file, it will abort, leaving the output coverage incomplete. You will have to clean up any temporary files created.

 IMPORT does not require a hardware key.

 IMPORT does not work with the Hamilton C Shell under Windows NT. It does work under the MS-DOS shell.

 For best results, ensure the [interchange_file] prefix is 8 characters or less.

 IMPORT can read interchange files which contain either a LF, CR or CR/LF end of line sequence.

 IMPORT can also be used with individual coverages or database data files that you wish to back up on a diskette, but which are too large to fit on one diskette. If you have EXPORT, use the DOS BACKUP command to back up the interchange file you've created onto diskettes. BACKUP allows a file to span more than one diskette. Use the DOS RESTORE command to return the interchange file to a hard disk, and then use IMPORT to recreate the original coverage or file.  Refer to your DOS user manual for more information on BACKUP and RESTORE.

 If the file to be imported contains an ARC/INFO coverage with INFO data, IMPORT will automatically convert the data of the interchange file to dBASE data.

 The item definition and conversion specification that IMPORT uses during the conversion from INFO to dBASE is defined in the following table.

	INFO Item				dBASE field
TYPE	WIDTH	OUTPUT	DECIMAL	TYPE	WIDTH	DECIMAL
D	8	n	0	D	8	0
C	<= 254	n	0	C	w	0
C	> 254	n	0	C	254*	0
I	w	n	0	N	w	0
N	w	n	d	N	w	d
B	2	n	0	N	11	0
B	4	n	0	N	11	0
F	4	n	d	N	MAX(13,n)	MAX(6,d)
F	8	n	d	N	MAX(17,n)	MAX(6,d)
L/V/T	w	n	d	N	w	d
O/P	w	n	d	C	w	0
where 'n' is the output width, 'w' is the INFO internal width and 'd' is the number of decimal places.

* The original item is split into two items named orig_item and orig_itemA. The first item is 254 characters wide and the second one is the width of the remaining characters. (Character items in INFO can have a maximum of 320 characters.)

 Binary integer types B,1 and B,3 and binary real types F,5, F,6 and F,7 are not supported and will be dropped. A warning will be displayed.

dBASE restricts the types of characters that can be used in item names. Item names can be any combination of letters (A-Z), numbers (0-9) and the underscore character, but item names may not exceed ten characters total. Any other character in an item name will be converted to an underscore character during the conversion. Item names that exceed ten characters will be truncated. Duplicate item names resulting from either character conversion or truncation will be sequentially renamed ITEM001 through ITEMxxx. A warning message will be displayed indicating that the items have been renamed to avoid duplication. In addition, INFO redefined items will be ignored.

 Since some of the ARC/INFO format internal item names for a coverage are based on the coverage name, the same character restrictions apply to coverage names.  Illegal characters in a coverage name will be converted to underscores. If duplicate coverage names occur as a result of the conversion, the coverages will be renamed COV001 through COVxxx. A warning message will be displayed indicating that coverages have been renamed.

 The conversion from INFO to dBASE data file structure includes the creation of item definition template files that contain the original INFO item names and definitions along with the new dBASE item names. These files, which have .INF extensions, are used to assure that an exact reproduction of the original INFO data files will be achieved for all items, including redefined items, when converting back to INFO environments, assuming you have the utility to do so. For example, an Arc Attribute Table (AAT) from an INFO version of ARC/INFO will be converted to a dBASE AAT.DBF file and will have a corresponding AAT.INF file. When converting back to INFO environments, the AAT.INF file is used to compare the dBASE item names in the AAT.DBF to the INFO item names in the AAT.INF. If the item names match, the INFO item definitions in the AAT.INF file are used to reconstruct the INFO version of the AAT file. If any alterations are made to the .DBF file, then PC ARC/INFO EXPORT, SEND or IMPORT33 will indicate that the .INF file is not compatible with the data file, and the program will abort. Either modify or delete the .INF file if this occurs.  The .INF file is an ASCII file that can be easily edited.  A standard AAT.INF file has the following format:

FNODE_	FNODE#	0001	004	5	-1	005
TNODE_	TNODE#	0005	004	5	-1	005
LPOLY_	LPOLY#	0009	004	5	-1	005
RPOLY_	RPOLY#	0013	004	5	-1	005
LENGTH	LENGTH	0017	004	6	3	012
COVER_	COVER#	0021	004	5	-1	005
COVER_ID	COVER-ID	0025	004	5	-1	005
The first column represents the dBASE item name. The corresponding INFO name is the second column. The third and fourth columns contain the INFO starting column number and the internal width of the item. The fifth column holds the INFO item type. In this case, '5' represents a 'B' type item and '6' represents an 'F' type. The number of decimal places is reported next. The value '-1' in this column means the item type does not support decimal places. The final column contains the INFO output widths for each item.  If the original INFO file contained redefined items that were dropped when converted to dBASE, the INFO definitions for these items would also be listed in the .INF file, but they would not have a value for the dBASE name. This file can therefore be used to reestablish redefined INFO items.

If the .INF file does not exist, then the rules defining conversion specifications from dBASE to INFO will take precedence. These conversion specifications are outlined in the PC ARC/INFO command references for SEND, EXPORT and IMPORT33.


Installing ArcView on a network (ArcView Windows)
Installing ArcView for Windows on a network

ArcView can exist in different sized environments, a small peer-to-peer network, or a large enterprise network supporting potentially hundreds of users. This topic introduces some of the ways to access data from a remote file system.

One of ArcView’s most powerful features is its ability to access data remotely. ArcView itself, however, does not have a built-in capability to mount remote file systems. Networking software, like PC-NFS or NetWare, is used to mount remote file systems and make the data sources residing on those file systems appear local. When data appears local, ArcView can access it. Therefore, PCs that have only TCP/IP loaded (with the exception of SAMBA, described below) to connect to remote platforms via ftp or telnet will not be able to access data from within ArcView.

Described below are some of requirements and considerations for inter-platform access of data with ArcView for Windows. Much of the inter-platform access requires specific connectivity software.

Running a shared version of ArcView from a PC server

The ArcView for Windows installation program allows you to set up ArcView to be run from a server. Many organization are using central application servers to streamline administration of applications running on a network. It’s easier to maintain one central copy of a program than try to maintain multiple copies of the same program on multiple workstations. It is important to note that there is no difference between a shared copy of the ArcView executable on a server and the local executable running on a workstation. It is the same program.

To install a shared copy of ArcView on a server,select the Administrative Network install option from the setup program. Follow the instructions in the setup program by choosing which components you wish to install, and select the target drive letter and directory where the ArcView GIS program will be placed. The Administrative Network install creates these directories on the server:

   AVSETUP - contains workstation setup program

   ARCVIEW - contains the ArcView program files

   AVDATA - contains ready-to-use data

   AVDOCS - contains product documentation such as the ArcView GIS Install Guide

   AVTUTOR - contains the data for the Quick Start Tutorials found in the user guides.

Running setup on the workstation

Windows 95 and Windows NT 4.0 workstations must map the administrative installation network drive as follows before executing a client node install. It is necessary to map a drive as ArcView does not support the UNC pathname syntax. The same mapped drive connection must always be used.

1.  Using Windows Explorer, select Tools, Map Network Drive.

2.  Select a drive letter and enter the path to the network drive where the Administrative Network install resides.

3.  Select the reconnect at logon option. Click OK.

4.  Using My Computer, select the same drive letter as in step 2.

5.  From the Administrative Network installation’s AVSETUP directory, double-click setup.exe.

Running setup.exe from the AVSETUP directory of the administrative installation creates the ArcView GIS program group on the workstation. The icons for the ArcView GIS program, the help file, Import, Import71, MIFToShape, and readme files are created in the ArcView GIS program group.

Metering shared use of ArcView for Windows

Metering packages monitor concurrent use of applications that are shared on a network. These packages also usually provide reporting facilities and software monitoring tools, and some offer optimization tips for tuning your network performance. Application programs like ArcView rarely offer these features. For example, there is nothing built into ArcView for Windows that locks out the eleventh user if your license allows for ten concurrent users. Managers and System administrators are finding that metering software is necessary for compliance, but also, monitoring of concurrent use can be used to determine how much time shared software is actually in use, thereby reducing the need for multiple user licensing, thereby saving money.

Listed below are four common metering packages for PC applications.

BrightWorks 2.01

McAfee Associates Inc.

Santa Clara, CA

(408)988-3832;

Fax (408)970-9727

BBS (408)988-4004;

WWW Server: http://www.mcafee.com.

LANDesk Management Suite

Intel Corp

5200 NE Elam Young Pkwy.

Hillsboro, OR 97124

(800)538-3373 (503)264-7354

Fax 800-525-3019.

Express Meter 3.0 and Express Meter Audit Kit 3.0.

Express Systems Inc.

Seattle, WA

(800)321-4606

email: info@express-systems.com.

SofTrack

ON Technology

One Cambridge Center

Cambridge, MA 02142

Phone (617) 374-1400

Fax (617) 374-1433

email info@on.com

WWW Server: http://www.on.com

Accessing data on server based PC LANs, like NetWare, NT Server, and Banyan VINES

These are the three most common server-based PC LAN networking environments. ArcView for Windows works similarly on all three. A PC LAN network can have one central, dedicated file server. PCs connect directly to the server and can access one or more of the directories on the server containing ArcView data sources. Network operating systems, like NetWare from Novell and VINES from Banyan, in conjunction with client software on the PCs make remote data on the server appear local. The F: drive on a PC workstation, for example, could be mapped to a location on the server containing ArcView data sources. Depending on the access rights assigned to each user or group of users by the system administrator, access may be granted to all or some of the directories on the server.

Accessing data on a UNIX server or workstation from PC workstations

You can directly access ARC/INFO data on a PC with an NFS product. The most popular NFS products are listed below. NFS products map remote UNIX file systems to logical drives on a make remote data sources appear local. For example, you can assign the G: drive on your PC to a file system on a UNIX system containing an ARC/INFO workspace. Server and client software components must be in place for NFS connectivity. Typically, a server will be a UNIX machine running processes that enable it to export file systems. NFS client software on a local PC allows it to mount remote file systems.

NFS product vendors for DOS and Windows:

PC-NFS and PCNFSpro

SunSoft

2 Elizabeth Drive,

Chelmsford,

MA 01824

(800) 24SELECT

(508) 442-0000

FAX: (508) 250-5068

Email: sales@sun.com

Web: http://www.sun.com

ChameleonNFS

NetManage

10725 N. DeAnza Blvd.

Cupertino, CA 95014

(408) 973-7171

FAX: (408) 257-6405

Email: sales@netmanage.com

Web: http://www.netmanage.com

PathWay Access and Client NFS

Attachmate - (formerly)The Wollongong Group

1129 San Antonio Road

Palo Alto, CA 94303

(415) 962-7202, (800) 962-8649 (California), (800) 872-8649 (US)

+1 519 747-9900 (Canada)

+1 32-27-18-0311 (Europe)

FAX: (415) 962-0286

Email: sales@twg.com

Web: http://www.twg.com

PC/TCP

FTP Corp.

2 High Street

North Andover, MA 01845

(508) 685-4000  - general information

(508) 685-3300  - sales information

(800) 282-4FTP  - sales

(508) 685-3600  - technical support

(800) 282-4FTP  - support

FAX:	(508) 794-4477  - sales

(508) 794-4484  - technical support

(508) 794-4488  - general

Email:	info@ftp.com    - general information

sales@ftp.com   - sales information

support@ftp.com - technical support

Web: http://www.ftp.com

SuperTCP

Frontier Technologies

10201 N. Port Washington Rd.

Mequon, WI 53092

(414) 241-4555 ext. 210

FAX: (414) 241-7084

Email: tcp@frontiertech.com

Web: http://www.frontiertech.com/new.html

IBM TCP/IP

IBM

Department G90

PO Box 12195,

Research Triangle Park,

NC 27709

(800) IBM-CALL, (800) IBM-2YOU

FAX: (404) 238-1054

Email: sales@ibm.com (?)

Web: http://www.ibm.com

Fusion

Pacific Softworks, Inc.

4000 Via Pescador

Camarillo, CA 93012-5049

(800)541-9508

FAX: (805)484-3929

Email: sales@nrc.com

cust-support@nrc.com

(Much of the information obtained here was originally gathered by RTD Systems and Networking Inc. in Arizona. They have an outstanding source of information regarding NFS at http://www.rtd.com/pcnfsfaq/faq.html.)

Accessing data on a UNIX server or workstation from PC workstations without NFS

With only TCP/IP installed as the network software on a PC with Windows NT, or Windows 95 running ArcView, you can connect to a UNIX server, if the UNIX server is running SAMBA. SAMBA uses the SMB (System Message Block) protocol instead of NFS to share file systems. The advantages to using SAMBA are that its easy to use and its free. Information about SAMBA and how to download it can be found at http://lake.canberra.edu.au/pub/samba/samba.html.

Accessing data on a PC LAN server with UNIX workstations

NetWare NFS, from Novell, allows a UNIX workstation to mount a NetWare server. With NetWare NFS, ARC/INFO workspaces will appear as if they reside on NFS mounted UNIX workstations. Many organizations are using PC LAN servers to keep ARC/INFO 7.0 coverages and other data sources. ARC/INFO 6.x coverages can also reside on a NetWare server if NetWare’s “NFS name space” is loaded. Although it consumes RAM on the PC LAN server, the NFS name space allows non-DOS compatible filenames to reside on a the server.

Accessing data on PC LAN servers with NT workstations

Microsoft and Novell provide separate products, free of charge, for this type of access. “Services for NetWare” from Microsoft enables a Windows NT workstation to connect to a NetWare server. Novell’s “NT Requestor” does the same. Both are available on the internet by accessing each companies respective FTP server.

Accessing data on a UNIX server with NT workstations

A product from NetManage, called Chameleon32 NFS allows access to UNIX file systems. You can use the File Manager to assign logical drives to remote data sources. Chameleon32 NFS also has a suite of TCP/IP programs, such as FTP, telnet, and ping. Another NFS for NT product comes from Intergraph, called PC-NFS for NT

Accessing data on peer-to-peer networks like LANtastic

File systems from connected PC workstations on peer-to-peer networks can be mounted and accessed. You can attach to file systems across the network with the File Manager in Windows. Dedicated servers are not necessary in peer-to-peer networks as they are in server-based PC networks. Usually, however, one or more PCs act as servers. PCs can mount remote file systems and have remote data sources appear local. Peer-to-peer networks can coexist with server based PC LANs.

Accessing data on an OpenVMS or a Compaq's Digital UNIX machine using DEC PATHWORKS

A workaround is required if you want to use DEC PATHWORKS to access ARC/INFO 7.x coverages in an OpenVMS operating system with ArcView for Windows. Since VMS interprets the arc.dir file as a directory, you need to run this command in all the VMS INFO workspaces you plan to use with ArcView for Windows to allow the PC to access attributes from coverages:

set file /enter=arc.__dir arc.dir

This command creates an alias for the file arc.dir in the INFO directory.

ArcView for Windows on a Token-Ring network

Although we do not have a suitable Token-Ring network in Redlands to test ArcView for Windows on, we have users running ArcView for Windows on a Token-Ring networks without problems. The functioning of ArcView for Windows is not effected by the topology of the network. It will run on a Token-Ring, as well as an Ethernet network.

Miscellaneous technical notes about network connectivity

Windows 95 TCP/IP and PCNFSpro's TCP/IP are not compatible. PCNFSpro v2.0 will work with Windows 95, but you must disable Windows 95 TCP/IP. Without Windows95 TCP/IP, you will lose connectivity to other Windows 95 machines that were connected through a router (i.e., machines on other sub-networks). Microsoft TechNet reports that PCNFSpro v1.1 will not work with Windows 95.

Accessing data with PCNFSpro on Windows 95 only allows 11 coverages to be read into a view. This limitation is caused by the inability to adjust the NFS file buffer size with PCNFSpro. It is a hard-coded value of 8192. Users have reported this problem and we have reproduced it. Sun Microsystems, the makers of PCNFSpro, are aware of this problem.

SAMBA is an excellent alternative for NFS-type transparent file access, without requiring NFS client software loaded onto PCs . SAMBA is free, and easy to setup and configure. With SAMBA processes running on UNIX server and TCP/IP installed and configured on a network PC, ArcView can access data in the same manner as if an NFS client product was installed. For more information about SAMBA and how to download it, see http://samba.anu.edu.au/samba.

Problems accessing data with FTP's DOS-based NFS product PCTCP v4.0 have been reported. Upgrade to FTP's Windows-based NFS product OnNet v2.0 to fix data access problems.

Running ArcView over the network with PCNFSpro 2.0 will not work. The administrative installation and node setup will work with PCNFSpro v2.0, but ArcView will not start when the ArcView executable resides on a UNIX machine and it's being accessed by PCNFSpro.

Older versions of NWServer from Syntax (prior to v4.1, and any version resold through Sun), on a Solaris 2.5 workstation, has been reported to drop remote drive connections when running with ArcView. NWServer from Syntax emulates a NetWare server on a Sun UNIX workstation. We have successfully tested NWServer v4.1 with ArcView.

It has been reported that Spry NFS will not work with ArcView.


Installing fonts

In general, ArcView detects what fonts are available from your windowing software.

What do you want to do?

     Install fonts in Windows 95, or newer, or Windows NT 4.0 or newer.

     Install fonts to use with UNIX versions of ArcView.


Installing fonts in Windows 95
Installing fonts in Windows 95 or newer or Windows NT 4.0 or newer

To Install fonts in Windows 95 or newer

   Use the Windows Explorer and copy your font file into your \windows9?\fonts directory.

To Install fonts in Windows NT 4.0 or newer

   Use the Windows Explorer and copy your font file into your \Winnt\fonts directory.

To learn pertinent information about a font

1	Open the Control Panel.

2	Double-click the Fonts Icon, which opens the fonts folder.

3	Double-click the font file you want to view the information for.


Install fonts to use with UNIX versions of ArcView

The fonts that ArcView uses to display marker symbols and text are included with ArcView and not derived from your X resources or windowing system. Thus, ArcView can read and use a properly installed TrueType, Type I Postscript, or Intellifont with one exception. The exception is that some TrueType fonts are generated with a Windows-only symbol option, and thus cannot be used in a UNIX environment by ArcView. To properly install a font so ArcView can use it:

1	Copy the font file to your ArcView fonts directory: cp myfont.ttf $AVHOME/fonts

2	Edit your $AVHOME/etc/font.ndx file to include an entry for each font you add.

3	If ArcView is already running you will need to restart ArcView to re-initial ArcView's Font Manager.

Notes on editing the font.ndx file

 Copy and paste the entry for another font that is similar to the one you wish to add. This will make your job easier by reducing the chances of a syntax error.

 The six digit ID number for each font entry must be unique within your font.ndx file. Additionally if you are installing a Postscript Type I font, this ID must match the internal font ID. You can find this number by editing your font file in an ASCII editor.


JPEG

JPEG is a standard compression technique for storing full color and gray scale images. Support for JPEG compression is provided through the JFIF file format. If your JPEG compressed image is not in the JFIF file format ArcView will not recognize it. To use JPEG images as themes you must first load the JPEG image extension.

By default, ArcView looks for JPEG images when they have these file extensions:

 .jpg

To modify the extensions list, use the ISrc.SetExtensions request.

ArcView’s JPEG image extension is based in part on the work of the Independent JPEG Group. Copyright © 1991-1996 Thomas G. Lane. All rights reserved.


Lambert Conformal Conic map projection

The Lambert Conformal Conic projection is one of the best for middle latitudes. It is similar to the Albers Conic Equal-Area projection except that it portrays shape more accurately than area. The State Plane Coordinate System uses this projection for all state zones that spread east to west.

Method of projection    Conic projection normally based on two standard parallels, making it a secant projection. The spacing between lines of latitude increases beyond the standard parallels. This is the only common conic projection that represents the poles as a single point.

Lines of secancy    The two standard parallels.

Linear graticules    All meridians.

Properties

Shape    All graticular intersections are 90 degrees. Small shapes are maintained.

Area    Minimal distortion near the standard parallels. Areal scale is reduced between standard parallels and increased beyond them.

Direction    Local angles are accurate throughout because of conformality.

Distance    Correct scale along the standard parallels. The scale is reduced between the parallels and increased beyond the parallels.

Limitations

Best results are for regions predominantly east-west in extent and located in the middle north or south latitudes. Total range in latitude should not exceed 35 degrees.

Uses and applications

 State Plane Coordinate System (SPCS), used for all east-west State Plane zones.

 USGS 7 1/2-minute quad sheets to match the State Plane Coordinate System.

 This projection was used for many new USGS maps after 1957. It replaced the previous Polyconic projection.

 Continental U.S.: standard parallels, 33 and 45 degrees North.

 Entire U.S.: standard parallels, 37 and 65 degrees North.


Lambert Equal-Area Azimuthal map projection

This projection preserves the area of individual polygons while simultaneously maintaining a true sense of direction from the center. The general pattern of distortion is radial. This projection is best suited for individual land masses that are symmetrically proportioned, either round or square.

Method of projection    Planar, projected onto a flat surface from any point on the globe. This projection can accommodate all aspects:  equatorial, polar, and oblique.

Point of tangency    A single point, located anywhere, specified by longitude and latitude. This point is the arithmetic center when the projection is shown as a hemisphere.

Linear graticules

All aspects: The central meridian defining the point of tangency.

Equatorial aspect: The Equator.

Polar aspect: All meridians.

Properties

Shape    Shape is minimally distorted, less that 2 percent, within 15 degrees from the focal point. Beyond that, angular distortion is more significant; small shapes are compressed radially from the center and elongated perpendicularly.

Area    Equal-area.

Direction    True direction radiating from the central point.

Distance    True at center. Scale decreases with distance from the center along radii and increases with increasing distance from the center perpendicular to the radii.

Limitations

The data must be less than a hemisphere in extent. The software cannot process any area more than 90 degrees from the central point in any direction.

Uses and applications

 Population density (area).

 Political boundaries (area).

 Oceanic mapping for energy, minerals, geology and tectonics (Direction).

 This projection can handle large areas, thus it is used for displaying such geographical areas as entire continents and polar regions.

Equatorial aspect: Africa, Southeast Asia, Australia, Caribbean and Central America

Oblique aspect: North America, Europe and Asia


Legend Tool extension

The Legend Tool extension gives you the ability to create a highly customized graphic representation of a legend in a layout. Options include:

 Which themes to display legends for, and what order those theme's legends will appear.

 A title and placement options for that title

 A border style and display options for that border

 The style in which area and line symbols will be presented, e.g., rectangles versus ovals

 Spacing parameters for all elements of the legend


List of currently open windows

This list shows all the windows that are currently open in your ArcView session. The Project window is always listed first. You can make a window active, by choosing it from this list.


Malaysia and Singapore

The national coordinate systems of Malaysia and Singapore make use of the Rectified Skew Orthomorphic map projection with parameters appropriate to the locale.


Map projections

Map projections allow areas on the surface of the Earth (a spheroid) to be represented on a map (a flat surface). In this way the precise position of features on the Earth's surface can be obtained from the map. For more information about spheroids, see Working with spheroids.

All map projections distort shape, area, distance or direction to some extent. The impact of this distortion on your work depends on what you will be using your map for, and its scale:

 In most business applications, the characteristics of the map projection being used will probably not be of critical importance. Business applications, for example, are typically concerned with the relative location of different features, such as sources of supply, demand, and competition, rather than their absolute location on the Earth.

 On large scale maps, such as street maps, the distortion caused by the map projection being used may be negligible because your map will typically cover only a small part of the Earth's surface.

 On smaller scale maps, such as regional and world maps, where a small distance on the map may represent a considerable distance on the Earth, this distortion may have a bigger impact, especially if your application involves comparison of the shape, area or distance of different features. In these cases, knowledge of the characteristics of the map projection you are using becomes more important.

ArcView makes it easy to work with spatial data from a variety of different sources. Depending on your application and the scale you are working at, it may be very important to know which map projection is used by each data source, so that you don't use spatial data sets that are in different projections on the same view. To ensure the accuracy and quality of your work, you should make sure that all the data sources represented on a particular view are in the same map projection. See Setting the map projection.

The map projection used by a view is defined by selecting Properties from the View menu, then clicking the Projection button. This displays the Projection Properties dialog.

You can use ArcView's standard map projections and coordinate systems or you can customize the projections available in ArcView.

See also

Working with datums


 Map scale and accuracy

What is map scale?

Map scale is the relationship between the dimensions of a map and the dimensions of the Earth. It is usually expressed as a ratio between a distance on the map and a distance on the Earth, like 1:63,360.

The scale ratio 1:63,360 means that one unit of distance on the map represents 63,360 of the same units of distance on the Earth. So on a 1:63,360 scale map, one inch on the map equals one mile on the ground because one statute mile has 63,360 inches.

Because the scale ratio is a constant, it is true for whatever units in which the fraction is expressed. So on a map with a scale of 1:24,000, one centimeter equals 24,000 centimeters on the ground, just as one inch represents 24,000 inches.

In ArcView you can specify the scale you wish to use directly. See Setting view scale.

Common map scales

With equivalents in meters and kilometers

With equivalents in feet and miles

Large and small scale maps

A large scale map is one in which a given part of the Earth is represented by a large area on the map. Large scale maps generally show more detail than small scale maps because at a large scale there is more space on the map in which to show features. Large scale maps are typically used to show site plans, local areas, neighborhoods, towns and cities. 1:2,500 is an example of a large scale.

A small scale map is one in which a given part of the Earth is represented by a small area on the map. Small scale maps generally show less detail than large scale maps, but cover large parts of the Earth. Maps with regional, national, and international extents typically have small scales, such as 1:1,000,000.

When you zoom in on a view in ArcView, the scale of the view gets larger, and when you zoom out the scale gets smaller.

Note that the larger a scale is the smaller will be the number in the scale. For example, a 1:18,000-scale map is said to have a larger scale than a 1:136,000-scale map.

Map detail

It is natural to equate detail with accuracy. However, when we talk about the level of detail on a map, we are referring to the quantity of geographic information shown. Map accuracy, on the other hand, is a statement of the quality of this information.

While large scale maps typically show more detail than small scale maps, there is no standard rule for how many features a map of a given scale can show, and in how much detail. Instead, this is a cartographic decision depending on the purpose of the map and how many symbols can be drawn in the available space without visual clutter.

On smaller scale maps there is simply not enough room to show all the available detail, so features such as streams and roads often have to be represented as single lines, and area features like cities, have to be shown as points. This is called generalization.

When features are generalized their level of detail is reduced to avoid cluttering the map, but their overall shape and position is retained. Hence, a small scale map of a coastline won't show every cove that you might see on a large scale map. Smaller scale maps may also omit features completely.

Spatial data is usually already generalized. For example, the ESRI ArcUSA 1:25,000,000 data of the USA contains less detail (and is a much smaller dataset) than the ESRI ArcUSA 1:2,000,000 data. The 1:25m scale data has been generalized from the 1:2m scale data.

Spatial data can also be generalized after it has been created. ARC/INFO has functions for automatically generalizing existing spatial data by removing coordinates.

In ArcView, you can't generalize the spatial data itself, but you can generalize the views you create by defining a scale-dependent display property for a theme. This property defines the range of scales at which the theme may be drawn on the view. When your view's scale is outside this range the theme won't be drawn. In this way, for example, you can automatically hide a detailed theme that would otherwise clutter up your view when you are working at small scales.

Map accuracy

The accuracy of a map is not dependent on the map's scale. Instead, it depends on the accuracy of the original data used to compile the map, how accurately this source data has been transferred onto the map, and the resolution at which the map is printed or displayed.

The accuracy of the maps you create with ArcView depends primarily on the quality of the coordinate data in your spatial database. To create the spatial data, existing maps or manuscripts may have been digitized or scanned, and other original data, such as survey reports, aerial photographs and images, and data from third parties may also have been used. Your final map will therefore reflect the accuracy of these original sources.

Remember that, as scales become smaller, one unit of map distance represents a larger distance on the ground. So if one of the features shown on a very small scale map is out of line by just a tiny part of a millimeter, it would still represent a substantial inaccuracy in reality.

It is always important to consider map accuracy to ensure that your data is used appropriately. Don't base important decisions on geographic data that you don't know the source and accuracy of!

Map resolution

The resolution of a map determines how accurately the features on the map can be depicted for a given scale. Resolution depends on the physical characteristics of the map, how it was made, what kinds of symbols are used, and how it is printed or displayed on-screen.

For example, imagine you are making a map showing property boundaries at a scale of 1:63,360 using a line symbol that prints out to be 1/100 of an inch wide. This width of this line symbol represents a corridor on the Earth which is almost 53 feet wide! The resolution of that line symbol on a map that scale clearly has some impact on the map's level of detail and accuracy.

Similarly, the resolution of the computer screen you are using has an impact on the detail and accuracy of maps that you draw on that screen. The screen uses pixels to draw your map, and can't draw features or parts of features that are less than a pixel wide.

A map based on highly accurate spatial data will lose accuracy if printed or viewed on a low resolution device. Remember that the resolution of printers and plotters are generally higher than that of computer screens.

Tip  When you make a map with ArcView that will be used for decision-making, remember to add some text to it describing the source and age of the data you have used, and the scale, projection and accuracy at which the data was collected, if you know these.

See also

Setting view properties

Setting view scale

Map projections


Mercator map projection

Originally created to display accurate compass bearings for those traveling on the seas. An additional feature of this projection is that all local shapes are accurate and clearly defined.

Method of projection    Cylindrical projection. Meridians are parallel to each other and are equally spaced. The lines of latitude are also parallel but become farther apart toward the poles. The poles cannot be shown.

Lines of contact    The Equator. May also be secant at two latitudes symmetrical about the Equator.

Linear graticules    All meridians and all lines of latitude.

Properties

Shape    Conformal. Small shapes are well represented because this projection maintains the local angular relationships.

Area    Increasingly distorted toward the polar regions. For example, in the Mercator projection of the world, Greenland appears to be larger than South America when, in reality, it is only one-eighth its size.

Direction    Any straight line drawn on this projection will represent an actual compass bearing. Lines of true direction are referred to as rhumb lines. It should be noted that these lines generally do NOT describe the shortest distance between points.

Distance    The only true scale is along the Equator, or along the secant latitudes instead.

Limitations

The poles cannot be represented on the Mercator projection. All meridians can be projected but the upper and lower limits of latitude are approximately 80 degrees, north and south. Great area distortion makes the Mercator projection unsuitable for general geographic world maps.

Uses and applications

 Standard sea navigation charts (direction).

 Other directional uses:

Air travel

Wind direction

Ocean currents

Conformal world maps.

The best use of this projection's conformal properties applies to regions near the Equator, such as Indonesia and parts of the Pacific Ocean.


Merge operations

When you summarize a theme's attribute table by choosing Summarize from the Field menu, one of the options that is available is to merge the features in the theme based on the values of the active field. This option enables you to aggregate the features in the theme. For example, if you have a theme containing land use polygons, you can merge polygons together that have the same land use attribute, enabling you to see continuous areas where land use is the same. ArcView puts the merged features into a new shapefile.

Features do not have to be adjacent to be merged. For example, if your land use theme has industrial land use polygons in several different places, all these polygons will be represented by one record in the new shapefile created by merging the polygons based on land use, even though these polygons will not be merged geometrically because they are not adjacent to each other.

When you use the Summarize dialog to merge features, you can also specify summary statistics that you wish to be calculated for the merged features. For example, when you merge land use polygons you could also obtain the total area of the polygons that are merged together for each land use type, or their average tax value, etc.

Aggregating your data enables you to reveal patterns, distributions and trends that might otherwise remain hidden. Aggregation also makes it easier for you to display, interpret and manage your data, especially when you are dealing with large amounts of data. For example, if your land use theme contains 3000 polygons each assigned one of 15 land use codes in its attribute table, and you merge these polygons based on the land use codes, the attribute table of the resulting shapefile will contain 15 records, one for each of the landuse codes.

To merge the features in a theme

1	Click the theme to make it active.

2	Click the Open Theme Table button [image].

3	In the theme's attribute table, click the name of the field you wish to base the merge on.

4	Choose Summarize from the Field menu.

5	In the Summarize dialog, make sure the Field list is set to Shape and Summarize By list is set to Merge. Click the Add button.

6	Optionally, specify summary statistics that you wish to obtain for the merged features by choosing a field from the Field list and the statistic from the Summarize By list and clicking Add. (By default, ArcView will find the count (the total number) of features that are merged into each merged feature in the output shapefile, so you don't need to specify this in the Summarize dialog if you require it).

7	Press OK. You'll be prompted to see which view you would like to add the new shapefile to.

How polygons are handled during a merge operation

adjacent polygons - at least one common edge exists between two polygons. In this case, ArcView removes the common edge.

disjunct polygons - two or more shapes that are the target of the merge operation do not intersect. In this case, ArcView does not alter the shapes; rather, it appends all members of the set to the new shape.

overlapping polygons - one or more polygons partly or completely overlap other polygons. ArcView removes the boundaries of the overlapping area and creates one complete polygon.

How lines are handled during a merge operation

connected lines - lines that share a common endpoint. ArcView removes the common endpoint.

intersecting lines - lines that intersect but do not share a common endpoint. In this case, ArcView does not create a new endpoint or node; it simply considers all lines as part of the same line.

How points are handled during a merge operation

Points are merged into features called multipoints. Points can't be merged geometrically, but in the resulting shapefile's attribute table, points that have been merged are represented by one record. For example, if you have a theme representing oil wells and you merge these features based on an ownership attribute, all the oil wells owned by the same owner will be represented in the new shapefile's attribute table by one record. You can then, for example, select all the oil wells owned by one particular owner simply by clicking one record in the attribute table.


MIFSHAPE utility

MIFSHAPE is a stand-alone program that converts a MapInfo Interchange Format (MIF) file into an ArcView shapefile.

What do you want to do?

Convert a MIF file on Windows

Convert a MIF file on UNIX

Note   MapInfo is a registered trademark of MapInfo Corporation. This utility was created for use with MIF files created by MapInfo version 3.


Using the MIFSHAPE utility on UNIX

MIFSHAPE is a stand-alone program that converts a MapInfo Interchange Format (MIF) file into an ArcView shapefile.

The MIFSHAPE executable is located in the installation bin directory.

Syntax

MIFSHAPE [option] [mif_file] [shape_file]

[option]   - the type of conversion. Supported options are:

INFO   Reports the types and number of features on the MIF file.

POINT   Extracts all point features and makes a POINT shapefile.

TEXT   Extracts all text features and makes a POINT shapefile. MIFSHAPE adds a 255 character field called MIF_TEXT to the shapefile's attribute table which holds the TEXT from the text field.

LINE   Extracts all line features and makes a LINE shapefile. MIF line features include LINE, POLYLINE and ARC.

POLY   Extracts all polygon features and makes a POLYGON shapefile. MIF REGION, RECTANGLE, ROUNDED RECTANGLE and ELLIPSE features are also written to the POLYGON shapefile.

[mif_file]   - the MIF file to convert to a shapefile. Do not specify the extension when entering [mif_file] (for example, enter ROADS instead of ROADS.MIF).

All the data found in the MID (MapInfo Interchange Data) file are written to the shapefile's attribute table. MIFSHAPE adds the field [shape_file]_ID to this attribute table. The field contains a record pointer back to the MID file.

[shape_file]   - the name of the shapefile or dBASE file to create. Do not use suffixes. When used with the INFO option, leave this parameter blank. When used with the TEXT option, this parameter is a new dBASE file. Otherwise, it is the name of a new shapefile.

Examples

The following example indicates how to run MIFSHAPE from your workstation from the directory that contains the executable.

% cd <install_directory>/arcview/bin

% mifshape line /user/streets /user/streets

Converts a MapInfo interchange file named streets.mif from the /user directory and creates a coverage named streets in the same directory.

Notes

 If your MIF file contains multiple feature types, use MIFSHAPE to create a shapefile for each type.

 For the input file name, the "total pathname" +  the "filename" + the ".mif" cannot exceed 64 characters.

 MIFSHAPE limitations:

32763 nodes per REGION or POLYLINE
3000 polygons per REGION


Using the MIFSHAPE utility on Windows

MIFSHAPE is a stand-alone program that converts a MapInfo Interchange Format (MIF) file into an ArcView shapefile.

The MIFSHAPE executable is located in the installation bin32 directory.

Syntax

MIFSHAPE  [option] [mif_file] [shape_file]

[option] - the type of conversion. Supported options are:

INFO   Reports the types and number of features on the MIF file.

POINT    Extracts all point features and makes a POINT shapefile.

TEXT   Extracts all text features and makes a POINT shapefile. MIFSHAPE adds a 255 character field called MIF_TEXT to the shapefile's attribute table which holds the TEXT from the text field.

LINE    Extracts all line features and makes a LINE shapefile. MIF line features include LINE, POLYLINE and ARC.

POLY    Extracts all polygon features and makes a POLYGON shapefile. MIF REGION, RECTANGLE, ROUNDED RECTANGLE and ELLIPSE features are also written to the POLYGON shapefile.

[mif_file] - the MIF file to convert to a shapefile. Do not specify the extension when entering [mif_file] (for example, enter ROADS instead of ROADS.MIF).

All the data found in the MID (MapInfo Interchange Data) file are written to the shapefile's attribute table. MIFSHAPE adds the field [shape_file]_ID to this attribute table. The field contains a record pointer back to the MID file.

[shape_file] - the name of the shapefile or dBASE file to create. Do not use suffixes. When used with the INFO option, leave this parameter blank. When used with the TEXT option, this parameter is a new dBASE file. Otherwise, it is the name of a new shapefile.

Example using MIFSHAPE from the DOS prompt

The following example indicates how to run MIFSHAPE from the DOS prompt of your PC from the directory that contains the executable.

C:\ARCVIEW\BIN32> 	MIFSHAPE LINE C:\DATA\STREETS C:\STDYAREA\STREETS

Converts a MapInfo interchange file named STREETS.MIF from the C:\DATA directory and creates a coverage named STREETS in the C:\STDYAREA directory.

Example using MIFSHAPE from the program group

To run MIFSHAPE from the program group, double-click the Mif To Shape icon, then supply only the parameters when prompted.

Notes

 If your MIF file contains multiple feature types, use MIFSHAPE to create a shapefile for each type.

 MIFSHAPE does not require a hardware key.

 For the input file name, the "total pathname" +  the "filename" + the ".mif" cannot exceed 64 characters.

 You must adhere to 8.3 naming conventions.

 You cannot output a shapefile to the root directory of a drive.

 MIFSHAPE limitations:

32763 nodes per REGION or LINE

3000 polygons per REGION


Miller Cylindrical map projection

The Miller Cylindrical projection is similar to the Mercator projection except that the polar regions are not as areally distorted. This modification is accomplished by reducing the distance between lines of latitude as they approach the poles. The modification decreases the distortion in area but the compromise introduces distortion in local shape and direction.

Method of projection   Cylindrical projection. Meridians are parallel and equally spaced, the lines of latitude are parallel, and the distance between them increases toward the poles. Both poles are represented as straight lines.

Point of tangency    The Equator.

Linear graticules    All meridians and all parallels.

Properties

Shape    Minimally distorted between 45th parallels, distortion increases toward the poles. Land masses are stretched more east to west than they are north to south.

Area    Distortion increases from the Equator toward the poles.

Direction    Local angles are correct only along the Equator.

Distance    Correct distance is measured along the Equator.

Limitations

Useful only as a world map.

Uses and applications

 General-purpose world maps.


Mollweide

Carl B. Mollweide created this pseudocylindrical projection in 1805. It is an equal-area projection designed for small-scale maps.

The Mollweide projection has several alternate names: Babinet, Elliptical, Homolographic, and Homalographic

Method of projection     A pseudocylindrical equal-area projection. All parallels are straight lines and all meridians are equally spaced elliptical arcs, except the central meridian which is a straight line. The poles are points.

Linear graticules     The Equator and central meridian.

Properties

Shape     Shape is not distorted at the intersection of the central meridian and latitudes 40° 44' N and S. Distortion increases outward from these points and becomes severe at the edges of the projection.

Area     Equal-area.

Direction     Local angles are true only at the intersection of the central meridian and latitudes 40° 44' N and S. Direction is distorted elsewhere.

Distance     Scale is true along latitudes 40° 44' N and S. Distortion increases with distance from these lines and becomes severe at the edges of the projection.

Limitations

Useful only as a world map.

Uses and applications

 Suitable for thematic or distribution mapping of the entire world, frequently in interrupted form.

 Combined with the Sinusoidal to create Goode's Homolosine and Boggs.


Monochrome images

Monochrome images store pixel data using one bit per pixel. These images require two distinct colors, usually black and white. Pixels in the image with a value of one are displayed in black, and pixels with a value of zero are displayed in white.

See also

Editing an image's legend

Supported image formats


MrSID

MrSID is a multiresolution wavelet-based image format that allows for high compression ratio and fast access of large amounts of data at any scale. To use MrSID images with ArcView you must first load the MrSID Image Support extension.

ArcView looks for MrSID images when they have the following file extension:

 .sid

MrSID images can only be added as image themes.

To obtain image data or information on the MrSID image format, contact:

LizardTech

1520 Bellevue Ave., 2nd Floor

Seattle, Washington 98122

(206) 320-9969

www.lizardtech.com

© Copyright 1997-98 LizardTech, Inc., 1520 Bellevue Ave., Second Floor, Seattle, WA 98122. All Rights Reserved. Patent Granted. MrSID and LizardTech are trademarks of LizardTech.


New Zealand
New Zealand National Grid

The New Zealand National Grid is the standard projection for large-scale maps of New Zealand.

Method of projection    A sixth-order conformal modification of a Mercator using the International spheroid.

Points of tangency    41 degrees S, 173 degrees E.

Linear graticules    None.

Properties

Shape    Conformal; therefore, local shapes are correct and are maintained accurately.

Area    Minimal distortion, less than 0.04 percent for New Zealand.

Direction    Minimal distortion for New Zealand.

Distance    Scale is within 0.02 percent of true scale for New Zealand.

Limitations

Not useful for areas outside New Zealand.

Uses and applications

 The national projection for New Zealand.


Notice

ESRI hopes that you will find these sample scripts, extensions, and other items useful and that they will contribute to your success in using ArcView. Please note that these samples are not supported by ESRI.

These samples are provided from non-commercial purposes only. Permission to use, copy, and distribute is hereby granted, provided there is no charge or fee for such copies.

THESE SAMPLES ARE PROVIDED 'AS IS', WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANT ABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. ESRI shall not be liable for any damages under any theory of law related to Licensee's use of these samples, even if ESRI is advised of the possibility of such damage.

Copyright 1998

Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc.

All rights reserved.


Oblique Mercator map projection

The Oblique Mercator projection is an oblique rotation of the Mercator projection. Developed for conformal mapping of areas that do not follow a north-south or east-west trend, but are instead obliquely oriented.

Method of projection    Cylindrical. Oblique aspect of the Mercator projection.

Line of tangency    A single oblique great-circle line. Instead, there can be secancy along two oblique small circles parallel to and equidistant from the central great circle.

Linear graticules    Two meridians 180° apart.

Properties

Shape    Conformal. Local shapes are true.

Area    Distortion increases with distance from the central line.

Direction    Local angles are correct.

Distance    True along the chosen central line.

Limitations

Use should be limited to regions near the central line. When using an ellipsoid, constant scale along the central line and perfect conformality cannot be maintained simultaneously.

Uses and applications

 Ideal for conformal mapping of regions trending in an oblique direction.

 Large-scale mapping in Switzerland, Borneo, and Madagascar.

 Alaskan panhandle.


Obtaining additional fonts

At some point you may want to add some distinctive qualities to the maps you make in ArcView. One way to do this to use fonts that are not commonly available. Luckily you may already have obtained some additional fonts from a wide variety of source, for example: your printer manufacturer or other software packages. However, there are other resources.

The best of these resources is the Internet. You need only use one of the common search engine to search for "font + archive". The advantages of using the Internet are that its, fast, easy and free. The disadvantages are that the quality of what you get may not be very good, and some fonts are not distributed legally. Therefore always read any comments or copyright restrictions that are encoded into the font.  See Installing fonts  for more information about installing fonts and learning about your rights as a user of a font.

The most reliable and most expensive option for obtaining unique fonts is to purchase them from a Typeface manufacturer. Three of the most common are Adobe (http://www.adobe.com/prodindex/fontfolio/main.html), MonoType (http://www.monotype.com), and Agfa (http://www.agfa.com).


Orthographic (Oblique) map projection

The perspective of the Orthographic projection views the globe from an infinite distance. This perspective gives the illusion of a three-dimensional globe. Distortion in size and area near the projection limit appear more realistic to our eye than that seen in almost any other projection, except the Perspective.

Method of projection    Planar perspective projection, viewed from infinity. On the polar-aspect projection meridians are straight lines radiating from the center, and the lines of latitude are projected as concentric circles that become closer toward the edge of the globe. Only one hemisphere can be shown without overlapping.

Point of tangency    A single point located anywhere on the globe.

Linear graticules

All aspects: The central meridian of the projection.

Equatorial aspect: All lines of latitude.

Polar aspect: All meridians.

Properties

Shape    Minimal distortion near the center, maximal distortion near the edge.

Area    The areal scale decreases with distance from the center. Areal scale is zero at the edge of the hemisphere.

Direction    True direction from the central point.

Distance    The radial scale decreases with distance from the center and becomes zero on the edges. The scale perpendicular to the radii, along the parallels of the polar aspect, is accurate.

Limitations

Limited to a view 90 degrees from the central point, a global hemisphere.

Uses and applications

 Uses of this projection are aesthetic more than technical. The most commonly used aspect for this purpose is the oblique.


Specification of BIL/BIP/BSQ image format

Band interleaved by line, band interleaved by pixel, and band sequential are three common methods of organizing image data for multiband images. BIL, BIP, and BSQ are not in themselves image formats, but are schemes for storing the actual pixel values of an image in a file. The pixel data is typically preceded by a file header that contains such ancillary data about the image as the number of rows and columns in the image, a colormap, latitude and longitude, and other information.

The BIL/BIP/BSQ image format consists of 4 different files. Each file of an image will have the same name, but a different file extension. The first is a binary file that actually holds the image data. This file will have a .bil, .bip, or .bsq file extension depending on how the image data is stored. The second file is an ASCII file that holds descriptive information that describes the image data. This file will have a .hdr file extension. The last two files are optional. They are both ASCII files. The colormap file describes the image colormap for single-band pseudocolor images and will have a .clr file extension. The statistics file describes image statistics for each spectral band in a grayscale or multiband image and has a .stx file extension.

Which part of the BIL/BIP/BSQ image format do you want more information about?

The BIL/BIP/BSQ file

The header file

The colormap file

The statistics file


Overview of data you can use in ArcView

Data that describes any part of the Earth's surface or the features found on it can be called geographic data. This includes not only cartographic and scientific data, but also business data, land records, photographs, customer databases, travel guides, real estate listings, legal documents, videos, etc.

In fact a surprisingly large amount of information is geographic! It has been found that over 80% of all the data used day-to-day in business and government can be related directly to geographic features like zip codes, street addresses, factory locations, census tracts, cities, states and countries. ArcView makes it easy to work with this data geographically.

Geographic data from a variety of sources can be used in ArcView.

Spatial data

Spatial data is at the heart of every ArcView application. Spatial data is geographic data that stores the geometric location of particular features, along with attribute information describing what these features represent. Also known as digital map or digital cartographic data. For more information, see Spatial data.

Image data

Image data includes satellite images, air photographs and other remotely sensed or scanned data. For more information, see Image data and Supported image formats.

Tabular data

Tabular data can include almost any data set, whether or not it contains geographic data. What you can do with a table in ArcView depends on what it contains. Some tables can be displayed on a view directly, others provide additional attributes that can be joined to your existing spatial data. ArcView supports these formats:

 Data from database servers such as Oracle, Ingres, Sybase, Informix, etc.

 dBASE III files

 dBASE IV files

 INFO tables

 Text files with fields separated by tabs or commas

Hot linking to other data sources

Using ArcView's Hot Link facility you can access virtually any other data source or application, simply by clicking on a view. For example, you might click on a building to display its floor plan, access a document describing it, or even play a video showing it. In this way ArcView lets you organize and access diverse sources of data geographically. See Defining a hot link for a theme.

  Related topics


Peters map projection

The Peters projection is a special case of the Equal-Area Cylindrical projection in which the standard parallel is 45 degrees.

See also

Equal-Area Cylindrical


Plate Carree map projection

The Plate Carree projection is very simple to construct because it forms a grid of equal rectangles. Because of its simple calculations, its usage was more common in the past than it is today. The polar regions are less distorted in scale and area in this projection than they are with the Mercator projection.

Method of projection    This simple cylindrical projection converts the globe into a Cartesian grid. Each rectangular grid cell has the same size, shape and area.  All the graticular intersections are 90 degrees. The central parallel may be any line, but the traditional Plate Carree projection uses the Equator. When the Equator is used, the grid cells are perfect squares, but if any other parallel is used, the grids become rectangular. In this projection, the poles are represented as straight lines across the top and bottom.

Lines of contact    Tangent at the Equator, or secant at two parallels symmetrical about the Equator.

Linear graticules    All meridians and all parallels.

Properties

Shape    Distortion increases as the distance from the standard parallels increases.

Area    Distortion increases as the distance from the standard parallels increases.

Direction    Following the grid lines are accurate directions, due east, west, south and north. General directions are distorted, except locally along the standard parallels.

Distance    The scale is correct along all the meridians and along the standard parallels.

Limitations

Noticeable distortion away from standard parallels.

Uses and applications

 Best used for city maps, or other small areas with map scales small enough to reduce the obvious distortion.

 Used for simple portrayals of the world or regions with minimal geographic data, such as index maps.


Printing Tips and Tricks

PostScript Printers/Plotters

In the Print dialog, you will see at least two options for printing and exporting to PostScript - Enhanced and Basic.  Enhanced PostScript is Level 2 PostScript and will not print to Level 1 PostScript printers and plotters.  To determine what language your printer or plotter is compatible with, check the user's manual.

If you are working on a Windows platform, you have the option of using three PostScript drivers - Enhanced, Basic, and the Native OS drivers.  The default PostScript driver is Enhanced. The Enhanced Postscript Driver is optimized to reduce output file sizes and improves output quality.  We recommend using this driver for PostScript printing.

A resolution option is only available with Enhanced PostScript.  When using Native OS, resolution can only be changed in the Print Manager settings if that choice is available through the driver.

Non-PostScript Printers

Stipple fill patterns may not print correctly on non-postscript printers.  If a PostScript printer is not available, try using the fill patterns from Carto.avp, located in the ArcView symbols directory.

Ink Jet Plotters

Plotters using HPGL/2/HP-RTL may plot text incorrectly.   Some plotters using this language may either substitute a font or just not plot any text.  Check the plotter driver's documentation to determine which fonts it recommends.

Pen Plotters

Pen plotters and their languages such as HPGL do not support raster and image data and you should avoid printing images and bitmap markers on these devices.

File Size/Printer Memory

Depending on the size of the dataset  or the type of data used in the project, files output from ArcView can require a large amount of disk space.

If outputting directly to a printer, be aware of how much disk space is available, as well as printer memory.  Depending on the platform, you can spool the data directly to the printer, using its memory or use the space available on the hard drive to spool and print files.  Check your system configurations and printer specifications to determine which setup is best for you.

The type of data is an important factor in export file sizes.  When exporting from ArcView, images can cause a significant increase in file size.  CGM export is optimized for vector data; images exported in this format cause huge file sizes.  Exporting data with images and point themes with many points to Basic PostScript also get extremely large.

The Enhanced PostScript driver is optimized for image and raster data.  The differences in file sizes between this driver and the Basic PostScript driver are substantial.

Printing/Plotting in Unix platforms

When using a layout on Unix platforms, margins default to ¼ inch inside the page. Most plotters have different margin and print area configurations.  The layout page margins may need to be adjusted to print/plot data correctly.

Hewlett Packard LaserJets

Tables, charts and scripts may not print correctly on HP LaserJet III and 4 family PCL printers.

If a PostScript printer is not available, to get the best possible output, use the most recent driver created for the LaserJet 4 family printers by Hewlett Packard.

Hewlett Packard InkJet Plotters

ArcView Enhanced and Basic Encapsulated PostScript do not include specific page size instructions.  Most plotters can process the data and cut the paper at the correct size.  Hewlett Packard plotters do not do this.

 If you want to avoid wasting paper, you can do this:

    Print directly to the plotter

    Print to file and send the file to the plotter


Pseudocolor images

Pseudocolor images typically store pixel data using four or eight bits per pixel, though eight is most common. Pseudocolor images are accompanied by a colormap that translates pixel values into visible colors.

Depending upon the image format, the image colormap may be contained in the image header, as with Sun rasterfiles, or in a separate file, as with ERDAS GIS files that store color information in a trailer file (TRL extension). Pseudocolor images generally require 256 distinct colors.

See also

Editing an image's legend

Supported image formats


Putting ArcView to work

Here are some of the key tasks you can accomplish with ArcView.

 Display geographic data on a view

You can easily make maps from existing spatial data sources.

 Display tabular data on a view

You can import tabular data and then join it to the data in a view to display it geographically. Overview of adding tabular data to a view

 Use SQL to retrieve records from a database and display them on a view

You can connect to a database to get a tabular data and then work with it geographically.

  Geocode tables containing addresses and display them on a view

Any tabular data containing the addresses of customers, suppliers, competitors, stores, offices, facilities, etc. can be displayed on a view as points. ArcView geocodes this data in order to add it to a view.

 Create and edit spatial data

You can create your own spatial data to represent geographic features that you want to display and analyze with ArcView.

 Find the attributes of any features on a view

You can click on features on a view to display their attributes. See Identifying features on a view.

 Display themes with different colors and symbols according to their attributes’ values

See Types of Thematic Maps.

 Select features according to their attributes

You can query a view to find particular features. See Finding features on a view.

 Create charts showing the attributes of features

You can visualize tabular data by creating charts. Charts complement your maps.

 Summarize the attributes of features

For example, you can summarizedata for cities on a state or regional basis. You can also generate statistics about any attributes.

 Select features based on their proximity to other features

See Performing spatial analysis with ArcView.

 Find places where certain features coincide

See Performing spatial analysis with ArcView.

 Layout a map and print it

You use layouts to arrange views and other elements into maps ready for printing,

 Layout a map and export it for use in another program

Map layouts can be exported to various file formats.

 Customize ArcView to suit the work you do

You can easily modify ArcView's user interface to rearrange and remove controls. You can also write Avenue scripts to make your own controls. See Customizing ArcView for an overview.

 Create custom ArcView applications for other people to use

Avenue provides a complete environment for developing applications based on ArcView. See How to create an ArcView Application.


Recommended readings

ARC/INFO Data Management (Concepts, data models, database design, and storage.) Redlands, CA: ESRI, Inc., 1994. Available in printed copy and ARC/INFO Version 7 On-line Help.

Baker, Sunny and Kim Baker. Market Mapping: How to Use Revolutionary New Software to Find, Analyze, and Keep Customers. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1993.

Bertrand, Meyer. Object-Oriented Software Construction. 2nd Edition. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1994.

Booch, Grady. Object Oriented Design with Applications. Redwood City, CA: The Benjamin/Cummings Publishing Co., 1991.

Burrough, P. A. Principles of Geographical Information Systems for Land Resources Assessment. New York: Oxford University Press, 1986.

Date, C.J. An Introduction to Database Systems. 5th Edition. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1990.

Geographical Information Systems: Principles and Applications. Edited by David J. Maguire, Michael F. Goodchild and David W. Rhind. U.K.: Longman Scientific & Technical, 1991.

Introductory readings in Geographic Information Systems. Edited by Donna J. Peuquet and Duane F. Marble. New York: Taylor & Francis, 1990.

Jensen, John R. Introductory Digital Image Processing. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1986.

Lillesand, Thomas M. and Ralph W. Kiefer. Remote Sensing and Image Interpretation. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1979.

Lorie, Raymond A. and Jean-Jacques Daudenarde. SQL and Its Applications. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1991.

Monmonier, Mark and George A. Schnell. Map Appreciation. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1988.

Muehrcke, Phillip C. & J. O. Muehrcke. Map Use: Reading, Analysis, and Interpretation. 3rd Edition. Madison, WI: JP Publications, 1992.

Rumbaugh, James, et. al. Object-Oriented Modeling and Design. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1991.

Snyder, John P. Map Projections - A Working Manual. U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1395. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1987.

Snyder, John P. Map Projections Used by the U.S. Geological Survey.Geological Survey Bulletin no. 1532. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1992.

Taylor, David A. Object-Oriented Technology: A Manager's Guide. Addison-Wesley, sixth printing, 1993.

Tufte, Edward. The Visual Display of Quantitative Information. Cheshire, CT: Graphics Press, 1983.


Rectified Skew Orthomorphic map projection
Rectified Skew Orthomorphic

The Rectified Skew Orthomorphic projection is used for the national coordinate systems of Malaysia, Singapore, and Brunei. It is similar to the Oblique Mercator.

Method of projection    Oblique cylindrical projection, with a line of constant scales skewed at an angle to the meridian.

Point of tangency    A single, oblique, great-circle line.

Linear graticules    Two meridians, 180 degrees apart.

Properties

Shape    Conformal; therefore local shapes are true.

Area    Distortion increases with distance from central line.

Direction    Local angles are correct.

Distance    True along the chosen central line.

Limitations

Use should be limited to those areas for which the projection was developed.

Uses and applications

 The national coordinate systems of Malaysia, Singapore, and Brunei.


Removing Avenue entries from ArcView's Help index

By default, ArcView's Help index includes entries for the classes, requests and enumerations in the Avenue programming language that's part of ArcView. In the Help index, these entries are proceeded by "(Class)", "(Request)" and "(Enumeration)" respectively. You can easily set up ArcView's Help so that these Avenue entries are not included in the Help index. Excluding these entries makes the index smaller and easier to browse through and is useful if you won't be using Avenue to customize ArcView or build applications, or if you are configuring ArcView for users who won't be.

When Avenue entries are excluded from ArcView's Help index, you can still access help about Avenue's classes and requests via the ArcView Class Hierarchy reference help topic. You can also still get help about an Avenue class, request or enumeration in an Avenue script by highlighting the term in your script and then pressing the Script Help button [image].

To remove Avenue entries from ArcView's Help index

1	Close ArcView's Help if it is currently open.

2	Look in ArcView's help directory/folder and open the file called arcview.cnt in a text editor such as Windows Notepad.

3	Delete the following lines that you'll find near the top of the file (not all these lines may be present):

:Index ArcView Classes=classes.hlp

:Index ArcView Database Access Classes=dbaccls.hlp

:Index ArcView Spatial Analyst Classes=spatcls.hlp

:Index ArcView Network Analyst Classes=netcls.hlp

(You may want to cut and paste these lines into a separate file so that you don't lose them completely).

4	Exit your text editor and save arcview.cnt

5	Start ArcView's Help (either by launching the arcview.hlp file in the help directory or by choosing Help Topics from ArcView's Help menu). When you choose the Index tab, you'll see that the Avenue entries have been excluded.

To put the Avenue entries back into ArcView's Help index, edit the arcview.cnt file again and put the lines that were taken out back in. Make sure they go immediately after the last :Index line near the top of the file.


Resampling

When ArcView draws an image in a view, it resamples it. Resampling means that ArcView maps the pixels in the image to the pixels on the screen. ArcView uses nearest neighbor interpolation, which calculates the value for an output pixel from the values of the four nearest pixels in the input image based on the weighted distance to these pixels.

When an image is printed, images are resampled the same way as for the screen, with the exception of PostScript. In this case, ArcView will resample only if it will reduce the size of the image, as PostScript knows how to scale images.


Robinson map projection

Method of projection Pseudocylindrical. Meridians are equally spaced and resemble elliptical arcs, concave toward the central meridian. The central meridian is a straight line 0.51 times the length of the Equator. Parallels are equally-spaced straight lines between 38° N and S; spacing decreases beyond these limits. The poles are 0.53 times the length of the Equator. The projection is based upon tabular coordinates instead of mathematical formulas.

Linear graticules    All parallels and the central meridian.

Properties

Shape    distortion is very low within 45° of the origin and along the Equator.

Area    Distortion is very low within 45° of the origin and along the Equator.

Direction    Generally distorted.

Distance    Generally scale is made true along latitudes 38° N and S. Scale is constant along any given latitude, and for the latitude of opposite sign.

Limitations

Neither conformal nor equal area.  Useful only for world maps.

Uses and applications

 Developed for use in general and thematic world maps.

 Used by Rand McNally since the 1960s and by the National Geographic Society since 1988 for general and thematic world maps.


RPC code page support

ArcView supports RPC on both Windows and UNIX platforms with RPCClient and RPCServer classes.  In cases where RPC client and RPC server operate under different code page settings, code page conversion is necessary for client and server to communicate with one another.  For the purpose of code page conversion, only the client side needs to be addressed.  The RPC command that may require code page conversion is RPCClient.Execute. RPCClient.Execute requests services from the server.  This command yields the following syntax:

result = RPCClient.Execute(aProcedureID, aCommand, retnClass)

This command executes aProcedureID with aCommand and returns result of type retnClass.  aProcedureID is a number significant to the server that identifies the service to perform.  aCommand is the command the server is requested to execute. aProcedureID is assumed to return a data value which can be converted into an object of class retnClass.  retnClass can be Nil, String, Boolean, Number.  ArcView support RPC code page conversion on both result and aCommand elements of this command. Since result is a return value from another host, convert the code page from foreign to current.  And since aCommand is a request to another host, code page needs to be translated from current to foreign as well as foreign to current.

RPC code page conversion is controlled by a new request in the RPCClient class.  The new request has the following syntax:

RPCClient.SetCodePage(flag, codepage)

By default, no code page conversion is performed on the RPCClient.Execute command.  To enable RPC code page conversion, you need to first issue the RPCClient.SetCodePage command where flag is set to ‘True’ and foreign codepage (i.e., ‘DOS437’) specified.  All subsequent RPCClient.Execute commands will trigger code page conversions to be performed on result and aCommand of RPCClient.Execute command.   It is possible to disable the RPC code page conversion by issuing another RPCClient.SetCodePage where flag = ‘False’.  When flag = ‘False’, codepage parameter is ignored.

For more information, see ArcView documents code page support.


Run-length compressed files

ArcView supports the  IMPELL Bitmap format, which uses the run-length compression (RLC) method. This format is used for scanned monochrome images. A description of the file format is shown below.

 One-bit, black-and-white data; .rlc files

The origin of an RLC file is located in the upper-right corner with the x-axis (columns) running from right to left, and the y-axis (rows) running from top to bottom. The file is interpreted as a sequence of 16-bit words with each word corresponding to an unsigned short integer. The following is a description of the file contents:

nrows ncols

numpairs on-column off-column on-column off-column . . .

.

.

.

numpairs on-column off-column on-column off-column . . .

The two-word header contains the number of rows and columns in the file. The header is followed by the run-length compressed data for each row in the scanned image. Each row is stored as the following sequence of words:

number of pairs, on column, off column, on column, off column,...

A pair refers to an on column followed by an off column. An on column represents the start of a black run; an off column represents the start of a white run. The column values must increase from right to left in the coordinate system described above. A value of 0 for the number of pairs in any row indicates that the row consists entirely of white pixels.

File extensions

By default, ArcView looks for RLC images when they have these file extensions:

 .rlc

To modify the extensions list, use the ISrc.SetExtensions request.


Setting the default symbol

1	Make sure no graphics are selected and that no symbols in the Legend Editor are selected.

2	From the Window menu choose Show Symbol Window

3	Set the properties of either a fill, pen, marker, or text symbol.

Tip    You will see the sample symbol in the Symbol Window change when you are setting the default symbol. If it does not change, then you have something selected, and may be inadvertently changing its symbol.


Setting up the Drive Code Page Profile

The Drive Code Page Profile is a new feature in ArcView specifically for supporting code page conversion. Access the Drive Code Page Profile through File menu.  This profile is independent of the project.  It is active throughout ArcView session.

To indicate that a code page conversion is necessary, set a specific code page for each drive or directory.  For instance, suppose ArcView is running English Windows, which uses code page ‘WIN1252’ (Windows code page 1252) and you wish to access data in c:\avdata which is stored in code page ‘DOS437’ (DOS code page 437).  You will need to first add an entry ‘c:\avdata = DOS437’ in the Drive Code Page Profile.  With this definition in place, whenever ArcView accesses data in c:\avdata directory, it automatically activates code page conversion for all read and write operations.  During the read operation, data is converted from code page ‘DOS437’ to code page ‘WIN1252’.  Write operation will perform the opposite;  it converts all data from ‘WIN1252’ back to its original code page ‘DOS437.’

The system default file is located in <arcview>/etc/default.dcp.  You may create more than one Drive Code Page Profile.  Upon startup,  ArcView will attempt to read the default.dcp in the $HOME directory.  If  it doesn’t find it, it reads the system default.dcp in the <arcview>/etc directory.   You may define and name your own Drive Code page Profile (.dcp.)  However it must be named  default.dcp in the $HOME  or <arcview>/etc directory for ArcView to execute it upon each startup.


Sinusoidal map projection

As a world map, the Sinusoidal projection maintains equal area despite conformal distortion. Alternative formats reduce the distortion along outer meridians by interrupting the continuity of the projection over the oceans and by recentering the continents around their own central meridians, or vice versa.

Method of projection    A pseudocylindrical projection where all parallels are straight. Horizontal lines and all meridians, other than the straight central meridian, are sinusoidal curves.

Linear graticules    All lines of latitude and the central meridian.

Properties

Shape    Free of distortion along the central meridian and the Equator. Smaller regions using the interrupted format exhibit less distortion than the uninterrupted sinusoidal projection of the world.

Area    Areas are represented accurately.

Direction    Local angles are correct along the central meridian and the Equator, but distorted elsewhere.

Distance    The scale along all parallels and the central meridian of the projection is accurate.

Limitations

Distortion is reduced when used for a single land mass, rather than the entire globe. This is especially true for regions near the Equator.

Uses and applications

 World maps illustrating area characteristics, especially if interrupted.

 Continental maps of South America, Africa, and occasionally others, where each land mass has its own central meridian.


Software packages that edit or generate TrueType fonts

The following list of commercial software tools for editing, converting, or generating TrueType fonts was derived from the April, 1996 Microsoft TechNet CD. These resources were last updated November 2, 1995.

The tools are listed in alphabetical order by name. None of these tools is recommended over any other, nor over any that are absent from the list. Each of the tools has its own strengths and weaknesses. Before making any purchase, examine the tool and its documentation to see if it meets your needs.

Some of the following tools run on an Apple Macintosh while others run on an IBM PC/AT or compatible computer. The same TrueType font can run on a Macintosh or with Microsoft Windows operating system version 3.1.

To convert a font from the Macintosh to Windows 3.1, save the data fork from a Macintosh font to a file, copy the file to an MS-DOS-formatted disk, give the file a .TTF file extension, and use the Windows 3.1 Control Panel to install the font.

The products included here are manufactured by vendors independent of ESRI; we make no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding these products' performance or reliability.

There are two groups of tools list, font converters and font editors. In general, font converters are used to translate an existing font file of a given format to another font format, while font editors allow you to edit the glyphs (characters) in an existing font or create a new font.

FONT CONVERTERS

AllType for MS-DOS

Atech Software

5964 La Place Court, Suite 125

Carlsbad, CA 92008

(619) 438-6883

Description - Character-based application running under MS-DOS. Converts almost any font format to any other. Supported formats include TrueType, Type-1, Type-3, Nimbus-Q, and Intellifont.

Evolution 2.0 for Macintosh

Image Club Graphics, Inc.

1902 11th St. SE, Suite 5

Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2G 3G2

(403) 262-8008

Description - Converts almost any font format to any other. Supported formats include TrueType, Type-1, and Type-3.

FontMonger for Windows

FontMonger for Macintosh

Ares Software

561 Pilgrim Drive, Suite D

Foster City, CA 94404

 (415) 578-9090

Description - Converts almost any font format to any other. Supported formats include TrueType, Type-1, Type-3, and Intellifont. Also provides minor font editing by creating composite characters or rearranging the characters in a font.

Incubator for WindowS

Type Solutions, Inc.

91 Plaistow Rd

Plaistow, NH 03865

(603) 382-6400

Description - Supports adding effects to TrueType fonts. Contact Type Solutions for more information.

Metamorphosis Professional for Macintosh

Altsys Corp.

269 W. Renner Rd

Richardson, TX 75080

(214) 680-2060

Description - Converts almost any font format to any other. Supported formats include TrueType, Type-1, Type-3, and PICT format. One interesting feature allows the user to read a Type-1 font from the ROM of an Apple LaserWriter printer and convert the font to another format.

FONT EDITORS

Fontographer 4.1 for Windows

Fontographer 4.1 for Macintosh

Altsys Corp.

269 W. Renner Rd

Richardson, TX 75080

(214) 680-2060

Description - A complete font editing tool. Supports creating a font from scratch and modifying existing fonts. Supports a variety of formats including TrueType and Type-1. Includes an autohinter.

FontStudio 2.0 for Macintosh

Letraset Graphic Design Software

40 Eisenhower Dr

Paramus, NJ 07653

(800) 343-TYPE  or (201) 845-6100

Description -A complete font editing tool. Supports creating fonts from scratch and modifying existing fonts. Supports a variety of formats including TrueType and Type-1. Includes an autohinter.

TypeMan 1.0 for Macintosh

Type Solutions, Inc.

91 Plaistow Rd

Plaistow, NH 03865

(603) 382-6400

Description - Designed for font foundries, this tool provides precise control over the hints in a font and includes an autohinter. Supports specifying a font in a high-level programming language, which the tool compiles to the binary TrueType format.


Spatial data

Spatial data stores the geometric location of geographic features, along with attribute information describing what these features represent. The locational data is stored in a vector or raster data structure, and corresponding attribute data is stored in a set of tables related geographically to the features they describe. This is also known as a georelational data structure.

Supported spatial data formats

ArcView shapefiles

ARC/INFO coverages

ARC/INFO GRID data

Image data

CAD drawings

SDE data (If Database Access is installed)

StreetMap data (If StreetMap is installed)

TINs (If 3D Analyst is installed)

VPF data

Why are feature or image spatial data sources data different from other graphic data?

There are four main differences between feature or image data sources and data such as vector graphics, and non-georeferenced images such as scanned paper documents like reports, deeds, photographs, etc.

 In spatial data there is an explicit relationship between the geometric and attribute information, so that both are always available when you work with the data. For example, if you select particular features displayed on a view. ArcView will automatically highlight the records containing the attributes of these features when the attribute table is displayed.

 Spatial data is georeferenced to known locations on the Earth's surface. To ensure that location is accurately recorded, spatial data always employs a specific coordinate system, unit of measurement and map projection. When spatial data is displayed it has a particular scale just like any paper map.

 Spatial data is primarily feature based. It is designed to enable specific geographic features and phenomena to be managed, manipulated and analyzed easily and flexibly to meet a wide range of needs. Other types of graphic data may be oriented solely towards presentation and display, and may store features such that they can only be accessed in a limited number of ways. Geo-referenced images are usually associated with features.

 Spatial data is organized thematically into different layers, or themes. There is one theme for each set of geographic features or phenomena for which information will be recorded. For example, streams, landuse, elevation, and buildings will each be stored as a separate spatial data sources, rather than trying to store them all together in one. This makes it easier to manage and manipulate the data, especially as much of the power of working geographically comes from being able to analyze the spatial relationships between different geographic themes.


State Plane

The State Plane Coordinate System is not a projection. It is a coordinate system that divides all fifty of the United States, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands into over 120 numbered sections, referred to as zones. Depending on its size, each state is represented by anywhere from one to ten zones. The shape of the zone then determines which projection is most suitable. Three projections are used: the Lambert Conformal Conic for zones running east and west, the Transverse Mercator for zones running north and south, and the Oblique Mercator for one zone only, the panhandle of Alaska. Each zone has an assigned USGS code number, each having a designated central origin which is specified in degrees.

The State Plane Coordinate System was originally designed to use the North American Datum of 1927, or NAD27. It uses the Clarke spheroid  of 1866 to represent the shape of the earth. The origin of this datum is a point on the earth referred to as Meades Ranch in Kansas. Many NAD27 control points were calculated from observations taken in the 1800s. These calculations were done manually and in sections over many years. Therefore, errors varied from station to station. To use one of the State Plane projections in NAD27, select State Plane - 1927 from Projection Properties.

A new datum was developed in 1983, as technological advances in surveying and geodesy revealed weaknesses in NAD27’s control points. NAD83 uses the GRS80 spheroid, and is based upon both earth and satellite observations.  The origin for this datum is the earth’s center of mass. To use one of the State Plane projections in NAD83, select State Plane - 1983 from Projection Properties.

Method of projection    Projection may be cylindrical or conic. See Lambert, Transverse Mercator, and Oblique Mercator for methodology and properties.

Uses and applications

 Standard USGS 7 1/2- and 15-minute quad sheets.


Stereographic map projection

Of all the azimuthal projections, the Stereographic is the only one that is conformal.

Method of projection    Planar perspective projection, viewed from the point on the globe opposite the point of tangency. All meridians and parallels are shown as circular arcs or straight lines. Graticular intersections are 90 degrees. In the equatorial aspect, the parallels curve in opposite directions on either side of the Equator. The parallel opposite in sign to the central latitude is a straight line; other parallels are concave toward the pole on the same side of the straight parallel.

Point of tangency    A single point, any point on the globe. Points represented by the North Pole and the South Pole should be processed using the Stereographic (North Pole) and Stereographic (South Pole) choices.

Linear graticules

Polar aspect: All meridians.

Equatorial aspect: The central meridian and the Equator.

Oblique aspect: Central meridian, and parallel of latitude with sign opposite that of the central parallel.

Properties

Shape    Conformal. Local shape is accurate.

Area    True scale at center. Distortion increases with distance from the center.

Direction    From the center, directions are accurate. Local angles are accurate everywhere.

Distance    Scale increases with distance from the center.

Limitations

Normally limited to one hemisphere, a radius of 90 degrees from the center. Portions of the outer hemisphere may be shown, but with rapidly increasing distortion.

Uses and applications

 The oblique aspect has been used to map circular regions on the Moon, Mars and Mercury.


Submit a bug or enhancement report

You can send enhancement requests, feedback, or bug information about ArcView to ESRI. You can fill out the provided bug report and send it to ESRI in one of these two methods:

To send the form in digital format through e-mail

1	Copy the text in the ArcView Bug Report.

2	Paste the text into a file.

3	Fill out the form with a text editor.

4	Send the file to "support@esri.com" through e-mail.

To send the form in hardcopy by mail or fax

1	Print a hard copy of the ArcView Bug Report by choosing Print Topic in the Help window's File menu.

2	Fill out the form.

3	Mail the form to:

ESRI

380 New York Street

Redlands, CA 92373-8100

U.S.A.

Attn: ArcView Technical Support

Or fax the form to:

ESRI

Attn: ArcView Technical Support

Fax number: (909) 792 0960


Sun rasterfiles

Sun rasterfiles are suitable for storing monochrome, grayscale, pseudocolor and true color images. The files have a fixed-length header that is followed by an optional variable-length colormap. Sun rasterfiles support a byte-level run-encoding scheme. The following types of Sun rasterfiles can be displayed:

 Sun rasterfiles storing data using either 1, 8, 24 or 32 bits per pixel

By default, ArcView looks for Sun rasterfiles images when they have these file extensions:

 .rs

 .ras

 .sun

To modify the extensions list, use the ISrc.SetExtensions request.

For more information, see the Sun Pixrect Reference Manual or the on-line manual pages for rasterfile under the Sun operating system.


Supported image formats

ArcView supports the following image formats as themes:

ARC Digitized Raster Graphics (ADRG) (if ArcView's ADRG Image Support extension is loaded)

BMP

BSQ, BIL and BIP

Compressed ARC Digitized Raster Graphics (CADRG) (if ArcView's CADRG Image Support extension is loaded)

Controlled Image Base (CIB) (if ArcView's CIB Image Support extension is loaded)

ERDAS

GRID

IMAGINE (if ArcView’s IMAGINE image extension is loaded)

IMPELL Bitmaps (Run-length compressed files)

Image catalogs

JPEG (if ArcView’s JPEG image extension is loaded)

MrSID (if ArcView’s MrSID image extension is loaded)

National Image Transfer Format (NITF) (if ArcView's NITF Image Support extension is loaded)

Sun rasterfiles

TIFF

TIFF/LZW compressed

ArcView supports hot linking to the following image formats:

GIF (Graphics Interchange Format)

MacPaint

Microsoft DIB (Device-Independent Bitmap)

Sun raster files

TIFF (Tag Image File Format)

TIFF/LZW compressed

X-Bitmap (generated by ‘bitmap' utility on X Windows)

XWD (X Windows Dump Format)


Symbol Window

ArcView’s Symbol Window contains lists of symbols, or palettes, you can use to display point, line, and polygon, features. There are five palettes (Fill, Pen, Marker, Font, and Color), and a Palette Manager for customizing palettes.

To open the Symbol Window, choose Show Symbol Window from the Window Menu. Unless you have something selected or the Legend Editor is open, the fill palette appears.


System and database requirements for ArcView 3.1 UNIX release
System and database requirements for the ArcView 3.1 UNIX release

The system and database requirements were upgraded for the ArcView GIS Version 3.1 release. ArcView GIS Version 3.1 may not run with an ArcView GIS Version 3.0, 3.0a, or 3.0b system configuration. To successfully run ArcView GIS Version 3.1, you must upgrade your system configuration according to the new requirements for these platforms

Compaq's Digital UNIX

HP 9000/700

IBM RS/6000

Silicon Graphics

Solaris 2.x

Compaq's Digital UNIX

Operating System: Compaq's Digital UNIX v4.0D

C Compiler: DEC C for Compaq's Digital UNIX 4.0D

C++ Compiler: DEC C++ for Compaq's Digital UNIX CXXBASE550

Window Manager: CDE or Motif

Minimum Memory*: 64MB

Swap Space*: 75MB

OpenGL**: Open3D Version 4.x

Databases:

Informix-OnLine Dynamic Server: 7.20.UC3

CA-OpenIngres: 1.2/01

Oracle: Oracle7 Server 7.3.3.0.0 and 8.0.3.0.0

Sybase: SQL Server 11.0.2

HP 9000/700

Operating System: HP-UX 10.20 ACE

C Compiler: B3898AA_APZ 10.20 HP C/ANSI C Developer's Bundle

C++ Compiler: B3910AA_APZ B.10.20 HP C++ Compiler S700

Window Manager: CDE or HP VUE

Minimum Memory*: 32MB

Swap Space*: 100MB

Filesystem: Must be configured for long filenames

OpenGL**: v 1.1

Databases:

Informix-OnLine Dynamic Server: 7.20.UC2

CA-OpenIngres: 1.2/0.1

Oracle: Oracle7 Server 7.3.3.0.0 and 8.0.3.0.0

Sybase: SQL Server 11.0.2

IBM RS/6000

Operating System: AIX 4.1.5.0 (RTE - supplied by ESRI)

C Compiler: xlc Version 3.1.4.0

C++ Compiler: AIX C++ Version 3.1.4.0

Window Manager: CDE or AIX Windows Rev. 4.1.5.0

Minimum Memory*: 32MB

Swap Space*: 64MB

OpenGL**: 4.1.5.3

Databases:

Informix-OnLine Dynamic Server: 7.20.UC3

CA-OpenIngres: 1.2/01

Oracle: Oracle7 Server 7.3.3.0.0 and 8.0.3.0.0

Sybase : SQL Server 11.0.2

Silicon Graphics

Operating System: IRIX Rev. 6.2, with these patches:

SG0001717

SG0002086

SG0002161

SG0002044

6.2_POSIX patch

C Compiler: C, 7.1 on IRIX 6.2

C++ Compiler: C++, 7.1 on IRIX 6.2

Window Manager: Version 6.2 based on OSF/Motif 1.2.4

Minimum Memory*: 64MB

Swap Space*: 100MB

OpenGL**: Built into the OS (IRIX 6.2)

Databases:

Informix-OnLine Dynamic Server: 7.20.UC2

CA-OpenIngres: NA

Oracle: Oracle7 Server 7.3.3.0.0 and 8.0.3.0.0

Sybase : SQL Server 11.0.2

Solaris 2.x

Operating System: Solaris 2.5.1, with these patches for OpenGL/3D

103796-12 (FFB patch)

103566-18( Xsun jumbo patch)

C Compiler: SPARKWorks 4.2 C

C++ Compiler: SPARKWorks 4.2 C++

Window Manager: CDE or OpenWindows

Minimum Memory*: 32MB

Swap Space*: 100MB

OpenGL**: Version 1.1

Databases:

Informix-OnLine Dynamic Server: 7.20.UC2

CA-OpenIngres: 1.2/01

Oracle: Oracle7 Server 7.3.3.0.0 and 8.0.3.0.0

Sybase : SQL Server 11.0.2

* The swap space and the minimum recommended memory are based on a single user.

** OpenGL is required for the ArcView 3D Analyst extension only.

Note: ArcView 3.1 is not supported on the DG AViiON and Sun Solaris 1 platforms.


Tabular data

Working with attribute tables

Spatial data sources such as ARC/INFO coverages or ArcView shapefiles have attribute tables containing descriptive information about their features. You can work with these tables in various ways. See What is a table?

Adding your tabular data to a view

You can join your existing tabular data to the attribute tables of spatial data sources. This lets you symbolize the spatial features according to the values they have for the fields in your own tables. It also lets you select features according to these attributes. See Joining tables.

Working with event tables in ArcView

Events enable you to map data that contains geographic locations but which is not in a spatial data format.

For example, you might have a file of customers and want to make a map showing how they are distributed throughout the region. Or you may have a table of accident information and want to display the accidents with reference to their milepost locations along a route. Or you might have a table with information about bird sightings, with the latitude-longitude location of each sighting as fields in the table. In ArcView these are all examples of events.

Here are the types of events that ArcView supports:

 XY event tables

These tables contain the exact position of features as XY coordinates, such as the location of fire hydrants in a city or the points where soil samples have been taken. XY coordinates can be obtained by reading a map, measuring positions on a view, field surveying, using a GPS (Global Positioning System) receiver, geocoding the table that contains address information, etc. The XY coordinates can be in any coordinate system and units, such as longitude-latitude, or meters.

 Point event tables

These tables contain the locations of points specified as positions on a route system in an ARC/INFO coverage or a measured PolyLine shapefile. For example, a point event table might record the location of bus stops along a bus route defined by their distance from the start of the route, rather than their XY coordinate location. "At 12.5 miles along Route 10" is an example of a point event.

 Linear event tables

These tables define the from and to position of events along a route system in a coverage or a measured PolyLine shapefile.  For example, a line event table might record the pavement quality along different sections of a highway, where the sections are defined by distance along the highway.

 Continuous event tables

These tables define linear events that record only the point where a change occurs. This is a useful method for recording data which has no gaps, such as the location of speed zone changes along a highway, with the location defined by distance along the highway.

 Address event tables

Address event tables contain the street addresses or certain kind of locational identifiers of anything: customers, suppliers, competitors, branch offices, facilities, crimes, etc. See Tables that can be geocoded and Address components for information about the formats of address you can use for geocoding.

Notes

 In order to add point, line, and continuous events to a view, the view must already contain a theme with the appropriate route system or measured PolyLines. ArcView uses the route theme as the basemap on which to map the events.

 In order to add address events to a view, the view must already contain an appropriate matchable theme which ArcView can use as the base map for geocoding the table. See Address geocoding.


The colormap file

The colormap file is an optional ASCII file that describes the image colormap for single-band pseudocolor images. If this file doesn’t exist, the image displays as a grayscale image.

The colormap file records the colors to be associated with pixel values in the image. Colors are defined using the RGB color model that describes colors in the amount of red, green and blue they contain. The file consists of a set of entries, each on a separate line, that describes the color corresponding to a pixel value in the image.

Each entry has the format:

value red green blue

where value is a given pixel value and red, green and blue are the color components for the pixel. Sort all entries in ascending order by pixel value. If the first non-blank character on the line is not a number, the line is considered to be a comment and ignored. Any non-blank characters in a line beyond the fourth parameter (blue) are ignored and may be used as comments as well.

The red, green and blue components are described using a scale with values ranging from 0 to 255. As the color value increases, so does the intensity of the particular color component. The default color for a pixel value with no entry is black. A sample colormap file for a raster soils map with pixel values of 11, 16, 18, 19, 21, 98 and 99 is shown below:

Colormap file for Soils map

Entries are sorted in ascending order by pixel value

 11 255 0 0 (red)
 16 255 165 0 (orange)
 18 255 255 0 (yellow)
 19 0 255 0 (green)
 21 0 0 255 (blue)
 98 0 255 255 (cyan)
 99 160 32 240 (purple)

Colormap files are only used with single-band images. Any single-band image with a colormap file will be interpreted as a pseudocolor image. Colormap files that accompany multiband images are ignored.


The BIL/BIP/BSQ image file

The binary image file for the BIL/BIP/BSQ image format is merely a bit stream of the image data. How the image data is arranged in that bit stream defines whether it is a BIL, BIP, or BSQ image.

Band interleaved by line data stores pixel information band by band for each line, or row, of the image. For example, given a three-band image, all three bands of data are written for row 1, all three bands of data are written for row 2, and so on, until the total number of rows in the image is reached. The following diagram illustrates BIL data:

Row 1 Row 2 Row n

Band interleaved by pixel data is similar to BIL data, except that the data for each pixel is written band by band. For example, with the same three-band image, the data for bands 1, 2 and 3 are written for the first pixel in column 1; the data for bands 1, 2 and 3 are written for the first pixel in column 2; and so on.

Row 1 Row n
Band sequential format stores information for the image one band at a time. In other words, data for all pixels for band 1 is stored first, then data for all pixels for band 2, and so on.

Rows 1 .. n Rows 1 .. n


The header file

The header file describes the image data. You must generate a header file for each image to be displayed. Name the header file after the image, with a .hdr extension; for example,

<image>.hdr

The header file contains a set of entries, each of which describes a particular attribute of the image. For example, an entry can describe the number of rows or columns in the image. The format of each entry is:

keyword value

where keyword indicates the particular attribute that is being set, and value is the value the attribute is being set to. The entries in the header can be in any order, but each must be on a separate line of the file. Any line in the file that does not begin with a keyword is treated as a comment and ignored.

The following list identifies the valid keywords and describes the particular image attribute they define. Several of the keywords have default values. Where the default value accurately represents the image data, you can omit the keyword from the header file.

 nrows - the number of rows in the image. Rows are parallel to the x-axis of the map coordinate system. There is no default.

 ncols - the number of columns in the image. Columns are parallel to the y-axis of the map coordinate system. There is no default.

 nbands - the number of spectral bands in the image. The default is 1.

 nbits - the number of bits per pixel per band. Acceptable values are 1, 4, 8, 16 and 32. The default value is 8-bits per pixel per band. For a true color image with three bands (R, G, B) stored using 8-bits for each pixel in each band, nbits equals 8 and nbands equals 3, for a total of 24 bits per pixel. For an image with nbits equal to 1, nbands must also equal 1.

 byteorder - the byte order in which image pixel values are stored. The byte order is important for 16-bit images, with two bytes per pixel. Acceptable values are:

I - Intel byte order (Silicon Graphics, Digital Alpha, PC) - also known as little-endian
M - Motorola byte order (Sun, HP, etc.) - also known as big-endian

The default byte order is the same as that of the host machine executing the software.

 layout - the organization of the bands in the image file. Acceptable values are:

bil - band interleaved by line
bip - band interleaved by pixel
bsq - band sequential

The default layout is bil.

 skipbytes - the number of bytes of data in the image file to skip in order to reach the start of the image data. This keyword allows you to bypass any existing image header information in the file. The default value is 0 bytes.

 ulxmap - the x-axis map coordinate of the center of the upper-left pixel. If you specify this parameter, set ulymap, too; otherwise, a default value is used.

 ulymap - the y-axis map coordinate of the center of the upper-left pixel. If this parameter is specified, ulxmap must also be set; otherwise, a default value is used.

 xdim - the x dimension of a pixel in map units. If this parameter is specified, ydim must also be set; otherwise, a default value is used.

 ydim - the y dimension of a pixel in map units. If this parameter is specified, xdim must also be set; otherwise, a default value is used.

The following figure shows the default values for ulxmap, ulymap, xdim and ydim.

The center of the upper-left pixel will have map coordinates (ulxmap, ulymap) = (0, (nrows - 1)), with the center of the lower-left pixel at (0, 0). In this figure, the coordinate value for ulxmap and ulymap is (0, 3). The x and y pixel dimensions will default to xdim = 1 and ydim = 1.

 bandrowbytes - the number of bytes per band per row. This must be an integer. This keyword is used only with BIL files when there are extra bits at the end of each band within a row that must be skipped.

This figure illustrates one row of data for a three-band image. Bandrowbytes is the sum of the number of bytes used to store the image data and the extra bits that must be skipped to reach the next band.

Bandrowbytes can be thought of as an index to the starting point of the next band of data. Starting at the beginning of any band in a row, moving bandrowbytes along that row leads to the beginning of the next band.

To set bandrowbytes, you must know the layout of the image data, or more specifically, how many bytes are used to store pixel values for each band in a row. If bandrowbytes is not specified, a default value is calculated with the following equation:

bandrowbytes = the smallest integer(ncols * nbits) / 8

The default value handles cases when there are no extra trailing bits at the end of each band in a row and when the number of bytes per band per row is the smallest integer number of bytes that will adequately store the data for the band (e.g., if the data required 2.5 bytes, 3 bytes is the smallest integer number of bytes that could store the data). In these two cases, bandrowbytes does not need to be set. If, however, the number of bytes per band per row is greater than the default, set bandrowbytes accordingly.

The following two examples show the default behavior of bandrowbytes. The first example describes the case for which there are no trailing bits at the end of a band in a row, and the second describes the case for which there are.

If there are no extra trailing bits at the end of a band, bandrowbytes equals the number of bytes used to store the image data.

For example, given a 6-by-6 image with 3 bands and 8 bits (1 byte) per pixel, the image data will require,

bytes per band per row = ncols * nbits
= 6 * 8
= 48 bits or 6 bytes

6 bytes per band per row. By default, bandrowbytes is set to 6 bytes, as shown by the following equation:

bandrowbytes = (ncols * nbits) / 8
= (6 * 8) / 8
= 48 / 8
bandrowbytes = 6 bytes

Because the number of bytes per band per row equals bandrowbytes, the default value is the appropriate setting. Thus, bandrowbytes does not need to be explicitly specified. The next example illustrates a case where bandrowbytes does not equal the number of bytes of data per band per row.

Suppose you have a three-band image of 5 rows and 5 columns with 4 bits per pixel. By default, bandrowbytes is set to the smallest integer number of bytes that will adequately hold the data. In this case, the defaulted value is 3. This is calculated as follows:

bandrowbytes = (ncols * nbits) / 8
= (5 * 4) / 8
= 20 / 8
= 2.5
= 3 (when rounded up to the nearest integer)

The image data, however, only requires 2.5 bytes, which is calculated by multiplying ncols by nbits. Thus, the number of bytes that will be skipped is .5 bytes (4 bits), or the difference between 3 bytes (bandrowbytes) and 2.5 bytes (image data bytes).

This figure shows one band of data for one row of the image.

 totalrowbytes - the total number of bytes of data per row. Use totalrowbytes when there are extra trailing bits at the end of each row.

For a BIL file, the default value for totalrowbytes is calculated with the following equation:

totalrowbytes = nbands * bandrowbytes

The default value assumes that there are no extra trailing bits at the end of each row. If there are, set totalrowbytes accordingly. For example, given a three-band image with bandrowbytes equal to 3, totalrowbytes will equal 9 by default. If there is an extra trailing byte of data at the end of the row, set totalrowbytes to 10.

For a BIP file, the default value is calculated with a different equation:

totalrowbytes =
the smallest integer ³ (ncols * nbands * nbits) / 8

Totalrowbytes is rounded up to the nearest integer number of bytes that can adequately store the pixel data for the row. For example, given a 5-by-5 BIP image with 3 bands and 4 bits per pixel, the default value for totalrowbytes is:

totalrowbytes = (ncols * nbands * nbits) / 8
= (5 * 3 * 4) / 8
= 60 / 8
= 7.5
= 8 (when rounded up to the nearest integer)

This figure illustrates the default setting of totalrowbytes for a BIP image.

If the default value for totalrowbytes does not accurately represent the layout of the data, totalrowbytes must be set to the appropriate number of bytes in each row.

 bandgapbytes - the number of bytes between bands in a BSQ format image. The default is 0.

The following file is a typical header file that might be generated for a band interleaved by line satellite image where the image data is preceded by a 128-byte header.

Sample BIL header file
Lines that don't begin with a keyword are treated as comments.
nrows 1024  Comments can be placed here as well
ncols 1024
nbands 3
nbits 8
layout bil
skipbytes 128

The following table gives a summary of the keywords that can be used in the .hdr file.

Keyword	Acceptable Values	Default
nrows	any integer > 0	none
ncols	any integer > 0	none
nbands	any integer > 0	1
nbits	1, 4, 8, 16, 32	8
byteorder	I = Intel; M = Motorola	same as host machine
layout	bil, bip, bsq	bil
skipbytes	any integer >= 0	0
ulxmap	any real number	0
ulymap	any real number	nrows - 1
xdim	any real number	1
ydim	any real number	1
bandrowbytes	any integer > 0	smallest integer >= (ncols * nbits) / 8
totalrowbytes	any integer > 0	for bil -  nbands * bandrowbytes for bip - smallest integer >= (ncols * nbands * nbits) / 8
bandgapbytes	any integer >= 0	0


The statistics file

The statistics file is an optional file that describes image statistics for each spectral band in a grayscale or multiband image. The file consists of a series of entries, one for each band, that records the minimum pixel value, the maximum pixel value, the mean, the standard deviation and two linear contrast stretch parameters.

Each entry has the format (all values appear on the same line in the file for each band):

band minimum maximum {mean} {std_deviation}{linear_stretch_min} {linear_stretch_max}

where band is the band number, minimum is the minimum pixel value in the band, maximum is the maximum pixel value in the band, mean is the mean pixel value, std_deviation is the standard deviation, linear_stretch_min is the minimum pixel value for a linear contrast stretch and linear_stretch_max is the maximum pixel value for a linear contrast stretch.

The values for each parameter are entered on one line. Any entry where the first non-blank character is not a number is treated as a comment and ignored. The band number and the minimum and maximum pixel values are required parameters; the mean, the standard deviation, linear stretch minimum value and linear stretch maximum value are optional parameters. Use a ‘#’ to skip the optional parameters.

Band numbers can range from 1 to nbands. The linear_stretch_min and linear_stretch_max parameters are used to expand the contrast of the displayed image. Pixel values less than linear_stretch_min are displayed with black, and pixel values greater than linear_stretch_max are displayed with white. The pixel values that fall in between the minimum and maximum linear stretch parameters are displayed using shades of gray, with lower pixel values being displayed with darker shades of gray.

The pixel values that fall between the linear stretch parameters are displayed with the maximum number of gray shades available on the display device.

If linear_stretch_min and linear_stretch_max are not specified, they default to the mean minus two standard deviations for linear_stretch_min and the mean plus two standard deviations for linear_stretch_max. If the standard deviation is not given, the minimum and maximum pixel values are used as the contrast stretching parameters.

For multiband images, each band is stretched before the composite image displays. The presence of a color file (.clr) will override the linear contrast stretching of a single-band grayscale image and, instead, display the image as a pseudocolor image.

The following file is a sample statistics file for a four-band satellite image with eight bits per pixel per band:

Image statistics file

1 2 118 67 10
Band 2 has linear contrast stretch parameters:
2 23 251 112 23 80 90
3 68 91 73 4
Band 4 does not contain values for mean and standard deviation:
4 126 198 # # 135 167


The World from Space

See the Orthographic (Oblique) map projection.


TIFF

Tag Image File Format (TIFF) has widespread use in the desktop publishing world. It serves as an interface to several scanners and graphic arts packages. TIFF supports black-and-white, grayscale, pseudocolor, and true color images, all of which can be stored in a compressed or uncompressed format. The following types of TIFF images can be displayed:

 Single band black and white (1 bit), grayscale (4, 8, 16, 24 or 32 bits), and pseudocolor (4, 8, 16 bits) images.

 Multiband images with 8 bits per band. Both planar configurations are supported. There is no restriction on the number of bands in the image.

The following compression schemes are supported:

 CCITT Group 4 (TIFF Compression Scheme 4) for black-and-white data

 CCITT Group 3, 1-D encoding (TIFF Compression Scheme 2) for black-and-white data

 PackBits

TIFF 6.0 is not supported by core ArcView. TIFF 6.0 is supported by the TIFF 6.0 Image Support extension. When this extension is loaded it will override core ArcView's TIFF support. To use TIFF 6.0 images with ArcView you must first load the TIFF 6.0 Image Support extension. If you add a TIFF 6.0 image as a theme to a view and it does not draw you may need an LZW license. An error will not be given when you try to draw a TIFF 6.0 LZW compressed image without a license.

GeoTIFF 1.0 is supported with both core ArcView and the TIFF 6.0 Image Support extension. ArcView will use the georeferencing information in the GeoTIFF tags, if they are present, to properly place the image at the correct location in a view.

By default, ArcView looks for TIFF images when they have these file extensions:

 .tif

 .tff

 .tiff

To modify the extensions list, use the ISrc.SetExtensions request.

See also

TIFF/LZW


TIFF/LZW

LZW, an acronym for Lempel-Ziv and Welch, is a compression method for TIFF images. ArcView looks for LZW images which use the same extensions as other TIFF  files.

You can display TIFF/LZW compressed image data in ArcView with an optional software library available from ESRI. For information for users in the United States, contact

ESRI Desktop Order Center

Phone: (800) 447-9778

FAX: (909) 307-3039

E-mail: info@esri.com

Hours: 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time

International users should contact their ESRI International Distributor for more information.


Tips for using ArcView for Windows more effectively

Here are some tips that may assist you.

Accessing Frequently Used Data

To easily access your most frequently used data, set the working directory for the ArcView icon in Windows. To do this on Windows 95/Windows NT 4.0 and higher:

1	Create a shortcut to the arcview.exe. (Consult Windows Help for more information about creating a shortcut for an application.)

2	Select the Shortcut to arcview.exe icon, then choose the File-Properties option. Click on the Shortcut tab and enter the path to where you want ArcView to first look for data in the Start in field. Click OK.

Setup will set the working directory to the location where the quick start tutorial data (and, optionally, the map data) were installed. If you chose not to install any data, the working directory will be set to where ArcView installed.

How to automatically create backup copy of a project when you open it

Here are a few lines of Avenue code that can be added to the ArcView system script, Project.Open. Adding this code will automatically create a backup of the project when you open it. To update Project.Open:

1  Copy the Project.Open script into a new, empty script

2  Insert these lines after the line: theFName = FileDialog.Show.....

strFullPath = theFName.GetFullName

strBakPath = strFullPath.Substitute (".apr", ".bak" )

File.Copy( strFullPath.AsFileName, strBakPath.AsFileName )

3  Replace the old version of Project.Open with the new.

Long file and directory names

Be careful when moving or creating data for use with ArcView.  ArcView does not support long file names. These include file names that contain spaces or are long (greater than 8 characters) in the path directories or name of the data source.


Tips on using ArcView's on-line help to solve your problem

Get context-sensitive help

If you have a problem using a particular dialog in ArcView, you can get context-sensitive help for that dialog by pressing the F1 key on your keyboard when the dialog box is displayed. To get help about a particular button, tool or active menu item, click on it with ArcView's help tool [image]. Context-sensitive help topics often contain useful tips and notes.

Search the help using the help index

To search the index, click the Help Topics button at the top of this window, and then click the Index tab.

When you double-click an entry in the help index, you'll either go straight to a help topic (if there is only one topic for that entry) or the help system will display a list of topics you can choose from (when there are several topics for that entry).

Search the help using the Find option

If you can't find what you are looking for in the help index, try the Find option. This lets you search the entire help system for topics that contain the word or words you specify. For example, if you've got a problem printing in Postscript, you can use the Find option to search for every occurrence of the word "Postscript" in ArcView's help. The help system will list the titles of the topics that contain the word(s) you specify, so you can choose which topic you wish to read.

To use the Find option, click the Help Topics button at the top of this window, then click the Find tab. If you've not used the Find option before, you'll either be prompted to build the word search database (an automatic process that may take a couple of minutes), or (on UNIX) you may have to click the Rebuild button to begin this process. Once this process is complete, you can go ahead and type in the word you want to look for. (You won't have to build the word search database the next time you use Find.)

Browse the frequently asked questions and technical notes

ArcView's help system contains frequently asked questions and technical notes. Browsing these topics may help you solve your problem and save you having to call ESRI technical support. To get a list of all these topics, search the help index for "troubleshooting" or "FAQ". For more FAQs, see ESRI's website at www.esri.com.


TMPDIR

During ArcView processes such as editing a table, creating a histogram, or printing a file, temporary files are generated. By default, these temporary files are stored in a temporary directory, /tmp on UNIX and temp (or tmp) on Windows. If the space in your temporary directory is less than needed, you may have problems.

TMPDIR is an optional environment variable you can set to redirect temporary files to a larger directory (where you have write access). On UNIX, you can set the TMPDIR variable in your .cshrc or .login file using:

setenv TMPDIR /<my_storage_directory>

On Windows NT, you can set TMPDIR using the Systems Properties Environment dialog. (Right-click the My Computer icon, then choose Properties.)

On Windows 95 you can set TMPDIR by adding the following line into the autoexec.bat file:

set TMPDIR=<drive_letter_of_your_choice>:\<my_storage_directory>

Note   It's a good idea to periodically check your personal temporary directory and delete temporary files your system didn't automatically delete for you.


To change a graphic's font

1	Select the graphic(s) that you want to change the font of using the [image] tool.

2	Open the Symbol Window by choosing Show Symbol Window from the Window menu.

3	Click the Font Palette button

4	Change the font, size, or style.

Tip   You can change the font for Graphic Text (labels), Legend Frames, North Arrow Frames, and Grouped Graphics by using the above steps.


To change the background color of a symbol

You can change the background color of Fill symbols, and some marker symbols by:

1	Choose the fill or marker symbol.

2	Change to the color palette [image].

3	Set Color:, to Background.

4	Choose a background color.


To change the outline color

1	Select the fill symbol you want.

2	Change to the color palette [image].

3	Set Color:, to Outline.

4	Choose an outline color.


To change the outline width of a fill symbol

   Either type in a value in the outline, or click on the down arrow and scroll to the value you wish to use to set the outline width for a fill symbol. The units are in points (1/72) of an inch.


To convert the characters of a font into marker symbols

1	In the font palette, highlight the font that contains the characters you want to use as marker symbols.

2	Click the Create Markers button. This will add the characters of the font as marker symbols and switch you to the marker palette.


To import a bitmap as a marker symbol

1	Choose Show Symbol Window from the Window menu

2	Click the palette manager button

3	Change Type to Marker (the Import button will appear at the bottom).

4	Click Import, and use then browse to the location of the bitmap file you want to load.

5	Select that file and click OK.

Notes

   ArcView supports the use of the following bitmap file formats for use as bitmap marker symbols:  GIF, MacPaint (.mcp), Windows Bitmap (.bmp), Sun Rasterfile, TIFF, and X Bitmap (.xbm).

   ArcView determines whether the bitmap file is single-byte (monochromatic) or multi-byte (color, pseudo color, or gray-scale) and creates the marker symbol accordingly. If the bitmap file is single-byte, ArcView makes a marker that you can set the foreground and background color, and will be updated with the selection color, if it is selected. However, for multi-byte bitmaps, ArcView does not determine background color because there is no way to explicitly detect this information, so you cannot set the background color and this symbol cannot be shown in the selection color.

   For Windows Bitmaps, even the black and white option produces a multi-byte file (.bmp files have dithered gray scales information, and instead of just encoding black and white bits, it is more efficient to store patterns, thus requiring a multi-byte file structure). If possible convert your black and white windows bitmaps to GIF or TIFF, which ArcView will be able to read as single-byte files.


To load the symbols from an ARC/INFO symbolset into the symbol window

1	Choose Show Symbol Window from the Window menu to open the symbol window.

2	Click the palette manager button

3	Click Load

4	In the List Files of Type, choose the type of symbolset you wish to import.

5	Browse to where the .avp file is that you want to load. Select it and click OK.

Notes

 ARC/INFO markersets cannot be loaded into ArcView.

 Multi-layered ARC/INFO shade symbols cannot be imported into ArcView.

 ARC/INFO symbolsets need to have more than 10 symbols to ensure ArcView can correctly detect the version of ARC/INFO that was used to create the symbolset.

 To import ARC/INFO shadesets that contain shade symbols that are of type STIPPLE or OPAQUESTIPPLE, you will need to access the stipple bitmap files that are references inside the shadeset file. These files should be located in a directory called "stipples" that is in the same directory as your shadeset. The bitmaps can only be of the X11 bitmap format (.xbm).

 ARC/INFO Line Types are supported as follows:

	ARC/INFO Line Type	ArcView Support
1.	Wide	Limited*
2.	Hash	Yes
3.	Slant	Yes
4.	Diamond	Yes
5.	ZigZag	Yes
6.	Dots	Yes
7.	Hardware	Yes**
8.	Scallop	Yes
9.	Scrub	Yes
10.	Marker	Yes***
11.	VertexMarker	Yes***
12.	Multi-layered lines	Yes
* Dash patterns (Templates) and Box option are not supported.

** Pensize option is not supported.

***Only lines whose marker symbols were defined using TrueType fonts are directly supported.  See Importing ARC/INFO linesets that contain Linetype Marker or LineType VertexMarker symbols to learn how to do this.

 For ARC/INFO symbolsets that have mixes of supported and unsupported symbol types, ArcView will only load the supported symbols. Therefore you must check carefully if you plan to use the index of the symbol you load to symbolize your theme’s features in the manner of an ARC/INFO look-up table.


To load the symbols from a palette file into the symbol window

1	Choose Show Symbol Window from the Window menu to open the symbol window.

2	Click the palette manager button

3	Click Load

4	Browse to where the .avp file is that you want to load. Select it and click OK.


To set a marker symbol's rotation angle

   In the marker palette, type in the rotation angle you wish the selected marker symbol to be displayed at.

Note   If the marker symbol does not rotate, it means that the symbol cannot be rotated. ArcView can only rotate marker symbols that are created from the characters of a font.  Marker symbols that were imported from bitmap files, and multi-layer marker symbols (created in Avenue) cannot be rotated in the symbol window.


To set a symbol's color to a custom color

1	Click the Custom button in the color palette.

2	Set the Hue, Saturation, and Value properties to achieve the desired color

3	Click OK.


To set the color of text symbols

1	In the Font Palette [image] , select the font for your text symbol.

2	Change to the color palette by clicking [image].

3	From Color, choose Text.

4	Click the color you want for your text.


To open the symbol window

If you have one graphic selected or one class in the legend editor selected:

   Double click on whatever graphic or other item such as a symbol in the legend editor.

Tip   If you have more than one class selected in the legend editor hold down the Shift Key and then double click one on a symbol.

If you have many graphics selected, or to change the properties of Text:

   From the Window Menu choose Show Symbol Window.


Training Services

At ESRI, you'll find software training that fits your learning style and your budget. High-quality ESRI training in ArcView GIS, Avenue, ArcView Spatial Analyst, and many other programs gets you up to speed fast. Here are three ways to get ESRI software training:

1. Take a Class in a Classroom

ESRI offers the following ArcView GIS and Avenue courses in instructor-led classes at regional training facilities and client locations:

Introduction to ArcView GIS (two days) gives you the hands-on experience and conceptual overview needed to take full advantage of ArcView GIS software's display, editing, analysis, and presentation mapping functions. The course teaches basic ArcView GIS functionality. You become familiar with the components of the ArcView GIS interface and learn how documents called views, tables, charts, and layouts are used to display and work with different kinds of information. You also use ArcView GIS software to display, edit, query, and analyze geographic and tabular data and create presentation charts and maps.

Mastering ArcView GIS (three days) explores the power of ArcView GIS software to integrate geographic information. This course takes you beyond the basics as you learn how to perform GIS analysis using the software's total functionality, including new geoprocessing tools. This course also helps you become a more productive ArcView GIS user by introducing advanced topics such as using sample scripts and extensions, working with databases, and making projects portable. You immediately apply these new skills in a class project and in challenging hands-on exercises. Prerequisite: Completion of Introduction to ArcView GIS or equivalent experience.

Introduction to Avenue (two days) gives you the skills and knowledge you need to use the Avenue object-oriented programming language to customize the ArcView GIS graphical user interface (GUI). You write Avenue scripts to create, display, and query information and create maps. This course is ideal for those who have little or no programming background. (Experienced programmers may elect to take the three-day Programming with Avenue course instead.) Prerequisite: Completion of Introduction to ArcView GIS or equivalent experience.

Programming with Avenue (three days) gives you the hands-on experience you need to take full advantage of the Avenue programming language. You learn how to customize the ArcView GIS graphical user interface and to write and execute Avenue scripts (i.e., programs) using the Avenue Script Editor. The course introduces you to object-oriented programming and basic Avenue programming structure. Prerequisites: Completion of Introduction to ArcView GIS or equivalent experience, or experience with a structured programming language (e.g., ARC Macro Language [AML], C, or Visual Basic).

Accessing SDE with Avenue (three days) enables Avenue programmers to manage and process information stored in a Spatial Database Engine (SDE) database using the ArcView Database Access extension. You learn the details of SDE spatial data-handling methods and the Avenue Database Access object model through application-oriented classroom exercises. Accessing SDE with Avenue allows you to maximize the benefits of your SDE installation by providing your users an intuitive, graphic interface to a powerful geographic database.

Working with ArcView Spatial Analyst (three days) explores how this ArcView GIS software extension allows the use of raster and vector data in an integrated environment. The course teaches basic raster concepts and introduces GIS models. It emphasizes problems that are best solved in a raster environment, such as surface analysis and distance measurement. You learn to use the raster tools in the ArcView Spatial Analyst extension, how to convert between feature- and grid-based themes, and how to access additional functionality by issuing Avenue requests with the Map Calculator. Prerequisites: No programming experience is required, although you should be familiar with ArcView GIS software.

Working with ArcView Image Analysis Extension (two days) introduces the ArcView Image Analysis Extension, which enables you to process, analyze, and integrate satellite images and raster GIS data in the ArcView GIS environment. You learn to display and visually manipulate remotely sensed data, import and display images from numerous sensors, and read and write multiple data formats. The course also covers the basics of categorizing and mapping land use and land cover (e.g., vegetation, urban development) for various applications. Prerequisites: Although you need have no knowledge of remote sensing, completion of Introduction to ArcView GIS or equivalent experience is required.

For course offerings, class schedules, and registration information in the United States, contact:

ESRI Learning Center
380 New York Street
Redlands, CA 92373-8100, USA
Telephone: 909-793-2853, extension 1-1585
Fax: 909-335-8233
E-mail: edu_registration@esri.com
Internet: www.esri.com/training

In addition, independent instructors and training facilities offer Introduction to ArcView GIS, Introduction to Avenue, and Working with ArcView Spatial Analyst in most states in the USA. To find an ESRI-authorized instructor or training center near you, contact:

ESRI Authorized Teaching Program
380 New York Street
Redlands, CA 92373-8100, USA
Telephone: 909-793-2853, extension 1-2111
Fax: 909-307-3050
E-mail: atp@esri.com
Internet: www.esri.com/training

Outside the United States, contact your local ESRI distributor. For distributor contact information, refer to Getting Product Support Worldwide. You can also call 909-793-2853, extension 1-1235, or go to www.esri.com/company on the Web.

2. Take a Class on the Web

If you like to learn at your own pace in a supported environment, the ESRI Virtual Campus may be just what you're looking for. The campus offers self-paced GIS training on the Web. It's an interactive learning community that brings together GIS professionals from around the world. Tour the campus at campus.esri.com. (Sign the guest book and get a free course.) The ESRI Virtual Campus curriculum features the six-course Introduction to ArcView GIS series:

The Basics of ArcView GIS (free course)

Querying Data in ArcView

Working with Tables in ArcView

Analyzing Spatial Relationships Using ArcView

Presenting Information in ArcView

Creating Your Own Data in ArcView

Other courses are being developed for the ESRI Virtual Campus. Look for upcoming courses on ArcView GIS extensions and a variety of ArcView GIS applications.

3. Read a book

Book learning never goes out of style. The ESRI Bookstore offers ESRI software workbooks and a large selection of books on GIS and related topics. Shop online at www.esri.com/gisstore or call 909-793-2853, extension 1-1275, for a catalog. The ESRI Bookstore now features titles from ESRI Press, including the popular Getting to Know ArcView GIS, a colorful, nontechnical introduction to GIS technology and ArcView GIS software.


Transverse Mercator map projection

This projection is similar to the Mercator except that the cylinder is longitudinal along a meridian instead of the Equator. The result is a conformal projection that does not maintain true directions. The central meridian is centered on the region to be highlighted. This centering on a specific region minimizes distortion of all properties in that region. As meridians run north and south, this projection is best suited for land masses that also stretch north to south. The State Plane Coordinate System uses this projection for all state zones oriented north to south.

Method of projection    Cylindrical projection with central meridian centered along a particular region.

Lines of contact    Any single meridian for the tangent projection. For the secant projection, two parallel lines equidistant from the central meridian.

Linear graticules    The Equator and the central meridian.

Properties

Shape    Conformal. Small shapes are maintained. Shapes of larger regions are increasingly distorted away from the central meridian.

Area    Distortion increases with distance from the central meridian.

Direction    Local angles are accurate everywhere.

Distance    Accurate scale along the central meridian if its scale factor is specified as 1.0. If the scale factor of the central meridian is less than 1.0, then there are two straight lines having an accurate scale, equidistant from and on each side of the central meridian.

Limitations

Global projection becomes infinite 90 degrees from the central meridian. Use should be limited to 15 to 20 degrees on both sides of the central meridian.

Uses and applications

 State Plane Coordinate System (SPCS), used for predominantly north-south state zones.

 USGS 7 1/2-minute quad sheets to match the State Plane Coordinate System. This projection was used for most new maps after 1957. It replaced the Polyconic projection used previously.

 North America (USGS, central meridian scale factor = 0.926).

 Topographic Maps of the Ordnance Survey of Great Britain, after 1920.


Troubleshooting ArcView for Windows

This topic describes some possible solutions if you're having problems with ArcView.

I had ArcView Version 2.x on my machine and recently installed ArcView 3.1. When I tried to start ArcView Version 2.1, it started initializing and then died. What's the problem?

Answer: Check to see if you have a DEFAULT.APR file in your $HOME or $TEMP directory. If this DEFAULT.APR was created with ArcView Version 3.1, ArcView 2.x will not start. Renaming DEFAULT.APR will allow ArcView 2.1 to work properly. For example, rename DEFAULT.APR to DEFAULT.OLD.

When I try to start ArcView, I get the message "Initializing ArcView ..." and then it just quits. What happened?

Answer: Check the following:

 Make sure the system’s date and time settings are correct.

 Optimize the Virtual Memory setting.

The text in ArcView's user interface (such as the menu text, script contents, text in the project window, theme names, etc.) appears incorrectly. What's the problem?

Answer: The Arial font is not installed. To install the Arial font, open the Windows Control Panel and choose Fonts. Dialogs might also appear incorrectly if the MS Sans Serif font (VGA res) is not installed

When I was connecting to Oracle with Intersolv’s ODBC driver from my PC, I recieved this warning message: "You don’t have a valid license for our ODBC driver!". What does this mean?

Answer: If you get this message when using Intersolv’s ODBC drivers, you need to copy the appropriate license file, .LIC, to C:\ESRI\AV_GIS30\ARCVIEW\BIN32 (Windows 95 and Windows NT).

The .LIC file(s) can typically be found in one of the following locations based on the operating system you are using,

Windows NT - C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32 (IVODBC.LIC)

Windows 95 - C:\WIN95\SYSTEM (IVODBC.LIC)

You will need to copy the appropriate license file every time you install a new version of the Intersolv ODBC drivers.

I logged off Windows 95/NT while ArcView was still running, but wasn't prompted to save my changes. Will my recent changes be lost?

Answer: If you log off Windows 95 or NT while ArcView is still running, you won't get prompted to save your changes. Be sure to save any changes to your project, shapefiles, and tables in ArcView before logging off.

What's the best way to exit ArcView and close all open documents?

Answer: If you exit ArcView using one of the following methods, and either Save or Cancel your changes when prompted, ArcView will close all open documents.

 Using the control menu (the X button in the upper right of the ArcView application window) (Windows 95 and NT 4.0).

 Double-clicking or choosing Close from the ArcView icon in the upper left of the ArcView application window (Windows 95 and NT 4.0).

On Windows NT, the ArcView application window gets smaller after I dismiss my screen saver. Why?

Answer: If you find that the ArcView application window gets smaller after you dismiss your screen saver, switch to a non-3D screen saver.

What should I do if I'm having trouble running ArcView when using a winsock from Trumpet?

Answer: If you experience a problem running ArcView when using a winsock from Trumpet, one solution may be to comment out the lines that reference winsock.dll and avrpc.dll in the $AVHOME\etc\startup file.


True color multiband images
True color/multiband images

True color images generally store data using twenty-four bits per pixel. Each pixel is composed of three eight-bit bands representing the red, green and blue color components. For multiband images, a compositing process allows the creation of a true color image by identifying the three bands that will be used to represent the red, green and blue color components.

Note	To display 24-bit images on UNIX, the Xserver must be started in 24-bit mode. Refer to your System Administrator if you need assistance with this.

See also

Editing an image's legend

Supported image formats


USEREXT

USEREXT is an environment variable set in ArcView's startup script that references the default user extension directory. By default, USEREXT references your HOME directory. The extension files in the directories referenced by USEREXT and AVEXT appear in the extension dialog.  If you want other extensions to appear in the extension dialog, you must move extension files to these directories or change the value of these environment variables with the system request SetEnvVar. For example, if you want to examine the extensions available in the samples directory through the extensions dialog, you might change USEREXT to $AVHOME/samples/ext with the following code.

system.SetEnvVar( "USEREXT", "$AVHOME/samples/ext".AsFileName.GetFullName)


Using ESRI's Fax On Demand Service
 Using ESRI's Fax On-Demand Service

ESRI maintains a database containing information about our desktop software for all users in the United States who have access to a fax machine, or fax modem. This database contains technical information including tips, work-arounds, and answers to our users' most frequently asked questions. It also contains information about our products including training, software upgrades, and other services that may be of interest to you. You may access this database by calling from a Touch-Tone phone and then following the voice-prompted instructions. Please have your fax number ready when you call for this service.

For Fax On-Demand service, phone:  (909) 307-3111

This service is available to you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. While ESRI does not charge for this service, you may be billed by your phone company for any applicable long-distance charges.


Using Exported Files in Other Software Packages

ArcView exports files to various formats compatible with many software applications.  The file created is generic; it is written to be compatible with many software packages.  Not every graphic package that reads specific formats can read files created by every software application. You will most likely find this with ArcView.  Some graphics packages can read and interpret ArcView created files better than others.

Adobe Illustrator (*.ai)

ArcView created Adobe Illustrator files do not export image data.  If you have an image in a layout or view, that data will not appear in the exported file.  When the .ai file is opened in Adobe Illustrator, image data will not appear.  For more information, consult the Adobe Illustrator manual.

Postscript (*.eps)

Adobe Illustrator and Aldus Freehand support encapsulated postscript, but these packages do not give you the ability to open and edit ArcView .eps files.  Adobe Illustrator will display ArcView .eps files using  “Place Art”.  The bounding box of the file displays with an X in the middle.  The data prints correctly.  For more information, consult the Adobe Illustrator and Aldus Freehand manuals.

Software packages that can open, interpret or import our PostScript include Corel Draw.

Computer Graphics Metafile (*.cgm)

ArcView CGM formats are optimized to export vector data but will export images.  ArcView CGM binary can be opened in many graphics software applications, but some applications don’t interpret ArcView cgm clear text and character as well.

Software packages that can open, interpret or import our CGM include Corel Draw and HiJaak Graphics Suite.

Windows and Placeable Metafiles (*wmf)

Software packages that can open, interpret or import our metafiles  include Microsoft word processing and graphics applications, Adobe Illustrator Corel Draw and HiJaak Graphics Suite.

Windows Bitmap (*bmp)

Software packages that can open, interpret or import our bitmaps include Microsoft word processing and graphics applications,  Corel Draw and HiJaak Graphics Suite.

PICT

Software packages that can open, interpret or import our PICT formats include Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, and Aldus Freehand.


Using SDE data in ArcView

The Database Access extension provides multi-user, client-server access to data managed by ESRI's Spatial Database Engine (SDE) version 3.x. This extension turns ArcView into a client for browsing, viewing, and querying SDE data. A theme using an SDE spatial column as its data source is known as a database theme. A table whose data source is tables from an SDE database is known as a database table.

Using Avenue, you can develop SDE client applications that go beyond the capabilities of the user interface provided with this extension. You can create scripts to perform advanced queries and spatial operations on database themes, such as applying an area of interest, and analyzing measured and three-dimensional shapes stored in SDE. You can also create custom applications for updating the attributes and geometry of SDE spatial columns. Data can be retrieved from SDE, updated, and then written back to the SDE dataset.

You can find the help topics for the Database Access extension under the Extensions book in the contents page. All help topics for this extension have the words "Database Access extension" in the title or in the first line of the topic.


UTM

For the Universal Transverse Mercator System, the globe is divided into sixty zones, each spanning six degrees of longitude. Each zone has its own central meridian. This projection is a specialized application of the Transverse Mercator projection. The limits of each zone are 84° N, 80° S.

Method of projection    Each UTM zone has its own central meridian from which it spans 3 degrees west and 3 degrees east of that central meridian. The cylindrical methodology is the same as that for the Transverse projection. Note that the position of the cylinder rotates systematically around the globe. X- and y-coordinates are recorded in meters. The origin for each zone is the Equator and its central meridian. To eliminate negative coordinates, the projection alters the coordinate values at the origin. The value given to the central meridian is the false easting, and the value assigned to the Equator is the false northing. For locations in the Northern Hemisphere, the origin is assigned a false easting of 500,000, and a false northing of 0. For locations in the Southern Hemisphere, the origin is assigned a false easting of 500,000 and a false northing of 10,000,000.

Lines of secancy    Two lines parallel to and approximately 180 km to each side of the central meridian of the UTM zone.

Linear graticules    The central meridian and the Equator.

Properties

Shape    Conformal. Accurate representation of small shapes. Minimal distortion of larger shapes within the zone.

Area    Minimal distortion within each UTM zone.

Direction    Local angles are true.

Distance    Scale is constant along the central meridian, but at a scale factor of 0.9996 to reduce lateral distortion within each zone. With this scale factor, lines lying 180 km east and west of and parallel to the central meridian have a scale factor of 1.0.

Limitations

Designed for a scale error not exceeding 0.1 percent within each zone. This projection spans the globe from 84° N to 80° S. Error and distortion increase for regions that span more than one UTM zone.

Uses and applications

 United States topographic quadrangles, 1:100,000.

 Large-scale topographic mapping of the Soviet Union.

 Medium-scale maps of regions throughout the world.


Vertical Near-Side Perspective map projection
Vertical Near-Side Perspective

The perspective of the Vertical Near-Side Projection projection views the globe from a specified distance rather than from an infinite distance as in the Orthographic projection. This perspective provides the overall effect of a photograph of the earth taken from a satellite or space vehicle.

Method of projection    Planar perspective projection. The distance above the Earth is variable and must be specified before the projection can be calculated. The greater the distance, the more closely this projection resembles the Orthographic projection.  All aspects are circular projections of an area less than a hemisphere.

Point of tangency    A single point located anywhere on the globe.

Linear graticules

All aspects: The central meridian of the projection.

Equatorial aspect: The Equator.

Polar aspect: All meridians.

Properties

Shape    Minimal distortion near the center, maximal distortion near the edge.

Area    The areal scale decreases with distance from the center. Areal scale is zero at the edge of the hemisphere.

Direction    True direction from the point of tangency.

Distance    The radial scale decreases with distance from the center and becomes zero on the edges. The scale perpendicular to the radii decreases, but not as rapidly.

Limitations

The actual range depends on the distance from the globe. In all cases, the range is less than 90 degrees from the center.

Uses and applications

 Uses of this projection are aesthetic more than technical.


What ARC/INFO data is supported in ArcView?

Supported data sets

 ARC/INFO coverages (attributes stored in INFO format)

 PC ARC/INFO coverages (attributes stored in dBASE format)

 Map LIBRARIAN layers

 ArcStorm library layers

 CAD drawings (using the CAD Reader extension)

 Grids

 Images

 Image Catalogs

 Spatial Database Enging (SDE) (using the Database Access extension)

 TINs (using the 3D Analyst extension)

 VPF data (using the VPF Viewer extension)

Supported tabular attribute files

 INFO

 dBASE

 RDBMS via SQL

 Text files (delimited with tabs or commas)

Supported event tables

 Tables with XY events (tables that already contain x, y coordinates for each record)

 Tables containing point events on routes

 Tables containing continuous events on routes

 Tables containing linear events on routes

 Tables containing address events that can be geocoded

Supported coverage feature classes

 Points

 Arcs

 Polygons

 Label points

 Nodes (a node attribute table (NAT) must have been built in workstation ARC/INFO for ArcView to use nodes)

 Routes

 Regions

 Annotation

Other supported files

 Symbolsets

Not supported

 Symbol lookup tables

 Plot files

 Map compositions

 AMLs

 SMLs


What are measures?

GISs often represent spatial information with a two-dimensional x,y coordinate system. This is good for representing the locations of boundaries, water bodies, and road networks. Another system of data representation stores information along linear features. Instead of using x,y measurements, these systems simplify recording the data in the field by using a single relative position. This alternate scheme of measurement can represent distance, time, address, or any other event at a given point along a linear feature. A measure, therefore, can be defined as "a value that defines a discrete location along a linear feature."

Although many applications use measures to represent increasing linear distances along a line, measure values can arbitrarily increase, remain constant or decrease. In special cases, certain locations along a linear feature may not have any known measure value at all. In this case, a Null Number (or 'NIL') value is used instead of a measure. When any form of analysis to determine the measure between (i) a measure and a NIL value or (ii) two NIL measures, a NIL will be returned. Linear interpolation, however, can be used to turn NIL values into measure values.

A measure’s value is independent of a shape’s coordinate system. The x,y coordinate for a point could be (529482,5109382) while the measure is 206. With this said, it is important to remember that geographic data has its coordinates stored in Longitude and Latitude. Unlike a planar coordinate system, measurements in a geographic coordinate system are not constant.  Calculation of length, for example, won’t always be accurate.

Why use Measures? Dynamic Segmentation!

Perhaps the most significant benefit of measures is that they enable you to map data that contains geographic locations but which is not in spatial data format. These locations are known as events. The placement of events along linear features is part of what is known as Dynamic Segmentation.


What is ArcView?

Welcome to ArcView, a powerful, easy-to-use tool that brings geographic information to your desktop. ArcView gives you the power to visualize, explore, query and analyze data spatially.

ArcView is made by Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI), the makers of ARC/INFO, the leading geographic information system (GIS) software. We have been helping people solve spatial problems with computers for over 20 years.

You don't need to know how to create geographic data in order to use ArcView. ArcView comes with a useful set of ready-to-use data. Additional geographic data sets are available from ESRI and from various third parties to suit almost any requirement you might have. Plus, if your organization uses ARC/INFO data, you'll immediately be able to use ArcView to access all these resources, including vector coverages, map libraries, grids, images and event data.

Working spatially

ArcView can be used by anyone who wants to work spatially. A key feature of ArcView is that it's easy to load tabular data, such as dBASE files and data from database servers, into ArcView so that you can display, query, summarize, and organize this data geographically.

In no time you'll be working with your data in a completely new way, seeing patterns you couldn't see before, understanding geographic relationships that were previously hidden, gaining new insights...and achieving new results for you and your business.

Views

With ArcView you work with geographic data in interactive maps called views. Every view features ArcView's unique geographic 'Table of Contents', making it easy to understand and control what's displayed. GIS has never been simpler!

Tables

Working with tabular data in ArcView's tables puts you in control. Click on features on a view, and their records highlight in the table showing you their attributes.  Select records in the table and the features they represent highlight on the view. ArcView's tables also have a full range of features for obtaining summary statistics, sorting and querying.

Charts

ArcView's charts offer a powerful business graphics and data visualization capability that is fully integrated into ArcView's geographic environment. You can simply click on features on a view to add them to the chart. ArcView lets you work simultaneously with geographic, tabular and chart representations of your data.

Layouts

ArcView's layouts let you create high quality, full color maps by first arranging the various graphic elements on-screen the way you want them. You'll get great looking results on a wide range of printers and plotters. Layouts are smart because they have a live link to the data they represent. When you print a layout, any changes to the data are automatically included, so you know everything on your map will be up-to-date.

Scripts

ArcView scripts are macros written in Avenue, ArcView's programming language and development environment. With Avenue you can customize almost every aspect of ArcView, from adding a new button to run a script you write, to creating an entire custom application that you can distribute.

Projects

All the components of your ArcView session: views, tables, charts, layouts, and scripts are conveniently stored in one file called a project. ArcView's Project window shows you the contents of your project and makes it easy to manage all your work.


What is ArcView code page Support
What is code page support?

ArcView code page support allows you to access 8-bit and multi-byte data stored in multiple code pages simultaneously.  For example, user in Spain may wish to access following data during a given ArcView session:

 PC ARC/INFO’s TABLE file

 workstation ARC/INFO’s INFO file

 ArcView’s shape file

If these data contain 8-bit characters, you will not be able to view these data in ArcView without the new ArcView code page support.  This is due to the different code page each data is stored in; data stored in PC ARC/INFO’s TABLES is stored in the DOS code page, ARC/INFO’s INFO file stores data in ISO8859-1 code page, while Windows ArcView shape file operates in a Windows code page.  With ArcView’s code page support functions you can effectively view all of the above data in the same ArcView session.

ArcView handles multiple code pages by being aware of the many different code pages available and also by having the ability to recognize that some data must be converted from one code page to another to be useful.

Note: code page conversion is designed to convert data of the same language from one code page to another.  It does not translate data from one language to another.

ArcView code page support is based on either the drive or the drive and directory.  By default, ArcView assumes all data stored in all drives and directories are in the native code page of the platform. That is, no conversion will be performed.  It is possible to override the default code page for any given drive or directory by accessing the Drive Code Page Profile in the Windows menu.  If you enter non-native code page name, a code page conversion will be performed.

In general, ArcView performs code page conversions based on the code page definition files (single and multi-byte files) which reside in the <arcview>/codepage directory.  All code page definition files have a .nls extension. Code pages definition defined for Far East languages are maintained internally because of the number of characters used in these languages.  Although they are stored internally, they are required to have an entry in the <arcview>/codepage directory  as a ‘dummy’ file.  This is necessary because a <codepage>.nls entry in <arcview>/codepage directory represents a code page definition supported by ArcView.


What is Dynamic Segmentation?

Dynamic segmentation associates multiple sets of attributes to any portion of a linear feature. In ArcView, these attributes can be stored, displayed and queried without affecting the underlying linear data’s xy coordinates.

This ability allows you to:

  Define linear features within a linear feature

  Work with data in route-measure format

  Apply attributes in route-measure format to any part of a route without modifying underlying coordinate data

Dynamic segmentation models linear features using routes and events. A route represents a linear feature, such as a city street, highway or river. Routes contain measures, which describe distance along them (see What are measures?). The measures are used to locate data that describe parts of the route. Data along routes is modeled using events.

Route

A route, for Dynamic Segmentation purposes, is simply a linear feature with measure values attached to it. Starting at ArcView 3.1 a route can refer to either one feature in an ARC/INFO coverage or a measured PolyLine shapefile (a PolyLineM, for example).

Measures

Each route is associated with a measurement system, a linear method consisting of a starting value and other values along the route.

Events

Attributes associated with a route, such as pavement quality, are known as events. In the highway application shown, pavement quality has been labeled according to the measures, poor from 0 to 150, good from 150 to 316 and fair from 316 to 400. A map of these events, with further information like average daily traffic volume, could help a planner decide which portions to resurface first.

Pavement data contained in an event database. The pavement events are defined in terms of a linear measure along the route (see Tabular Data).

Similarly, point events such as accidents may be associated with the route at measure locations 28, 68, 110, 260 and 372.

An event database of traffic accidents on a route. Each event is recorded in terms of a linear measure along the route and graphically represented with a point marker.

Events are not part of the ArcView data model. Rather, they are stored in any type of ArcView table that has at least a Route field and Location field(s).

Who uses Dynamic Segmentation?

Any application involving linear features can benefit from using the functionality provided by dynamic segmentation. Some examples include:

  Collecting data along such linear features as roads, rivers and railways

  Managing pavement quality

  Managing public transit

  Managing urban networks and inventories, such as for street signs, traffic lights, pedestrian crossings, bicycle paths, curbs and sidewalks

  Managing railroad track quality

  Managing rivers and streams

  Modeling shorelines

  Modeling maritime navigation routes

  Analyzing oil and gas exploration

  Modeling communication and distribution networks, such as electric grids, telephone lines, water and sewer, and television cable networks

What's new for Dynamic Segmentation in ArcView 3.1?

Until now, events could only be displayed in ArcView on ARC/INFO coverage route systems. Starting at ArcView 3.1, events can displayed on any type of measured PolyLine theme. That is, events can be displayed on both PolyLineM and PolyLineZ (with optional m values) themes. For more information on displaying events in ArcView, refer to Adding Route Events.

Notes   ArcView 3.1 will not directly support the display of events on measured Database Themes through the Event Dialog. This is not to say, however, that events cannot be displayed on measured SDE data in ArcView. The obvious workaround to this is to simply convert the Database Theme to a shapefile. Another approach would be to use the Avenue API.


 What's new in ArcView GIS Version 3.0

This release features key enhancements to ArcView's editing, thematic mapping, symbolization, labeling and customization capabilities, as well as the addition of extensions that offer a new range of optional high-end GIS functionality. Support has also been added for data managed by the Spatial Database Engine (SDE).

The 'What's new' part of ArcView's online help describes the key new features you'll find in this release. If you are familiar with a previous version of ArcView, browse these topics to find out what's in this version.

Which topic would you like to browse?

Accessing databases

Adding annotation from ARC/INFO coverages

CAD drawings

Creating and editing data

Customizing and programming ArcView

Data conversion

Extensions

Geocoding

Images

Internationalization

Labeling

Layouts and printing

Map projections

Online help

Optional Analyst extensions

Symbols

Thematic mapping

Zooming and panning


Accessing databases (ArcView GIS Version 3.0)

Support for ESRI's Spatial Database Engine (SDE)

The Database Themes extension included with Version 3.0 provides multi-user, client-server access to data managed by ESRI's Spatial Database Engine (SDE). This extension turns ArcView into a client for browsing, viewing and querying SDE datasets. A theme using an SDE layer as its data source is known as a database theme. The Database Themes extension is not available on the Macintosh, Windows 3.1 and Windows for Workgroups.

Using Avenue you can develop SDE client applications that go beyond the capabilities of the user interface provided with this extension. You can create scripts to perform advanced queries and spatial operations on database themes such as buffering, overlays, line intersection and clipping. You can also create custom applications for updating the attributes and geometry of SDE layers. Data can be retrieved from SDE, updated, and then written back to the SDE dataset.

ODBC on Macintosh

You can now use ArcView's SQL connection capability on a Macintosh to connect to a database server, such as Oracle or Sybase, and run an SQL query to retrieve records from it as a table. ArcView uses the ODBC (Open Database Connectivity) standard on the Macintosh.


Adding annotation from ARC/INFO coverages (ArcView GIS Version 3.0)

New way to handle SYMBOL and LEVEL fields

By default, ArcView no longer appends the SYMBOL and LEVEL fields to the table of themes based on ARC/INFO annotation coverages. At ArcView 2.x, these fields were generated in a temporary file, then joined to the annotation theme’s attribute table on the fly when you added the theme.

If you prefer to have ArcView generate the SYMBOL and LEVEL fields for you, add this line to the end of the startup file in the installation etc directory. This request will cause ArcView to treat annotation themes as it did at ArcView 2.x.

FTab.SetAnnoAddFieldsPreference(TRUE)

If the annotation theme’s table already contains a SYMBOL and/or LEVEL field, ArcView will not append those fields, unless FTab.SetAnnoAddFieldsPreference is set to TRUE. (The SYMBOL and LEVEL fields can be permanently added to the attribute table of an annotation coverage using ARC/INFO’s ADDTEXT command.)

For annotation coverages which do not have attribute tables (for example, PC ARC/INFO coverages), ArcView will continue to generate and join the temporary SYMBOL and LEVEL fields automatically when the theme is added.

When you open or import an ArcView 2.x project which contains annotation themes in ArcView 3.0, the SYMBOL and LEVEL fields will be joined to the themes’ tables automatically.

These Avenue requests have been added to support this new functionality:

  anFTab.IsAnno returns TRUE if anFTab is made from an ARC/INFO annotation coverage.

  anFTab.AddAnnoFields creates a temporary dBASE file which contains the SYMBOL and LEVEL fields from an annotation coverage and joins it to anFTab. These fields are recreated each time the project is opened. If anFTab already has joined fields, or it already contains the ArcView-generated SYMBOL and LEVEL fields, this request has no effect.

  FTab.SetAnnoAddFieldsPreference, when set to TRUE, tells ArcView to join the SYMBOL and LEVEL fields to the table of each annotation theme as it is added. The default setting is FALSE. FTab.GetAnnoAddFieldsPreference returns the preference setting.

Annotation class

Further support of annotation themes has been added with the new Annotation class. It contains requests which will allow you to access the baseline which defines the annotation’s position, its height, LEVEL, SYMBOL, and text string. See the Annotation class help for more information.


CAD drawings (ArcView GIS Version 3.0)

Support for CAD drawings in ArcView is now implemented as an extension included with Version 3.0. To access CAD files in ArcView, the CAD Reader extension must be loaded.

Support for MicroStation DGN files

You can now add themes based on MicroStation DGN files. Themes created from DGN files behave like any other feature themes in ArcView. You can turn DGN levels on and off in the Theme Properties dialog's Drawing panel. A selected set of DGN element properties such as level name, color, MsLink, MsCatalog etc. are available in the theme's associated feature attribute table. ArcView supports DGN files up to MicroStation Release 5.5.

Support for binary DXF files

ArcView Version 2.1 supported only the ASCII  DXF (AutoCAD Drawing Interchange file) format. ArcView Version 3.0 adds support for the binary DXF format.

Support for AutoCAD Release 13 DWG and DXF files

ArcView Version 2.1 supported AutoCAD drawings from Releases 7 to 12. ArcView Version 3.0 adds support for AutoCAD Release 13 drawings in DWG and DXF formats. On UNIX and the Macintosh the CAD Reader supports DXF files (ASCII and Binary) but not DWG files.

Use CAD drawings with ArcView extension products

All CAD drawings supported by ArcView can be used with the optional Spatial Analyst and Network Analyst extension products. For example, if you have a CAD drawing containing several point locations with an elevation value, you can create a point theme from that drawing and create contours based on the point elevation values using the Spatial Analyst extension.


Creating and editing data (ArcView GIS Version 3.0)

ArcView Version 3.0 makes it easy to create and edit shapefiles. You can create and manipulate shared boundaries between polygon features and shared nodes between line features. You can also specify rules for how ArcView handles attributes when features are split or merged.

Support for digitizers

You can use a digitizing tablet to create shapefiles from existing printed maps and documents. You can use the digitizer in conjunction with a mouse to perform editing. You can also use the digitizer instead of a mouse and toggle between using the digitizing puck to input map coordinates (absolute mode) and using it to interact with ArcView's user interface (relative mode). Different ArcView options can be assigned to the keys on the digitizer puck for use during editing.

ArcView supports any digitizer with drivers supporting WinTab, the industry standard for digitizers in the Microsoft Windows environment. Digitizer support is implemented as an extension included with Version 3.0. Digitizer support is not available for UNIX or Macintosh.

Multiuser file locking

ArcView now provides a system level file locking mechanism to prevent users from overwriting data sources when more than one person is working with the same shapefile, dBase file or INFO file. With file locking, an ArcView session can access files locally, or on the network, without overwriting an existing file that is currently being accessed by another ArcView session.

ArcView's multiuser file locking consists of a lock manager client that communicates with a lock manager service (server). To use multiuser file locking, the computers on which you are running ArcView must be connected to each other on a network using a Windows Sockets (WINSOCK) compliant TCP/IP stack for PCs. All cooperating ArcView sessions talk to the service to obtain file access privileges. Any ArcView session has access to a file based on the following rules:

1.  Can read if no other ArcView session is writing to the file.

2.  Can edit if no other ArcView session is editing or writing to the file.

3.  Can write only if no other ArcView session is reading, editing, or writing to the file.

For example, user A and user B are viewing (read access) the same file in two ArcView sessions. If user A starts editing and makes changes to the file, user B will not see the changes. When user A stops editing, he will be prevented from writing the edits to the original data source because user B is still reading the file. User A must use the Save Edits As option to write the edits out to a new file.

Multiuser file locking support is provided as an option you can choose when you install ArcView. If you are working in a multiuser environment, you can choose whether you want to use this functionality. If you are working in a single user environment, there is no need for you to install this option.

Saving changes made during editing

Edits to themes and tables are no longer immediately committed as they are made. When you have finished editing a theme or a table, you are now prompted to save or discard the changes.  Also, you can now save edits while you are editing the theme by choosing Save Edits from the Theme menu. You do not have to stop editing in order to save your edits. While editing a theme you can also save the theme to a new shapefile by choosing Save Edits As from the Theme menu. This leaves the original shapefile unchanged.

Multi-level undo

When you are editing a shapefile, you can choose the new Undo Feature Edit option from the Edit menu to undo the last edit. When you are editing a table, you can choose the Undo Edit option in the Edit menu to undo the last edit. Choosing one of these options repeatedly enables you to successively undo all the edits made since editing started. The Redo Feature Edit and Redo Edit options let you re-apply the changes.

Also, while editing graphics in a view you can choose the new Undo Graphic Edit option from the edit menu to undo the last edit. You can only undo the last edit.

Similarly, while you are editing a line or polygon boundary, you can click the right mouse button to access a popup menu with a Delete Last Point option. This option deletes the last vertex you added. Choosing this option repeatedly enables you to successively delete all the vertices added since you started editing the line.

Support for editing common boundaries and shared nodes

In ArcView Version  2.1 all editing was done on independent shapes. In ArcView Version 3.0 you can preserve the topological relationship between features as you edit. If you move a node, ArcView will adjust all the lines that share that node. If you edit the boundary between two adjacent polygons, ArcView will treat this as a shared boundary and adjust both of the polygons accordingly. You can still edit features as independent shapes. For example, to move adjacent polygons apart, you can select one of the polygons and then drag it away from the others.

New tool for appending polygons

When you are editing polygon themes, you can use the new AutoComplete tool [image] to append a new polygon adjacent to an existing one. Simply use the new tool to create a line that encloses the boundary of the new polygon. Your line should start and stop at (or overshoot) the boundary of the polygon you want to append to.

New tool for splitting polygons

When you are editing polygons, you can use the new Polygon Split tool [image]  to draw a line across a polygon to split it into separate polygons. For example, to create ten adjacent land parcels in ArcView Version 2.1 you would have to create each parcel individually. In ArcView Version 3.0 you can now digitize one polygon that represents the outer boundary of all the parcels, and then digitize the boundary lines between them to split the polygon into 10 separate polygons. This capability also makes it easy to modify existing polygons. For example, to make a polygon smaller you can use the line tool to simply split off the unwanted part and then delete it.

New tool for splitting lines

When you are editing lines you can use the Line Split tool [image]  to split lines. Use the new tool to draw a new line over an existing line and the new line and the existing line will be split into two. The resulting four lines all share one intersection.

New options for manipulating graphics and features

ArcView Version 3.0 has a new set of options in the view's Edit menu for performing operations on graphics and features:

Union Graphics - adds two or more polygons together into one polygon or adds two or more lines together into one line

Subtract Graphics - finds the area shared between two overlapping polygons and removes it from the lower of the two.

Intersect Graphics - finds and keeps the area shared between two or more overlapping polygons.

The names of these menu choices changes to say 'Features' instead of 'Graphics' when you are editing a theme's features.

New tool for editing vertices

When you are editing graphics or features the new Vertex Editing tool [image]  enables you to move, add and delete individual vertices making up lines and polygon boundaries. Clicking on a line or polygon graphic with the vertex tool displays all its vertices. You can then drag these to move them. To delete a vertex, position the tool over the vertex and press DELETE. To add a vertex, click the line with the vertex tool where you want to add it.

When a vertex is common to more than one feature (i.e., it is shared by two connected lines or defines a common boundary between two polygons) you can choose whether editing the vertex will preserve this relationship or not. For example, when you work with two adjacent polygons, if you click inside one of the polygons with the vertex tool you can edit any of its vertices without affecting the other polygon, as though they were independent shapes. But if you start by clicking on the boundary between the polygons with the vertex tool, ArcView will treat your edits to any of its vertices as applying to both polygons.

New snapping environment and tools for precision-editing

ArcView Version 2.1's feature-to-feature snapping environment has been retained in Version 3.0 and renamed 'general' snapping. With general snapping, the snapping doesn't get applied until the entire feature has been created. A new ‘interactive’ snapping environment has been added so that while you are creating a line or polygon boundary, you can specify that the next vertex you add will be snapped to an existing feature. Once you have defined the interactive snapping tolerance, holding down the right mouse button (holding down the OPTION key and the mouse button on the Macintosh) as you are adding a line or polygon displays a popup menu enabling you to choose where the next vertex will be snapped:

Snap to Vertex - snaps next vertex to nearest vertex of existing feature.

Snap to Boundary - snaps next vertex to nearest line segment of existing feature.

Snap to Endpoint - snaps next vertex to nearest endpoint of existing line (lines only).

Snap to Intersection - snaps next vertex to nearest node common to two or more features.

The ability to choose a specific snap rule for a specific point gives you greater control when you snap features together. Note: Features can't be snapped to themselves.

Rules for how attributes are updated when features are split or merged

ArcView Version 3.0 lets you specify how attributes are handled when you split features using the Line Split tool [image] or Polygon split tool [image]  and when you merge features using the Union Feature option. For example, when you split a polygon into two, you can specify how the attributes of the two new polygons will be derived from the attributes of the original one. For each field in a theme's attribute table, you can choose rules controlling what happens to that data when the theme's features are split and when features are merged. These rules are chosen in the new Editing panel in the Theme Properties dialog. The available rules are:

Union 	- Blank: value in the resulting record will be blank.

- Copy: value from whichever record is first in the table will be assigned (the default).

- Proportion: value will be proportional to the areas of the merged polygons or proportional to the lengths of the merged lines.

- Add: values will be added together in the resulting record.

- Average: values will be averaged together in the resulting record.

- Shape Area: value will be the area of the new polygon.

- Shape Perimeter: value will be the perimeter of the new polygon.

- Shape Length: value will be the length of the new line.

Split 	- Blank: value in both records will be blank.

- Copy: original value will be assigned to both records (the default).

- Proportion: values will be proportional to the areas of the new polygons or proportional to the lengths of the new lines.

- Shape Area: values will be the area of the new polygons.

- Shape Perimeter: values will be perimeter of the new polygons.

- Shape Length: values will be the length of the new lines.

Attribute update rules only apply to edits performed on lines and polygons.

In line themes, that have geocoding or dynamic segmentation information, the attribute tables often have paired fields that hold range type data such as address values. For example, line features in a street theme might have a from address and a to address range. When you split or merge streets, you are able to maintain this address range. For line themes, you can use special attribute updating rules for range type fields, where the values in the paired fields will be treated as a range when the new values of the two fields are calculated. When you are setting the attribute update rules for a range field, you select a paired field and one of the following range types:

Address - values will be treated a address values

Continuous - values will be treated as continuous values


Customizing and programming ArcView (ArcView GIS Version 3.0)

Easier to customize tool menus

A tool menu (ToolMenu) is pulldown palette of tools that appears in the tool bar as a single tool (the tool that is currently active). For example, the tools for drawing graphics on a view are in a tool menu. Tool menus have been part of ArcView since Version 2.0 but were only created through Avenue and were somewhat difficult to customize. Now in Version 3.0, you can easily create and edit tool menus in the Customize dialog. You can add a new tool menu, reposition it on the tool bar, add and delete tools, and edit the properties of those tools. Using tool menus lets you group logically related tools and save space on the tool bar.

Popup menus

Version 3.0 introduces popup menus. These provide a quick way to get to common functionality. Popup menus are accessed by holding down the right mouse button (on the Macintosh hold down the OPTION key and the mouse button). In the default ArcView GUI, popup menus have been defined for the view document to present editing functions.

You can define popup menus through the Customize dialog similar to the way you define pulldown menus. You can change the active popup through Avenue so that different  popup menus can be presented according to the current system state. For example when a cities theme is active in a view, a popup menu containing functions specific to cities can be presented. Different popups could also be available based on the view's scale, etc.

Customizable Project window and document user interfaces

The document icons in the Project window take on a new meaning in ArcView Version 3.0. In Version 2.1, the Project window had five icons: one icon for each of ArcView's document types. Except for removing the script icon when you turned off customization, there was no way to alter the icons. In Version 3.0 each icon represents a document user interface (DocGUI) object. The icons, their names, the scripts that define the buttons in the Project window, etc. are all now properties of the document user interface object.

You can customize document user interface objects in the new Customize Types dialog, accessed via the new Edit button on the existing Customize dialog box. From the Customize Types panel you can specify which document user interfaces will appear as icons in the Project window and the order of these icons. You can copy and delete user interface objects and you can update their properties. In earlier releases, this could be accomplished only through Avenue. The menus, buttons and tools in each document user interface are defined in the Customize dialog in the usual way.

This capability makes ArcView Version 3.0 more customizable than ever. You can remove icons from the Project window to control exactly what functionality your end-users have access to. For example, you can remove the layout and chart icons from the Project window. You can rename icons, for example, change the layout icon to be called "Hardcopy maps." You can create new 'virtual' documents complete with their own icons in the Project window. For example, suppose your application has a special type of view that contains certain themes and requires only certain types of functionality. This  special view could be accessed from a separate icon in the Project window, and your end-users can create a new view of this type by pressing the New button on the Project window.

New project request

You can find out which document user interfaces (DocGUIs) support a particular kind of document with the new project request FindGUIsFor. FindGUIsFor returns the list of DocGUIs that support a particular kind of document. For example, av.GetProject.FindGUIsFor( View ) returns a list of DocGUIs that support View documents.

Undo capability in Customize and Customize Types dialogs

Now you can undo your last change in the Customize and Customize Types dialogs by pressing CONTROL-Z (UNIX and Windows) or COMMAND-Z (Macintosh). You can undo the addition, deletion and re-ordering of controls, and changes to properties. The undo state is maintained until the next operation you do in the dialog.

The Script Editor

The Script Editor has been enhanced to include new functionality and old functionality has been slightly modified.

Find/Replace functionality has been added to the Script Editor DocGUI under the Edit Menu.  There are three new choices:  Find, FindNext, Replace.

The Script pulldown menu on the Script DocGUI now includes a choice called Unembed Script.  Unembed allows the user to select an embedded script and then opens that script in a SEd (named with the script name) and removes the embedded script.  This will make it easier for developers to "fix" problems in embedded scripts.

When you write a script to a file, the file now defaults to the current working directory instead of the Project Work Directory.  With this change, when you write a script to a distant directory, when you next try to write another script to file, you start in the directory you last worked in.

You can now control the size of the text in the Script Editor by choosing Small, Medium or Large in the Script Properties dialog box.

New way to deliver custom functionality and applications

Extensions are ArcView add-on programs that provide additional functionality. Several extensions are included with ArcView Version 3.0. You can also create your own extensions to deliver your scripts, GUIs, tools, buttons, views, etc. For example, if you have created a new set of tools for the view GUI, you can deliver them to end-users as an extension that they can simply load into ArcView via the Extensions dialog. You can create customized versions of ArcView for your end-users with certain extensions already loaded. You could also deliver an entire ArcView customization packaged as an extension instead of a project file.

RPC on Macintosh

Remote Procedure Call (RPC) functionality allows ArcView to communicate with other applications by establishing client/server relationships across networks. ArcView Version 3.0 introduces RPC functionality for the Macintosh platform. For example, ArcView on the Macintosh can now connect with ARC/INFO running on UNIX. ArcView on all platforms can now communicate through the RPCClient and RPCServer classes.

New request for buffering points, lines and polygons

The new request, ReturnBuffered, is available on the MultiPoint, PolyLine, Polygon and Shape classes. It returns a polygon representing the specified buffer distance.

Project startup changes

The Project's startup script now executes after all the documents in the project have opened but before the user is given control of the project. This slight change in timing allows you to position and resize document windows in the Project Startup script. You might notice that any open scripts on documents will execute before the project startup script.

Developers get more control of user interaction with a view's table of contents

Developers now have more control over how their users interact with the View document. With 3.0, developers can specify what happens when the user double clicks on the legend in a table of contents, the developer can disable the user's ability to re-order themes in the view and the developer can disable the user's ability to change the Visible or Active states of themes in the View.

By default, when you double click on a legend in a View's table of contents, the legend editor for that theme appears, but now in 3.0, developers can control what happens. When you double click on the legend, a script executes - by default a script called "View.EditLegend". Through the Theme requests SetLegendEditorScript and GetLegendEditorScript, developers can specify that no script execute or name an alternate script to run. This enhancement allows developers to simply disable the legend editor for particular themes or invoke their own legend editor or some other task when the user double clicks on the legend.

By default, the user can reorder themes in the table of contents by dragging and dropping their legends. The new TOC requests SetOrderLocked and IsOrderLocked allow developers to "lock out" the ability to reorder themes from user interaction with the table of contents.

By default, the user can make a Theme visible or not by clicking on the check box in the table of contents. Similarly, the user can make a theme active by clicking on it in the table of contents. The new Theme requests SetVisibleLocked, IsVisibleLocked, SetActiveLocked and IsActiveLocked allow the developer to disable the ability to change these states from user interaction with the table of contents.

Procedure ArcView uses to save files is more now more robust

When you save a project file, an ODB file or an extension, ArcView first writes to a temporary file.  If the write succeeds then it will copy the temporary file to the target file.  If the write fails, the original file is not modified.

New Msgbox requests

The new MsgBox requests MulitList and MultiListAsString allow you to create message boxes in which the user can select multiple items.

Changes to Avenue

In addition to the new classes and requests for the new functionality described in this document, this release does have some changes to existing classes and requests. Overall we have tried to minimize the impact on existing applications. Important changes to existing classes and requests are noted here:

ReturnUser(Shape)

These requests have changed to return a null shape when the operation fails instead of the nil object. Scripts that use these requests must be updated. In ArcView Version 2.1, these requests returned nil when the operation was unsuccessful:

myCircle = theView.ReturnUserCircle if (myCircle <> nil) then...end

With this release, these requests return a null shape when the operation fails:

myCircle = theView.ReturnUserCircle if (myCircle.IsNull) then...end

Request GetExtent becomes ReturnExtent

The request GetExtent on Theme and its subclasses becomes ReturnExtent.ReturnExtent more accurately describes the result of the request. Scriptsthat use GetExtent must change to use the new name.

Requests Get/SetReportUnits become Get/SetDistanceUnits

Many people have asked "how do I change my distance units through Avenue?" and the answer was "use SetReportUnits". In order to make the Avenue API more intuitive, the requests named GetReportUnits and SetReportUnits have been changed to GetDistanceUnits and SetDistanceUnits.

GetSysDefaults and GetUserDefaults become GetSysDefault and GetUserDefault

These application requests retrieve the system default and the user default project objects. These requests are not commonly used and this name change corrects a misleading inconsistency with other requests that affect these projects.

RampColors removed from Legend

The legend class has been significantly enhanced in 3.0 and in this process, the request RampColors was removed from Legend. RampColors is still available on SymbolList. If your scripts use RampColors on Legend in an eariler release, make the following simple change. Change theLegend.RampColors(StartColor, EndColor) to theLegend.GetSymbols.RampColors(StartColor, EndColor).

Scripts that use Prj.MakeNil and Prj.IsNil must change to Prj.MakeNull and Prj.IsNull, respectively, to reflect the new names.

UnitsLinearEnum

The enumeration element #UNITS_LINEAR_PRJMETERS has been eliminated from the enumeration UnitsLinearEnum. When you project a View, the default units is now Meters.

Project and Document requests eliminated

With the new project window (see above), several requests on Project and Document have been eliminated. The project instance requests GetActive, SetActive and GetActiveClass have been eliminated. GetActive returned the list of documents selected in the Project window and SetActive set the selected document. In Version 3.0, use the requests GetSelectedDocs and SetSelectedDoc (optionally adds a document to the selected list). GetActiveClass returned the document class represented by the icon selected in the project window.

In 3.0, use the request GetSelectedGUI to return the GUI selected in the project window and SetSelectedGUI to set the GUI selected in the project window. The  document class requests GetClassName and GetPluralClassName were eliminated. Instead of Document.GetClassName use OBJ.GetClassName. GetPluralClassName was used to return the name that appeared in the project window underneath the icon - it used to be a "plural" version of the document name. In Version 3.0, you can get the title of the GUI with the DocGUI request GetTitle.

av.GetProject.GetSelectedGUI.GetTitle

Request DLL.GetFileName returns a FileName object instead of a string

The DLL request GetFileName has been changed to return a FileName object instead of a string. This minor change makes the API more consistent and clear.

Return vs. Exit

The Exit statement terminates all executing scripts. The Return statement ends the current script returning control to the calling script. These differences are important to consider when writing applications where scripts call other scripts. There are several other places in ArcView where you must consider these differences:

- Click and Update scripts that might be attached to Popups and choices in a Popup. A Popup can be activated while the user enters a polygon. If a popup's click or update script calls Exit, the partially completed apply event script gets canceled. Instead of using Exit, either change your logic to avoid the need or use "Return nil".

- Appl.Initialize and any scripts called by Appl.Initialize must not use an exit statement.

LoadLibrary has been moved from application (av) to system.

The request LoadLibrary has moved from the application class (av) to thesystem class. Because LoadLibrary works only with special files provided by ESRI such as oiscript, avexec (Windows 3.1) and the extensions (which are loaded via other means), very few applications will be impacted by this change.

The Number class now supports Tan and ATan.

ArcView 3.0 provides new requests on ControlSets that make it easier for you to locate a particular control within the ControlSet.  FindByLabel searches the target Menu or MenuBar for a control with the given label. FindByScript searches the controlset for a control that uses the named script (with any event).  These requests are particularly useful to extension authors whose extensions include controls in existing DocGUIs.

ITheme.GetISrc is now ITheme.GetImgSrc.

ITheme.MakeFromSrc is a new request.

Note    For a complete listing of new, changed and removed requests, see Changes to classes and requests in ArcView 3.0.


Data conversion (ArcView GIS Version 3.0)

New import utility

A new 32-bit import utility called IMPORT71 is provided for use on Windows NT and Windows 95. This utility is located in ArcView's bin32 directory. It imports ARC/INFO interchange (.e00) files into workstation ARC/INFO coverages in 8.3 format. With this utility, you can import grids, routes, regions, and annotation subclasses which are not supported by ArcView Version 2.1's IMPORT function. IMPORT71 supports double precision data and imposes no size limit on the data being imported.

The "old" import utility, IMPORT, is still provided with ArcView 3.0, and is found in ArcView's bin16 and bin32 directories. It imports ARC/INFO interchange (.e00) files into PC ARC/INFO coverages. On all Windows platforms, the IMPORT utility now supports double precision coverages: use the new SHIFT optional parameter to either have IMPORT use the shift coordinates stored in the interchange file, or specify your own offset interactively on the command line.

MIFSHAPE utility

The MIFSHAPE utility is now offered on the Macintosh.

The MIFSHAPE utility has been updated to support multi-part lines (plines).


Extensions (ArcView GIS Version 3.0)

Extensions are add-on programs that provide advanced GIS functionality. When you load an extension ArcView's user interface changes to reflect the functionality in the extension. New menus, menu items, buttons and tools may appear, and new options may be available in existing dialogs.

You load and unload extensions using the new Extensions dialog. This dialog is accessed by choosing the new Extensions option from the File menu when the Project window is active. You can load and unload extensions at any time during an ArcView session. You can load different extensions for different projects or make your choice of extensions the default for ArcView. If you open a project that uses an extension that is not currently loaded, ArcView will automatically load the extension for you.

The following extensions are included with ArcView Version 3.0:

Database Themes extension

The Database Themes extension provides multi-user, client-server access to data managed by ESRI's Spatial Database Engine (SDE). The Database Themes extension is not available on the Macintosh, Windows 3.1 and Windows for Workgroups.

Digitizer extension

The Digitizer extension provides support for digitizing tablets. You can use a digitizing tablet to create and edit shapefiles, and as your general input device for using ArcView (instead of a mouse). The Digitizer extension is not available on UNIX or the Macintosh.

CAD Reader extension

The existing CAD drawing support in ArcView Version 2.1 is now implemented as an extension in ArcView Version 3.0. Support has been added for MicroStation DGN files, AutoCAD Release 13 drawings, and binary DXF files.

IMAGINE Image extension

This extension provides support for ERDAS IMAGINE images. The IMAGINE Image extension is not available on the Macintosh or Windows 3.1.

JPEG Image extension

This extension provides support for JFIF images, the public domain image file format for JPEG compressed images.


Geocoding (ArcView GIS Version 3.0)

Improved user interface

The option to geocode addresses has been moved from the Add Event Theme dialog into the Theme menu as a new Geocode Addresses choice.

You can geocode a table that has been added to the project or a tabular data file without adding it to the project. The place name alias table also now does not need to already be in the project. In addition to choosing the Address and Zone field from the table of addresses you are geocoding, the Geocode Addresses dialog now lets you choose a Display field that will be shown in the Geocoding Editor to help you identify the address you are editing. For example, the Display field could be the name of the customer or business having that address.

By default, ArcView tries to find appropriate Address, Zone and Display fields in the address table you are geocoding by looking for fields with certain default names. These default field names can be customized to meet your needs by editing the file called addflds.db that can be found in ArcView's geocode directory.

You can now choose between batch and interactive address matching. Unlike interactive matching, batch matching does not invoke the Geocoding Editor.

Once you've performed address matching, the results are displayed in a new Re-match Addresses dialog.This dialog lets you see how many addresses matched well, how many matched partially, and how many could not be matched. You can then either accept the results or choose to re-match all or some of the addresses. The Re-match Addresses dialog is also displayed when you make an existing geocoded theme active and choose Re-match Addresses from the Theme menu.

New functions in the Geocoding Editor dialog

In the Geocoding Editor, there is a new option called Edit Standardize that lets you edit the address and the value of each address component generated by ArcView's address standardization. ArcView uses the new values to search for candidates and compute the matching score. The Field label for each component can be changed by editing the *.key files that can be found in ArcView's geocode directory. Each address style has its own .key file.

Pressing the Show Candidates button in the Geocoding Editor now displays a new dialog that lists the feature attributes of the candidates.

The left panel of the Show Candidates dialog indicates the candidate by its score and its record number in the feature attribute table. You can continue to flash the highlighted candidate on the view by pressing the Flash Candidate button.

In addition, the Geocoding Editor now displays the matching status of each address and the Display field specified in the Geocode Address dialog.

Tying the geocoding index to the data source

If you have write access to the data source directory, setting the theme's geocoding properties will create a match source object database file and a geocoding index in that directory. The index is "tied" to the data source. The next time the data is added to ArcView as a theme in any ArcView session, ArcView will find the existing object database file and geocoding index, and you will be able to start geocoding without having to build these files again.

Only one match source object database and geocoding index file will be saved in the data source directory. If the data source is edited or if you change the address style for the theme, ArcView will re-index the theme. Both match source object database and geocoding index file will be updated.

If the directory is read-only, the index file will be created in your project workspace.

New address style

There is a new address style called ZIP+4 Range. This address style allows you to geocode a ZIP+4 address against a ZIP with a ranged +4 parcel or centroid data set. For example, the parcel or centroid may contain the ZIP attributes of

Zip, Zip4Low, Zip4High

92373, 1001, 2009


Images (ArcView GIS Version 3.0)

Support for ERDAS IMAGINE images

ERDAS IMAGINE files (.img files) are supported via an extension included with Version 3.0. When the IMAGINE Image extension is loaded, these files can be added to views as image themes. They can also be placed on layouts in picture frames. IMAGINE support is not available for the Macintosh or Windows 3.1.

Support for JPEG image files

JFIF (JPEG File Interchange Format) is a public domain image file format for JPEG compression. JFIF images are supported via an extension included with Version 3.0. When you load the JPEG Image extension, you can add .jpg files to views as image themes and place them on layouts in picture frames. JPEG files normally take up considerably less disk space than TIFF and BMP files. JPEG format is also commonly used for images that you download from the Internet. ArcView does not support proprietary image formats with JPEG compressed data.

Support for GeoTIFF georeferencing information

ArcView now supports GeoTIFF 1.0. ArcView uses the georeferencing information in the GeoTIFF tags, if they are present, to properly place the image at the correct location in a view.

Support for BMP image files as themes

ArcView Version 2.1 supported BMP files in layout picture frames and in the Image window invoked by hotlinking. In Version 3.0 BMP files can now be added to a view as image themes. Compressed and OS/2 BMP image files are not supported.

Support for ARC/INFO Image Catalogs

In ArcView Version 2.1 an image theme could only reference one image file. In ArcView Version 3.0 support for image catalogs makes it easy to work with a number of images as a single theme.

An image catalog is an organized collection of georeferenced images. They are frequently used to manage a number of tiled images, for example, a series of scanned topographic maps or a sequence of multispectral satellite images that together cover an area. Images in a catalog may overlap. An image catalog is defined by a INFO or dBASE file with one record per image file and five fields: the image file pathname and its xmin, ymin, xmax and ymin coordinates. Image catalogs can be created in ARC/INFO or by creating the definition file manually as a ArcView table and then exporting it.

To add an image catalog to a view use the Add Theme dialog with the Data Source Type set to Image, navigate to the directory containing the definition file (the INFO directory in the case of an INFO definition file) and press OK.

All the images in an ARC/INFO image catalog are assumed to be of the same type (i.e., an image catalog can't mix single band pseudocolor images with multiband true color images) and have the same data ranges. The legend displayed in the Image Legend Editor for an image catalog is based on the type of the first image in the catalog. All lookup table (stretching) options are disabled. Each image is displayed with its default lookup table.

To display UNIX image catalogs on a PC, the workspace containing the INFO directory and the image pathnames referred to in the image catalog must be in ARC/INFO 8.3 format (file and pathnames can't exceed 8 letters in prefix and 3 letters in suffix). The software will automatically map UNIX pathnames to PC drives, using the services of the Windows operating system and a user editable DRIVEMAP.TXT file.

Note: ERDAS IMAGINE, JPEG, and ARC/INFO Image Catalog formats are not supported by the Image window (ImageWin) invoked by the Link to Image hot link script.


Internationalization (ArcView GIS Version 3.0)

Code page conversion

One of the advantages of ArcView is the ability to share and access data across a variety of platforms. However, in many countries sharing data can be hampered by the different character encoding schemes (code pages) which different platforms support. For example, the Japanese language is represented by the EUC (Extended UNIX Character) code page on UNIX platforms and the Shift-JIS code page on PCs. If a file originating on a different platform is read, the data may not appear correctly if the code page is different. ArcView version 3.0 solves this problem by having the ability to handle and convert between multiple code pages.

By default, ArcView version 3.0 assumes that all drives and directories use the system’s native code page. Using the new Drive Code Page Profile dialog, accessed from the Window menu, you can tell ArcView that data in specific drives and/or directories will use a different code page, overriding the default for those data locations. When data is accessed from the drives or directories specified in the Drive Code Page Profile, code page conversion is performed automatically. The data types supported by the code page conversion are INFO files, dBASE files, text files (such as project files and scripts), and RPC input/output parameters. You can check which code page is being used for the active project, table and script at any time by choosing the new Code Page option from the Project, Table or Script menu.

ArcView version 3.0’s code page conversion capability makes accessing disparate data easy and reliable, whether it is on the same or different platforms. By default, this new code page functionality is not visible in ArcView’s user interface. To activate it you add the following Avenue request to ArcView’s start up script (the file called startup in ArcView's etc directory):

av.SetCodepageConvert(true)

Localized projects open in different localized versions of ArcView

In version 3.0, projects created with localized versions of ArcView will now open in the English version of ArcView and localized versions for different languages. ArcView version 3.0 includes a translation lookup that automatically translates a standard (View, Table, Layout, Chart, Script) localized DocGUI name to the English equivalent.


Labeling (ArcView GIS Version 3.0)

The way that ArcView labels features when you use the Auto-label option has been enhanced to improve the appearance of labeled maps. When you choose the Auto-label option a new dialog appears that allows you to set rules for labeling the features in the active theme.

Find Best Placement option

When this option is chosen (the default), ArcView will evaluate each feature's shape and the space immediately surrounding it. ArcView will place a label in an optimal position. Ideally a label does not intersect the feature being labeled, adjacent features, or other labels. If the label cannot be ideally placed, other possible locations will be evaluated and if available, the label will be placed in the lesser position. If a label could not be placed the feature will not be labeled unless you check Allow Overlapping Labels option.

If the Find Best Placement option is not chosen, the Remove Duplicates and Allow Overlapping Labels will not be available. The theme’s Text Label placement property will be used. (This is effectively the same as previous versions of ArcView, but the Scale Labels and Label Only the View Extent options are available.)

Allow Overlapping Labels check box

ArcView may not be able to place all labels because of conflicts between labels. Sometimes this may eliminate labels that are crucial for identifying features in your theme. This option, when used in conjunction with the Remove Duplicates, will ensure that all unique labels get placed, regardless of conflicts. Labels that overlap will be drawn in a green color and will be selected so you can easily identify them. Labels that do not overlap will not be selected, and will have the color of the default text symbol.

Remove Duplicates check box

With this option, ArcView will place only unique label strings. Thus, if your data contains features that have the same label, i.e., you have 40 lines that have the label 'Main St', only one line will receive a label.

Line Label Position options

The Line Label Position options let you control where ArcView will try to place labels in relation to line features. The default is Above.

Scale labels check box

You can now create text labels that do not scale when the view's scale is changed. In ArcView Version 2.1 text labels always scale (get bigger as you zoom in on them, smaller as you zoom out). By default, text labels do scale. The ability to create labels that do not scale is useful in applications where you will be changing scales frequently but always want to be able to see the labels for identification purposes. For example, if you turn Scale Labels off and label an oil well with its ID number, this ID will remain the same size next to the well irrespective of how closely you zoom in on the well or how far you zoom out. This check box is also available on the Text Labels Theme Properties dialog.

Label Only Features in View Extent check box

When this option is checked, ArcView only auto-labels the features that are currently visible in the view's extent. You would use this option if you have zoomed in on a particular area of your view and only want to label the active theme's features that are located in this area. (If some of the theme's features are currently selected, only those selected features that are located in this area will be labeled). By default this option is not checked, in which ArcView case will label all features in your theme, including those that fall outside the area currently shown in the view window.


Layouts and printing (ArcView GIS Version 3.0)

View frames in layouts

There are new options in the View Frame Properties dialog for controlling how a view is displayed in a view frame. Here are the options that are now available.

Scale properties:

Automatic - The scale of the contents of the view frame is determined by the width of the view frame. That is, if you change the size of the view frame in the layout, the contents of the view frame will be scaled to fit inside the resized frame.

Preserve View Scale - The scale of the view frame is determined by the view's current  scale. Use this option if you want the contents of the view frame to be displayed at the same scale as the view, irrespective of how large you make the view frame in the layout. So for example, if your view is displayed at 1:80,000,000 scale, and you choose Preserve View Scale, the contents of the view frame will be displayed at that scale even if you resize the view frame.

Note that whether you use Automatic scaling or Preserve View Scale, the scale of the contents of the view frame will still change if Live Link is on and you change the scale at which the view is displayed. To prevent the scale from changing in this case, turn Live Link off.

User Defined Scale - The scale of the view frame is a value you enter. Enter the scale you want to use in the Scale field. Use this option if you want to specify the scale of the contents of the view frame directly. In this way, when you print out the layout, the contents of the view frame will be drawn at the scale you specified, irrespective of the current scale of the view. With User Specified Scale, changing the scale at which the view is displayed won't change the scale of contents of the view frame, even if Live Link is on.

Extent Properties:

Fill View Frame - The view frame is filled with data from the view.  Data not visible in the view will display to fill the view frame. For example, if the contents of the view frame window are smaller than the view frame, ArcView will try to fill the view frame with data from the view. This may result in data appearing in the layout that is not currently visible in the current extent of your view. For example, if you choose to Preserve View Scale and you make the view frame larger on the layout, ArcView will try to fill in the rest of the view frame with additional data from your view.

Clip to View - The contents of the view frame are clipped to be the same as the current extent of the view. Use this option if you want to ensure that only those features currently visible in your view will be displayed in the layout.

Scale bar frames in layouts

You can now choose how the scale bar will adjust to changes in the scale of the view represented in the view frame. The Preserve Interval check box determines if the interval you have defined will remain constant. When this option is checked, as the view frame scale changes, the scale bar frame will adjust size based on the specified interval. When this option is disabled, as the view frame scale changes, the interval will be recalculated and the scale bar frame will remain the size you specified.

Two new options available when you work on a layout

Undo - You can use the new Undo button [image] to reverse the last action you performed.  Undo can be used on a layout graphic that has been moved, resized, simplified, grouped, ungrouped, or moved in front of or behind other graphics.

Nudging - You can now use the arrow keys on your keyboard to move layout graphics.  One arrow keystroke will move the selected graphic(s) one point (point = 1/72 inch).

User interface for printing

You can now select the resolution you want to use when you print to a postscript printer or plotter. The default resolution is the resolution of the printer/plotter you are using.

A checkbox has been added to the Print dialog that allows you to enable or disable print to file. When print to file is enabled, you can either type in a file name or select an existing file from the browser.


Map projections (ArcView GIS Version 3.0)

Projection units can be specified

The units into which a view is projected can now be specified in the View Properties dialog. In ArcView Version 2.1 a view was always projected into meters. Now after you specify the projection for your data (which still must be in decimals degrees to be projected) you can use the Map Units dropdown list to choose the units you wish your view to use. Meters are the default.

This enhancement is especially useful for registering feature-based themes with themes based on raster data sources (i.e., images and grids) that have been projected into units other than meters. For example, if your vector data is in decimal degrees and you have a grid in Albers feet, you can register the vector data to the grid by specifying the Albers projection in the View Properties dialog and then setting the map units to feet. The vector data will be projected in the view to be in Albers feet, thereby matching the grid's projection (image and grid themes are unaffected by projection properties specified for a view).

Two additional projections are supported

Two new projections have been added to the Projections of the World category in the View Projection properties dialog: Hammer-Aitoff and Mollweide. These are both equal area projections used mainly for small scale thematic maps of the world.

Distances added to attribute tables by spatial join are in projected units

If your data is in decimal degrees and your view is projected, the Distance field calculated by spatial join (joining attributes tables using the Shape field as the common field) when used to find the nearest features to another set of features is calculated in the projected map units of the view.


Online help (ArcView GIS Version 3.0)

New ways to access help

ArcView Version 3.0 offers new ways to access on-line help. When you access help by choosing the Help Topics option from ArcView's Help menu, a dialog appears with three options (tabs), the first of which gives you access to the new contents page. The new contents page makes it easier to get to the information you are looking for. The Index tab is similar to the search dialog in ArcView Version 2.1. The third tab is the new Find feature. Use this tab to do a free-form word search through the entire help system in order to find specific information. This option is very useful if you've not been able to find what you want using the Contents and Index tabs. For example, if you are having a problem using ArcView with a plotter and can’t find an entry for this in the Help Index, you can use the Find tab and search for the word “plotter” to find any ArcView help topics that mention that device.

These features, which ArcView adopts from the new Windows help system, are also provided on UNIX platforms via HyperHelp and on the Macintosh via QuickHelp.

Easier to customize help contents

The contents of ArcView's on-line help are defined by an ASCII contents file (arcview.cnt in the help directory) that you can easily customize to exclude specific portions of the help system or include your own help files. For example, if you have developed some custom tools and you want to add help about them to ArcView's help system, you would write the topics, save them as .rtf files, compile them into a help file (.hlp file) and then edit arcview.cnt to add references to this help file and the topics it contains.

Easier to assign help topics to custom controls

ArcView no longer requires that you include L footnotes in help topics that you write to provide context-sensitive help for new controls. A control's Help Topic Property is now given as it topic ID (its # footnote in the source help file).

New method for building help on UNIX

On-line help for ArcView Version 3.0 on UNIX is now delivered using HyperHelp. Source help files (.rtf files) need to be compiled on UNIX using the HyperHelp compiler from Bristol Technology Inc. for delivery with HyperHelp. Open Interface help files are no longer supported by ArcView on UNIX. Bristol Technology Inc. can be contacted at 241 Ethan Allen Highway, Ridgefield, CT 06877, USA. (203) 438-6969. http://www.bristol.com

New method for building help on Macintosh

On-line help for ArcView Version 3.0 on Macintosh is delivered using QuickHelp 4.0. Source help files (.rtf files) need to be compiled on Macintosh using the QuickHelp compiler from Altura Software, Inc. Altura Software, Inc. can be contacted at 510 Lighthouse Ave., Suite 5. Pacific Grove, CA 93950, USA (408) 655-8005, http://www.altura.com.

New features supported by QuickHelp on Macintosh

QuickHelp 4.0, which ships with ArcView Version 3.0 for Macintosh, supports Macintosh Drag & Drop functionality. This means you can highlight some text in ArcView’s on-line help, then drag and drop it into a Note Pad, SimpleText, or Scrapbook window or onto the Macintosh Desktop. You can use SimpleText, an application that came with your Macintosh, to read text aloud through your computer’s speakers (or headphones). Your Macintosh comes with several voices you can use to read this text aloud.

Cross platform compatibility of source files used to generate on-line help

HyperHelp and QuickHelp are both compatible with Windows Help, which means that if you are developing your own on-line help and adding it to ArcView's help system, you can use the same help source files (.rtf files) to generate help for all platforms. Note that the help files themselves (.hlp files) are not compatible across platforms, because they have to be compiled separately on each platform.


Optional analyst extensions (ArcView GIS Version 3.0)

The Analyst extensions bring advanced GIS analysis to the desktop. They are available as separate products:

ArcView Spatial Analyst extension

The ArcView Spatial Analyst extension provides tools to create, query, analyze and map cell-based raster data and to perform integrated vector-raster analysis using feature-based and grid-based themes. The ArcView Spatial Analyst extension is not available on the Macintosh or Windows 3.1.

Capabilities include conversion of feature themes to grid themes, creation of buffer distance and proximity surfaces from feature or grid themes, contouring and density mapping from themes containing point features, slope and aspect mapping, cell-based map analysis, Boolean query on multiple grid themes, neighborhood and zone analysis, grid classification & display, etc. The extension includes an Avenue programming interface for developing spatial analysis applications.

ArcView Network Analyst extension

The ArcView Network Analyst extension enables you to solve problems to do with street, highway, and other geographic networks, such as finding the most efficient travel route, generating travel directions, finding the closest facility, finding service areas based on travel time, etc. Networks can be based on ARC/INFO coverages, shapefiles and CAD drawings. You can automate and customize this functionality with Avenue to create network analysis and route-finding applications. The ArcView Network Analyst extension is not available on the Macintosh or Windows 3.1.


Symbols (ArcView GIS Version 3.0)

In ArcView Version 2.1 the ability to use the characters in TrueType fonts as marker symbols was added. In ArcView Version 3.0 all of ArcView's marker palettes have been converted to use TrueType characters instead of the old bitmap style markers. All the old marker symbols styles are still supported, they are just no longer the primary source for marker symbology. Additionally, there are several new marker palettes that include markers for AM/FM applications, weather applications, north arrows, and directional arrows.

Most of the other marker palettes have also been significantly augmented.  A robust complement of USGS symbology has been added to the oilgas.avp, water.avp, mineral.avp, weather.avp, municipl,avp, and additional USGS symbols have been placed in the usgs.avp files. Furthermore, a much greater variety of markers are available in the icons.avp file.

Two additional line styles have been added to the default palette:  rail roads, and arrow lines. The arrow symbols are quite useful for showing directions on network paths and for showing digitized and street directions for geocoding applications.


Thematic mapping (ArcView GIS Version 3.0)

New thematic mapping capabilities

The Legend Editor now lets you choose from a number of different legend types, each one corresponding to a different sort of thematic map. These are chosen from a dropdown list on the Legend Editor:

Single Symbol - use the same symbol and color to represent all features (the default).

Graduated Color - classify features according to a numeric attribute and represent the classes with a color ramp or your own symbol & color choices.

Graduated Symbol - classify point or line features according to a numeric attribute and represent the classes with a ramp of different sized symbols.

Unique Value - classify features according to a numeric or string attribute so that every unique value is placed in a separate class, and represent the classes with a color scheme or your own symbol & color choices.

Dot - represent a numeric attribute of polygon features using a dot pattern in which the density of dots in each polygon is proportional to the attribute value.

Chart - represent multiple numeric attributes for features by symbolizing each feature with a column chart or pie chart. You can choose the fill and color of each column or wedge in the chart symbols. Pie chart symbols can be the same size or made proportional to the values of any one numeric attribute.

See Types of thematic maps.

New ways to classify features

In addition to quantile and equal interval methods, ArcView has new methods for classifying features in a theme according to a numeric attribute. You can choose a classification method when the legend type is graduated color or graduated symbol.

Natural Breaks - identifies breakpoints between classes using a statistical formula (Jenk's optimization) that minimizes the sum of the variance for each of the classes. This option is good at revealing underlying groupings and patterns in your data.

Standard Deviations - finds the mean value and then places class breaks above and below the mean at intervals of either 1, 1/2, or 1/4 standard deviation until all the data values are contained within the class boundaries. ArcView will aggregate all values that are beyond three standard deviations from the mean into two classes, "> 3 Std Dev." and "< -3 Std. Dev."

Equal Area  - classifies polygon features by finding breakpoints so that the total area of the polygons in each class is the approximately the same. Similar to Quantile except that the division of polygons into classes is more likely to look equal on the view because it is based on the area covered by polygons in each class rather than the number of polygons in each class. In other words, each feature is given a weight in the classification equal to its area rather than equal to 1.

The default classification type is now natural breaks instead of quantile.

Classifications can be normalized

When you classify features according to data in a numeric attribute, ArcView now offers the option of normalizing the data as part of classification. Normalization makes data easier to use and understand in many situations, and provides new ways of visualizing and analyzing its content. You can choose from two normalization methods:

Normalize by any other numeric attribute - you specify a second attribute against which the values of the first attribute are normalized. In this way you can map how your data relates to the values of another attribute. For example, you can make a map showing population density of regions by normalizing population by the area of each region. Normalizing in this way also provides the ratio between two attributes. For example, to make a map showing the ratio of old people to young people, you could classify on population over 60 and normalize this to the population under 18.

Normalize By Percent of Total - new values are calculated to reflect the numeric attribute's values normalized as a percent of the sum of those values. This is especially useful because in many cases numeric data is easier to use in percentage form. For example, if you are analyzing a particular year's sales figures, it easier to compare different regions if they are classified by the percentage of sales they contributed that year rather than the absolute volume of sales.

Null value handling

The Legend Editor now lets you specify the null value (value that some features have for an attribute that indicates that no data is available or an observation was not possible, for example -99) and choose whether features having this value will be displayed in the classification as a separate 'No data' class or simply excluded from the classification. If a 'No data' class is displayed, it is automatically excluded from color ramps and symbol ramps. The symbol used to represent the 'No data' class can be chosen manually like any other symbol.

Other enhancements to classifying features

You can now add and delete classes on the Legend Editor. Adding classes makes it easier to create manual classification schemes. Deleting classes makes it easier to control exactly what is displayed in the view.

When you choose a classification method you can now round decimal values in the class boundaries up or down. You can choose the number of decimal points to round to.

The 64 class limitation in ArcView Version 2.1 has been removed in Version 3.0. When features are classified in the graduated color, graduated symbol and unique value legend types, there is no limit in the software to the number of classes that can be created.

You can now control the order classes are listed in. You can sort classes in ascending or descending order on the values field or the labels field. You can drag and drop classes to re-order them. You can also 'flip' a color ramp or symbol ramp to reverse the order the symbols appear in. Unlike sorting, flipping symbols does not change the order of the values or labels. For example, if your legend represents polygons classified by population with a ramp going from white to red as population increases, flipping the symbols will result in a ramp going from red to white as population increases.

When you use the unique value legend type, you can now create classes containing discrete values. Discrete values are separated by commas. For example, a class specified as:

10, 15, 90

will contain only features having any of these values. Discrete values can also be specified for text string values, for example:

England, France, Germany, Holland

With numeric attributes, discrete values can be combined with ranges in one class. For example, this class:

500 - 1000, 6000

will contain features with values between and including 500 to 1000, or with a value of 6000.

You can now automatically update the label that appears next to a class in a legend to reflect changes to the class definition. After changing a class definition, simply click inside the label field to make it match the new definition. For example, if you redefine the values of a class to be 20 - 80, clicking in its label field will automatically make the label 20 - 80 too.

Better color ramps and color schemes

In addition to choosing your own colors and creating your own color ramps, you can now choose from pre-defined color ramps and color schemes when you use the Legend editor. Pre-defined color ramps include ramps useful for showing land elevation, bathymetric elevation, precipitation, and temperature, as well as general purpose ramps such as red monochromatic, gray monochromatic, blues to greens, greens to reds, etc.

The way that ArcView generates color ramps has been redesigned so that you get smoother, more pleasing color gradations between different hues. ArcView Version 3.0 also enables you to create true dichromatic color ramps (e.g., dark blue to dark red via white). These are especially useful for representing features according to the extent to which they are above or below a certain base data value (such as sea level, the mean in the standard deviation classification method, financial thresholds, etc.).

In ArcView Version 2.1 custom color ramps could only be specified by setting the color for the first and last class. In ArcView Version 3.0 you can also set the color of one or more intermediate classes in order to create inflection points in the color ramp. For example, you can now create a color ramp that goes from yellow to green to dark blue (without the green inflection point yellow would normally ramp to dark blue via brown).

The way that ArcView generates random colors has also been redesigned to reduce the likelihood that two classes will be given the same color. When you use the unique value legend type there is a random symbol button in addition to the random color button. This enables you to assign randomly chosen symbols to line and point features. This is especially useful when you want to make a classification that clearly distinguishes between a large number of point or line features.

Statistics button on Legend Editor

The Statistics button opens a dialog that shows statistics for the theme currently in the legend editor. You can change the field property to show the statistics for any field in your theme. Because calculating statistics for database themes may take a great deal of time, the statistics window is also used to allow you to type in statistics for database themes, if the theme has attributes.

Undo button on Legend Editor

The Revert option on the Legend Editor has been replaced with a new undo function. This lets you undo applying a legend so if you change how a theme is displayed, apply this change, and then decide you don't like it, you can simply press Undo to return to using the theme's previous legend. Undo can also work successively allowing you to undo the last five changes you have made to a theme's legend since you started editing it.

Scaleable marker and line symbols

In ArcView Version 2.1 marker and line symbols always remained the same size on your map no matter how far you zoomed in on them. A marker symbol eight points high representing a city was drawn eight points high irrespective of the map's scale. For some applications it is more realistic and useful for marker and line symbols to appear larger as you zoom in on them to give the impression that they represent the actual dimensions of the feature on the Earth. ArcView Version 3.0 now lets you choose whether marker and line symbols scale when you change the scale of your view. By default, symbols do not scale (they remain the same size irrespective of the view's scale). You can turn scaling symbols on and off in the Advanced Options dialog on the Legend Editor.

When you turn scaling symbols on, you can also choose a reference scale. The reference scale defaults to the current scale of your view. This is the scale of the view at which scaling marker and line symbols will appear at the same size that as they are in the Legend Editor when you apply the change. Thus if you create a line symbol 12 points wide, turn scaling on and set the reference scale to 1:24000, the line will 24 points wide if you zoom in on your view to 1:12000.

Using scaling symbols you'll be able, for example, to create line symbols for roads with line widths that approximate the actual width of the roads on the ground. This relationship will remain correct as you change scales.

Rotating marker symbols for point features

Marker symbols based on TrueType fonts can be now be rotated. When you draw point features you can specify the rotation angle when you choose their marker symbols from the Marker Palette. You can also automatically rotate marker symbols according to the values of one of the numeric attributes of the points. The rotation field for point features can be specified in the Advanced Options dialog on the Legend Editor.

Offset pen symbols for line features

The features of line themes can be offset a fixed distance from their original coordinates. This is especially useful for displaying routes that you find using ArcView's Network Analyst extension because if the route doubles back on itself, this information is clearly communicated in the form of a loop.

Saving and loading legend files

Saving and loading legend files (.avl files) is now more flexible in ArcView. When you load a legend file a new dialog box lets you choose whether you want to load the classification definition, the symbol definition, or both. It also shows you the name of the attribute that was used to create the legend saved in the legend file, and lets you choose to assign the legend either to this attribute or another one in your current theme. In ArcView Version 3.0 you can also save and load a single symbol legend (legend in which the features are not classified according to an attribute).


Zooming and panning (ArcView GIS Version 3.0)

The new Zoom Previous button [image] lets you go back to the previous extent you were viewing. Use this option to go back to where you were before you zoomed or panned. ArcView remembers the last five extents you have looked at on the view since opening the project, so you can use this option to retrace your last five steps. The button dims out when there are no more previous extents left to return to.


 What's new in ArcView GIS Version 3.1

Welcome to ArcView GIS Version 3.1. This release introduces wizards for such tasks as advanced map production and advanced geoprocessing. These wizards, along with some interface updates, help you use ArcView more quickly and easily.

ArcView GIS Version 3.1 also updates the existing suite of ArcView extensions and introduces several new ones, including the Report Writer for generating professional reports. ArcView Data and Maps have been updated to include new data sets specifically for Europe.

The 'What's new' part of ArcView's online help describes the key features you'll find in this release. Read through the topics below to learn more about what's in this version.

Which topic would you like to browse?

Creating and editing data

Customizing and programming ArcView

Data

Digitizing

Extensions

Optional Analyst extensions

Sample extensions

Images

Improved support for dynamic segmentation

Labeling and text

Layouts

Platform support

Projects

Support for measured and 3D shapes

Symbols

User tools

Views and themes


What's new in customizing and programming ArcView

Make Default and Reset buttons in Customize dialog

With ArcView 3.0, if you created a user default project by using the Make Default button in the Customize dialog while an extension was loaded, you would get duplicates of the controls added by the extension. If you used the Reset button while an extension was loaded, all the controls delivered by the extension would disappear. Now when any extension is loaded, the Make Default and Reset buttons become disabled in the Customize dialog. This functionality is still available through Avenue though. When an extension is loaded, you can still use the Project.MakeUserDefault request to make a user default project and use the Project.ResetGUIs request to reset the project to the default interface.

Extended Date class range

The supported Date class range in ArcView has been extended. Dates in ArcView are no longer limited to 1970 to 2038. The supported Date range is now from 4715 BC to 9999 AD. Dates beyond this range may also work but may not produce consistent results for all requests. A number of new requests have been added to the Date and Duration classes. Please refer to the Date class and Duration class help topics for more information.

Case sensitive string comparison

Two new requests for the String class add case sensitive string comparison functionality.

String.SetCaseSensitiveCompare(useCase) - when useCase is TRUE, comparing strings that differ only in the case of their characters will return FALSE. When useCase is FALSE, comparing such strings will return TRUE.

String.IsCaseSensitiveCompare - Returns TRUE when the case of characters in strings will be considered when those strings are compared. Returns FALSE when strings that differ only in case are considered equal.

The default string comparison is still case insensitive. By default, string comparison will work as it did in ArcView GIS Version 3.0. If you want to have case sensitive string comparisons, you must execute the String.SetCaseSensitive(TRUE) request.

Turning off the status bar

Two new requests for the Application class allow you to turn off the status bar.

av.GetShowStatus - Returns a boolean indicating whether or not the status bar will be drawn. Use the request av.SetShowStatus to control display of the status bar.

av.SetShowStatus(flag) - Sets whether or not the status bar will be drawn.

If you use av.SetShowStatus(FALSE) ArcView won’t display the status bar in any operation.

Encrypted scripts in Extensions

You can now encrypt all scripts in your custom extensions including the Load, Install, Unload, and Uninstall scripts.

Changes to Classes and Requests

Many new Avenue classes and requests have been added and a few have changed from ArcView 3.0x to ArcView 3.1. For a detailed listing of the changes, see Changes to classes and requests in ArcView 3.1


What's new in data

ArcView GIS Version 3.1 adds new European data sets to the Canada, Mexico, USA, and World data included in the last release. All data sets will be accompanied with legend files (.avl) which ArcView GIS Version 3.1 will automatically open when the data set is added to a view, thus providing symbols and classifications for the theme.

United States

Updated demographic attributes supplied for states, counties, cities, and census tracts and block groups are now joined to the shapefiles’ attribute tables. New detailed data sources include rails and highways from the National Transportation Atlas, several shapefiles from the Geographic Names Information System, and landmark data from Geographic Data Technology Dynamap 2000. New data for USA states includes census tracts, census block groups, census block populations, ZIP Code geography, rivers, and major roads.

Europe

Includes European Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS) statistical collections (0 – 3), cities, highways, lakes, and rivers. NUTS include the U.S. analogy of country, region, state, and county boundaries and attributes similar to U.S. census statistics.

European Countries

Includes national boundaries, provinces, counties, regions, states, districts (whichever is applicable), cities, highways, lakes, and rivers for the following countries: Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom, and Ukraine.

World

Includes 1998 Countries of the world with demographic attributes.


What's new in digitizing
What's new in digitizing (Windows only)

ArcView GIS Version 3.1 adds stream mode digitizing. Using stream mode, you click the first vertex and simply trace over the feature on a paper map. When you're done tracing, you click another button to end the line. ArcView GIS automatically adds vertices at an interval you specify. Stream mode digitizing provides a quick, easy way to capture complex features such as streams, rivers, and contours off a paper map.

Stream mode digitizing

The Digitizer extension adds two new items to the View menu: Stream Tolerance and Enable/Disable Stream Mode.

Stream Tolerance allows you to set the distance between vertices in current map units. You can change the distance at any time, including in the middle of tracing an existing line. You can also specify the stream tolerance distance using the Stream Tolerance tool [image] in the tool bar.

Enable/Disable Stream Mode allows you to switch between digitizing in point mode and digitizing in stream mode. The default is point mode. You may also use the F3 function key to switch between the two modes.

Digitizing features in stream mode

For detailed information on how to digitize features in stream mode, search ArcView's online help index for 'Digitizers, Stream mode digitizing'.


What's new in creating and editing data

Alternate way to end polylines and polygons

You used to complete a new polyline or polygon by double clicking. You can now also complete the shape by single clicking while holding down the CTRL key.

Snap tolerance cursor

When you have snapping turned on, either general or interactive, you can display a circle representing the snap tolerance with the cursor as you create polylines, polygons, or edit vertices. This circle is called the snap tolerance cursor. If general snapping is turned on, the circle represents the general snap tolerance. If interactive snapping is also turned on, the circle will change to the interactive snap tolerance when you chose an interactive snap rule. By default, the snap tolerance cursor is turned on when snapping is turned on. You can turn the snap tolerance cursor off in the Editing panel of the Theme Properties dialog or by using the Show/Hide Snap Tolerance Cursor toggle on the View’s popup menu.

Ellipse and GeoCurve classes added

An Ellipse is a geometric ellipse drawn using two axes values and an angle of rotation (in degrees). A GeoCurve is a curve representing the shortest distance between two points on the earth's surface.

Request to determine whether a polyline intersects itself

A new PolyLine request, IsSelfIntersecting, has been added to determine whether a polyline intersects itself.
aPolyLine.IsSelfIntersecting - Returns TRUE if aPolyLine is self-intersecting, otherwise returns FALSE.

Request to specify buffer quality

The new request SetBufferResolution on the Shape class lets you control buffer quality. Use it to define the number of vertices used for the circles which define the round parts of buffers created using ReturnBuffered. See the SetBufferResolution request in the on-line help for more information.

Shape.SetBufferResolution(numPoints)


What's new in extensions

ArcView's extensions provide specialized GIS functionality. This version of ArcView GIS comes with many extensions, such as the Dialog Designer extension and the Database Access extension. There are other extensions you can purchase separately. If you're interested in these, see What's new in optional Analyst extensions.

The following extensions are new or changed in ArcView GIS Version 3.1:

CAD Reader extension

The CAD Reader extension now supports AutoCAD Release 14.x drawing and DXF files. You can now also add 3D CAD drawings directly into 3D Analyst for analysis and interactive perspective viewing.

Database Access extension

The Database Access extension, Version 1.1, provides multi-user, client-server access to spatial and non-spatial data stored in relational databases. You can create database themes to see the spatial data and create database tables to see the non-spatial data. This version of the extension adds access to SDE Version 3.0.2 databases, which can include Oracle's SDO layers. It also provides an improved SQL Query Wizard and several performance enhancements.

Dialog Designer extension

The Dialog Designer extension provides Avenue developers with new tools for customizing ArcView's interface. With this extension, you can create specialized input forms, organize related tools in separate dialogs, add buttons directly to your view or layout, and link your data with what's displayed. You can display symbols in both list and combo boxes, and use multiple rows and columns in a list box.

Digitizer extension (Windows only)

The Digitizer extension now supports stream mode digitizing. Using stream mode, you click the first vertex and simply trace over the feature on a paper map. When you're done tracing, you click another button to end the line. ArcView GIS automatically adds vertices at an interval you specify. Stream mode digitizing provides a quick, easy way to capture complex features such as streams, rivers, and contours off a paper map.

Geoprocessing extension

This wizard-based interface allows you to perform many ARC/INFO overlay functions in ArcView. With it, you can do the following: clip a theme based on another theme (clip); dissolve features within a single theme based on the attributes of that theme (dissolve); create a new shapefile by overlaying two sets of features (intersect); merge selected themes into a single theme containing the attributes of the first theme (merge); create a new theme by overlaying two polygon themes (union); and perform a spatial join between two selected themes (assign data by location).

Graticules and Measured Grids extension

With this new extension, you can create grids and graticules, using ArcView's best guess evaluation for settings or by making your own. You can also adjust the way they display. You can adjust the intervals between lines or set line width and color. You can change the font, size, and style of labels. You can show graticule labels only, instead of the default lines and labels. You can display a grid as tics or as intersecting lines.

IMAGINE Image extension

This extension provides support for ERDAS IMAGINE images. In this version of ArcView GIS, the extension was upgraded to use the IMAGINE 8.3.1 libraries on the PC and the 8.3 libraries on UNIX.

JPEG (JFIF) Image extension

This extension provides support for JFIF images, the public domain image file format for JPEG compressed images.

Legend Tool extension

This extension allows you to customize a graphical legend in a layout with a set of panels. You can create a legend for any view in your project, choose which themes you want shown, and how many columns to use to display symbols and labels. Other panels allow you to change legend titles, choose settings for legend borders, designate how legend symbols are represented, and set the spacing between legend elements. And you can check at any time to see how your settings affect the appearance of your legend.

Military Data Reader extensions

The Military Data Reader extensions enable ArcView to read directly a variety of image data formats typically of interest to the defense/intelligence community. Once the data is represented as an image theme in a view, any appropriate functionality of ArcView can be applied to the theme. The Military Data Reader consists of several extensions. You may use any combination of these extensions at any time. The extensions include support for Arc Digitized Raster Graphics (ADRG), Compressed ARC Digitized Raster Graphics (CADRG), Controlled Image Base (CIB), and National Image Transfer Format (NITF) images.

MrSID Image Support extension

This extension is an example of using the ImgDLL class for adding image formats to ArcView GIS. MrSID is a multiresolution wavelet-based image format that allows for high compression ratio and fast access of large amounts of data at any scale. With the MrSID Image Support extension, you can add .sid files to views as image themes.

© Copyright 1997-98 LizardTech, Inc., 1520 Bellevue Ave., Second Floor,
Seattle, WA 98122. All Rights Reserved. Patent Granted. MrSID and
LizardTech are trademarks of LizardTech.

Report Writer extension (Windows only)

The Report Writer extension integrates Seagate Crystal Reports and the ArcView Table, View, and Project user interface. The ArcView Report Writer interface will streamline selecting data and preparing it for making reports. You can choose the type of report you want, whether you want to use all the records in the table or only the selected records, and specify the output report name. The Report wizard will start the Crystal Reports application with your data already loaded so that you can easily continue designing your report.

With the ArcView Report wizard, you can choose from the following reports:

 Quick Report
 Standard Report
 Form Letters
 Mailing Labels
 Top Number (N) Report
 Cross Tab Report
 Drill Down Report
 A report based on another template

Note   The Quick Reports option does not use Crystal Reports. That means that if you don’t have Crystal Reports installed on your system, you still have the basic tools for selecting and organizing fields, setting fonts, column width, and row heights, and previewing and printing the report.

TIFF 6.0 Image Support extension

With the TIFF 6.0 Image Support extension, you can add version 6.0 TIFF files to views as image themes and place them on layouts in picture frames. TIFF 6.0 image support includes GeoTIFF 1.0 tags for placing the image in the proper geographic space if present. ArcView previously only supported version 5.0 TIFF images.

VPF Viewer extension

The VPF Viewer extension enables you to work with Vector Product Format (VPF) data in ArcView. You can integrate VPF databases into your work seamlessly, without having to convert these files into ArcView shapefile format.

The VPF Direct Read function can now add valid 3D VPF themes as 3D type files. A valid 3D VPF theme has no null Z values in the coordinate geometry. If any null values are found, the theme will be added to the view as a 2D type file. To view the shapefiles in full 3D, you must have the 3D Analyst extension loaded.


What's new in images

TIFF 6.0 image support

With the TIFF 6.0 Image Support extension, you can add version 6.0 TIFF files to views as image themes and place them on layouts in picture frames. TIFF 6.0 image support includes GeoTIFF 1.0 tags for placing the image in the proper geographic space if present. ArcView previously only supported version 5.0 TIFF images.

Adding external image formats

You can now add any image format to ArcView at any time using the new ImgDLL class. You simply provide a DLL that knows how to read your format and write out a BIL/BIP/BSQ image. You can create an extension that registers your DLL to ArcView, which you could supply to any user who wanted to access your image format as an image theme. For more information, see the "Adding external image formats to ArcView" document under the "Configuring ArcView" book in the Help table of contents.

MrSID image support

This extension is an example of using the ImgDLL class for adding image formats to ArcView GIS. MrSID is a multiresolution wavelet-based image format that allows for high compression ratio and fast access of large amounts of data at any scale. With the MrSID Image Support extension, you can add .sid files to views as image themes.

© Copyright 1997-98 LizardTech, Inc., 1520 Bellevue Ave., Second Floor,
Seattle, WA 98122. All Rights Reserved. Patent Granted. MrSID and
LizardTech are trademarks of LizardTech.

Military Data Readers

The Military Data Reader extensions enable ArcView to read directly a variety of image data formats typically of interest to the defense/intelligence community. Once the data is represented as an image theme in a view, any appropriate functionality of ArcView can be applied to the theme. The Military Data Reader consists of several extensions. You may use any combination of these extensions at any time. The extensions include support for Arc Digitized Raster Graphics (ADRG), Compressed ARC Digitized Raster Graphics (CADRG), Controlled Image Base (CIB), and National Image Transfer Format (NITF) images.


What's new in labeling and text

Label and text tools

The Label tool [image] and Text tool [image] menus now allow you to label with a leader line pointing to a feature, with banners, with callouts, with a background and drop shadow, and with standard highway shield symbols. (For additional information, see Text and label options.)

The new Default settings for text and label tools dialog, accessible from the Graphics menu, lets you change the current defaults for the label and text tools. You can click on a tool icon to display its current default settings, then change them to suit your requirements.

Splined text

Also added in this release is a new Spline text tool [image], with the ability to align text or position it along curved lines. After indicating where you want text drawn (by clicking in your view or layout), use the Spline Text Properties dialog to enter, align, and draw your text.

Autolabeling

Sample and example Avenue code for autolabeling more than one theme has been added.


What's new in layouts

ArcView GIS Version 3.1 adds a Neatline button [image] to the layout interface. Use it to control the placement of a neatline by specifying whether it should be drawn around all graphics, selected graphics, or inset from the margins of a page. You can change a neatline's line style, width, and shape of corners. You can also add background color and drop shadows.


What's new in optional Analyst extensions

The Analyst extensions bring advanced GIS analysis to the desktop. They are available as separate products:

ArcPress extension

ArcPress is a graphics metafile rasterizer that enhances ArcView's printing and exporting capabilities. ArcPress rasterizes an ArcView view or layout, and lets you set a variety of output, page, and print options.

ArcView Business Analyst extension (Windows only)

The ArcView Business Analyst extension lets you create and analyze market areas, perform site prospecting, profile customers and prospect for similar ones, conduct drive time analysis, and create detailed reports. You can do sophisticated data analysis through an easy-to-use wizard interface that guides you through business tasks. Included with the product is business, household, demographic, and street data, as well as the ArcView Network Analyst extension and the ArcView StreetMap extension.

ArcView Image Analysis extension

Developed in close collaboration with leading image-processing software vendor ERDAS, Inc., the ArcView Image Analysis extension allows you to display, enhance, and analyze remotely sensed imagery.

ArcView Internet Map Server (IMS) extension

The ArcView IMS extension is a tool for publishing maps on the Web. The extension creates a ready-to-use web page containing your map and an interactive user interface that you can use to browse, explore, and query it. You can customize the web pages IMS creates for you by adding your own text, graphics, backgrounds and links, either by editing the HTML source directly or by using a third party web page authoring program. The ArcView IMS uses a Java applet, called MapCafe, to provide the user interface for your map when it appears on a web page.

ArcView Network Analyst extension

The ArcView Network Analyst extension (Version 1.0b) enables you to use networks (i.e., streets, highways, rivers, pipelines, electric lines, and so forth) to solve problems such as finding the best travel route, generating travel directions, finding the closest emergency vehicle or facility, or defining service areas based on travel time. Network data used with this extension can come from any of the following sources: ArcView line shapefiles, ARC/INFO network or regular line coverages, and CAD drawings.

ArcView Spatial Analyst extension

With the ArcView Spatial Analyst extension (Version 1.1), you can create, view, query, and analyze map cell-based raster data and perform integrated vector-raster analysis using feature themes and grid themes.

You can convert feature themes to grid themes, create buffer distance and proximity surfaces from feature or grid themes, do contouring and density mapping from themes containing point features, map slope and aspect, analyze cell-based maps, do Boolean queries on multiple grid themes, analyze neighborhoods and zones, classify and display grids, among other things. The extension includes an Avenue programming interface for developing spatial analysis applications.

ArcView 3D Analyst extension

With the ArcView 3D Analyst extension, you can create, analyze, and display surface data. This extension includes support for the TIN data model, 3D shapes, and interactive perspective viewing.

ArcView StreetMap extension (Windows only)

The ArcView StreetMap extension adds nationwide address geocoding and street map display to ArcView GIS and includes a compressed street and landmark database for the entire United States on a single CD. The StreetMap extension uses a Dynamap/1000 v2.0 dataset from Geographic Data Technology (GDT), November 1994 current.

ArcView StreetMap 2000 extension (Windows only)

The ArcView StreetMap 2000 extension is an enhanced StreetMap product developed jointly by ESRI and GDT. StreetMap 2000 supports nationwide address geocoding and street map display. This extension uses GDT's Dynamap/2000 database, released in January 1997, and their Matchmaker geocoding engine, which offers traditional geocoding and matches intersections and addresses composed of numbers and letters. An Interactive Matcher dialog box displays addresses that fail to match, explains the problem, and suggests possible alternatives. The CD also contains state boundaries, cities, airports, hospitals, parks, lakes, and river data.

ArcView Tracking Analyst extension

The ArcView Tracking Analyst extension is for viewing and analyzing objects that move. Developed with TASC, the Tracking Analyst supports Global Positioning System (GPS) and network connections, allowing you to map events in real time. For example, you could follow your delivery vehicles on their daily routes, track weather conditions such as hurricanes or lightning, and study the migration routes of animals.


What's new in platform support

ArcView GIS Version 3.1 and selected extensions are available on the following Microsoft Windows operating systems: Windows 95, Windows NT 4.0, Windows 98, and Windows NT 5.0. Additionally, the product will continue to be supported on most UNIX platforms.

ArcView GIS Version 3.1 will not be available on the following platforms: SunOS (Solaris 1), DG-UX, Windows 3.1, Windows for Workgroups 3.11, Windows NT 3.51, or Macintosh.


What's new in Projects

New Project Updater

If you open an ArcView 3.0x project that has no customized GUIs or no extensions, this project will automatically have the new interface components in ArcView 3.1.

If you open an ArcView 3.0x project that has customized GUIs or has extensions, ArcView 3.1 asks if you want to update your project to include the new interface components in ArcView 3.1. The project updater does not update ArcView 2.x projects. Saving the project in ArcView 3.1 saves the updated interface. Once you save a project in ArcView 3.1, you won’t be able to use this project in ArcView 3.0x.

Modifications made by the project updater

 Adds Manage Data Sources to the View's File menu

 Adds TOC Style to the View's View menu

 Adds Create Buffers to the View's Theme menu

 Adds Text and Label Defaults to the View's Graphics menu

 Adds Text Tool Defaults to the Layout's Graphics menu

 Updates the Text tool on the View's and Layout's tool bar

 Updates the Label tool on the View's tool bar

 Adds Add Neatline and Neatline button to the Layout's interface

 Adds Shape Properties to the View's popup menu

 Adds Save Project As and Extensions to the File menu of all documents

 Updates the ESC key shortcut on the View's View menu so drawing stops immediately when ESC is pressed.


What's new in sample extensions

Sample extensions are ESRI unsupported extensions available to you in the Samples library (i.e., $AVHOME/samples/ext in your ArcView installation). You can use them to help you do your work, create your own extensions, or learn more about how ArcView works. The sample extensions listed below are new in this release. The Datum Converter and Projector sample extensions were significantly updated for this release.

Which new sample extension are you interested in?

ArcView Connect for R/3 (Windows only)

MGE Viewer (Windows only)

Multi-Theme Auto-Labeler

Point Dispersion

Shapefile Description


What's new in support for dynamic segmentation
What's new in improved support for dynamic segmentation

All Dynamic Segmentation functionality that's been available for coverage route systems is now available for measured PolyLine shapefiles. A measured PolyLine is a PolyLineM or a PolyLineZ (with the optional measure values attached). Refer to Support for measured and 3D shapes.

The extended Dynamic Segmentation functionality includes:

  The DynName class now accepts a measured PolyLine shapefile FTab on the Make request.

  The Add Event Theme dialog now recognizes measured PolyLine shapefiles. That is, event themes can be defined on measured shapes.

  The existing FTab requests ReturnLocation and ReturnRouteMeasure now work on measured PolyLine shapefiles.

  The Export request on the FTab class can now convert an ARC/INFO coverage route system into a measured (PolyLineM) shapefile.


What's new in support for measured and 3D shapes

ArcView GIS Version 3.1 provides support for measured and 3D data by extending the existing ArcView Shape classes and by providing an Avenue API for accessing the measure and elevation values. For an overview of the extended shape classes, refer to the Shapes object model diagram.

What are measured and 3D shapes?

ArcView has always stored geometric shapes using x,y coordinates. Points are recorded as a single x,y coordinate pair, lines as a series of ordered x,y coordinates, and areas (polygons) as a series of x,y coordinates defining a set of line segments that have the same start and end points. Instead of simply storing x,y coordinates, a shape can now additionally store a measure (m) and/or an elevation value (z) at each x,y.

Reasons behind the extension of shape classes

SDE 3.0 allows both m and z values in its shapes. The Database Access extension was designed to store, create, and modify data in a relational database. Database Access's SDE Database Interface allows for the retrieval of shapes stored in SDE. Through the Database Access extension, therefore, ArcView GIS 3.1 can preserve any m and z values that exist in SDE shapes.

The 3D Analyst extension allows for the viewing and analysis of 3D data in a new ArcView Document type called a 3D Scene. Scene Documents support Feature Themes, Image Themes, TIN Themes and Grid Themes.

Working with Extended Shapes

ArcView 3.1 users do not need either the Database Access extension or the 3D Analyst extension to use the extended shape classes. The extended shape classes are shipped as part of the core product.

It is important to note, however, that ArcView's standard interface often treats extended shapes as unmeasured, 2D shapes. The reason for this is that not all Avenue requests were implemented for the extended shape classes (see below).

Special Considerations for Avenue Programmers

Before the extended shape classes shape classes and shape types were the same. That is no longer true.

Let's say someone wrote a script to handle only standard shape classes. That is, shapes with z and m values are to be ignored. The code below which won't achieve this task, checks the shape type but not the shape class. If the active theme was a MultiPointM, for example, the 'shapeType' variable would equate to #FIELD_SHAPEMULTIPOINT since a MultiPointM is a type of MultiPoint. Hence, the 'else' statement will not get evaluated.

theView = av.GetActiveDoc

SRCTheme = theView.GetActiveThemes.Get(0)

shapeType = SRCTheme.GetFTab.FindField("Shape").GetType

if (shapeType = #FIELD_SHAPELINE) then

  outClass = POLYLINE

elseif (shapeType = #FIELD_SHAPEMULTIPOINT) then

  outClass = MULTIPOINT

elseif (shapeType = #FIELD_SHAPEPOINT) then

  outClass = POINT

elseif (shapeType = #FIELD_SHAPEPOLY) then

  outClass = POLYGON

else

  MsgBox.Error("Invalid shape field type.", "Type Test")

  exit

end

OutputFTab = FTab.MakeNew( outFName, outClass )

Write the code to check the shape class:

theView = av.GetActiveDoc

SRCTheme = theView.GetActiveThemes.Get(0)

shapeClass = SRCTheme.GetFTab.GetShapeClass.GetClassName

if (shapeClass =  "LINE") then

  outClass = POLYLINE

elseif (shapeClass = "MULTIPOINT") then

  outClass = MULTIPOINT

elseif (shapeClass = "POINT") then

  outClass = POINT

elseif (shapeClass = "POLYGON") then

  outClass = POLYGON

else

  MsgBox.Error("Invalid shape class.", "Class Test")

  exit

end

OutputFTab = FTab.MakeNew( outFName, outClass )

Since the extended shape classes are simply extensions (or subclasses) of the previously existing shape classes (or superclasses), some of the Avenue shape transforming requests (e.g., Transforming a PolyLine) available to a superclass may drop the m and z values when they are sent to a subclass. For example, the following ReturnDifference request will not be implemented for PolyLineMs. The code will return a PolyLine.

pl = PolyLineM.Make( {{10@10&10, 20@20&20, 30@30&30}} )

pl2 = PolyLineM.Make( {{10@10&100,20@20&200}})

pl3 = pl.ReturnDifference(pl2)

MsgBox.Report(pl3.AsString,"")

The ReturnMerged request, however, will be implemented for PolyLineMs.

pl = PolyLineM.Make( {{10@10&10, 20@20&20, 30@30&30}} )

pl2 = PolyLineM.Make( {{10@20&100,20@20&200}})

pl3 = pl.ReturnMerged(pl2)

MsgBox.Report(pl3.AsString,"")

To determine whether an Avenue shape transforming request will preserve m and z values, look in the Class help. If the request you’re looking for exists in both the superclass and subclass help (e.g., ReturnMerged), then the m and z values will be preserved. If the request does not exist in both the superclass and subclass help, then the m and/or z values will be dropped.

Requests that do not transform a shape follow normal inheritance rules.

Finally, the existence of the extended shape classes can have some ramifications on existing Avenue scripts. Suppose that a script was written to label contour lines. One check in such a script would be to exit when the active theme was not a PolyLine (you would not want to add a contour label to a point, for example). At previous versions of ArcView, an Avenue programmer may have written:

theView = av.GetActiveDoc

theTheme = theView.GetActiveThemes.Get(0)

if (theTheme.GetFTab.GetShapeClass.GetClassName <> "PolyLine") then

  return nil

end

This script ignores the PolyLineZ and PolyLineM shape classes. This might cause some confusion. After all, a PolyLineZ and PolyLineM look just like a PolyLine when displayed in a view. It is up the Avenue programmer, therefore, to write code that handles the extended shape classes.


What's new in symbols

ARC/INFO line symbols

Using three new subclasses of Pen symbols, VectorPenMarker, VectorPenVertexMarker, and CompositeArcInfoPen, ArcView GIS Version 3.1 can import LineType Marker, LineType VertexMarker, and multi-layer line symbols from ARC/INFO symbol sets. Even users who do not have access to ARC/INFO will be able to create their own symbols using these new classes.

To take advantage of this new functionality, these new symbol palettes have been added:

  geology.avp - nearly 300 line and marker symbols for making USGS compliant geologic maps

  weather.avp - weather front line symbols

  transp.avp - railroad line and interstate highway symbols

  forestry.avp - line and marker symbols for creating forest fire fighting maps

Other palettes new in this release include:

  crime.avp - point mapping for different kinds of crime

  hatch.avp - improved graduated fill symbol mapping


What's new in user tools

Several new productivity tools have been added to ArcView GIS Version 3.1. Some of these tools are loaded when ArcView GIS starts, while others like the Geoprocessing, Graticules and Measured Grids, and Legend tools will appear in the Extensions manager.

Startup Screen dialog

This dialog allows for quick access to the common operations users do when ArcView GIS first starts. You can create a new project with a new view or without, or open an existing project. As you gain more experience using ArcView GIS, you may opt to turn off the default setting for showing the dialog. If you want the dialog displayed again, delete the avstart.txt file in your temp directory (PC) or $HOME directory (UNIX).

Create Buffers wizard

This wizard provides panels for creating buffers. You will be able to select what and how to buffer, set buffer options, and specify where output should be saved. Back and Next buttons allow you to move back and forth between panels. To access the wizard, add a theme and choose Create Buffers from the View's Theme menu.

Shape Properties dialog

With this dialog, you can add, delete, and edit shape vertices. The dialog identifies the type of shape, number of vertices, and presents a list of vertices within a shape. You can add a vertex to a shape or select multiple vertices and delete them. The dialog is available from a right-click popup menu when a shape is selected and editable.

Label and text tools

The Label tool [image] and Text tool [image] menus now allow you to label with a leader line pointing to a feature, with banners, with callouts, with a background and drop shadow, and with standard highway shield symbols. (For additional information, see Text and label options.)

The new Default settings for text and label tools dialog, accessible from the Graphics menu, lets you change the current defaults for the label and text tools. You can click on a tool icon to display its current default settings, then change them to suit your requirements.

Also added in this release is a new Spline text tool [image], with the ability to align text or position it along curved lines. After indicating where you want text drawn (by clicking in your view or layout), use the Spline Text Properties dialog to enter, align, and draw your text.

Sample and example Avenue code for autolabeling more than one theme has been added.

Neatline button

ArcView GIS Version 3.1 adds a Neatline button [image] to the layout interface. Use it to control the placement of a neatline by specifying whether it should be drawn around all graphics, selected graphics, or inset from the margins of a page. You can change a neatline's line style, width, and shape of corners. You can also add background color and drop shadows.


What's new in Views and Themes

General View changes

 Universal Naming Convention (UNC) is now supported for map libraries, hot links, image catalogs, and for adding data sources as themes.

 Creating a new shapefile will no longer overwrite an existing dBASE file.

 Libraries with relative pathnames are now supported.

 If you try to open a project which has themes made of map or ArcStorm libraries and don't have your ARCHOME variable set correctly, ArcView will give you warning messages about the library themes it can't find, and then open the project anyway. This way you can still get to scripts or other information in the project. Be sure not to save the project if ARCHOME's not set properly; simply close the project or ArcView, set ARCHOME, then open the project again. If you save a project after you have been warned that ArcView can't create the library themes, those themes will be removed from the project.

 Views and layouts can now be exported into JPEG  format.

View interface

 A new button on View Properties allows you to change the view's background color. You can also change it from Avenue. See the information below on these new View requests.

 Pressing ESC will immediately stop the drawing of themes. (To support this functionality, the ESC accelerator for turning off all themes has been removed.)

 Three new color ramps have been inserted in the list of ramps in the Graduated Color legend type. They are Beige to Brown, Browns to Greens dichromatic, and Purples to Greens dichromatic.

Note    If you use Avenue to set color ramps, you may need to change the index number for the ramps you use.

 These menu choices have been added to the View interface.

Manage Data Sources has been added to the File menu. Manage Data Sources lets you copy, rename, and delete shapefiles. It can also be used for TINs and GRIDs, depending on the ArcView extensions you have loaded.

Save Project As and Extensions have been added to the File menu to make these options more accessible. (These options have been added to the interfaces of the other document types as well.)

TOC Style has been added to the View menu. TOC Style can be used to change these display settings of the TOC (Table Of Contents): line flatness, symbol length, and text symbol.

Adding themes

 From Add Theme, pressing ESC cancels the directory scan. This allows you to immediately stop ArcView from reading all the directories. For example, if you have a folder with 40 folders in it, and you want to go to the third in the list, merely wait for ArcView to display the first 3, then press ESC. Now double-click on the third in the list. If you click on the third item in the list before the list is entirely populated, you may see some odd values in the folder list on the right. Double-click on the parent folder again, and wait until the list is completely populated or press ESC before clicking on the folder you want.

 Add Theme now warns you if you try to add already-projected data to a projected view (unless you are adding images). The data is added to the view anyway, but it won't display, since ArcView does not display already-projected data in projected views.

 Shapefile themes can be given custom legends as they are added to a view. If you have an ArcView legend file (.avl) which has the same basename as your shapefile, ArcView will automatically use it to symbolize your theme. For example, if you save a legend called cities.avl in the same location as cities.shp file, each time you add cities.shp to a view it will use the legend in cities.avl.

Projections

 If you set a projection for already-projected data, you'll be asked if you really want to set the projection (since ArcView can only project vector data in geographic coordinates). You won't be prompted if the extent of the themes is beyond the standard decimal degree values (-200,-100 and 200,100).

 Arbitrary spheroids, false eastings and false northings are now supported for the Mercator projection. You can set these from Avenue or Projection Properties. See the information below on the new Mercator requests.

 For projected views, Convert to Shapefile will now ask if you want the new shapefile to be created in projected units. Convert to Shapefile previously only output the new shapefile in decimal degrees for projected views. (For non-projected views, the new shapefile was and still will be created in the units of the base data.)

New for Views and Themes in Avenue at 3.1

 New requests on the View class allow you to control the background color and symbol of the view. Other new requests allow you to control the number of decimal places in the View's coordinate display on its tool bar, and to show the values in Degrees, Minutes, Seconds (DMS). Requests have also been added which give you more control over when the View redraws.

SetBackgroundSymbol ( aFill )

GetBackgroundSymbol  :  Symbol

SetCoordinatePrecision ( decimalPlaces )

GetCoordinatePrecision  :  Number

SetCoordsDMS ( showDMS )

StopAllDraw

SuspendDraw ( flag )

StopDraw

 New requests on the Mercator class allow you to use rhumb lines and to set the false easting and false northing.

ReturnRhumbLine ( aPoint, anotherPoint, aNumberOfPoints ) :  PolyLine

ReturnRhumbLineAzimuth ( aPoint, anotherPoint ) :  Number

ReturnRhumbLineDistance ( aPoint, anotherPoint ) :  Number

SetFalseEasting ( aFalseEasting )

SetFalseNorthing ( aFalseNorthing )

ReturnFalseEasting  :  Number

ReturnFalseNorthing  :  Number

 New requests on the Spheroid class allow you to measure on a spheroid:

ReturnGeodesic ( aPoint, anotherPoint, aNumberOfPoints ) :  PolyLine

ReturnGeodesicAzimuth ( aPoint, anotherPoint ) :  Number

ReturnGeodesicDistance ( aPoint, anotherPoint ) :  Number

ReturnPointAlongGeodesic ( aStartPoint, aDistance, anAzimuth ) :  Point

 New requests SetHotField and SetLabelField on the FTheme class allow you to set the Hot Link field name or the Label field name to Nil. This allows you to "unset" a Hot Link or a Label Field.

 The new request SetBufferResolution on the Shape class lets you control buffer quality. Use it to define the number of vertices used for the circles which define the round parts of buffers created using ReturnBuffered. See the SetBufferResolution request in the on-line help for more information.

Shape.SetBufferResolution(numPoints)


Working with datums

A datum is a set of parameters defining a coordinate system, and a set of control points whose geometric relationships are known, either through measurement or calculation. One part of defining the coordinate system is the spheroid used to approximate the shape of the earth.

A spheroid is defined by a radius and an eccentricity. These two constants are used as inputs to the equations which calculate a projected coordinate from a coordinate in decimal degrees. When a projection is created, it is associated with a default spheroid so that these constants will be available. This default spheroid varies from projection to projection, but is usually the SPHERE for small-scale projections and CLARKE 1866 for large-scale projections.

Certain predefined projections (for example, those stored in default.prj in ArcView's etc directory which are displayed as "standard" projections in Projection Properties), are associated with specific spheroids based on their use. For instance, the "State Plane - 1927" projections are associated with the CLARKE 1866 spheroid (with the exception of Michigan), the "State Plane - 1983" projections are associated with the GRS 80 spheroid, the "New Zealand National Grid" projection is associated with the INTERNATIONAL 1909 (also known as the INTERNATIONAL 1924) spheroid, the "Great Britain National Grid" projection is associated with the AIRY spheroid, and the National Grids of Malaysia, Singapore, and Brunei are associated with the EVEREST spheroid.

When a projection associated with a certain spheroid is used, ArcView assumes that the decimal degrees data being projected was collected in a datum based on that spheroid. So while ArcView has no knowledge of datums per se, it does know about spheroids, which are part of the definition of a datum. Therefore you do need to know what datum your data is in, and set the spheroid of the projection accordingly. This can be done either through the Projection Properties dialog or by using Avenue.


Working with spheroids

To make mathematical calculations easier, the Earth is often treated as a sphere, having a radius valued at 6,370,997 meters. This assumption that the Earth is a sphere can be used for small-scale maps, those less than 1:5,000,000. At this scale, the difference between a sphere and a spheroid cannot be detected on a map; however, to maintain accuracy for larger-scale maps (scales of 1:1,000,000 or larger), the Earth must be treated as a spheroid. Spheroids are also referred to as ellipsoids.

To set the spheroid for a projection

1	From the View menu select Properties.

2	Click the Projection button to display Projection Properties.

3	Press the Custom button.

4	Select a projection that supports an arbitrary spheroid, like Transverse Mercator.

5	Choose a spheroid; for example Australian.

6	Modify any other projection parameters, then click OK.

7	From View Properties, click OK. The view redraws using the specified spheroid.

The pre-defined spheroid supported in ArcView are:

Spheroid	Description
Airy	Airy 1830
Australian	Australian National 1965
Bessel	Bessel 1841
Clarke 1866	Alexander Ross Clarke 1866
Clarke 1880	Alexander Ross Clarke 1880
Everest	Everest 1830
GRS80	Geodetic Reference System 1980
International 1909	John Fillmore Hayford 1909 (International 1924, IUGG 1924)
Krasovsky	Krasovsky 1940
Sphere	The world as a sphere. Use this for world maps.
WGS72	World Geodetic System 1972
WGS84	World Geodetic System 1984
Some projections available in ArcView support arbitrary spheroids, some do not. In general, projections commonly used for large-scale mapping support arbitrary spheroids. These are:

Cassini Soldner

Equidistant_Conic

Hotine Oblique Mercator

Lambert Conformal Conic

Transverse Mercator

Some projections work with a particular spheroid because of their intended use in mapping a particular area of the world. These are:

The New Zealand National Grid uses the International 1909 spheroid.

The Rectified Skew Orthomorphic map projection uses the Everest spheroid.

See also

Working with datums


Adding files containing tabular data to your project

You can add an INFO, dBASE III, dBASE IV file, or a tab-delimited or comma-delimited text file to your current project as a table.

To add an INFO, dBASE, or delimited text file to your project

1	Make the Project window active.

2	From the Project menu, choose Add Table

3	From the File Type list, choose INFO, dBASE (.dbf), or Delimited Text (.txt)

4	Navigate to the directory that contains the file you want to add.

5	Double-click the file you want to add or choose the file and press OK.

ArcView adds the table to your project.

NOTE:  Spaces, periods and other non-alphanumeric characters in file or directory names may cause problems. Spaces and underscores are the only non-alphanumeric characters that should be used. It is also recommended that you follow an 8.3 naming convention.

How ArcView reads a delimited text file

When you add a delimited text file to your project ArcView displays it in a table by placing the text following each tab or comma in a separate cell for each line in the file. The first line in the text file is expected to be the field names for the table. Fields with values containing any characters that are not numbers are treated as strings. Fields with values containing only numbers are treated as numeric fields. Strings can either be quoted or unquoted. (If you want ArcView to read numeric values in as strings, enclose the numbers in quotes).

Here's an example of a comma-delimited text file that can be read into ArcView as a table with four fields, one of which is numeric, and five records:

City,Country,Annual sales,Sales person

London,England,45000,Rupert

Paris,France,32900,Maurice

Madrid,Spain,110000,Manuel

Lisbon,Portugal,34000,Cynthia

Glasgow,Scotland,15000,Robbie


Closing a Project

When you close an ArcView project, you close all the windows associated with its components. If you've made changes to an existing project or you haven't saved yet, ArcView will ask you if want to save the project.


Creating a project

When you create an ArcView project, you create one file that contains the views, tables, charts, layouts, and scripts that make up the project.

To create a project

 From the File menu, choose New Project.

ArcView creates a new project called Untitled and opens the project window. When you've completed your work, you can click the Save Project button [image]  ArcView displays a dialog box in which you name and save the project. If you select the name of an existing project, ArcView asks if you want to replace it.


Exporting a table

You may want to export an ArcView tables to dBASE, INFO, or to a text file. ArcView exports the selected set of records and all visible fields. If you haven't selected any records, ArcView will export all records.

To export a table

1	From the File menu, choose Export.

2	In the Export Table dialog box, choose the type of file to export.

3	In the new dialog box, navigate to where you want to write the file.

4	Type the name of the file to save in the File Name field.

5	Click OK or press RETURN.


Importing other projects

You can import another project into the current project. All the views, tables, charts, scripts and layouts in the project you are importing are added to your current project.

To import another project into the project you are currently working on

1	Make the Project window active.

2	From the Project menu, choose Import.

3	From the File Type list, choose Project.

4	Navigate to the directory that contains the project you want to import.

5	Choose the project you want to import.

6	Double-click the project you want to import or choose the project and press OK..

ArcView appends all the components of the project you selected to the current project.

Tip    If you just want to copy some themes from your project to another project, you can copy and paste the themes instead of using import. Copy the themes by choosing Copy Themes from the Edit menu, open the other project, open the view in that project you want to paste the themes into, and choose Paste from the Edit menu.


Importing views created with ArcView 1.0 (Windows and UNIX ArcView)

You can import a view created with ArcView 1.0 into a project.

To import a view

1	Open a project or make the Project window active for the open project.

2	From the Project menu, choose Import.

3	In the List Files of Type box, choose View.

4	Navigate to the directory that contains the view file you want to import.

5	Choose the view file you want to import.

6	Double-click the view you want to import or choose the view and press OK. ArcView creates a view named after the file you selected.

Notes

 Theme definitions established in ArcView 1.0 views are not imported. See Defining a feature selection for a theme.

 Feature selections established in ArcView 1.0 views are not imported. See Selecting features on a view.

 ArcView uses a different color palette than ArcView 1.0. Imported views may appear in different colors. You can change the color by editing the theme's legend.

 ArcView does not display the outlines of polygons as a line theme unless there is an Arc Attribute Table (AAT) associated with the lines.

 Classified themes of imported ArcView 1 views (.av) will not be classified in the Legend Editor. Simply reclassify the legend to get the legend and the theme in sync.


Opening an existing project

When you open an ArcView project, you open one file that contains references to the geographic data and external tables as well as the views, layouts, charts, scripts, and other components that make up the project.

To open an existing project

 From the File menu, choose Open Project.

ArcView displays the Open Project dialog box where you specify the name and location of the project you want to open.


Project window

Every ArcView project has a project window that you use to manage the views, tables, charts, layouts, scripts, and other components in the project.

The Project window has a scrolling list of icons on its left side that you use to choose the component you want to display or to create a component of a particular type. For example, to see what tables the project contains, click the Tables icon. The names of the tables in the project are listed. To open one of the tables in this list, click the table's name to select then click the Open button or double-click the table's name. To open several of the tables in this list, hold down SHIFT and click on the tables' names to select them, then click the Open button. To create a new table, you can either click the New button or double-click the Tables icon.

Each icon in the project window represents a way of looking at your data; each icon represents a document user interface. The standard document user interfaces for each kind of document (Chart, Layout, Script, Table View) are listed in the project window by default. You can create new ways of looking at your data and add appropriate icons to the project window. You can remove any icons that are unnecessary for your application. You can rearrange the icons, give them different names, different icons. You can change the names of the three buttons across the top of the project window and change what happens when you click them. To learn more about these capabilities see Customizing the Project Window.

To make the project window active when you can't see it because other windows are on top of it, use the Window menu. The project window is always the first window listed in that menu's list of currently open windows. You cannot close the project window, but you can move it off the page so it is "out of the way". To restore a "hidden" project window, use the tile or cascade option in the window menu.


Quitting ArcView

Whenever you quit ArcView, if you have made changes to a project component since you last saved the current project, ArcView asks whether you want to save your changes before quitting.

To quit ArcView

 From the File menu choose Exit or Quit.


Renaming, copying, or deleting a project

As you work with a project file, you may want to assign it a different name, make backup copies, or delete unwanted projects. Choose Save Project As from the File menu when the Project window is active to save your project to a new name. In addition, you can rename or delete a project file by using your system's standard desktop editing technique or the appropriate operating system command.

To copy a project

 From the File menu, choose Save Project As. ArcView displays a dialog box in which you give the active project a different name and save it.

To rename or delete a project

1	Close the project. In a multi-user environment, confirm that all users have closed the project.

2	Use your system's file management application, desktop editing technique or the appropriate rename or delete command to work with the ArcView .APR file. If you are renaming the project, the new name can be up to eight characters long but can't contain spaces.

Note   You may want to delete an individual project component rather than the entire project. You can delete individual components by selecting the component and clicking Delete in the Edit menu.


Repairing a project

You may need to repair a project if, for some reason, the data the project references moves to a new location or if the name of a data source or a path name component changes.

When you open a project that contains references to sources ArcView can't find, ArcView will ask you to supply the new location of the data in a dialog box that contains a file system browser. The browser lets you move to and show ArcView where the data is. In this way, you help ArcView repair your project.

If there's other data present that ArcView is looking for in the same place, you'll need to specify the location again.

If you don't know where some of the data is or what it's called, you can skip over the question about that source by clicking Cancel or Cancel All. Project components that depend on that source may not be included or may not display properly.

Once you've repaired the project, you can use Save Project or Save Project As to make the repairs permanent.


Saving your work

In ArcView, you can save the work you do on any project component by saving the project that contains it. When you resume work on the component, it will be in the same state it was in the last time you saved.

You can save at any time during a session. When you save a project, you save the work you've done on all the components to which you've made changes. If you haven't saved the project, ArcView will prompt you for a name. Also, if you close the project or quit ArcView and you've made any changes, ArcView will prompt you if you want to save the project.

To save your work

 From the File menu choose Save Project or press CTRL+S.

To save your work to a project with a different name

1	Make the Project window active.

2	From the File menu choose Save Project As.

3	In the dialog box that appears, navigate to where you want to save the project and enter the project name.


Starting ArcView

How you start ArcView depends on the platform you are working on.

To start ArcView

 You can double-click the ArcView icon, choose ArcView from the Window 95 Start menu, or launch ArcView from your system's Run dialog or command line (if it has one).

To start ArcView with a specific project using the mouse

 Double-click the project (.apr file) you wish to open. On some platforms you can drag the icon or name representing the project you wish to open onto the ArcView application icon.

To start ArcView with a specific project using the Run dialog or at the command line

 At the command line or in the Run dialog box, give the command to start ArcView followed by the name of the project you wish to open:

arcview myproject.apr

ArcView will start, open the project and run any script associated with opening the specified project.


What is a project?

A project is the file in which work you do in ArcView is stored. A project typically contains all the view, tables, charts, layouts and scripts that you use for a particular ArcView application. These are the components of a project. For example, if you are using ArcView to find suitable locations for a new office buildings, you would keep all the views, tables, charts, layouts and scripts that you use in this application in one project. In this way, your work is stored in one convenient place. The next time you want to work on this application you simply open this project file in ArcView and all the components you need are available for you to use. Project files have an .apr extension.

Does a project contain my data?

A project file doesn't contain the actual data that you use in ArcView, such as spatial data like shapefiles and ARC/INFO coverages, and tabular data like dBASE files. Instead, a project stores references to the location of these data sources on disk. In this way, the same data can be used in any number of projects without duplication.

What's the Project window for?

When you open a project, all the components in the project are listed in the Project window. From the Project window, you can create new project components, open or rename existing components, or remove components from your project. When the Project window is active, menu options and buttons are available that let you perform additional operations on the project and its components.

How do I customize my project?

You can customize ArcView's menus, buttons, and tools by choosing Customize from the Project menu or double-clicking the button bar. You can make your changes apply to just the project you're working on (in which case the changes are saved into your project file) or serve as the default for all projects. You can also customize the items in the Project Window. See Customizing ArcView.

Can I look at my project file outside of ArcView?

A project file is an ASCII file. Normally however, you shouldn't edit this file with a text editor.


Adding and deleting fields in a table

To add a field to the table you are editing, choose Add Field from the Edit menu.

When you add a field to a table a dialog appears that asks you to specify the new field's name, type and length. You choose from four different field types:

Number. You can specify the width of the field in digits in the Width field, and the number of decimal places in the Decimal Places  field. Specifying 0 decimal places will make the field an integer. Note that the width includes a count for the decimal point and the negative sign (if applicable).

String. You can specify the width of the field in characters in the Width field

Boolean. Each value in a Boolean field is either True or False. When you type values into a Boolean field you can either type True or False in full, or just type t or f which ArcView will immediately convert to True or False for you.

Date. Each value in a date field is eight digits in the format YYYYMMDD. For example, the 10th of February 1972 would be represented as 19720210. When you type dates into a date field they must be in this format.

To delete a field, click on its name in the table to make it active, then choose Delete Field from the Edit menu. There is no "Undo" to this operation; once a field is deleted it is no longer accessible in the table.

Tip    If you wish to hide a field rather than actually delete it, choose Properties from the Table menu and uncheck the field's name in the Visible column.


Adding and deleting records in a table

To add records to the table you are editing, choose Add Record from the Edit menu.

To delete records from the table you are editing, select the records you wish to delete and then choose Delete Record from the Edit menu.


Calculating a field's values

By calculating a field's values you make them equal to the results of a calculation involving the other fields in the table. You might calculate a field's values when you are entering data into ArcView. For example, you might be entering data into the attribute table of a new theme and want to create a field that stores the sum of two other fields. You might calculate a field's values as part of querying or analyzing data. For example, you might have joined some fields into a theme's attribute table and want to add a new field to the table that stores the product of one of the existing fields and one of the joined fields.

To calculate a value for a field

1	Choose Start Editing from the Table menu.

2	Click on the name of the field you wish to calculate. Note that the names of fields you can calculate appear in a normal font, any that you can't are shown in italics.

3	Click the Calculate button [image].

In the Field Calculator dialog that appears, type the expression for the calculation in the input area of the dialog box. You can use the field and request list items to help you form the expression by double-clicking on field names and requests or you can type the expression yourself.

4	Press OK to perform the calculation. ArcView displays the results in the table.

The calculation applies to the selected set of records. If no records are selected, the calculation applies to all records.

The calculation expression

The expression you type is actually an Avenue expression, so it follows Avenue's rules for expressions. In its simplest form, an expression can just be a number, a string, a date, or a boolean value. For example, to set the value of a string field named [Zoning] to the string "Industrial", type the string, enclosed in double quotes in the text input area of the dialog box. To set the value of a number field to the number 143, type the number in the text input area of the dialog box.

In addition, an expression may consist of any combination of field names, enclosed in square brackets, and valid Avenue requests that can be made on the class type of the field. The result of the expression must be a single object or value. For example, to calculate the value of a field named [Total Sales] as the product of the number of units, stored in a field named [Units] and the unit price, stored in a field named [Price] and also figure in the sales tax of 8.0%, type

 ( [Units] * [Price] ) * 1.08

in the text input area of the dialog box.

As you'll see, the ability to include Avenue requests as part of the expression provides a highly flexible environment. For example, here's how to concatenate the values stored in two fields, [First Name] and [Last Name], and calculate the resulting string to a third field named [Full Name]. Make [Full Name] the active field and type the following into the text input area of the dialog box:

 [First Name] ++ [Last Name]

The ++ request concatenates the two strings and inserts a single space between them. Another calculation you may want to perform in a table is to replace one string in a field with another; for example, to change the name of all stores in a field named [Store Name] that are named "First" to "Acme" type the following in the text input area of the dialog box:

 [Store Name].Substitute("First","Acme")

This expression examines all values and replaces any string that matches the first parameter with the second parameter's string. Notice that a dot must appear between the field name and the request and that parameters must be separated by commas, enclosed by parentheses.

If you want to join tables based on values that are stored as numbers in one table and as strings in the other, you need to convert one of the join fields so that the data types are the same. To convert a string field to a number field, add a new number field and calculate it using the following expression:

[zip_code].AsNumber

To convert a number field to a string field, add a new string field and calculate it with this expression:

[zip_code].AsString

Avenue scripts can also be used with the calculator. For example, to move all selected points in a shape field 500 feet, type the following:

av.run("Move Shapes",[Shape])

Move Shapes script:	self.Move(500,0)

Another good example of using Avenue requests in your expression is that you can write an expression where ArcView will calculate values for length, area or perimeter based on the Shape field if your table is the feature table of a line or polygon theme and it has a length, area or perimeter field. The calculated values will be in the same units as the data source of the theme.

For length, type the following into the expression box:

[Shape].ReturnLength

For area:

[Shape].ReturnArea

For perimeter:

[Shape].ReturnLength

See Also

Performing operations on boolean fields

Performing operations on date fields

Performing operations on number fields

Performing operations on string fields


Connecting to a database to create a table

Using ArcView's SQL connection feature, you can connect to a database server, such as Oracle or Sybase, and run an SQL query to retrieve records from it. The records you access become a table in your project. You can then use this table like any other ArcView table.

ArcView stores the definition of the SQL query you used to create the table, not the records themselves. The records themselves are stored in a temporary file while the table is being used. The file is removed when you delete the table, close the project, or quit ArcView. When you open a project containing a table representing the results of an SQL query, ArcView will automatically reconnect to the database to obtain the data for your table. Any changes in the database will therefore be reflected in your table, and any views, charts or layouts that use this table's data.

If you are using the UNIX version of ArcView, SQL connections are performed through the use of ESRI's DATABASE INTEGRATOR technology. See Setting up a database connection with the DATABASE INTEGRATOR.

If you are using the PC version of ArcView, SQL connections are performed using ODBC. See Setting up a database connection with ODBC

To connect to a database to create a table

1	Make the Project window active.

2	From the Project menu, choose SQL Connect. The SQL Connect dialog appears.

3	The databases that are available to you are listed in the Connection box. Select the desired database.

4	Select the Connect button. The Login box will appear.

5	Type in the appropriate connection information in the new dialog box. When you see the Connect button gray out and the Disconnect button activate, you are connected to the database. A list of host database tables associated with that database will appear in the Tables box.

6	Select a Table from the Tables box. A list of columns from the selected table will appear in the Columns box.

7	Double click on a column to select it. Columns selected will be included in the new database table. The name of the table and the name of the column, separated by a dot, will appear in the Select box.

8	Double click on a table from the Tables box to fill the From box. If you don't see the name of the table you want to use, type it into the From box directly.

9	If you would like to limit the number of records returned, you can use the Where box. For example, if you wanted all the records where a column had values greater than 0, click once in the Where window to activate it, double click on the column, then type " > 0".

10	If you are satisfied with the table, the column or columns you've selected, and optionally, a query, press the Query button. ArcView will create a table containing the records from the database.

Values in a table created by connecting to a database cannot be edited in ArcView. To edit a copy of the data in one of these tables, you should export the table to a file on disk, and then add this file back into ArcView as a new table. You can now edit this new table.

Note  ArcView does not support SQL BLOBS as a data type.


Creating a new table

You may want to create a new table in ArcView and then add data to it.

 Create a new table in your project

On the Project window, select the Tables icon and then press the New button. Enter a name and a disk location for the dBASE file that ArcView will create to store the source data for the table. A new table will appear in your project. ArcView names new tables in numerical order: Table1, Table2, Table3, etc. See Working with tables in a project.

 Add fields to the table

On the Table menu bar, select the Add Field choice from the Edit menu. The Field Definition dialog box will appear allowing you to define the field in the table.

 Add records to the table

On the Table menu bar, select the Add Record choice from the Edit menu. This will add a single record to the table. Repeat this action as many times as needed.

 Add data to the table

On the Table tool bar, select the Edit tool. This allows you to edit the empty cells in the table. See Editing the values in a table.

NOTE:  Spaces, periods and other non-alphanumeric characters in file or directory names may cause problems. Spaces and underscores are the only non-alphanumeric characters that should be used. It is also recommended that you follow an 8.3 naming convention.


Displaying the selected records in a table

You can display the selected records in a table by promoting them to the top of the table.

To promote the selected records to the top of a table

Click the Promote button [image].

Promoting the selected records in a table enables you to see them together by placing them at the top of the table, above any unselected records.

When you close a table or close the project that contains it, any reordering of records that you have carried out by promoting or sorting is not saved. The next time you open the table the records will be in their original order.


Editing the values in a table

Only tables based on dBASE or INFO files on disk may be edited.

To edit the values in a table

1	From the Table menu, Choose Start Editing.

2	Select the Edit tool [image] and place the cursor in the field of the record you want to edit. Type the new value into the field. When using the Edit tool in the table, the following keyboard accelerators are supported for the editable cell:

TAB   Moves to the cell to the right

SHIFT-TAB   Moves to the cell to the left

RETURN   Moves down a cell

SHIFT-RETURN   Moves up a cell

To finish editing and commit your changes, choose Stop Editing from the Table menu.

You cannot edit tables whose source data is a delimited text file or the result of a SQL query to a database. To edit data in these tables you should first export them to dBASE or INFO format and then add them back into your project.

You can only edit the values of fields in the destination table if the active table is composed of one or more joined tables. See Joining tables.


Finding a record in a table

Use the Find option to find a particular record in a table quickly.

Find simply searches through the records in the table until it finds one with the particular attribute value you specify. When a record is found, it is selected and highlighted. ArcView also scrolls the table to ensure that the selected record is visible inside the table window.

To find a record in a table

1	From the Table menu, choose Find, or click the Find button [image].

2	Type in the attribute value you wish to find. Find works by searching the features to find the first feature with the value you specified, in any of its text attribute fields (i.e. fields containing text strings as opposed to numeric values). Find doesn’t search in numeric fields. You don't need to enclose the text you specify in quotes. Find is not case-sensitive. You can enter part of the text. For example, just typing Afgh will also find Afghanistan. Wildcard characters are not supported by Find.

3	Press OK. Find will search the table to find the first record with that attribute value.

To find the next record that matches the specified value

1	Choose Find again. The attribute value you previously specified will still be shown in the Find dialog box.

2	Press OK. Find will search the table to find the next record with that attribute value.


Getting statistics about a table

Use the Statistics option from the Field menu to obtain statistics about a particular field's values in a table. Statistics displays information for either all records or the currently selected records. You can only perform statistics on numeric fields. The following statistics are reported:

Sum

Count

Mean

Maximum

Minimum

Range

Variance

Standard deviation

See Also

Summarizing a table


Identifying records in a table

 You can identify records in a table using the Identify tool.

To identify a record in a table

1	Click on the Identify tool in the Table tool bar.

2	Click on the record you want to identify.

When you identify a record, the results are displayed in a dialog box. This dialog box is also used to display the results of subsequent Identifies.

This tool is useful if you want to compare two records that are at different ends of a table.

See Also

Identifying a data marker on a chart

Identifying features on a view


Indexing a table

An ArcView index is a form of cross-reference to data that speeds access to data by ordering the values in a field.

An index may reside as a file on disk, also known as a persistent index, or it may be created for the duration of a work session with a project, known as a temporary index. You can build spatial indexes which will speed up the display of themes in a view. You can also create attribute indexes which are used to provide faster access to the records in a table. You cannot index more than 256 fields in a single table.

Attribute indexes

An attribute index helps ArcView find records more rapidly. It improves the performance of data retrieval operations based on values that are indexed, for example, Join, Link and simple queries such as:

 [Name] = "Maine"

An index will not improve performance on queries that involve string matching, such as:

 [Name] = "Ma*"

or comparisons, for example:

 [Population] < 250000

Link will create an index on the active fields (if an index does not already exist). If you have write access to the source data directory, the index will be persistent and remain after your ArcView session is complete. If you do not have write access to the source data directory, the index will be removed. The attribute indexes are stored in two files that have the name of the table as a prefix and the following suffixes: .ain and .aih. They are stored in the same directory as the source data for the table. All of the indexes for the table's fields are stored in the same file pair.

Spatial indexes

If you create an index on a theme's Shape field, you will create a spatial index. A spatial index will improve ArcView's performance of such operations as Identify, all drawing operations, spatial joins, and theme on theme selection. A spatial index is automatically created, if one doesn't already exist, when a spatial join or a theme-on-theme selection is performed. If you have write access to the source data directory, the index will be persistent and remain after your ArcView session is complete. If you do not have write access to the source data directory, the index will be removed. The spatial index is stored in two files that have the name of the theme name as a prefix and the following suffixes: .sbn and .sbx. They are stored in the same directory as the source data for the theme.

Note ArcView recognizes ARC/INFO spatial indexes created by the ARC/INFO command INDEX.

See Also

Create/Remove Index


Joining tables

You can join a table to the active table based on the values of a common field found in both tables. Join establishes a one-to-one or many-to-one relationship between the destination table (the active table) and the source table (the table you are joining into the active table). Typically, the source table contains descriptive attributes of features that you wish to join into a theme's table so that you can symbolize, label, query and analyze the features in the theme using the data from your source table.

To join two tables

1	Open the tables you wish to join.

2	Make the source table active.

3	Click the name of the common field you wish to use.

4	Make the destination table active.

5	Click the name of the common field you wish to use.

6	From the Table menu choose Join, or click the Join button [image].

The table that is active when you choose Join is the destination table. The last table that was active is the source table.

Examples

 You have a dBASE file containing business data for each state in the US. To display this data on a view:

1	Add a theme representing US states to your view if it doesn’t already have one.

2	Click on this theme's name to make it active.

3	Click the Open Theme Table button [image] to open the attribute table for this theme.

4	Add the dBASE file into your ArcView project as a table. In this table, click the name of the common field you wish to base the join on.

5	In the theme's attribute table, click the name of the common field.

6	Click the Join button [image] to join the new table to the theme's table.

7	Edit the theme’s legend to define which data will be displayed.

 You have access to land parcel data in a database sever such as Oracle or Ingres. To retrieve tax code records from this database and display them on a view:

1	Make the Project window active and choose SQL Connect from the Project menu to connect to the database and run an SQL query to retrieve the records. ArcView creates a new table containing these records. In this table, click the name of the common field you wish to base the join on.

2	Open the table of a theme representing land parcels. In this table, click the name of the common field.

3	Click the Join button to join the new table to the theme's table.

4	Edit the theme’s legend to classify land parcels using the tax code field.

Choosing a common field for the join

Tables are joined based on a field that is found in both tables. The name of the field does not have to be the same in both tables, but the data type has to be the same. You can join numbers to numbers, strings to strings, booleans to booleans and dates to dates.

In the first example above, a field in both tables containing the state name could be used as the common field for the join. A field containing the FIPS code or the postal abbreviation for the state could also be used.

In the second example above, a field containing the land parcel number could be used as the common field.

Any field can be chosen as the basis for a join, not just ones that uniquely identify geographic features. Fields storing attributes like parcel owner name, vegetation type, building materials, population size, etc. can be used too. For example, you might have a source table containing detailed information about different types of vegetation, and a theme table with a vegetation type field. You could join the tables together based on vegetation type so that the detailed information about the vegetation can be displayed on the view.

Why is the Join option dimmed out when I try to join tables?

The problem may be because the source table already contains a join. For example, if you join table A to table B and then try to join table B to table C, the join option will appear dimmed out.

To see if your source table already contains a join, make it active and look at the Remove All Joins option in the Table menu. If Remove All Joins is not dimmed out, your source table does contain one or more joins.

To perform a join in this situation you can either choose Remove All Joins to remove any existing join(s) from your source table and then perform the join or export the source table into a new table, add that table into your project, then do the join. The latter option is more useful than the first because it ensures that all the data in your original table is joined to the destination table.

The destination table (the table that is active when you choose Join) can contain existing joins.

Join will also be dimmed out if the data types of the fields that you are joining are different. For example, trying to join tables on a zip code field that is of type number in one table and of type string in another table. The string field is left justified while the number field is right justified. To resolve this issue, add a field to one of the tables that is of the appropriate type and use the calculator to add zip codes from the original field.

Joins are also not possible if the source table is in edit mode.

Spatial joins

If you join two theme attribute tables together using their Shape field as the common field, ArcView automatically bases the join on the spatial relationship between the features in the two themes. See Spatial join.

Editing joined data

When editing a joined table, you can only edit the fields in the destination table. Edits to the fields from source tables must be performed directly on those tables. You can then use Refresh from the Table menu to show the changes in the joined table.

How are joins saved?

When you save a project containing a join, ArcView saves the definition of the join rather than saving the joined data itself. The next time you open the project, ArcView rejoins any joined tables by reading their files from disk or re-executing the SQL queries they are based on. In this way, any changes to the source or destination tables that have taken place since they were last joined are automatically included in the project, and reflected in any views, tables, charts or layouts based on the joined data.

Because joining tables has no effect on their physical files on disk, you don't need to have write permission to files to be able to join them in ArcView. For example, if you are working with themes representing geographic data accessed across your network from a remote, read-only GIS database, you can still join your own data tables to these themes and work with your data spatially.

If you want to make a new table on disk to permanently store the joined data, you choose Export from the Table menu. You would do this, for example, if you wanted to use the table in another application.

To remove joined fields from a table you are working on, choose Remove All Joins from the Table menu.

When to link tables instead of joining them

Join establishes a one-to-one or many-to-one relationship between the destination table and the source table. However in some situations you may want to establish a one-to-many relationship between the destination table and the source table.

An example of a one-to-many relationship is building occupancy. One building, such as a shopping center, may be occupied by many tenants. You may want to join a source table of tenants to the attribute table of a theme representing buildings. However, if you perform this join and the tenants join field is indexed, ArcView will find the first tenant belonging to each building, but ignore additional tenants. In these cases, you should link the tables instead of joining them. See Linking tables.


Linking tables

You can link a table to the active table based on the values of a common field found in both tables. Link establishes a one-to-many relationship between the destination table (the active table) and the source table (the table you are linking to the active table). One record in the destination table is related to one or more records in the source table. Typically, the source table contains descriptive attributes of features that you wish to link to the features in a theme's table so that you can select features from this theme on a view see which linked records in the source table are selected.

Unlike joining tables, linking tables simply defines a relationship between two tables, rather than appending the fields of the source table to those in the destination. When tables are linked, neither table is changed - they are just linked to one another. After a Link is performed, selecting a record in the destination table will automatically select the record or records related to it in the source table. If the destination table is the feature attribute table of a theme, selecting one of the theme's features in the view selects that feature's record in the attribute table, and therefore automatically selects the records related to it in the source table. Selecting a record in the source table does not select the corresponding record in the destination table. This is because the link only exists in the destination table.

An example of a one-to-many relationship is building occupancy. One building, such as a shopping center, may be occupied by many tenants. In ArcView, if you have a source table of tenants and a theme representing buildings, you could link the table of tenants to the table for the buildings theme. In this way, selecting one of the buildings on the view will also select the records for the tenants of that building in the tenants table.

To link two tables

1	Open the source table that you wish to link to the destination table. If the source table is not in your project, add it to your project first.

2	Click on the name of the field in the source table that will be used as the common field for the link.

3	Open the destination table that you wish to link the source table to.

4	Click on the name of the field in the destination table that will be used as the common field for the link. This field does not need to have the same name as the one you choose in the source table, but it must contain the same data so that the link can be established.

5	Choose Link from the Table menu.

The table that is active when you choose Link is the destination table. The last table that was active is the source table.

Choosing a common field for the link

Tables are linked based on a field that is found in both tables. The name of the field does not have to be the same in both tables, but the data type has to be the same. You can link numbers to numbers, strings to strings, booleans to booleans and dates to dates.


Logging into a database with the DATABASE INTEGRATOR (UNIX ArcView)

The UNIX version of ArcView uses ESRI's DATABASE INTEGRATOR technology to connect to external DBMSs. The connection parameters are stored in the database definition file called default.db and is located in ArcView's etc directory. See Setting up a database connection with the DATABASE INTEGRATOR.

To connect to a database, make the Project window active, choose SQL Connect from the Project menu, and then click the Connect button. This will display a dialog enabling you to login to the database server to which you want to connect. This login dialog requires different input depending on the DBMS you are connecting to, as well as the contents of default.db. You will usually need to enter the following parameters into the Connect dialog box, based on your DBMS:

Oracle

Type in your user name followed by a forward slash and your password.

Example: nick/ninedoors

Ingres

Type the database name.

Example: ingres1

Sybase

Type in your user name followed by a forward slash and your password.

Example: nick/ninedoors

Informix

Type the database name.

Example: infrmx1

Note You must also make sure that your machine is set up to use the networking library from your database vendor. These are listed below by database:

Oracle - SQL*Net

Ingres - Ingres/Net or Ingres*

Sybase - DB-Library or Open Client

Informix - Informix-Net or Informix*


Overview of adding tabular data to a view

ArcView allows you to use tabular data in the view in a number of ways. If your table contains attributes about spatial data or the locations of the spatial data itself (i.e. x,y coordinates, addresses, or route-measures) you can use a number of different functions to display the table on a view.

If you have a table containing data about the features displayed on a view...

For example, a dBASE file of business data on a state-by-state basis that you want to visualize on a view containing the states.

You can join this table to the existing table for these features. This allows you to symbolize, label, classify, query and analyze these features according to their values for the fields in your table. See Joining tables.

If you have a table containing XY coordinates...

For example, a table containing the results of an SQL query that retrieved information about test drilling sites in a particular oil field including their latitude-longitude locations.

You can add this data to a view as a theme. Each record in the table will be displayed on the view as a point feature. You can then work with this theme like any other theme. See Adding a theme to a view.

If you have a table containing events on ARC/INFO routes...

For example, an INFO file containing information about traffic accidents with reference to their milepost location along a route in an ARC/INFO coverage.

You can add these events to a view as a theme. To do this, ArcView matches the events to the route in the view. Each point event that ArcView can match to a route will be displayed as a point feature on the route. Each linear event, such as different highway pavement quality types, that ArcView can match to a route will be displayed as a line feature along the route. See Adding a theme to a view.

If you have a table containing street addresses...

For example, a file of customers you want to display on a map to see their geographic distribution.

You can add this table to a view as a theme. Each record in the table with a valid street address will be displayed as a point feature on the view.

In ArcView features that can be related to geography by their street address are called geocoding events. This is because ArcView must geocode them in order to display them on a view by matching them to street data already in the view. Geocoding events can represent locations of customers, suppliers, competitors, branch offices, facilities, crimes, etc. See Overview of geocoding.


Overview of bringing tabular data into ArcView

There are three ways to create a table in ArcView: you can add tabular data to the project, connect to a database, or create a new table that you can add data to from within ArcView.

Adding tabular data to a project

If you have tabular data stored in a file on disk, you can add this data to ArcView as a table. Specifically, you can add an INFO, dBASE III, dBASE IV file, or a tab or comma-delimited text file to create an ArcView table in the current project. See Adding tabular data to a project.

Connecting to a database to create a table

If you have tabular data stored in a database server such as Oracle or Sybase, you can add this data to ArcView as a table. Specifically, you can connect to a database server and run an SQL query to retrieve records from it. See Connecting to a database to create a table.

Creating a new table

If you have tabular data that is not in a file on disk, then you can create a table in ArcView to store this data (ArcView creates a dBASE file containing the data displayed in the table). ArcView allows you to create new tables, define fields, add records, and enter data into the table. See Creating a new table.

  Related topics


Overview of editing a table

If you have write access to the source data for your table, and if the source data is in INFO or dBase format, you can perform editing tasks on the table in ArcView.

To make a table editable

Choose Start Editing from the Table’s Table menu. The names of fields in the table that you can edit appear in normal font. The fields that you cannot edit are shown in italics.

To undo and redo edits

Choose Undo Edit from the Edit menu to undo the last edit to the table. Choosing this option repeatedly enables you to successively undo all the edits you made to the table since you started editing. This option does not undo the addition or deletion of a field. The Redo Edit option allows you to re-apply the last edit that was undone. Choosing this option repeatedly enables you to successively redo all the edits you undid since you started editing.

To save you edits and continue editing

Choose Save Edits from the Table menu to save all edits made to the table during the current edit session. Once you save the edits, you can continue to edit the table but you are not able to undo or redo any edits that were made prior to choosing Save Edits.

To save your edits out to a new table

Choose Save Edits As from the Table menu to save your edits out to a new file rather than changing the original file. The edited version of the original table will be written out to the new dBase file, editing will be disabled on the original table, and the edits will not be written to the original file. The new file will be opened as a new table and editing will be started on the new table automatically.

To stop editing and commit your edits

Choose Stop Editing from the Table menu to disable editing on the table. You will be prompted to save your edits.

See Also

Adding and deleting fields in a table

Adding and deleting records in a table

Editing the values in a table

Calculating field values


Performing operations on boolean fields

Here is a summary of valid operations.

Conversion and Classification

AsString    Returns the string representation of the boolean's value: "true", "false" or "Boolean null".

Usage: aBoolean.AsString

IsNull    Returns true when aBoolean is null.

Usage: aBoolean.IsNulll

Building Boolean Expressions

=    Returns TRUE when aBoolean is the same as anObject.

Usage: aBoolean = anObject

And    Returns TRUE if both aBoolean and anotherBoolean are TRUE and returns FALSE otherwise.

Usage: aBoolean And anotherBoolean

Not    Negates the boolean value. Returns TRUE if the boolean is FALSE, and vice versa.

Usage: aBoolean.Not Alternative usage: NOT aBoolean

Or    Returns FALSE if both aBoolean and anotherBoolean are FALSE, and returns TRUE otherwise.

Usage: aBoolean Or anotherBoolean

Xor    Returns TRUE when one and only one of the operands is TRUE.

Usage: aBoolean Xor anotherBoolean

For additional notes about working with booleans, see Boolean expressions.


Performing operations on date fields

Values in date fields contain eight digits in the format YYYYMMDD and are handled as date objects. For example, the 2nd of May 1961 would be represented as 19610502.

ArcView will recognize dates from Jan 1, 0000 to Dec 31, 9999 in dBASE files and from Jan 1, 1000 to Dec 31, 9999 in INFO files. Dates outside of this range are converted to null dates when retrieved from a table.

Here is a summary of valid operations on Date fields.

Creating Dates

MakeNull    Gets the sole instance of the null date.

Usage: Date.MakeNull

Make    Creates a new date from dateString parsed according to formatString. If formatString is the empty string, then the default format is assumed to apply to dateString. If the default format string is not in effect then the date format for the current locale is used. If dateString isn't compatible with the formatString, or if it is nonsensical, then a null date is returned.

Usage: Date.Make(dateString, formatString)

MakeFromNumber    Creates a new date from the given number. The number must be in the form YYYYMMDD where YYYY is the year, MM is the month and DD the day. The result is undefined if the given number is not in this format.

Usage: Date.MakeFromNumber( 19960624 )

MakeFromJulianDay    Creates a new date from aJulianDay and aNumber. aJulianDay is a Julian day number which is the number of days since January 1, 4713 BC. aNumber is the time of day represented as the number of milliseconds since midnight.
Usage: Date.MakeFrom JulianDay(aJulianDay, aNumber)

Now    Returns the current date as a new date object.

Usage: Date.Now

+    Adds a span of time to a date creating a new date. For example, if you add to a date the value 5.AsDays, the new date has a value 5 days later than the operand.

Usage: newDate = aDate + <a span of time>

Note: For more accurate results, use the Date.IncrementBy requests instead of +.

-    Subtract a span of time from a date to give a new date. Or subtract a date from another date to give a span of time.

Usage: aNewDate = aDate - anotherDate
Usage: aNewSpanOfTime = aDate - <a span of time i.e., 2.AsDays>

Note: For more accurate results, use the Date.IncrementBy requests instead of -.

Comparing Dates

<    Returns TRUE when aDate is less recent than anotherDate

Usage: aDate < anotherDate

<=    Returns TRUE when aDate is the same as, or less recent than, anotherDate.

Usage: aDate <= anotherDate

>    Returns TRUE when aDate is more recent than anotherDate

Usage: aDate > anotherDate

>=    Returns TRUE when aDate is the same as, or more recent than, anotherDate.

Usage: aDate >= anotherDate

=    Returns TRUE when aDate represents the same point in time as anotherDate.

Usage: aDate >= anotherDate

FormattedEquals    Returns TRUE when aDate is equal to anotherDate when they are both formatted according to the formatString. This is useful when, for example, there is a need to compare just the year and month of two dates.

Usage: aDate.FormattedEquals(anotherDate, formatString)

Formatting Dates

SetFormat    Sets the output format for aDate. When you make a string object from this date with the AsString request, that string will have the specified format. Passing an empty string as aFormatString will clear aDate's custom formatting.

Usage: aDate.SetFormat(aFormatString)

AsSeconds    Gets aDate as the number of seconds since Jan. 1, 1970. Negative values for the result are legitimate.

Usage: aDate.AsSeconds

Examining Date Properties

AsString    Produces a string version of aDate.

Usage: aDate.AsString

GetDay    Gets the full day name.

Usage: aDate.GetDay

GetDayOfMonth    Gets the integer representation of the day of the month.

Usage: aDate.GetDayOfMonth

GetDayOfYear    Gets an integer between 0 and 364 (365 for leap year) of the day of the year. January 1 returns with 0 and December 31 with either 364 or 365.

Usage: aDate.GetDayOfYear

GetHours    Gets the numbers of hours since midnight.

Usage: aDate.GetHours

GetJulianDate    Gets the local Julian date and time as a number. The Julian day is the number of days since January 1, 4713 BC. Each Julian day starts at noon.

Usage: aDate.GetJulianDate

GetMilliseconds    Gets the number of milliseconds since the last whole second in aDate.

Usage: aDate.GetMilliseconds

GetMinutes    Gets the number of minutes since the last whole hour in aDate.

Usage: aDate.GetMinutes

GetMonth    Gets the full month name.

Usage: aDate.GetMonth

GetMonthOfYear    Gets the integer representation of the month. If the month is June for aDate, aDate.GetMonthOfYear returns 6.

Usage: aDate.GetMonthOfYear

GetSeconds    Gets the number of seconds since the last whole minute in aDate.

Usage: aDate.GetSeconds

GetTimeAsSeconds    Gets the local time as a number of seconds since midnight (00:00:00).

Usage: aDate.GetTimeAsSeconds

GetWeekOfYear    Gets the number of the week of the year. Weeks are counted from 1 to 53 where week 1 is the first week containing a Thursday. Note if 0 is returned, it represents the last week of the preceding year.

Usage: aDate.GetWeekOfYear

GetYear    Gets the year as a number.

Usage: aDate.GetYear

IsNull    Returns TRUE when aDate is null.

Usage: aDate.IsNull

Changing the value of a Date

IncrementByDays    Increments aDate by the specified number of days, aNumber. Fractions of a day are ignored. Use a negative number to decrement aDate.

Usage: aDate.IncrementByDays(aNumber)

IncrementByHours    Increments aDate by the specified number of hours, aNumber. Fractions of an hour are ignored. Use a negative number to decrement aDate.

Usage: aDate.IncrementByHours(aNumber)

IncrementByMinutes    Increments aDate by the specified number of minutes, aNumber. Fractions of a minute are ignored. Use a negative number to decrement aDate.

Usage: aDate.IncrementByMinutes(aNumber)

IncrementByMonths    Increments aDate by the specified number of months, aNumber. Fractions of a month are ignored. Use a negative number to decrement aDate.

Usage: aDate.IncrementByMonths(aNumber)

IncrementBySeconds    Increments aDate by the specified number of seconds, aNumber. Fractions of a second are converted to milliseconds. Use a negative number to decrement aDate.

Usage: aDate.IncrementBySeconds(aNumber)

IncrementByWeeks    Increments aDate by the specified number of Weeks, aNumber. Fractions of a week are ignored. Use a negative number to decrement aDate.

Usage: aDate.IncrementByWeeks(aNumber)

IncrementByYears    Increments aDate by the specified number of years, aNumber. Fractions of a year are ignored. Use a negative number to decrement aDate.

Usage: aDate.IncrementByYears(aNumber)

SetDate    Changes the value of aDate to that specified in the dateString parsed according to formatString.
Usage: aDate.SetDate(dateString, formatString)

For additional notes about working with dates, see Working with dates and time.


Performing operations on number fields

Here is a summary of valid operations.

Formatting Numbers

GetEuler    Gets Euler's Number (i.e., the base of natural logarithms).

Usage: Number.GetEuler

GetNull    Gets a null number.

Usage: Number.GetNull

GetPi    Gets pi.

Usage: Number.GetPi

MakeRandom    Returns a random number between min and max.

Usage: Number.MakeRandom (min, max)

GetFormat    Gets the current format string used by aNumber.

Usage: aNumber.GetFormat

SetFormat    Sets the format control string for aNumber to be aFormatString.

Usage: aNumber.SetFormat (aFormatString)

Numeric conversions

@    Creates a point.

Usage: X @ Y

AsDegrees   Assumes aNumber is a radian measure and returns the same measure in degrees.

Usage: aNumber.AsDegrees

AsHexString    Returns a hexadecimal string representation of aNumber.

Usage: aNumber.AsHexString

AsRadians    Assumes aNumber is a degree measure and returns the same measure in radians.

Usage: aNumber.AsRadians

AsString    Returns a string representation of aNumber. AsString uses the active number format string.

Usage: aNumber.AsString

Arithmetic Operations

*    Multiplies the operands and returns the product.

Usage: aNumber * anotherNumber

+    Adds the operands and returns the sum.

Usage: aNumber + anotherNumber

-    Subtracts the operands and returns the difference.

Usage: aNumber - anotherNumber

/    Divides the operands and returns the quotient.

Usage: aNumber / anotherNumber

^    Raises aNumber to the power of anotherNumber and returns the result.

Usage: aNumber^anotherNumber

Numeric Classification

<    Compares the operands returning TRUE when aNumber is less than anotherNumber.

Usage: aNumber < anotherNumber

<=    Compares the operands returning TRUE when aNumber is less than or equal to anotherNumber.

Usage: aNumber = anotherNumber

=    Compares the operands returning TRUE when aNumber and anotherNumber are either the same object or have the same value.

Usage: aNumber = anotherNumber

>    Compares the operands returning TRUE when aNumber is greater than anotherNumber.

Usage: aNumber > anotherNumber

>=    Compares the operands returning TRUE when aNumber is greater than or equal to anotherNumber.

Usage: aNumber >= anotherNumber

IsNull    Returns true when aNumber is null.

Usage: aNumber.IsNull

Max    Returns the maximum of the pair of operands.

Usage: aNumber max anotherNumber

Min    Returns the minimum of the pair of operands.

Usage: aNumber min anotherNumber

Numeric Functions

Abs    Returns the absolute value of aNumber.

Usage: aNumber.Abs

ACos    Returns the angle (in radians) for which aNumber is its cosine.

Usage: aNumber.ACos

ASin    Returns the angle (in radians) for which aNumber is its sine.

Usage: aNumber.ASin

ATan    Returns the angle (in radians) for which aNumber is the tangent.

Usage: aNumber.ATan

Ceiling    Returns the least integer greater than aNumber.

Usage: aNumber.Ceiling

Cos    Returns the Cos of aNumber. Cos expects a value in radians; use the AsRadians request to convert from degrees.

Usage: aNumber.Cos

Floor    Returns the greatest integer less than aNumber.

Usage: aNumber.Floor

Ln    Returns the natural logarithm of aNumber.

Usage: aNumber.Ln

Log    Returns the logarithm to aBase of aNumber.

Usage: aNumber.Log(aBase)

Mod    Returns the remainder of the operands (modulo). The sign of the result is the same as aNumber.

Usage: aNumber mod anotherNumber

Round    Rounds aNumber to the nearest integer.

Usage: aNumber.Round

Sin    Returns the Sin of aNumber. Sin expects a value in radians; use the AsRadians request to convert from degrees.

Usage: aNumber.Sin

Sqrt   Returns the square root of aNumber. The value Nan (Not a Number) returns when the number is negative.

Usage: aNumber.Sqrt

Tan    Returns the tangent of aNumber. Tan expects a value in radians; use the AsRadians request to convert from degrees.

Usage: aNumber.Tan

Truncate    Returns the integer portion of aNumber by truncating at the decimal point.

Usage: aNumber.Truncate

For additional notes about working with numbers, see Working with numbers.


Performing operations on string fields

Here is a summary of valid operations.

Contains    Returns TRUE if the given string is a substring of aString. For example,

"Hello World".Contains("Hello")

returns TRUE.

Usage: aString.Contains (anotherString)

Count    Returns the number of characters in the string.

Usage: aString.Count

IndexOf    Returns the offset of aSubString within aString. If aSubString does not exist within aString, -1 is returned.

Usage: aString.IndexOf (aSubString)

<   Returns TRUE if aString is lexicographically less than anotherString.

Usage: aString < anotherString

<=   Returns TRUE if aString is lexicographically less than or equal to anotherString.

Usage: aString <= anotherString

=   When anObject is a string, = returns true if the strings are the same length and characters in the same positions are the same (case insensitive).

Usage: aString = anObject

>   Returns TRUE if aString is lexicographically greater than anotherString.

Usage: aString > anotherString

>=   Returns TRUE if aString is lexicographically greater than or equal to anotherString.

Usage: aString >= anotherString

AsDate    Creates a date object from the string. The string format is assumed to match the default date format.

Usage: aString.AsDate

AsNumber    Converts the string into a number object. aString must be a string representation of a number. AsNumber honors the string format for numbers.

Usage: aString.AsNumber

AsString    Returns a copy of the string.

Usage: aString.AsString

IsNull    Returns TRUE if aString is a null string. A null string is represented as "".

Usage: aString.IsNull

IsNumber    Returns TRUE if aString can be converted into a number. Strings which represent hexadecimal numbers must begin with the characters "0x" ("0xab43"). Convert aString to a number object with AsNumber only if aString.IsNumber returns TRUE.

Usage: aString.IsNumber

+   Concatenates aString and anotherString. Returns the resulting string.

Usage: aString + anotherString

++   Concatenates aString and anotherString separating the two strings with one space. Returns the resulting string.

Usage: aString ++ anotherString

Extract    Extracts from the string the word at Position. A word is any sequence of non-whitespace characters. Position numbers range from 0 to N-1, where N is the number of words in the string. The first word is at position 0, the second at position 1, the last at position N-1.

Usage: aString.Extract(Position)

IsQuoted    Returns TRUE when aString is a syntactically correct quoted string. A syntactically correct quoted string is enclosed in quotes ('') and any interior quotes are doubled ("").

Usage: aString.IsQuoted

LCase    Returns a version of aString which has all letters changed to lower case.

Usage: aString.LCase

Left    Returns a new string composed of the leftmost nChars of the string.

Usage: aString.Left(nChars)

Middle    Returns a new string composed of nChars of the string starting after the Offset number of characters. For example,

"123456789".Middle(2, 5)

returns the string

"34567"

Usage: aString.Middle(Offset, nChars)

Proper    Changes to upper case the first letter of each word and converts all other letters to lower case. A word is defined as a sequence of non-white characters.

Usage: aString.Proper

Quote    Returns a quoted version of aString. aString is enclosed in quotes ('') and any interior quotes are doubled (").

Usage: aString.Quote

Right    Returns a new string composed of the rightmost nChars of the string.

Usage: aString.Right(nChars)

Substitute    Substitutes each occurrence of matchStr in aString with replaceStr and returns the new string.

Usage: aString.Substitute (matchStr, replaceStr)

Trim    Trims leading and trailing blanks from the string and returns the resulting string.

Usage: aString.Trim

UCase    Returns a version of aString which has all letters changed to upper case.

Usage: aString.UCase

Unquote    Returns an unquoted version of aString. Single instances of the quote character ('') are removed and double instances are reduced to single instances. If aString is not a syntactically correct quoted string, the contents of the return string are undefined. A syntactically correct quoted string is enclosed in quotes ('') and interior quotes are double quotes ("). Use aString.IsQuoted to determine if aString is a good quoted string.

Usage: aString.Unquote

For additional notes about working with strings, see Working with strings.


Printing a table

Make the table you want to print active and then choose Print from the File menu.

All the records in the table will be printed. If any records are selected they will be highlighted in the print out. Hidden fields are not printed. If the number of fields printed is wider than the printer page, ArcView will fit as many complete fields on a page, with remaining fields filling up additional pages.

To print just the currently selected records, choose Export from the File menu to export the table to any format (only the selected records will be exported), add the exported table back into your project, then choose Print.


 Reordering fields in a table

You may want to reorder the fields in a table so it is easier to see the data in relation to one another.

To reorder fields in a table

1	Move the cursor [image] to the row that lists the field names. Move the cursor over the field name that you want to move.

2	Click and hold the mouse button. The cell will become shaded. As you move the mouse left or right, you will see the outline of the cell. Release the mouse button when the cell is where you want to put the field.

When you close a table or close the project that contains it, any reordering of fields that you have carried out is saved. The next time you open the table the fields will be in their new order. The reordering of fields is never written to the data source, though the fields will show their new order if you export the table.


 Resizing a field in a table

The cell width of a field may make it inconvenient for viewing data. By resizing fields you can control the width of cells.

To resize a field in a table

1	Move the cursor to the row that lists the field names. The cursor will change to a two-headed arrow [image] as you pass over borders that separate field names.

2	Click and hold the border to the right of the field name you want to resize. Move the two-headed arrow to the right and release the mouse button to widen the field. Move the two-headed arrow to the left to narrow the field.

When you close a table or close the project that contains it, any resizing of fields that you have carried out is saved. The next time you open the table the fields will display their new sizes. The resizing of fields is never written to the data source.


Selecting records in a table

Selecting records in a table lets you work with specific subsets of data. If the table belongs to a theme, selecting records on the table will also highlight the features on the view that are represented by the selected records. Records you select in a table are also immediately represented in any charts based on the table.

Selecting records with the mouse or keyboard

The Select tool [image] can be used to select one or more records from a table.

Use Find [image] to select a particular record in a table quickly.

Selecting records using a query

Use the Query Builder [image] when you want to select records according to their values. For example, you can build a query to select all the records in which the value for a field named Price is greater or equal to $1000. You can also build more complex queries.

You can also use the Query Builder to narrow down your selection from the set of records that is already selected, and to add additional records to this set.

Selecting records in a table by selecting features on a view

When you are working with a theme's table, selecting or deselecting the theme's features in the view also selects or deselects the records for these features in the table. See Selecting features on a view.

Selecting records using a chart

A chart contains one data marker for each selected record in the table. By erasing data markers in the chart you can deselect records in the table. In this way you can use the chart to focus in on particular records of interest. See Adding and erasing data markers on a chart.

Switching the selected and unselected sets of records

Use Switch Selection [image] if you, for example, want to select the records that are not in the top 5 rows in the table, you could use the mouse to select records in the top 5 rows, and then switch the selection.

Clearing the selected records

Choose Select None [image] to deselect the selected records in a table.

Selecting all the records in a table

Choose Select All [image] to select all the records in a table.

To display the selected records together at the top of the table

Click the Promote button [image]. See Displaying the selected records in a table.

  Related topics


Setting up a database connection with ODBC (Windows ArcView)

To connect to SQL databases, the Microsoft Windows versions of ArcView uses Microsoft's ODBC (Open DataBase Connectivity) standard. ODBC is Microsoft's open interface for accessing data in a heterogeneous environment of relational and nonrelational database management systems.

To use your database with ArcView, install an ODBC driver for your database. Then use the ODBC Administrator to configure a data source for your database.

ArcView should work with any database for which you have an ODBC driver and any necessary database client software.


Setting up a database connection with the DATABASE INTEGRATOR (UNIX ArcView)

In the UNIX version of ArcView, the databases that will be available in the Connection box are specified in the Database definition file, default.db. This file contains the parameters used to establish a connection between ArcView and an external DBMS. ArcView looks in its etc subdirectory in the install directory to find the default database definition file. If you want to have more than one connection to the same database, you need to put that database in default.db twice.

The database definition file should be present in the path before connecting to a database. Also, the appropriate variables for each database must be set. Each DBMS has different variables. For example, the variables that are set for Oracle are:

ORACLE_HOME=

ORACLE_SID=

TWO_TASK=

The Database definition file contains two or more lines of information for each database type. The format of the first two lines is the same for all DBMSs. The third line contains connection information that is specific to your DBMS. The default.db file can contain as many SQL connection sections as you like. The example of the structure below shows 3 sections, the first with default login and connection information, the second with no additional information, and the third with only connection information.

Structure of default.db

(SqlCon.1

Name:   "database name"

Client: "ARC/INFO DBMS server program name"

Login:  "username/password"

Info:   "first line of connection information"

Info:   "second line of connection information"

)

(SqlCon.2

Name:   "database name"

Client: "ARC/INFO DBMS server program name"

)

(SqlCon.3

Name:   "database name"

Client: "ARC/INFO DBMS server program name"

Info:   "first line of connection information"

)

Connection information can include the user name, networking protocol, database node and instance. If you were using Oracle, the connection information is in the same format as that used in the ORACLE SQL*Plus facility.

Notice that the default.db that comes with ArcView (in its etc subdirectory) follows this structure. No connection information is included in the default.db.

See Also

Logging into a database with the DATABASE INTEGRATOR


Sorting a table

You can sort a table in ascending or descending order on any field.

To sort a table

1	Click on the name of the field you wish to sort on to make it active.

2	Click either the Sort Ascending button [image] or Sort Descending button [image].

Sorting a table to find features on a view

Sorting a table belonging to a theme makes it easy to find important features on a view, such as the largest town, the smallest parcel, or the longest river. After you have sorted a theme's table in the order you want, simply select records in the table to highlight the features they represent in the view.

Example

Suppose you have a view that contains a theme called States. You want to find the location of the four most populous states in the US and highlight them on the view:

1	Click on the theme called States to make to it active

2	Click the Open Theme Table button [image].

3	In the theme's attribute table, click on Population field to make it active.

4	Click the Sort Descending button [image].

5	Hold down SHIFT and use the Select tool [image] to click on each of the four records at the top of the table to select them. Selecting these four records will automatically highlight the four most populous states on the view.

Sorting the records for the selected features on a view

When you have selected particular features in a view you sort these records. Simply sort the theme's table and then click the Promote button [image]. This will display the selected records at the top of the table in the order in which they occurred in the sorted table.

Example

Suppose you've selected some land parcels on a view that are for sale and you want to find out which one has the lowest price:

1	Open the attribute table for the land parcels theme. The records for the land parcels you have selected are also selected in the table.

2	Click the name of the sale price field.

3	Click the Sort Ascending button [image].

4	Click the Promote button [image]. The selected records will be displayed at the top of the table sorted in the order you specified, so the record at the top of the table is the record for the cheapest parcel. Click on this record if you want this parcel alone to be selected on the view.

Is sorting saved?

No. When you close a table or close the project that contains it, or when you export a table any reordering of records that you have carried out by sorting or promoting is not saved. The next time you open the table the records will be in their original order.


Specifying an alias for a field

Alias names can be substituted for field names. Sometimes, because of field naming restrictions of tabular databases, field names may appear indecipherable. An alias for a field name makes the field more meaningful.

To specify an alias for a field

1	From the Table menu bar, choose Table Properties. The first time you open Table Properties, the Alias cell will be blank for all fields. A string in the Alias cell indicates if there is an alias name for the Field name.

2	Click on the Alias cell for the Field. Type an alias. To change the alias of another field, click in its Alias cell. When you have finished your work, click OK or press ENTER.

In the table, and in all other references to the field for that theme, the alias name will appear in place of the actual name for the field.


Specifying which fields are displayed

Normally, all the fields in a table are displayed. However in some instances, you may want to hide some fields. By making fields invisible you can control exactly what is displayed in a table.

To make a field invisible

1  From the Table menu, choose Properties

There will be a check mark in the Visible cell for all fields. A check mark in the Visible cell indicates whether the field appears in the table.

2  Click on the check mark next to the field you want to hide to uncheck it.

A check mark next to a field indicates the field is visible. No check mark indicates the field is hidden.

Once you hide a field it won't be available for use in ArcView options, including symbolizing. labeling and querying themes.


Summarizing a table

You can summarize a table based on a particular field's values. The results are stored in a new table. If some records in the table are currently selected, only these records are summarized. If no records are selected, the whole table is summarized.

Summarize creates one record in the new table for each unique value of the field you chose. Each record contains a count showing how many records in the table being summarized have this value. Each record also contains the result of any summary statistics you requested in the Summarize dialog box, such as the sum, minimum. maximum and standard deviation for any other field in table.

Examples

The table for the USA data source that comes with ArcView has a field called Sub_region. You can summarize the States table on this field to generate summary statistics on a regional basis. Let's say you want to find the total population in each region, In this example, the population field used has been joined to the theme's table with Join between steps 3 and 4:

1	Open a new view and add a theme to it representing the USA data source.

2	Click on the theme in the Table of Contents to make it active.

3	Click the Open Theme Table button [image].

4	Click on the field called Sub_region to make it active.

5	Click the Summarize button [image].

6	In the Summarize dialog box, choose Pop1990 from the Fields list, Summary from the Summarize by list, and then press Add, then press OK.

7	ArcView creates the summary table and displays it. The summary table shows the total population of each region in the USA, and the count of records in the theme's table that represent states in each region.

Creating a summary table and then joining it to the table of a theme is a useful way of adding statistical data to your view.

For example, you have a dBASE table containing a list of your customers and their addresses, and want to make a map of the US with each state shaded according to how many customers are located there. Here's how you can make this map:

1	Open a new view and add a theme to it representing the USA data source.

2	Add your dBASE table of customers to the project.

3	Click on the field in the table of customers that contains the state name to make it active.

4	Click the Summarize button [image].

5	Press OK on the Summarize dialog box. Summarize will automatically create a summary table containing one record for each state named in your table of customers, along with a Count field showing the number of customers in each of these states.

6	Open the feature table of the USA theme.

7	Join the summary table to the States theme's table, using the state name field as the common field.

8	Edit the legend of the States theme to classify the states according to the value of the Count field.


What is a table?

A table lets you work with data from a tabular data source in ArcView. You can bring data from almost any tabular data source in your organization into ArcView as tables. Then you can add data from these tables to maps, and symbolize, query and analyze this data geographically.

ArcView's tables are dynamic

An ArcView table references the tabular data source it represents, but doesn't contain the tabular data itself. This means that tables are dynamic, because they reflect the current status of the source data they are based on. If the source data changes, a table based on this data will automatically reflect the change the next time you open the project containing this table. You can also choose Refresh from the Table menu to refresh the table at any time to see the current state of your source data. The definition of tables you add to ArcView are saved in the project file you are currently working on.

You can create new tables in ArcView and type data values into them directly. You can also edit some tables, depending on the type of tabular data source they represent and whether you have write permission to them. See Editing the values in a table.

Sources of tabular data

 dBASE, INFO, and delimited text files

You can add dBASE, INFO, and tab or comma delimited text files into ArcView as tables. These data sources can contain any data that you wish to work with in ArcView. For example, these tables might contain additional information about the features displayed on a view. See Adding a file containing tabular data to your project.

 SQL database servers

From ArcView, you can connect to a database server, such as Oracle or Sybase, and run an SQL query to retrieve records from it as a table. ArcView stores the definition of the SQL query you used, not the records themselves. See Connecting to a database to create a table.

Attribute tables of spatial data

In addition to tables that are based on tabular data sources, some spatial data sources, such as shapefiles and ARC/INFO coverages have their own attribute tables containing descriptive information about the geographic features they contain.

When you add a theme representing one of these spatial data sources to a view, you can access this attribute table by pressing the Open Theme Table button [image].

ArcView automatically manages the relationship between themes and their attribute tables, so you don't need to load these tables into ArcView separately.

When you open a theme's attribute table, you can select features on the view by selecting their records in the table, and vice versa.

  Related topics


Working with tables in a project

An ArcView project can contain any number of tables.

To see which tables are in a project

Click on the Tables icon in the Project window. The tables in the project are shown in the list.

To open a table

Double-click the table's name in the list of tables in the Project window, or select the table's name and click the Open button.

To open a theme's table

1	Open the view containing the theme.

2	Click on the theme to make it active.

3	Click the Open Theme Table button [image] in the View button bar.

When you open a theme's table, it will appear in the list of tables in the Project window in which case it can also be opened using the Open button on the Project window, as described above.

To add a table into a project

Use Add button in the Project window to open a dBASE, INFO or delimited text file as a table in your project. See Adding tabular data.

To connect to a database to create a table

Use the SQL Connect option in the Project menu. See Connecting to a database to create a table.

To create a new table

With the Tables icon selected, click the New button at the top of the Project window. Then enter a name and a disk location for the dBASE file that ArcView will create to store the source data for the table. ArcView creates a new table and its name will appear in the list of tables in the project. ArcView names new tables in numerical order: Table1, Table2, Table3, etc. See Creating a new table.

To edit a table

From the Table menu, choose Start Editing. If you have write access to the data source, you will be allowed to edit the table. You can add or delete fields and records and edit the values in the table. See Overview of editing a table.

To close a table

From the File menu, choose Close, or click the close control on the table's window.

To rename a table

Click once on the table in the list in the Project window and choose Rename from the Project menu.

To delete a table

Click once on the table in the list in the Project window and choose Delete from the Project menu. You will be prompted to confirm deleting the table. Deleting a table removes it from the project, but does not affect the tabular data source that the table is based on.

To copy a table from one project to another

If you want to get a table that is in another project and put it into your current project, you should import the other project into your current one using Import in the Project menu. This will copy all the components of the other project into your project. You can then delete the components that you don't require using Delete from the Project menu. See Importing other projects.

Another way to copy a table from one project to another is to export the table to disk and then add it into your current project. The advantage of this is that it lets you control which records and fields in the table are transferred from one project to another, because Export exports the data in the table's selected records and visible fields.

  Related topics


5-digit ZIP address style

The 5-Digit ZIP address style can be used for geocoding 5-digit ZIP code addresses. It requires one field from the reference theme that contains the 5-digit ZIP. Events used for geocoding with this address style can be in one of these forms.

XXXXX e.g. 92373

XXXXXXXXX e.g. 923730040

XXXXX XXXX e.g. 92373 0040

XXXXX-XXXX e.g. 92373-0040

ArcView will standardize the events and geocode against the reference theme based on the first 5-digit code.

See also

Geocoding Theme Properties

US Streets with Zone Address Style

US Single Range with Zone Address Style

US Single Range Address Style

US Single House with Zone Address Style

US Single House Address Style

US Streets Address Style

Zip+4 Address Style

Zip+4 Range Address Style

Single Field Address Style


Adding a theme to a view

When you add a theme to a view you choose the existing data source that you want to use in the theme. Any supported data that you have read access to can be added to a view as a theme, including data on your computer's own disks, data accessed across a network, and data on CD-ROM. You can also add themes based on geographic information, such as street addresses or XY coordinates, stored in a table. ArcView uses the information in the table to locate features.

What do you want to add as a theme to your view?

An ARC/INFO coverage or ArcView shapefile

An ARC/INFO LIBRARIAN layer

An ARC/INFO ArcStorm database library layer

An image

An image catalog

A table of XY coordinates

A table of street addresses

A table of events occurring at point features

A table of events occurring along line features

 Related topics


Adding new classes
To add new classes

To add another class to your theme’s legend:

 Click the Add button.


Address components

There are two types of address files that ArcView uses to perform geocoding: a file which stores addresses as attributes for features in the feature data source, and a tabular data file such as a customer list which includes addresses or street intersections used to match against the feature data source.

Address components in a feature data source

Each type of data source feature (line, polygon, and point) has a typical format for addresses.

1.    Linear features

Urban street maps have four street address numbers ranging from low to high for each side of a street segment. The range indicates the possible numbers that could fall within a particular block, and the numbers are divided into even numbers on one side of the street and odd numbers on the other. The address components for this type of street are typically represented as:

Left_from	Left_to	Right_from	Right_to	Street_name	Type
201	299	200	298	SUNSET	ST
In addition to this format, you can also use the zone information such as postal zip codes and city names to differentiate street addresses in different zones. A zone is usually specified by the left zone's zip code and the right zone's zip code for a street segment. So in addition to the above format, two more fields are used:

Left_Zone	Right_Zone
92374	92373

2.    Polygon features

Lots represented by polygon features can be identified by their permit numbers or areas can be identified by postal zip or zip+4 codes. The formats for these address types are:

Permit_Num

   1046

Zip	Zip4
32201	1020

3.    Point features

Point features may also have descriptive addresses or identifiers such as well ID, building name or light pole number. The address of a point feature usually contains one component:

Well_ID

A3201

Components of an address in the tabular data file

The tabular data file stores the address of each event in a field, and may store other attributes associated with the event if any exist. ArcView will read the information from the address field and find the geographic feature in the feature data source with the exact or closest address. An address of an event can also be represented by a street intersection. See Geocoding street intersections for more information.

Address matching would be simple if addresses were always represented in the same format. For example, if 12 OLIVE ST appears in both the tabular file and the feature data source, there is no question the two match. But addresses can be expressed in many ways. ArcView attempts to standardize addresses by identifying the components of an address regardless of its format or information. For example:

Components in the address	ArcView interprets as
12	House number
WEST	Direction
OLIVE	Street name
STREET	Street type

Addresses may include all or some of these components, arranged in various ways. For example, the above address could appear in any of these formats:

12 WEST OLIVE ST

12 W OLIVE STR.

12 OLIVE

The more information contained in an address the higher the likelihood of finding an accurate match. For example, a street address without direction information such as 120 MAIN ST can still be matched to a theme containing both 120 MAIN ST W and 120 MAIN ST E. However the match score (i.e., the matching confidence) would be higher if the direction was present. The presence of a direction helps ArcView differentiate between the two addresses. This is why the components, format, and completeness of addresses in both the feature data source and tabular data file are important considerations for address matching.

See also

What is geocoding

The geocoding process

Address matching


Overview of address geocoding

Address geocoding in ArcView is a process that creates a theme based on address data in tabular form and  a reference feature theme. Address geocoding in ArcView includes the following functions:

 Make a theme matchable

 Add address events to a view

 Locate an address in a theme

 Use place name aliases

 Use street intersections

Below is an overview of how to perform geocoding in ArcView.

Geocoding data

To perform geocoding in ArcView, you must have two data files:

 A feature data source. This is a theme that has address attributes associated with geographic features. The address attributes are stored in the theme's attribute table. Address geocoding requires certain attributes to make the theme matchable.

 A table of any format that ArcView supports, e.g., a customer list. This table should contain an address field (and a zone field if you want to geocode addresses in different zone or Zip Code) for each record that ArcView can use to match against the matchable feature data source.

Address matching

ArcView will compare addresses in the event table with the address attributes in the matchable theme. ArcView applies standards and rules to make decisions about whether addresses match. When a match is found, geographic coordinates are derived from the matched feature and assigned to the address. See Address matching to learn how addresses matches. If a match cannot be found, you can edit the address if it has errors or relax the matching parameters in the Geocoding Preferences so that there is a higher likelihood of finding a match.

Geocoding process

S ee The geocoding process to learn how to geocode addresses in ArcView.

See also

What is geocoding

Locating an address on a view

Working with place name aliases

Geocoding street intersections


Address matching

Address matching is a process that compares two addresses to determine whether they are the same. To match addresses, ArcView looks at the components of addresses in both the tabular data file and the feature data source. Then ArcView looks for certain standards and makes a decision about whether addresses match.

What is a match?

To give you an idea of the matching process, try finding the address range in Column B that most closely matches each address in Column A. The first and second numbers of the addresses listed in Column B are the house number range on the left side of the street while the third and fourth numbers are the house number range on the right side of the street.

Column A	Column B
a) 620 CENTER STREET	1. 501 599 500 598 CENTER AV
b) 710 PALM AV W	2. 601 699 600 698 CENTER ST
c) 680 1ST ST	3. 701 799 700 798 PALM AV W
	4. 701 799 700 798 PALM AV E
	5. 651 699 650 698 FIRST ST

620 CENTER STREET matches number 2 in Column B because the street name is the same and the address range, 600 to 698, matches. The street type, STREET, matches the abbreviated form of ST.

When two features have the same street name, type and range of numbers, such as in the second example, the direction becomes critical to decide which feature matches. 710 PALM AV W should match number 3 in Column B.

Notice that ST in the third example can be the abbreviation of SAINT, FIRST or STREET. 680 1ST ST should be correctly interpreted as 680 FIRST STREET and matches the fifth address in Column B.

Incorrect, incomplete, or ambiguous address information will reduce the matching confidence. This may require manual intervention such as adjusting the matching parameters, interactively editing the events' addresses if mistakes exist, or manually editing events with missing information for specific locations.

How ArcView determines the location coordinates of an address

If a match is found, ArcView will locate the address along the correct side of the street by looking at whether the parity of the event's house number is even or odd. A point is placed at the appropriate spot along the street by interpolating where the number falls along the range. Thus, 230 SUNSET ST matches to a segment with the address range 201 299 200 298 SUNSET ST and falls about one-third of the way along the right side. The coordinates of the point are based on the location of the matching feature.

By default, ArcView applies a percent squeeze factor to the interpolated location by shifting the location 2.5 percent distance from each end inward of a street segment defined by its two ending intersections. This option is used to prevent addresses at the end of a block from being placed on top of an intersection. The default squeeze factor value can be changed using Avenue.

See also

What is geocoding

The geocoding process


Add a descriptive text label
To add a descriptive text label

1	Click on the label you wish to change.

2	Make the changes.

3	Click on another label or use the 'Enter' key to commit your change.


Add a Highway Shield
Label a road with highway shield

1	Choose one of the highway shield labeling tools [image], [image], [image], [image], or

2	Make your highway theme active

3	Choose Properties from the Theme menu and click the Text Labels icon.

4	Choose a label field that contains the highway route numbers.

5	Position and click the cursor on a highway feature at the spot you want the highway shield to be placed.

Notes

1	If ArcView cannot determine a highway number, you will be prompted to enter the number.

2	The highway tools are limited to six characters.

3	The default settings for the highway tools are available from the Graphics menu by choosing Text and Label Defaults.

4	You may need to change your theme's label field, which you can do by choosing Properties from the Theme menu, and then clicking on the Text Labels icon.


Add a label with a background and dropshadow
Add a label with a background and drop-shadow

1	Choose the [image] tool.

2	Make the theme(s) you want to label active

3	Position the cursor and click on a feature at the spot you want the lower left portion of the label text to be placed.

Note:  The default settings for the labeling tools are available from the Graphics menu by choosing Text and Label Defaults.


Add a label with a leader line

1	Choose either the [image] tool or the [image] tool.

2	Make the theme(s) you want to label active

3	Position the cursor on the feature at the spot you want the leader line to start, and click down and then drag the cursor in the direction you want the label to be placed.  The distance you drag will indicate how far the label will be from where the leader line starts.

Note:  The default settings for the labeling tools are available from the Graphics menu by choosing Text and Label Defaults.


Add spline text to a view
Add spline text to a view or layout

1	Choose the spline text tool [image].

2	Position and click the cursor on your view where you want your text to begin.

3	Type your text into the Spline Text Properties dialog and click OK.

4	If necessary, use the [image] tool to edit the control points of your spline text

Tip:  When you create the line for your spline text, avoid placing too many control points in your spline text’s base line.  Rather than entering a polyline with two vertexes like this:

which makes a spline text object that looks like this:

use a simpler polyline like this:

which will allow you to do this with the spline text:

Too many control points become difficult to manage and edit. One vertex is sufficient to allow you to make your text change directions six times.  Two vertexes will only add two more changes in direction.


Add text to a view

1	Choose the text tool [image].

2	Position and click the cursor on your view where you want your text to begin.

3	Type your text into the Text Properties dialog and click OK.


Aligning raster and vector data
Aligning your raster data with vector data in a view

If your grids or images have been projected in a package such as ARC/INFO, they can be aligned with vector data in decimal degrees. Since the grid or image do not project in ArcView, simply project the view. The vector data will project to align with the raster data.

To align your raster and vector data

1	Determine the projection parameters used when your image or grid was projected. For grids, this information appears in its prj file.

2	Add the image or grid to a view. Also add the vector decimal degree data.

3	From View Properties, select Projection to display the Projection Properties dialog box.

4	Set the view’s map projection to match the parameters of the grid or image. If the parameters of the projection do not match those of ArcView’s standard projections, try using a custom projection.

5	Click OK on the Projection Properties dialog box.

6	From View Properties, set the Map Units of the view to match the projected units of your image or grid. For example, if your image is projected to State Plane feet, set the Map Units to feet.

7	Click OK on the View Properties dialog box. ArcView redraws the view using the projection you chose.


Area of Interest

You may want to restrict the set of features in a theme based on a map library by setting the area of interest for the view containing the theme. By defining a spatial extent, or area of interest, you can effectively constrain which tiles of the library display in the view. If you have a large library you can greatly reduce the time it takes to draw the library theme by setting the extent in this manner.

Setting the area of interest for a view sets the spatial extent for all library themes in the view. When you set an area of interest, only those map library tiles that are within or overlap the extent will display in the view. The table of all the library themes in the view are updated when you set an area of interest so that only the records of the visible tiles are represented in the table.

By default the area of interest for a view is not set. When a library theme is added to a view where the area of interest has not been set, only the center tile of the library will be displayed.

You should have a theme that you can use as a reference when setting your area of interest. For map libraries, you can use the INDEX layer. This layer appears as a choice when you add a theme based on a map library. For ArcStorm libraries, you should have available a coverage or shapefile which covers the full extent of your library. Add this reference theme to your view, and use it to orient your area of interest to your map library.

Setting the area of interest

ArcView provides several ways to set the area of interest of a view containing themes based on map libraries.

 Interactively using the Area of Interest tool [image].

 Based on another theme, the view extent, the display extent or an extent you type in explicitly. The Area of Interest dialog box contains a drop-down list of possible extent settings. Access this dialog box from the Area Of Interest button in the View Properties dialog.

Notes

 If you set the area of interest to an area outside the extent of your library, only the center tile of the library will be displayed.

 You can use multiple libraries in a view. However, a view can only have one area of interest.

 Any action which has been performed on the theme, such as a table join, field index, or theme definition, will be re-executed each time the area of interest is reset.

 Only the records of the features which fall within the tiles of the area of interest will appear in the theme’s table.

See also

Accessing ARC/INFO libraries


Attribute updating

You can set attribute update rules to specify how data in the theme's attribute table is handled when you split features with the Line Split tool [image] or the Polygon Split tool [image], or merge features with the Union Features option. For example, when you split a feature, you can specify how the attributes of the two new features will be derived from the attributes of the original one. For line and polygon themes, you can set attribute updating rules for single type fields. For line themes only, you can also set attribute updating rules for range type fields.

Single type fields

A single field is any field in the table. Examples of a single field in a theme might be Length or Road_type. For each single field in the attribute table, you can choose one of the following split rules:

 Blank: value in both records will be blank.

 Copy: original value will be assigned to both records (the default).

 Proportion: values will be proportional to the length of the new lines or to the area of the new polygons.

 Shape Length: values will be the length of the new lines (the default for fields called Length).

 Shape Area: values will be the area of the new polygons (the default for fields called Area).

 Shape Perimeter:  values will be the perimeter of the new polygons (the default for fields called Perimeter).

For each single field in the attribute table, you can choose one of the following union rules:

 Blank: value in the resulting record will be blank.

 Copy: value in whichever record is first in the table will be assigned (the default).

 Proportion: value will be proportional to the lengths of the merged lines or areas of the merged polygons.

 Add: values will be added together in the resulting record.

 Average: values will be averaged in the resulting record.

 Shape Length: value will be the length of the new line (the default for fields called Length).

 Shape Area:  value will be the area of the new polygon (the default for fields called Area).

 Shape Perimeter: value will be the perimeter of the new polygon (the default for fields called Perimeter).

To set the attribute update rules for a single field in a theme's attribute table

1	Make the theme active and click the Theme Properties button [image].

2	In the dialog that appears, click the Editing icon to display the theme's editing properties. In the Attribute Updating panel, choose the field in the theme's attribute table to which you want the rule to be applied.

3	Click the Single Field type radio button, if it is not already chosen.

4	Choose the Union rule you want to be applied to the field.

5	Choose the Split rule you want to be applied to the field.

6	Click OK.

Range type fields

A range type field is a field that is paired with another field in the attribute table. For example, the attribute table of a street theme used as a reference theme in geocoding usually contains information about the range of house numbers on each side of the street in a pair of fields, a 'from' address and a 'to' address. For example, an attribute table for a line theme might have a field called L_add_from storing the first house number on the left side of the street segment, and a L_add_to field storing the last house number on the left side.

When you split lines with the Line Split tool, or merge lines using the Union Features option, ArcView will automatically maintain these address range if you set the attribute updating rules for the appropriate range fields. In this way, the values in the paired fields will be treated as a range when the new values of the two fields are calculated. For example, if you were to split a street segment at house number 3051, one of the two resulting line features will be assigned a 'from' value of 3001 and  a 'to' value of 3051, and the other will be assigned a 'from' value of 3051 and a 'to' value of 3099. The new ranges are calculated to be proportional to the length of the two street segments resulting from the split.

ArcView supports two types of range fields:

 Address:  For address values, the parity of the values is maintained, so if the address range is even the results will be even values, and if the address range is odd the results will be odd values.

 Continuous: For continuous values, parity is not maintained, so resulting values can be even or odd.

To set the attribute update rule for range fields in a line theme's attribute table

1	Make the theme active and click the Theme Properties button [image].

2	In the dialog that appears, click the Editing icon to display the theme's editing properties. In the Attribute Updating panel, from the Field dropdown list choose the name of either one of the two fields in the range pair you want to set the rule for.

3	Click the Range Field type radio button.

4	In the Paired field dropdown list, choose other field in the range pair.

5	Choose a Range Type.

6	Click OK.


Auto-labeling with different fonts on the same theme

Sometimes you may want to use different fonts to auto-label distinct groups of features within the same theme. For example, it is quite common when labeling cities to make the font for capitols larger than the font for large population centers or small towns.

To create labels that are different sizes for certain features

1	Make the theme you want to label active by clicking on it in the TOC.

2	Click the Query button [image] to open the Query Builder.

3	Create a query expression that will select a subset of your theme's features.

4	Click the New Set button.

5	From the Window menu choose Show Symbol Window.

6	Change to the font palette by clicking the [image] button and set the font you want to use to label the selected features.

7	From the Theme menu choose Auto-label.

8	In the Auto-label dialog set the options you want and click OK.

9	Repeat Steps 3 through 8 for each group of features that require different labels.


Buffer Graphics and Features
Buffering Graphics and Features

To create buffers for graphics or features

1	Choose Create Buffers from the Theme menu.

2	Choose the options you want for creating buffers.

3	Click Finish.

Tips

  If the Create Buffers menu choice is disabled, you will need to set your view’s map and distance units.

  To get help, you can press F1, or the Help button at any time.

  For large datasets, you will see additional information about how many features and vertexes are being buffered. After you do several buffering operations, you will be able to gauge how long the operation will take based on the amount of spatial information is to be processed.

  Buffering large or complex shapes may require more system resources than is minimally recommended for running ArcView. If you find that your system runs out of memory, try increasing the amount of virtual memory, or break the job up into smaller pieces by selecting subsets of features to be buffered. (If you want to dissolve these pieces, you can use the GeoProcessing tools extension to merge or union the resultant buffers into a single result.)


Change all the symbols in a graduated symbol legend

There is an easy way to change all the symbols of a graduated symbol legend.

1	Open the legend editor if it is not already open for the theme with a graduated symbol legend.

2	At the lower left of the graduated symbol legend editor there is a sample symbol that you can double-click. The changes you make to this symbol will affect the symbols for every class in the legend (except for the No Data class), but the sizes of the symbols in the legend will not be changed.


Change a theme's colors
Change a theme’s colors

To change the color of the symbols your theme is displayed with:

1	Double-click on the theme in your view’s Table of Contents to open the Legend Editor.

2	Double-click on the symbol to open the Symbol Window.

3	Click the Color Palette button [image] and select the color you want to use.

  Related topics


Change the order of elements in a legend
To change the order of elements in a legend

 Click on the symbol of the class you wish to move, then drag it to the desired position.


Change the values of a classification
To change the values of a classification

1  Click in the value of the classification you want to change. The cell will appear to depress and a cursor will appear.

2  Enter a new value.

3  Either click on the symbol of the classification you changed, or press ENTER.

Note   If your new classification’s values overlap another classification, the features will be symbolized using the classification that appears first.


Changing a theme's name

The name of each theme in a view appears in the Table of Contents. By default, when a theme is added to a view it is given the same name as the data source it is based on.

You can give the theme a more meaningful name. Theme names may include multiple words, spaces, numbers and punctuation. Changing a theme's name does not affect the data source it uses.

To change a theme's name

1	Click on the theme in the Table of Contents to make it active.

2	Click the Theme Properties button [image] or from the Theme menu choose Properties.

3	Choose the Definition category if it is not already selected.

4	Enter the new theme name in the Name text box.

5	Press OK.

If you have edited a theme’s legend, you may wish to add the field name that you used to make your legend in the theme’s name. For example, a theme called USA that is classified on its Area field can appear in the Table of Contents named USA by area. ArcView does not display the field name by default. Check the box next to Use Suffix in the Theme Properties dialog box to display the field name.


Changing a view's name

Until you change the name of a view, ArcView names new views in numerical order: View1, View2, View3, etc., according to when you create them.

A view's name appears in the view's title bar and in the Project window. View names may include multiple words, spaces, numbers and punctuation.

To change the name of a view

Either

1	From the View menu choose Properties. The View Properties dialog box will be displayed.

2	Enter a new name for the view in the Name text box.

3	Press OK.

Or

1	In the Project window, click once on the name of the view in the list of views.

2	From the Project menu choose Rename.

3	Enter a new name for the view and press OK.

See also

Changing a theme's name


Changing the flatness of TOC Line Symbols
Changing the length of symbols in a view’s TOC

1	Choose TOC Style from the View menu.

2	In the Line flatness drop down, choose either Strong zigzag, Moderate zigzag, or Flat.

3	Click Apply. If you like the result, click Close, if not, repeat step 2.

Tips

This setting also applies to line symbols in the Legend Editor, Symbol Window, and Legend frames in layouts.

This setting will update the TOC for all views and legend frames in your project.


Changing the length of TOC Symbols
Changing the length of symbols in a view’s TOC

1	Choose TOC Style from the View menu.

2	In the Symbol length drop down, choose either Short, Normal, Long, or Very Long.

3	Click Apply. If you like the result, click Close, if not, repeat step 2.

Tips

Short is half the length of Normal, Long is three times the length of Normal, and Very Long is five times the length of Normal.

This setting will update the TOC for all views and legend frames in your project


Changing the order themes are drawn in

The order in which themes are drawn on a view is based on the order they appear in the The Table of Contents. The theme at the top of the Table of Contents is drawn on top of those below it, and so on down the list.

Themes that usually belong in the foreground of the view, like line and point features, should therefore be kept at the top of the Table of Contents. Themes that form the background of the view, such as polygon features and images, should be at the bottom.

To change the order a theme is drawn in

 Drag the theme up or down in the Table of Contents. When you drop the theme in its new position, the view will automatically redraw in the new order.

Note    When you add a theme to a view it is automatically placed at the top of the Table of Contents. If you create several themes at once, they are all placed at the top of the Table of Contents, in descending (Z-A) alphabetical order.


Changing the TOC Text Symbol
Changing the text symbol in a view’s TOC

1	Choose TOC Defaults from the View menu.

2	Make a selection in any of the Font, Style, or Size boxes.

3	Click Apply. If you like the result, click Close, if not, repeat step 2.

Note: These settings are applied to all Views in your project.


Chart Maps Details
Chart Maps

Chart maps allow you to display the values of many data attributes at once. This is a particularly powerful tool because you can clearly show the relationships of different but related data with one clear symbol. For instance, you can map the income distribution by income ranges for a given population and clearly state which areas are dominated by a particular income range or are composed of a mix of races.

Bar Charts

When you make bar chart symbols for your features, you can control the width, minimum height, and maximum height of each chart symbol. You can change these properties in the properties window.

Pie Charts

Pie charts begin with the first field you have chosen and rotate counter-clockwise from the three o’clock position. You can set a size field in the Pie Chart Properties window, the values of which control the size of each feature’s pie chart symbol. You can set a minimum and maximum radius for your pie chart symbols in the Pie Chart Properties window as well. If you do not use a size field, ArcView makes all your symbols at the maximum size; so if that‘s too large, just enter a smaller number.

Notes

 When you select a normalization field, each field’s values within your chart map are normalized by that field.

 If you have a theme that has a chart legend in your view and you make a viewframe from that view in your layout, you cannot simplify the individual chart symbols.

 You cannot change where the chart symbol is positioned on the feature it represents.

 Chart symbols are drawn in the order that features occur with a theme (usually north to south in an ARC/INFO coverage). If overlaps occur, try changing the minimum and maximum sizes using the Properties button.

 Remember to check the units the data are recorded in for each of your fields. You should not include a mix of fields that use percentages and raw counts.

 If you set a null value for any of the fields in your chart map, the feature will be drawn using the null symbol rather than a chart.


Choosing an appropriate legend

ArcView's Legend Editor helps you make a visually appealing map that communicates your data to your target audience. You only need to know a little bit about the data you wish to map.

Is your data categorical, like names of places or types of roads?

Use the Unique Values Legend Editor.

Is your data ranked, like best sales territory to worst sales territory?

Use either Graduated Symbols or Graduated Colors as these types of legends are best suited to show a progression of data values. However, if your data is qualitative, Unique Values may also be appropriate.

Is your data raw counts, like population or barrels of crude oil?

For polygon data, your first choice of legends should be Dot Density. If you have point or line data, then use a Graduated Symbols legend. If you use a Graduated Symbol or a Chart legend you may also want to consider normalizing your data’s values to make your legend easier to read.

Is your data normalized, like percentage data or population per unit of area?

For polygon data, your first choice of legends should be Graduated Colors. If you have point or line data, then use a Graduated Symbol legend. If you need to show several normalized attributes, consider using the Chart legend.

  Related topics


Classification methods

You can explore your data by applying the different classification techniques found in the Graduated Color and Graduated Symbol Legend Editors or by typing in your own classes. The purpose of classification is twofold: to make the process of reading and understanding a map easier and to show something about the area you’re mapping that is not self-evident. Try each of the classification types and see if any interesting spatial patterns appear.

ArcView provides six classification methods to display data:

Natural Breaks

This is the default classification method in ArcView. This method identifies breakpoints between classes using a statistical formula (Jenk’s optimization). This method is rather complex, but basically the Jenk’s method minimizes the sum of the variance within each of the classes. Natural Breaks finds groupings and patterns inherent in your data.

Quantile

In the quantile classification method, each class contains the same number of features. Quantile classes are perhaps the easiest to understand, but they can be misleading. Population counts (as opposed to density or percentage), for example, are usually not suitable for quantile classification because only a few places are highly populated. You can overcome this distortion by increasing the number of classes. Imagine the difference, for example, if five classes are used in the chart instead of three. Quantiles are best suited for data that is linearly distributed; in other words, data that does not have disproportionate numbers of features with similar values.

Equal Area

This method classifies polygon features by finding breakpoints so that the total area of the polygons in each class is the approximately the same. (ArcView determines the total area of the features that have valid data values.) Classes determined with the equal area method are typically very similar to Quantile classes when the sizes of all the features are roughly the same. Equal Area will differ from Quantile if the features are of vastly different areas.

Equal Interval

The equal interval method divides the range of attribute values into equal sized sub-ranges. Then the features are classified based on those sub-ranges.

Standard Deviations

When you classify data using the standard deviations method, ArcView finds the mean value and then places class breaks above and below the mean at intervals of either 1/4, 1/2, or 1 standard deviations until all the data values are contained within the classes. ArcView will aggregate any values that are beyond three standard deviations from the mean into two classes, greater than three standard deviations above the mean ("> 3 Std Dev.") and less than three standard deviations below the mean ("< -3 Std. Dev.").

  Related topics


Color as a single symbol
To use color as a single symbol

See Types of Thematic Maps for a discussion on common methods for displaying data in maps.

1	Double-click the theme in the Table of Contents to open the Legend Editor.

2	Change the Legend Type to Single Symbol.

3	Double-click on the symbol to open the Symbol Window, which you can use to change the symbol.


Color as graduated symbol
To use color as graduated symbol showing change in value over surface

For more information about unique value maps and why they are best for showing discrete data classes, see Graduated Color Maps.

1	Double click the theme in the Table of Contents to open the Legend Editor.

2	Change the Legend Type to Graduated Color.

3	Select a Classification Field.

4	Either select a Color Ramp, click Ramp Colors [image], or double click symbol to open the Symbol Window to change the colors of your feature’s symbols.

Tip  To change only the order of the symbols use the flip symbols button [image].


Color as unique value showing discrete classes
To use color as unique value showing discrete classes

For more information about unique value maps and why they are best for showing discrete data classes, see Unique Value Maps.

1	Double click the theme in the Table of Contents to open the Legend Editor.

2	Change the Legend Type to Unique Value.

3	Select a Values Field.

4	Either click Random Colors [image], select from the list of Color Schemes, or double click symbol to open the Symbol Window to change the colors of your feature’s symbols.


Converting a theme to a shapefile

To convert a theme to a shapefile

1	Click on the name of the theme you want to convert to make it active.

2	Choose Convert to Shapefile from the Theme menu.

3	In the dialog that appears, specify a name and location for the shapefile. Press OK

4	You are prompted to see if you want to add the new shapefile to the view you are currently working on as a theme.

Why convert a theme to a shapefile?

 You want to edit the features in a theme but the Start Editing option in the Theme menu is dimmed out when the theme is active. This is because only themes based on ArcView shapefiles can be edited in ArcView. If you want to edit a theme that is based on other feature data sources, such as ARC/INFO coverages, CAD drawings, etc. you should first convert the theme to a new shapefile and add it to your view.

 You have queried a theme to find particular features of interest and now you want to save the features you have selected so that they can be added to your view as a separate theme or used in some other application. If any of a theme's features are selected when you convert it to a shapefile, only these features will be saved into the new shapefile. (If no features are selected in the theme, all its features are saved into the new shapefile). In this way you can make the set of features you have selected a 'permanent' part of your view.

 You are using ArcView’s Spatial Analyst extension and you want to convert a grid theme to a feature theme so that you can work with the raster data in vector format.

 You want to convert data between formats. For example, you may have themes based on ARC/INFO coverages and you want to create shapefiles from these themes so you can use them in another application. Or you may be using ArcView's Database Access extension and you have a theme based on a data layer managed by ESRI’s Spatial Database Engine (SDE) that you would like to save to a shapefile so that you can use it on a portable computer when you are not connected to the SDE database.

I want to convert my theme to a shapefile but the Convert to Shapefile option is dimmed out.

The Convert to Shapefile option is dimmed out if :

 the Shape field in the attribute table of the active theme is hidden. To make the Shape field visible if it is hidden, click the Open Theme Table button [image] to open the theme's attribute table, choose Properties from the Table menu, and in the list of visible fields check the Shape field if it is not currently checked.

 you do not have write access to the data source used by the active theme

 the active theme is a database theme, and it does not have a selected set of features.

Tips about naming shapefiles

Always use alpha-numeric characters, dashes and underlines for file and directory names used with ArcView, including names for shapefiles and files for printing. Spaces, periods, and other non-alphanumeric characters in file or directory names may cause problems on all platforms.

Any rules that normally apply to naming files for your operating system apply (length of file name, other characters which are not supported, etc.).

Under Windows, long filenames (over 11 characters) may cause some problems for certain operations. Avoid using long filenames for files or directories. We recommend following the 8.3 naming conventions when naming all files.

Under UNIX, capital letters in the shapefile name are not supported.

Tips about converting themes to shapefiles

 By default, the shapefile that is created is in the same map units and coordinate system as the data source of the theme you converted. If your view is projected, you will prompted if you want the output shapefile to be in projected units or in the same units as the data source. For example, if your theme's data source is in State Plane NAD83, the new shapefile will also be in State Plane NAD83. If your data source is in decimal degrees and you have projected the view into State Plane NAD83, you will prompted whether you want the output shapefile to be in the data source units (decimal degrees) or in projected units (State Plane NAD83).

 You are recommended not to overwrite an existing shapefile when you convert a theme while that existing shapefile is also being displayed as a theme in an open view. But if you have done that and get some unexpected results, you need to open the theme's table and choose Refresh from the Table menu.

 Shapefiles are always stored in double precision. However, if the source of the shapefile was a single precision coverage, the shapefile will still be stored in double precision but only to the accuracy of single precision.

 If you convert a theme in ARC/INFO labelpoint coverage format to a shapefile, features will be stored as multipoint shapes in the shapefile. If you convert a theme in ARC/INFO annotation coverage format to a shapefile, features will be stored as polygon shapes in the shapefile. The polygon will correspond to the extent of the baseline used to create the annotation in ARC/INFO.

 The attributes of the shapefile are stored in a dBASE file. dBASE has limitations as to field names, item types, etc. If you are converting an ARC/INFO coverage to a shapefile, you should be aware that the shapefile's attributes may be slightly different than the original coverage's. See the Tables Frequently Asked Questions for more information.


To create a Graduated Colors legend

1  Double-click on your theme's legend in the Table of Contents to open the Legend Editor.

2  Choose Graduated Colors as the type of legend.

3  Choose a Classification Field from the list of fields. ArcView automatically makes a natural breaks classification and applies a default color ramp.

4  Click Apply.


To create a Chart legend

1  Double-click on your theme's legend in the Table of Contents to open the Legend Editor.

2  Choose Chart as the type of legend.

3  Click on a fieldname in the Fields table and then click the Add button. Repeat this step for all fields you need to map.

4  Click Apply.


To create a Dot Density legend

1  Double-click on your theme's legend in the Table of Contents to open the Legend Editor.

2  Choose Dot Density as the type of legend.

3  Choose a Density Field from the list of fields.

4  Click the Calculate button. ArcView will calculate the ideal density to display your data and display it using the default marker symbol.

5  Click Apply.


To create a Graduated Symbols legend

1  Double-click on your theme's legend in the Table of Contents to open the Legend Editor.

2  Choose Graduated Symbols as the type of legend.

3  Choose a Classification Field from the list of fields. ArcView automatically does a quantile classification and applies a default symbol and ramps that symbol.

4  Click Apply.


To create a Unique Value legend
To create a Unique Values legend

1  Double-click on your theme's legend in the Table of Contents to open the Legend Editor.

2  Choose Unique Values as the type of legend.

3  Choose a Values Field from the list of fields.

4  Click Apply.


Creating doughnut polygons

If you have a polygon and want to create a hole inside it (make it into a doughnut polygon) use the Combine Features option. With this option, the polygons you select are merged, but any overlap between the polygons is removed from the resulting polygon.

To create doughnut polygons

1	If the theme is not already in edit mode, make the theme active and from the Theme menu, choose Start Editing.

2	On top of the polygon that you want to make into a doughnut, use the Polygon, Circle, or Rectangle tool to draw a smaller polygon representing the area you want to cut out.

3	Use the Pointer tool [image] to select both of the polygons.

4	From the Edit menu, choose Combine Features.

Note  If your selected polygons don't overlap, Combine Features behaves the same way as Union Features.


Creating line features

Before you add line features to your line theme, decide whether they should meet and align perfectly. If it’s important for all lines coming together at an intersection to share the same endpoint, and for there to be no overshoots or undershoots, then you should set the snapping environment. When you use snapping, ArcView moves the vertices or line segments of new features you add to align with the vertices or line segments of other features that are within a specified distance, the snap tolerance.

To create a line feature in a line theme

1	If the theme is not already in edit mode, make the theme active and from the Theme menu, choose Start Editing.

2	Click the Drawing tool palette [image] and in the list of tools that pops down, click the Line tool [image].

3	In the view, click the left mouse button  where you want the line to start, click each vertex, then double-click the final vertex.

If you have set the interactive snap environment, then while you are adding your line, you can hold down the right mouse button to display the popup menu, and choose one of the snapping options from this menu to control how the next vertex  you add  to the line will be snapped to existing lines in the theme.

When you create a new line feature in the theme, a corresponding new record is automatically added to the theme’s feature attribute table. While you are editing a theme, its table is also in edit mode. You can add data for this record at anytime by entering new values in the table.

Note  While you are creating a line, you can choose the Delete Last Point option from the popup menu to delete the last vertex you added. Choosing this option repeatedly enables you to successively delete all the vertices back to the start point of the line.

To create a line feature that splits other lines it crosses

In your line theme you may need to draw a new line that crosses an existing line and it may be necessary for the two lines to be split where they cross so that an intersection is created, otherwise the new line would represent an overpass. In ArcView, you can use the Line Split tool [image] to create a line that gets split wherever it crosses another line, and also splits all lines it crosses.

1	Click the Drawing tool palette [image] and in the list of tools that pops down, click the Line Split tool [image].

2	In the view, click the left mouse button  where you want the line to start, click each vertex, then double-click the final vertex. The line you draw with the Line Split tool must cross over at least one other line for any new features to be created. Both the existing line and the new line are split into two separate lines at the point where they cross.

Note A shapefile can only contain one feature type so line features can only be added to themes based on line shapefiles.


Creating_point_features
Creating point features

To create point features in a point theme

1	If the theme is not already in edit mode, make the theme active and from the Theme menu, choose Start Editing.

2	Click the Drawing tool palette [image] and in the list of tools that pops down, click the Point tool [image].

3	Click the left mouse button in the view to add points.

When you create a new point feature in the theme, a corresponding new record is automatically added to the theme’s feature attribute table. While you are editing a theme, its table is also in edit mode. You can add data for this record at anytime by entering new values in the table.

Note A shapefile can only contain one feature type so point features can only be added to themes based on point shapefiles.


Creating polygon features

Before you start creating polygons, decide whether they should be perfectly aligned. If it’s important not to have gaps or overlap, you should set the snapping environment. If you create a polygon near another polygon that’s within the snap tolerance, this new polygon will get snapped to the other polygon, eliminating gaps and overlap.

To create an irregularly shaped polygon feature

1	If the theme is not already in edit mode, make the theme active and from the Theme menu, choose Start Editing.

2	Click the Drawing tool palette [image] and in the list of tools that pops down, click the Polygon tool [image].

3	In the view, click the left mouse button  where you want the polygon to start, click each vertex around the polygon’s boundary, then double-click the final vertex.

If you have set the interactive snap environment, then while you are adding your polygon, you can hold down the right mouse button to display the popup menu, and choose one of the snapping options from this menu to control how the next vertex  you add  to the boundary will be snapped to existing polygons in the theme.

When you create a new polygon feature in the theme, a corresponding new record is automatically added to the theme’s feature attribute table. While you are editing a theme, its table is also in edit mode. You can add data for this record at anytime by entering new values in the table.

Note  While you are creating a line, you can choose the Delete Last Point option from the popup menu to delete the last vertex you added. Choosing this option repeatedly enables you to successively delete all the vertices back to the start point of the line.

To create a circular polygon feature

1	Click the Drawing tool palette [image] and in the list of tools that pops down, click the Circle tool [image].

2	In the view, position the cursor where you want the center of the circle to be, hold down the left mouse button and drag the mouse until the circle is the size you want, then release the mouse button.

To create a rectangular polygon feature

1	Click the Drawing tool palette [image] and in the list of tools that pops down, click the Rectangle tool [image].

2	In the view, position the cursor where you want the corner of the rectangle to be, hold down the left mouse button and drag the mouse until the rectangle is the size you want, then release the mouse button.

To create a polygon that shares its boundary with existing polygons

You can use the AutoComplete tool [image] to create a new polygon if it shares part of its boundary with an existing polygon(s) in your theme. In this way, it's not necessary to redraw the portion of the polygon's boundary that is already represented in your theme.

1	Click the Drawing tool palette [image] and in the list of tools that pops down, click the AutoComplete tool [image].

2	Draw a line that starts and stops at any of the existing polygon boundaries to enclose the area of the new polygon you are creating. To draw the line, click where you want the line to start, click each vertex along the line, then double-click the final vertex. When you draw the line, you can overshoot the existing polygon boundaries.

When you have finished drawing the line, ArcView automatically completes the new polygon, and removes any overshoots from the line you drew.

Note A shapefile can only contain one feature type so polygon features can only be added to themes based on polygon shapefiles.


Cutting and pasting features

You can cut features from one theme and paste them into another theme.

To cut and paste features

1	If the theme you want to cut features from is not already in edit mode, make the theme active and from the Theme menu, choose Start Editing.

2	Use the Pointer tool [image] to select the features you want to cut.

3	From the Edit menu, choose Cut Features to cut the features to the clipboard..

4	Start Editing on the theme you want to paste the features into. You will be prompted to save edits on the first theme.

5	From the Edit menu, choose Paste.

It is not advisable to cut from a theme in one view and paste into a theme in a different view because the two views may have different projections or map units. ArcView places features based on their coordinates and in the above case, the coordinate spaces for the two views may not be the same.

See also

Selecting features for editing


Cutting, copying, and pasting themes

You can cut, copy and paste themes in the same view or between views. You can also paste themes into a view in another project by closing your current project and opening the other one.

To remove one or more themes from a view

1	Click on the theme(s) in the view's Table of Contents to make them active.

2	From the Edit menu

Either:

Choose Cut Themes to place them into the clipboard so that they can be pasted.

Or:

Choose Delete Themes to remove them without placing them into the clipboard. Deleting themes does not change the current contents of the clipboard, if any.

To duplicate one or more themes in a view

This enables you to base a new theme on an existing theme without having to add it from scratch.

1	Click on the theme(s) in the view's Table of Contents to make them active.

2	From the Edit menu, choose Copy Themes This copies the theme(s) into the clipboard.

3	From the Edit menu, choose Paste. This pastes the theme(s) into the view at the top of the Table of Contents.

Tip   To save time when you duplicate a theme in order to redefine the pasted copy, turn the theme off before you copy it. In this way when you paste the copy, it won't start drawing and you can chnage the properties of the theme or edit its legend first, if desired.

To copy one or more themes between views

1	Click on the theme(s) in the view's Table of Contents to make them active.

2	From the Edit menu, choose Copy Themes.

3	Make the view active that you will be pasting the themes into.

4	From the Edit menu, choose Paste. This pastes the theme(s) into the active view at the top of the Table of Contents.

To copy one or more themes between two projects

1	Click on the theme(s) in the view's Table of Contents to make them active.

2	From the Edit menu, choose Copy Themes.

3	Make the Project window active

4	From the File menu choose Open Project to open the project you want to paste the theme(s) into a view in an existing project.

5   Make the view active that you will be pasting the theme(s) into.

6   From the Edit menu, choose Paste.

Note   Copying a theme copies the definition of the theme. It does not copy the view graphic to the clipboard. To export view graphic to a graphics file that you can then use in another application, create a layout containing the view and then export the layout.


Defining a feature selection for a theme

By default a theme represents all the features of a particular feature class in the data source is is based on. However it is useful to be able to restrict a theme to represent only a subset of the features in a particular feature class.

For example, you might have a data source that contains arcs for all the roads in your study area, but you want to create a theme that only represents the major highways. In this case you would first add the theme to your view then set its theme properties to define a feature selection consisting of the major highways.

By defining a feature selection you can control exactly which features from a theme's data source are represented in the theme. Features are selected based on the attribute values in the theme's attribute table.

To define a feature selection for a theme

1	Click on the theme in the Table of Contents to make it active.

2	Press the Theme Properties button [image] or from the Theme menu choose Properties.

3	Choose the Definition category if it is not already chosen.

4	Press the Query Builder button [image].

5	Build a query. Press OK on the Query Builder. Your query appears in the Theme Properties definition box.

6	Press OK on the Theme Properties dialog box. ArcView will select the features that match the query and redraw the view. Only those features that are selected in the query are now in the theme.

Example

Redefine the States theme in the USA view to contain just the most populous states.

1	Open the sample project called USA.

2	Open the view called USA, if it is not already open.

3	Click on the theme called States in the Table of Contents to make it active.

4	Click the Theme Properties button [image] or from the Theme menu choose Properties.

5	Choose the Definition category if it is not displayed.

6	Press the Query Builder button [image]. ArcView displays the Query Builder dialog.

7	Double-click Pop1990 from the Field list, then double-click > in the Operator list, and then type "10000000" .

8	Press OK on the Query Builder.

9	Press OK on the Theme Properties dialog box. ArcView selects the features that match this query and redraws the view. The States theme will contain only those states with a population of greater than 10,000,000.

What happens to the feature selection if a data source is updated?

A theme stores a feature selection definition, not the actual features themselves. This is useful because if the data source represented in a theme is updated or modified, these changes will be automatically reflected in the view when the theme is redrawn.

For example, if you have created a theme representing the major highways in a roads data source, and this data source is edited in ARC/INFO to reflect new highways that have been built, these new highways will automatically be displayed when the theme is redrawn.

  Related topics


Defining a hot link for a theme

Hot links have to be defined before they can be used. There is no default hot link definition. There are a few things you need to do to get your theme ready for hot links.

To prepare a theme for hot links

1.	Add a field to the theme's attribute table

This field will store the appropriate value for each feature in the theme. For example, if your hot link action will be to display a relevant image when a country is clicked on, you will need to add a field to the country theme's attribute table to hold the name of the image that should be accessed for each country. For best results, use full path names if you are linking to a file on disk.

2.	Decide if you will use one of the predefined hot link actions

There are several actions you can choose from in the Hot Links panel of the Theme Properties dialog. The predefined hot link actions let you display text files, images, other components of your project, and open other projects. Here are the supported image formats:

X-Bitmap (generated by `bitmap' utility on X Windows)

MacPaint

Microsoft DIB (Device-Independent Bitmap)

Sun raster files

XWD (X Windows Dump Format)

GIF (Graphics Interchange Format)

TIFF (Tag Image File Format)

TIFF/LZW compressed image data

If you want to create your own Avenue script and use it as the hot link action, you should create and write the script - see the example below.

3.	Define the theme's hot link properties

Click the Theme Properties button [image] or from the Theme menu choose Properties. The Theme Properties dialog box is displayed. Choose the Hot Links category. Specify the field and the action you will use for this theme's hot links.

Using your own script

You can associate any script with a theme's hot link field. The Predefined Actions in the Theme Properties dialog box provide several useful examples. See the Link.Document, Link.ImageFile, Link.Project and Link.TextFile scripts. In these scripts, SELF refers to the value of the Hot Link field. Other scripts that provide useful examples are View.HotLink and View.Identify.

Using your own script as a hot link action lets you extend the capabilities of hot linking. You can write an Avenue script that runs a system command using the System.Execute request.

Example

See also

What are hot links?


Deleting classes
To delete classes

1  Click once on the symbol of the class you want to delete.

2  Click the Delete class button [image].


Deleting features

To delete features

1	If the theme is not already in edit mode, make the theme active and from the Theme menu, choose Start Editing.

2	Use the Pointer tool [image] to select the feature or features you want to delete.

3	Press the DELETE key.

The features are removed from the theme, and the corresponding records in the feature attribute table are automatically removed.

See also

Selecting features for editing


Deleting labels

To remove all labels from a theme

1	Make the theme you want to remove the labels from active.

2	From the Theme menu choose Remove Labels.

To remove overlapping labels from a theme

1	Make the theme you want to remove the labels from active.

2	From the Theme menu choose Remove Overlapping Labels.

To specific labels from a theme

1	Use the pointer tool [image] to select the labels you want to delete

2	From the Edit menu choose Delete Graphics .


Deleting labels and shapes on a view
To delete labels and shapes on a view

ArcView treats both text labels and shapes as graphic elements.

To delete one label or shape

1	Use the [image] tool to select the label or shape.

2	Choose Delete Graphics from the Edit menu to permanently delete the shape or label. Use Cut Graphics from the Edit menu if you want to place the label or shape onto the Clipboard. You can then Paste it back into the view if necessary.

To delete all labels and shapes

1	Choose Select All Graphics from the Edit menu.

2	Choose Cut Graphics from the Edit menu. This places the labels and shapes onto the Clipboard. You can Paste them back to the view if you decide not to delete them. Delete Graphics from the Edit menu to permanently delete the shapes or labels.

To delete only the labels associated with Active themes.

   Choose Remove Labels from the Theme menu.

To delete only the overlapping labels associated with Active themes.

   Choose Remove Overlapping Labels from the Theme menu.


Dot Density Legends
Dot Density Maps

There are many considerations you should be aware of when making a dot density map. ArcView automatically takes care of some, like random placement of dots to help you achieve optimum cartographic effect. However, other considerations like the value of each dot, the size of each dot, and the scale of the map might require some thought on your part. But only a little, as ArcView does almost all of the work.

Dot size and number of dots

The number and size of dots on the map affect how its readers perceive the data. If, you want readers to be able to count the dots in your features, without straining their eyes, make your dots large and make each dot represent a large data value. But, if you want to show your map’s audience a relative distribution of the data on your map, your dots should be small and the value each dot represents also small.

The Calculate button and map scale

The only thing you need to worry about here is how big you want your map to be. This is because when ArcView calculates an optimized density value, it checks how big your view document and dot symbol is in pixels (screen units). So, if your view is not very large on your screen, and you have set your dot size to be rather large, perhaps six points (1/12 inch), you may not see too many dots when you Apply your legend. Also, If you calculate your theme’s optimized dot density at one scale and then resize your view document to be much smaller, then the dot pattern will appear more dense.

The advantage of determining dot density based on your display size is that you can interactively change scales and calculate new density values each time you change scales. Try calculating the dot density when your theme is displayed at its full extent, then note the value. Now zoom in to about 10% of the theme’s area and calculate the density again.

Note   You might notice that each time your theme redraws, the dots change position. This is because ArcView does not maintain the position of each dot in memory (RAM or physical), thus when you draw 500,000 dots, your computer doesn’t have to work too hard. Remember, the position of dots within each polygon is random and inconsequential to understanding the map.

Tip   If you want to show concentrations of dots at particular places, then use a theme that has smaller reporting units. Set the outline of the dot symbol to none.  Then use a theme that overlays the dot theme, but with larger reporting units. Make its fill transparent but draw the outlines. For example, load the U.S. counties and states from the sample data that came with ArcView. Make a dot density legend for the counties using Pop1990 as the density field. Change the outline to none and Apply. Then make a Single Symbol legend with a fill symbol that is transparent for the state theme.


Drawing labels and shapes on a view

There are many ways to add shapes, text, or labels to a view. Do you want to

   Draw shapes on a view?

   Add text to a view?

   Label individual features with their attribute data?

   Label a highway with a representative symbol and route number?

   Place a label with a leader line pointing to its feature?

   Add  a label with a background and drop-shadow?

   Auto-label a street theme?

   Auto-label a theme using a fixed label position?

   Auto-label with different fonts on the same theme?


Editing an image's legend

By editing an image's legend with the Image Legend Editor you can choose the bands and colors used to draw the images in your view and control what they show.

To edit an image's legend

Either:

Double-click the name of the image theme in your view's Table of Contents,

Or:

Click the image theme once to make it active, and then click the Legend Editor button [image] or choose Edit Legend from the Theme menu.

Note  The default colormap for a grid is initialized from a colormap if one is found on disk. Given a grid named soils, ArcView looks for a colormap file named soils.clr. If no colormap file is present, ArcView assigns the default nominal colormap for integer grids and the default gray scale colormap for floating point grids.


Overview of editing a theme
Overview of editing themes

ArcView allows you to edit a theme that is based on an ArcView shapefile if you have file write permission on the shapefile.

To make a shapefile theme editable

1	Make the shapefile theme active.

2	Choose Start Editing from the View's Theme menu. ArcView allows you to edit only one theme in a view at a time. If you choose Start Editing on a theme while you are editing another theme, you will be prompted to save your edits on the theme you were previously editing before editing on the second theme is enabled.

A dashed line around the theme's check box in the Table of Contents indicates that you can edit that theme.

To undo and redo edits

Choose Undo Feature Edit from the Edit menu to undo the last edit you made to the shapefile. Choosing this option repeatedly enables you to successively undo all the edits you made since you started editing. Undo Feature Edit undoes changes to the feature geometry in the shapefile and the corresponding changes to the feature attribute table. The Redo Feature Edit option let you re-apply the changes.

To save your edits and continue editing

Choose Save Edits from the Theme menu to save all edits made to the theme during the current edit session. Once you save the edits, you can continue to edit the theme but you are not able to undo or redo any edits that were made prior to choosing Save Edits.

To save your edits out to a new theme

Choose the Save Edits As option from the Theme menu if you want to save your edits out to a new shapefile rather than changing the original shapefile. The edited version of the original theme will be written out to the new shapefile, editing will be disabled on the original theme, and the edits will not be written to the original shapefile. The new shapefile will be added to the view as a theme, the same editing environment and legend will be set up for this theme, and editing will be started on the new theme automatically. Now any edits you do will be to the new theme.

To stop editing a theme and commit your edits

Choose Stop Editing from the View's Theme menu to disable editing on the theme. You will be prompted to save your edits.

Note   You cannot edit the features of a multipoint shapefile theme. Start Editing is disabled if the theme you want to edit contains multipoint features. To check if a theme is a multipoint theme, see the Shape field in the theme's attribute table. However, you can edit the values in its attribute table.

See also

Editing point themes

Editing line themes

Editing polygon themes


Editing control points on spline text

You can Move, Add, or Delete control points for a spline text object’s baseline.

To move a control point

1	Choose the [image] tool.

2	Click on the spline text that you want to edit

3	Move the cursor on top of one of the control points (the cursor will change to a +).

4	Click down on the control point and drag it to the location you want it moved to.

To Add a control point

1	Choose the [image] tool.

2	Click on the spline text that you want to edit

3	Move the cursor over the dashed spline base line (the cursor will change to a + with a circle around it).

4	Click at that location and a new control point will be added to the spline text’s baseline.

To Delete a control point

1	Choose the [image] tool.

2	Click on the spline text that you want to edit

3	Move the cursor over the dashed spline base line (the cursor will change to a +).

4	Press the Delete key.

Tip:  Here are some examples of spline text and how their control points are located:

This is what a spline text object looks like when you first create it (note that spacing is set to 1.0):

As you move a control point, you will see the spline baseline adjust to its new location:

The next two images show what happens when you move the center point of a control point. See how the adjacent control points also move in the same direction.  This provides a better result faster, rather than making you move each of the adjacent points as well.


Editing line themes

There are many ways to edit line themes. What do you want to do?

Create new line features

Delete line features

Cut and paste line features

Move line features

Resize line features

Reshape line features

Split line features

Merge line features


Editing point themes

There are many ways to edit point themes. What do you want to do?

Create new point features

Delete point features

Cut and paste point features

Move point features


Editing polygon themes

There are many ways to edit polygon themes. What do you want to do?

Create new polygon features

Delete polygon features

Cut and paste polygon features

Move polygon features

Resize polygon features

Reshape polygon features

Split polygon features

Merge polygon features

Create doughnut polygons

Remove area of overlap between polygons

Obtain the intersection of polygons


Editing Shapes using Shape Properties

The Shape Properties dialog allows you to view or edit the properties of the selected graphic or feature in your view.

To view or edit the properties of a shape:

1	Select a feature or a graphic in your view

2	Right-click on the shape and select Shape Properties from the pop-up menu

3	Select the Vertex in the list you want to change, or add a new vertex after.

4	Click either Add, Edit, or Delete.

5	Click OK to commit the changes to the shape.


Exporting a view

You can export a view to a graphics file in any of number of supported output formats. In this way, you can use this file in other applications. For example you could enhance or edit the graphic in a graphics program, or import the file into a word processor or desktop publishing program. When you export a view, its Table of Contents is not exported.

To export a view

1	From the File menu, choose Export.

2	In the dialog that appears, choose the file format you want to export the view to from the dropdown list of file types. If an Options button appears after you have chosen the file type, press it to set specific options for this file type.

3	Specify the name and location of the file you wish to create.

4	Press OK.


Finding a feature in a view

Use the Find option to find a particular feature in a view.

Find searches the active themes in the view until it finds a feature with the particular attribute value you specify. When a feature is found, ArcView selects it and pans the view so that the feature is in the center of the view.

To find a feature on a view

1	Click on the theme in the Table of Contents that contains the feature you wish to find. This makes the theme active. If you are not sure which theme contains the feature, hold down SHIFT and click on the themes it might be in.

2	Click the Find button [image].

3	Type in the attribute value you wish to find. Find works by searching the features to find the first feature with the value you specified, in any of its text attribute fields (i.e. fields containing text strings as opposed to numeric values). Find doesn’t search in numeric fields. You don't need to enclose the text you specify in quotes. Find is not case-sensitive. You can enter part of the text. For example, just typing Afgh will also find Afghanistan. Wildcard characters are not supported by Find.

4	Press OK. ArcView will search the view to find the first feature with that attribute. If one is found, it is selected and displayed in the center of the view.

To find the next feature that matches the specified value

1	Choose Find again. The value you previously specified will still be shown in the Find dialog box.

2	Press OK. Find will search the view to find the next feature with that attribute.


Geocoding Index

A geocoding index will be built when you set a theme's geocoding properties.

1. Tying the geocoding index to the data source

If you have write access to the data source directory and the theme’s attribute table does not contain a join table, setting the theme’s geocoding properties will create a match source object database file and a geocoding index in that directory, provided that there is enough disk space. This index is `tied' to the data source. The next time the data is added to ArcView as a theme in any ArcView session, the theme will become matchable right away.

The match source object database and index file are named in this convention.

match source object database:	<data source name>.mx<data source type>

geocoding index:	<data source name>.ix<data source type>

   where
<data source name> = the prefix file name of the data source, e.g., "street" from "street.shp"
<data source type> = a single letter code indicating the data source type:
x   = ARC/INFO coverage point feature class
a   = ARC/INFO coverage arc feature class
p   = ARC/INFO coverage polygon feature class
t   = ARC/INFO coverage annotation feature class
r   = ARC/INFO coverage region feature class
n   = ARC/INFO coverage node feature class
d   = ARC/INFO coverage route feature class
l   = ARC/INFO coverage label feature class
c   = ARC/INFO coverage other feature class
s   = shapefile
o   = others, including CAD drawings

The match source object database file contains the geocoding properties objects for the theme. When the theme is added to a view, ArcView checks if this file exists. If it does, ArcView reads the objects and allows you to geocode against the theme. Only one match source object database and geocoding index file will be saved in the data source directory.

If the data source is edited or if you change the address style for the theme, ArcView will re-index the theme. Both match source object database and geocoding index file will be updated.

2. Writing the geocoding index file to the project workspace

If you don’t have write permission to the data source directory or the theme's attribute table contains a join table, ArcView will save the geocoding index file in the project workspace. You can change the project work directory in the Project Properties dialog box. The index file name is formed in this convention:

<first six characters of the data source name><an incremental unique number>.idx

   where
<first six characters of the data source name> = the first six characters of the prefix file name of the data source, e.g., "SF_str" from "SF_street.shp".

<an incremental unique number> = started from 1, then 2 and so on. ArcView will not overwrite the index file if the data source needs to be re-indexed. Instead ArcView increments the number by one every time the data source is re-indexed and saves the file in the same work directory.

Re-index

ArcView reuses the index when you locate or geocode an address. The path name of the index file is saved in the project (.apr) file when you save the project. However, ArcView will rebuild the index if one of the following situations applies:

1. The theme's geocoding properties are changed with a new address style.

2. The project wasn't saved after a theme was indexed in the previous session.

3. The index file was deleted or moved.

4. The project file was moved to a new location that the index file could not be accessed.

5. The feature data source was updated, edited, or saved with a newer date/time stamp.

6. The computer's system clock was reset (because the index

Notes

 Project repair in ArcView does not recover the geocoding index file if, for some reasons, the file is moved to a new location. You can manually edit the project (.apr) file if you want to reuse the index file. Search for the path names containing files with the "ix*" extension and change them with correct path names. Environment variables can be used.


Geocoding street intersections

ArcView allows you to use street intersections as addresses for geocoding.

Street intersections may only be geocoded to a theme that has been made matchable using US Streets with Zone, US Streets, US Single Range with Zone or US Single Range address styles.

Using street intersections when you geocode addresses in a table

In the Address field of the address event table, you can have addresses represented by street intersections delimited by an "&" by default. An example is 'Post Ave & E Dayton St'. ArcView searches for the intersections in the matchable theme and assigns the coordinates of the intersection to the geocoded theme. In this case, an offset distance does not apply. Also for intersection addresses only, zone information is not needed even if the matchable theme uses an address style that requires a zone field.

Using street intersections when you locate an address on a view

In the Locate Address dialog box, you can enter a street intersection in the Address text box.  An example is 'Post Ave & E Dayton St'. ArcView searches for the intersections in the matchable theme and places a point marker at the intersection. You can also use the Geocoding Editor to review and select a candidate if more than one is found. For intersection addresses only, zone information is not needed even if the matchable theme uses an address style that requires a zone field.

See also

Address geocoding

The geocoding process

Locating an address on a view

Working with place name aliases


Graduated Color Maps

Graduated color maps display the features of your theme using color. These maps are primarily for numeric data with a of progression or range of values like temperature or annual sales. The features are represented with a color ramp. A color ramp has a beginning and an end color and then all colors in between represent the intervening colors of the spectrum. For instance, a color ramp that goes from yellow to red has shades of orange in between.

Predefined color ramps

There are more than 30 predefined color ramps. The ramp you’ve currently selected will be applied each time you reclassify your the values of the classification field. ArcView reclassifies these values each time you change the values in or the number of your classes

The predefined color ramps are based on a progression of 13 colors. Thus, for the specialized color ramps like elevation or temperation, you will get the best results by using 13 classes.

When you are using the standard deviations classification type, ArcView does a special kind of color ramp. A class is added (shown in white) that contains just the mean data value. Then each class that is present either above or below the mean class is incrementally darker (blue for below the mean, red for above the mean).

User-Defined color ramps

The ramp colors button [image] , has two modes of operation. First, if you do not have any of your symbols selected in the legend editor, it will ramp from the first to the last class (excluding the No data class if it is shown). Second, if you select a symbol for a class somewhere in the middle of all of your classes and click the ramp colors button, the resulting ramp will begin at the first class’s color, ramp to the selected class’s color and then ramp to the last class’s color. You can have as many classes selected as you need, for example, start at blue, go to green, then yellow, then red, and finally ending with magenta.

ArcView determines which colors to ramp through by taking the shortest path from the beginning color to the end color. The possible path follows the order of colors in the spectrum (red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, indigo, and magenta), but with one caveat:  ArcView treats color as being continuous. So, a Ramp from magenta to orange will go through red rather than through blue, green, and yellow.


Graduated Symbol Maps

Graduated symbol maps display the features of your theme using different size symbols. These maps are primarily for showing numeric data for point and line features. While color is a powerful tool for differentiating features, point and line features are rarely large enough to display colors effectively.

When you assign a minimum and maximum size in the Graduated Symbols Legend Editor, ArcView checks to see how many classes you have and then divides that number into the symbols size range to determine size interval between classes. Thus, for an equal interval classification you will get a direct correspondence between a symbol’s size and value for the class it represents. For other classifications, you may want to manually adjust the size of some symbols in your classes to accurately represent the ranges.


Hot Link with script example

This example shows how you can set up a hot link which will use a script to display a video when someone uses the Hot Link tool. This example is for the Windows 95 platform.

1	Edit the table of the theme you want to hot link. Add a field to it, then populate the field with the full path names of the video you want to play when the Hot Link tool is used on each feature.

COVER-ID	PATHNAME
1	c:\videos\id1.avi
2	c:\videos\id2.avi
3	c:\videos\id3.avi
4	c:\videos\id4.avi
5	c:\videos\id5.avi
2	Write a script which will run the video software. The name of the video file which will be displayed is pulled from the PATHNAME field in the theme’s attribute table (theVal).

theVal = SELF

' see if the value of the field is not null

if (not (theVal.IsNull)) then

  ' if the file listed in the field exists, then play the video

  if (File.Exists(theVal.AsFileName)) then

    ' use the path to the video player executable

    System.Execute("c:\win95\mplayer.exe /play /close"++theVal)

  else

    ' if the file doesn’t exist, tell the user

    MsgBox.Warning("File "+theVal+" not found.","Hot Link")

  end

end

3	Compile the script.

4	From Hot Link panel of Theme Properties, set the Field to Pathname.

5	Type in the script’s name in the Script field, then click OK. You do not need to change the Predefined action field.

6	Test the hot link.


 Identifying features on a view

Each theme in a view has a table storing attributes about the geographic features it contains. A theme's attribute table contains one record for each feature in the theme. (The only themes that do not have attribute tables are themes representing image data).

To display the attributes of a particular feature on a view

The Identify tool [image] lets you display the attributes of features on a view by clicking on them with the mouse. Choose the Identify tool and click on any feature in the active theme(s) on your view to display its attributes. Attributes of all features located at the same point are displayed.

To display the attributes of all the features in a theme

1	Click on the theme in the Table of Contents to make it active.

2	Click the Open Theme Table button [image]. The theme's attribute table is displayed.

To display the attributes of the selected features in a theme

1	Click on the theme in the Table of Contents to make it active, if it is not already.

2	Select the features in the theme that you want to display the attributes for.

3	Click the Open Theme Table button [image]. The theme's attribute table is displayed and the records for the features you selected are highlighted.

4	To display the highlighted records at the top of the table, click the Promote button [image].

  Related topics


Labeling individual features with their attribute data

1	Make the theme that contains the features you want to label active by clicking on it in the Table of Contents.

2	From the Theme menu choose Properties.

3	Choose the Text Labels icon in the Theme Properties dialog.

4	Choose the field that contains the values you want to use as labels and then click OK.

5	Select the Label tool [image].

6	Click on the feature you want to label. The label appears where you clicked.


Load a legend
To load a legend.

1  Click Load.

2  In the dialog box that appears navigate to where your saved legend file is located.  Select your legend file and click OK.

3  Select which option(s) you want and click OK

Note   If you select symbols, it will work only if you have the same number of classes in your legend as is in the legend you are loading.


Locating an address on a view

Use Locate Address to find an address in a view.

The Locate Address option searches the active matchable theme(s) in the view to find an address you specify. When the address is found, ArcView draws a point and places it on top of the location. ArcView will pan the view if the found location is outside the current display of the theme. If more than one matchable theme are active in the view, ArcView will search the address in the first matchable theme. If the address cannot be found in the first active matchable theme, ArcView will display a new Locate Address dialog box for you to specify an address and then search in the next active matchable theme.

Locate Address is only available for themes whose geocoding properties have been set. See Setting a theme's geocoding properties. See The geocoding process for information about making a theme matchable.

The address you can use in the Locate Address dialog box is governed by the way you set the theme's geocoding properties. Review the Geocoding Theme Properties dialog box for which address style is used and whether a place name alias table is specified.

If the theme is based on the address style that requires a zone field

Type a street address in the first text box. Press TAB to move the cursor to the Zone text box and enter the zone information such as postal zip code or city name depending on what attribute data you have provided to the style when you made the theme matchable.

Type a street intersection delimited by an "&" in the first text box, for example, Post Ave & E Dayton St. Zone is not considered when matching intersections. You can leave the Zone text box empty.

Type a place name alias if an alias table is specified in the Geocoding Theme Properties dialog box. See Working with place name aliases.

If the theme is based on the address style that does not require a zone field

Type a street address in the Enter Address text box.

Type a street intersection delimited by an "&" in the first text box, for example, Post Ave & E Dayton St.

Type a place name alias if an alias table is specified in the Geocoding Theme Properties dialog box.

If the theme is based on the Single Field Address Style

Type a value or string you want to search for in the Enter Address text box. Depending on what attribute data you have specified for the single field style in the Geocoding Theme Properties dialog box, the search value or string can be, for example, parcel ID, postal zip code, or census tract number.

Street  intersections are not considered.

Type a place name alias if an alias table is specified in the Geocoding Theme Properties dialog box.

If the theme is based on the address style that handles Zip+4 codes

Type a zip+4 value you want to search for in the Enter Address text box. Addresses used for geocoding with this address style should contain the information in one of the following three formats:

XXXXXXXXX   e.g., 923730040

XXXXX XXXX  e.g., 92373 0040

XXXXX-XXXX  e.g., 92373-0040

Street  intersections are not considered.

Type a place name alias if an alias table is specified in the Geocoding Theme Properties dialog box.

When an address is found

The location that you specify will be indicated on the view with a point marker. If you are locating an address and ArcView finds several candidates that match your specification, ArcView will choose the first one with the highest matching score. If you choose to review candidates in the Geocoding Preferences dialog box, a Geocoding Editor will appear enabling you to choose a candidate. You can also adjust the matching parameters and interactively edit the addresses in the Geocoding Preferences dialog box.

See also

Address geocoding


Locking a theme

When you lock a theme you prevent users from gaining access to the theme's properties. If the theme is locked, clicking the Theme Properties button or menu choice displays a dialog box that prompts for a password.

To lock a theme

1	Make the theme active.

2	Click the Theme Properties button [image] or from the Theme menu choose Properties.

3	Choose the Locking category.

4	Click the Set Password button and enter the password with which to gain access to the theme's properties.

5	Check the Locked check box.

6	Press OK.

To unlock a theme

 Uncheck the check box in the Locking category in the Theme Properties dialog box, and press OK.


Make a single symbol legend

1   Double click on the theme in the View’s Table of Contents to open the legend editor.

2   If Type is not already set to single symbol change it.

3   Double-click the symbol to open the symbol palette, make any changes you need.

4   Add a label for your symbol by clicking on the label field box and typing your label.

5   Click the Apply button.


Making a theme active

Many of the operations you can perform on a view work on the active theme(s). Make the theme(s) you wish to work with active before choosing these operations.

To make a theme active

  Click the theme's name or legend in the Table of Contents. The theme will highlight to show it is active. In this example, the Major highways theme is active:

To make more than one theme active

 Hold down SHIFT and click on the themes one by one in the Table of Contents.

To make an active theme inactive

 Do one of the following:

Click on another theme to make it active.

Or

Hold down SHIFT and click on the active theme.

Tip   Making a theme active is not the same as turning it on or off. To make a theme active you click on its name or legend in the Table of Contents. To turn a theme on or off you click the check box that is to the left of the theme's name in the Table of Contents. This controls whether the theme is drawn in your view. See Turning themes on and off.


Making your data easier to understand
Making your data easier to understand: Normalizing

By normalizing or adjusting the values in your classification field(s) you can show how your data relates to the values of another field or make the data easier to read and understand.

When should you normalize your data's values?

If your data is in raw counts that are expressed in very large numbers. In the case of the populations for the countries of Africa, the audience of your map may have difficulty absorbing seven, eight, or nine digits of information for each class in the legend. This legend could be made much easier to read by normalizing the values of the population field by the values in the Area field to produce a density map. The number of people per unit of area would be at worst five digits for the map’s reader to deal with.

When should you not normalize your data's values?

If your data's values are already normalized. If the values or the field name of your classification field indicate that your data is already expressed as a percentage, or density, then your data may already be normalized. Normalizing normalized data is likely to produce an erroneous result.

  Related topics


Matching Preference definition file

This file contains the parameters used to define the default values for spelling sensitivity, minimum match score, minimum score to be considered a candidate, and the option of reviewing or not reviewing candidates.

ArcView looks in the geocode subdirectory of the installation directory to find the default matching preference definition file (mprefdef.db).

Structure of the matching preference definition file - mprefdef.db

(Mpref.1

SpellWeight:  80

MinMatch: 60

MinCand:  30

NoReview: 1

MultBest:  0

MultGood:  0

NoCand:  0

)

You can edit the values in this file if you have file write permission. The values must be integer numbers and the parameter names should not be altered.

SpellWeight -  Spelling Sensitivity, in the range of 0 to 100.

MinMatch -  Minimum match score, in the range of 0 to 100.

MinCand -  Minimum score to be considered a candidate, in the range of 0 to 100.

NoReview -  Review candidates, either 0 (Review) or 1 ( Do not review).

MultBest  -  Review candidates if more than one candidate has the highest score. The value can be either 0 (Do not review) or 1 (Review). If this value is set to 1, the value for NoReview must be 0.

MultGood  -  Review candidates if multiple candidates have scores higher than the minimum match score. The value can be either 0 (Do not review) or 1 (Review). If this value is set to 1, the value for NoReview must be 0.

NoCand  -  Review candidates if no candidates can be found. The value can be either 0 (Do not review) or 1 (Review). To halt batch mode geocoding, set the value to 1. If this value is set to 1, the value for NoReview must be 0.

See also

Geocoding Preferences


Measuring features on a view

To take measurements directly from a view

Use the Measure tool [image] to measure distance on a view.  Use the mouse to draw a line defining the distance you want to measure. The measurements are displayed in the ArcView status bar, shown in the current distance units of the view.

If you are using global data in decimal degrees, and you've set your map and distance units, the Measure tool will return the shortest spherical distance between the two points you click. If you click on Los Angeles, for example, and move the mouse toward Sydney, you'll see the Segment Length reported in the status bar go up, and then down as you move the mouse across the globe. When you click on Sydney, the number reported is the distance from Los Angeles to Sydney going the other way around the globe (the shortest distance).

Using shapes to make measurements

When you use the Draw tool [image] to draw shapes on a view, the dimensions of the shapes are displayed in the status bar in the current distance units of the view. This is a useful way to make measurements because the distance or area you measure remains displayed on the view as a graphic shape, which you can then edit using the Pointer tool. If you change the shape or size of the graphic shape, its new dimensions are shown in the status bar. You can also change the parameters of a graphic shape using Size and Position in the Graphics menu.


Merging line features

If you have a group of lines that you want to merge into one line, use the Union Features option. Union Features returns the union of the selected features to create a single feature. If two lines meet at exactly the same point, one continuous line will result. Otherwise the result is one feature with multiple parts. If the line features overlap, the overlapping segment is not removed.

To merge lines

1	If the theme is not already in edit mode, make the theme active and from the Theme menu, choose Start Editing.

2	Use the Pointer tool  to select the lines you want to merge.

3	From the Edit menu, choose Union Features.

When a set of features is merged with Union Features option, the records of those features are erased from the feature attribute table and one new record is added to the table to represent the new feature. If you want to specify how the data in  the original records is handled when you merge line features, you can set attribute update rules for each field in the table.


Merging polygon features
Merging polygons

If you have a group of polygons that you want to merge into one polygon, use the Union Features option. Union Features returns the union of the selected features to create a single feature. If the selected polygons share a common boundary, the common boundary is removed to create a single polygon. If the selected polygons overlap, the boundaries of the overlap are removed to create one polygon. If the polygons are not adjacent or overlapping, the result is one feature with multiple parts.

To merge polygons

1	If the theme is not already in edit mode, make the theme active and from the Theme menu, choose Start Editing.

2	Use the Pointer tool [image] to select the polygons you want to merge.

3	From the Edit menu, choose Union Features.

When a set of features is merged with the Union Features option, the records of those features are removed from the theme’s feature attribute table and one new record is added to the table to represent the new feature. If you want to specify how the data in  the original records is handled when you merge polygon features, you can set attribute update rules for each field in the table.


Moving features

To move features with the mouse

1	If the theme is not already in edit mode, make the theme active and from the Theme menu, choose Start Editing.

2	Use the Pointer tool [image] to select the feature or features you want to move.

3	Press and hold the mouse button within a selected feature or features, then drag to a new location. A faint outline of the selection follows the mouse movement; the feature re-draws in the new location once the mouse button is released.

See also

Selecting features for editing


Normalize by another field
To Normalize by another field

 Click in the Normalize by drop-down list and select a field.


Normalize by percent of total
To Normalize by percent of total

 Click in the Normalize by drop-down list and select Percent of Total.


Obtaining the intersection
Obtaining the intersection of polygons

Use the Intersect Features option if your theme contains several polygons that overlap and you are only interested in the area that is shared by the overlapping polygons. This creates a new polygon from the area common to the overlapping polygons, and removes all the original polygons.

To obtain the intersection between polygons

1	If the theme is not already in edit mode, make the theme active and from the Theme menu, choose Start Editing.

2	Use the Pointer tool [image]  to select the polygons you want find the intersection of. In this example, two polygons have been selected.

3	From the Edit menu choose Intersect Features.


Open the legend editor
To open the legend editor

 Double click on the theme in the Table of Contents.


Overview of creating a view

 Open or create a project

If you have not yet opened a project, choose Open Project or New Project from the File menu.

 Create a new view

On the Project window, click the Views button and then press the New button. A new, empty view will appear in your project.

 Set the view's properties

Setting a view's properties lets you change the view's name, store comments about the view, specify the coordinate and measurement units the view will use, specify the map projection that will be used, etc. See Setting view properties.

 Add themes to a view

Add themes to the view for each spatial data source you want to display. You can also add themes based on tabular data such as street addresses or XY coordinates. See Adding a theme to a view.

 Set theme properties

By setting a theme's properties you can control characteristics such as the theme's name, which features in the data source will be represented in the theme, at which scales the theme will be drawn, etc. See Setting a theme's properties.

 Choose the order in which the themes are drawn on the view

You can drag themes up and down in the view's Table of Contents to control the order in which they are drawn. The theme at the top of the Table of Contents is drawn on top of those below it. See Changing the order themes are drawn in.

 Specify which colors and symbols themes will be drawn with

Click the Edit Legend button [image] or double click on a theme's legend in the Table of Contents to change how it is displayed.

 Save your work

To save your work, click the Save Project button [image]. In ArcView you save the work you do with any project component by saving the project.

See also

Importing views created with ArcView version 1


Overview of labeling

ArcView has three ways for you to label the features in your themes.

1.  Interactively position and enter your own text

The most flexible way for you to label a feature is by using the tools in the Text tool menu [image] because you can enter whatever text you want. Click here for instructions.

Tips

 You can copy text from other applications or text editors and paste it into the Text Properties dialog.

 There are several specialized tools for placing text in conjunction with other graphics, like callouts.

2.  Interactively position a label based on an attribute value

You can use the tools in the Label tool menu [image] to label features by clicking on them. By using the Text Labels Theme Property, you can designate a field in your theme's attribute table as the label field. Click here for instructions.

Tip    There are several specialized tools for placing highway shields that contain the appropriate highway number (derived from the highway theme’s label field) or for placing labels inside of callout boxes.

3.  Automatically label some or all features

You can label all features or just selected features for an active theme. From the Theme menu choose Auto-label to open the Auto-label dialog box. From here you can set the preferences for labeling. You can Auto-label either all the features of the active theme or a selected set of features.

There are two methods that ArcView uses to Auto-label themes.

1.   The first method is to place one label for every feature. These labels will always be positioned in the same location with respect to a feature, e.g., Upper left, centered, or below. The placement options are in the Theme Properties Label Text panel.

Notes on the one label per feature method

 You can use this method to effectively place multiple labels per feature by specifying different label positions for each label.

 This method is not very useful for labeling dense clusters of features. You should either change scales, the size of your text, or use the Find Best Placement method.

2.   The first method may not be appropriate for all labeling scenarios, especially when many features have the same label text. Therefore, a second method can be used which automatically evaluates features and their label text and then only places labels that meet the placement criteria you specify in the Auto-label dialog. This second method is called Find Best Label Placement.  The following options are available when you use the Find Best Placement Labeling:

Allow Overlapping Labels check box

ArcView may not be able to place all labels because of conflicts between labels. Sometimes this may eliminate labels that are crucial for identifying features in your theme. This option, when used in conjunction with the Remove Duplicates, will ensure that all unique labels get placed, regardless of conflicts. Labels that overlap will be drawn in a green color and will be selected so you can easily identify them. Labels that do not overlap will not be selected, and will have the color of the default text symbol.

Remove Duplicates check box

With this option, ArcView will place only unique label strings. Thus, if your data contains features that have the same label, i.e., you have 40 lines that have the label 'Main St', only one line will receive a label.

Line Label Position options

The Line Label Position options let you control where ArcView will try to place labels in relation to line features. The default is Above.

Scale labels check box

You can now create text labels that do not scale when the view's scale is changed. In ArcView Version 2.1 text labels always scale (get bigger as you zoom in on them, smaller as you zoom out). By default, text labels do scale. The ability to create labels that do not scale is useful in applications where you will be changing scales frequently but always want to be able to see the labels for identification purposes. For example, if you turn Scale Labels off and label an oil well with its ID number, this ID will remain the same size next to the well irrespective of how closely you zoom in on the well or how far you zoom out. This check box is also available on the Text Labels Theme Properties dialog.

Label Only Features in View Extent check box

When this option is checked, ArcView only auto-labels the features that are currently visible in the view's extent. You would use this option if you have zoomed in on a particular area of your view and only want to label the active theme's features that are located in this area. (If some of the theme's features are currently selected, only those selected features that are located in this area will be labeled). By default this option is not checked, in which case ArcView will label all features in your theme, including those that fall outside the area currently shown in the view window.

Notes on the Find Best Placement method

 You have the option to allow overlapping labels, which will return labels that are of the same font as your non-overlapping labels, but the color will be green. If you use this option in conjunction with the Remove Duplicates option, you will get all the unique labels for your theme.

 ArcView evaluates each label and determines whether a label is aesthetic. If not, then ArcView will not place that label. If you choose to Allow Overlapping Labels, these un-aesthetic labels will also be drawn in the green color with the overlapping labels.

 ArcView treats point features a little different than line and polygon features. ArcView will not permit labels for point features to intersect the point symbols, while labels for line and polygon features may intersect other features.

 The default label position for point features is above and to the left of the point's symbol.

Labeling large themes

Labeling is dependent on available system memory and disk resources.  Extremely large themes (50,000 features or more) may cause ArcView to run out of memory and quit the labeling process.  Computers with more disk and RAM resources can label much larger jobs, although it may require a significant amount of time.

In order to avoid running out of memory when labeling, at the earliest sign of trouble, you should click the stop button on the status bar, which will halt and cancel the labeling process.  If the labeling job is almost complete and you have not received and out of memory message from either your system or SmartHeap, you might be able to finish without problems. If you get the SmartHeap out of memory error, keep hitting Retry and then the stop button on the ArcView status bar, eventually ArcView will recover.  Do NOT click Abort or Ignore in the SmartHeap dialog, this will likely result in a loss of work.


Overview of using file locking

ArcView provides a system level file locking mechanism to prevent users from overwriting data sources when more than one person is working with the same shapefile, dBase file or INFO file in ArcView. With file locking, an ArcView session can access files locally, or on the network, without overwriting an existing file that is currently being accessed by another ArcView session. ArcView's multiuser file locking consists of a lock manager client (an ArcView session) that communicates with a lock manager service (server).

All cooperating ArcView sessions talk to the service to obtain file access privileges. Any ArcView session has access to a file based on the following rules:

1	Can read if no other ArcView session is writing to the file.

2	Can edit if no other ArcView session is editing or writing to the file.

3	Can write only if no other ArcView session is reading, editing, or writing to the file.

The following scenarios describe how ArcView behaves when using the Lock Manager.

Scenario 1

1	User A on machine BLUENOSE adds a shapefile, theme1.shp, as a theme in a view.

2	User B on machine FANG adds the same shapefile as a theme in a view.

3	User A Starts Editing the theme and makes changes. User B does not see the changes.

4	User A chooses Stop Editing and chooses to save edits. User A will see the following messages:
\\bluenose\c\temp\theme1.dbf is being used by
process 69 on machine fang

Unable to Save Edits to Theme1.shp, please
use the Save Edits As option

5	User A is prevented from saving the edits to the original data source because user B is still reading the file. User A must now use the Save Edits As option to write the edits out to a new file or discard the edits.

You will get the same behavior when editing a Table.

Scenario 2

1	User A on machine BLUENOSE adds a shapefile, theme1.shp, as a theme in a view.

2	User B on machine FANG adds the same shapefile as a theme in a view.

3	User A Starts Editing the theme and makes. User B does not see the changes.

4	User B deletes the theme.

5	User A chooses Stop Editing and chooses to save edits.

6	User A is able to save the edits to the original data source because user B is no longer reading the file.

Scenario 3

1	User A on machine BLUENOSE adds a shapefile, theme1.shp, as a theme in a view.

2	User A Starts Editing the theme and makes changes.

3	User A chooses Stop Editing and chooses to save edits. ArcView starts writing to the file.

4	User B on machine FANG tries to add the same shapefile as a theme in a view while User A’s changes are still being committed to the file.

5	User B will see the following message and the theme will not be added to the view.
Unable to acquire read lock for Feature Table theme1.shp

Scenario 4

1	User A on machine BLUENOSE adds a shapefile, theme1.shp, as a theme in a view.

2	User A Starts Editing the theme and makes changes.

3	User A chooses Stop Editing and chooses to save edits. ArcView starts writing to the file.

4	User B on machine FANG tries to open a project containing a theme referencing theme1.shp while User A’s changes are still being committed to the file.

5	The project opens, but the theme referencing the file being written to is dropped, just as though the data source had an error.

Scenario 5

1	User A on machine BLUENOSE adds a shapefile, theme1.shp, as a theme in a view.

2	User B on machine FANG adds the same shapefile as a theme in a view.

3	User B Starts Editing the theme and makes changes. User A does not see the changes.

4	User A tries to Start Editing the theme referencing theme1.shp. Since User B is still editing theme1.shp, User A is prevented from editing the theme. User A sees the following message:
\\bluenose\c\temp\theme1.dbf is being updated
by process 125 on machine fang

Scenario 6

1	User A on machine BLUENOSE adds a shapefile, theme1.shp, as a theme in a view.

2	User B on machine FANG adds the same shapefile as a theme in a view.

3	User A Starts Editing the theme and makes changes. User B does not see the changes.

4	User B’s machine crashes.

5	User A will have the impression that User B is still using the file and will be unable to save changes back to the original file.

6	The Lock Manager will release the file locks held by User B when User B’s ArcView session fails to contact the Lock Manger within the specified interval (refresh rate). All ArcView clients notify the Lock Manager periodically that they are still alive.

7	Now User A will be able to save edits to the original file.

What happens when the Lock Manager is shut down?

If the Lock Manager server stops while there are ArcView clients connected to it, the ArcView clients will see the following message:

Connection to the Lock manager is broken.

You can continue, but only in stand-alone

mode. Do you wish to continue?

If you reply YES to this message, then you can continue using this ArcView session but there will be no file locking. You will be working in a single user environment.

If you reply NO to this message, then you should quit this ArcView session immediately. You will not be able to add any more tables or themes, create any new tables or themes, or edit any tables or themes because the session is still in multiuser mode but is unable obtain any file locks.

If your ArcView session detects that the Lock Manager has stopped while your ArcView session is in the process of obtaining a Write lock to be able to save edits to a shapefile or table and you reply YES to the above message, then your edits will be immediately written to the source data file. You will not be warned if other ArcView sessions are using this file because now this session is in stand-alone mode.

If you reply NO in this scenario, you will be prevented from writing the edits to source data file because this session is still in multiuser mode but is unable to acquire any file locks. In this case you can discard your edits to ensure that you do not affect other sessions that might be using this file.

Note  The ArcView Lock Manager only tracks files edited in ArcView sessions and will not prevent other software applications from accessing the same data. When working with tabular data and shapefiles in ArcView, make sure no one else is editing the same data with another application. If, during an ArcView session, you notice that your table has become corrupted, check to make sure no one else is editing the table using another software package.

See also

Setting up ArcView to use the file lock manager


Performing spatial analysis with ArcView

Spatial analysis operations available in ArcView include:

 Find point features that are nearest to the selected point or line features. See Theme on theme selection and Spatial join.

 Find point features according to the polygon features they fall inside. (Point-in-polygon). See Theme on theme selection and Spatial join.

 Find line features according to the polygon features they cross. (Intersection). See Theme on theme selection and Spatial join.

 Find polygon features according to the polygon features they coincide. (Intersection; Polygon-in-polygon). See Theme on theme selection and Spatial join.

 Find features that are adjacent to the selected features. See Theme on theme selection.

 Create new features by merging a set of adjacent features into one single feature or aggregate disjunct features. See Merge operations.

 Select features by specifying a buffer distance. See Theme on theme selection.

Example: to find all the customers who live with 30 miles of a certain distribution of stores, you would use the Select By Theme control to select features in the customers theme based on features in the stores theme by specifying a buffer distance of 30 miles around the features.

 Advanced spatial analysis operations are available when you use ArcView's Spatial Analyst extension. These include conversion of feature themes to cell-based raster data (grid themes), creation of buffer distance and proximity surfaces from feature or grid themes, contouring and density mapping from themes containing point features, slope and aspect mapping, cell-based map analysis, Boolean query on multiple grid themes, neighborhood and zone analysis, grid classification & display, etc.


Printing a view

You can print a view to get a hardcopy of what you see on the screen. Choose Print from the File menu.

If you want to create a map that includes additional elements like scale bars and legends along with text and graphics in the margin, place the view in an ArcView layout. Layouts let you design high quality maps and plots by arranging the different map elements together interactively before you print.


Removing are of overlap
Removing area of overlap between polygons

If you have two overlapping polygons and want to remove the area of overlap, you can subtract one polygon from the other using the Subtract Features option. The polygon on top gets subtracted from the polygon on the bottom, so the portion of the bottom polygon that is overlapped by the top polygon is removed, and the top polygon remains unchanged.

Suppose you are adding a new polygon to your  theme and one of the existing polygons extends into the area where the new polygon should be. You can draw the new polygon, extending on top of the existing polygon, and then use Subtract Features to remove the area of overlap from the existing polygon.

To remove area of area of overlap between polygons

1	If the theme is not already in edit mode, make the theme active and from the Theme menu, choose Start Editing.

2	Draw the new polygon, partly overlapping an existing polygon.

3	Use the Pointer tool [image] to select the new polygon and the existing polygon containing the area you want to subtract. (Subtract Features only works on two selected polygons at a time).

4	From the Edit menu choose Subtract Features.

Note If you want to reverse the order of the operation, that is, subtract the bottom feature from the top feature, hold down the SHIFT key as you choose Subtract Features from the menu.

You can also use the Subtract Features option to create an island polygon (a polygon that is totally surrounded by another polygon but which doesn't overlap the polygon it is surrounded by). To create an island polygon, draw the polygon on top of the polygon that it is surrounded by, select both polygons, and choose Subtract Features.


Reshaping lines

You can use the Vertex Edit tool [image] to reshape a line by moving, adding, or deleting vertices. When you edit a line, you can choose to preserve topology, or not, by the way in which you select the feature:

 When you select a single line, any edits you make to the vertices will affect only that line.

 When you select a line segment common to two lines, any edits you make to the vertices will affect both lines.

 When you select a node common to two or more lines, any edits to that node will affect all the lines that contain that node.

To move a vertex with the Vertex Edit tool

Place the cursor on the vertex you want to move. When the cursor appears as a crosshair, hold down the left mouse button and drag the vertex to the new position.

To add a new vertex with the Vertex Edit tool

Move the cursor to the position on the line where you want the new vertex. When the cursor appears as a target, click the left mouse button.

To delete a vertex with the Vertex Edit tool

Place the cursor on the vertex you want to delete. When the cursor appears as a crosshair, press the DELETE key on the keyboard.

To reshape a single line

1	Click the Vertex Edit tool [image].

2	Click on the line. A hollow, square vertex handle appears at each vertex of the line.

3	Now when you move, add, or delete vertices, only the single line will change.

To reshape a segment common to two lines

1	Click the Vertex Edit tool [image].

2	Click on the common line segment. Square vertex handles will appear at each vertex of the shared segment, and round anchors will appear at the vertices at each end of the common segment.

3	Now when you move, add or delete a vertex, both lines will change.

To move a node that is common to a number of lines

1	Choose the Vertex Edit tool [image].

2	Click on the node that’s common to two or more lines. A square vertex handle will appear at this node and round anchors will appear on the next closest vertex on each line.

3	Now when you move the common node, all lines which share this node will change.


Reshaping polygons

You can use the Vertex Edit tool [image] to reshape a polygon by moving, adding, or deleting vertices. When you edit a polygon, you can choose to preserve topology, or not, by the way in which you select the feature:

 When you select a single polygon, any edits you make to the vertices will affect only that polygon.

 When you select a shared boundary between two polygons, any edits you make to the vertices will affect both polygons.

 When you select a node common to two or more polygons, any edits to that node will affect all the polygons that contain that node.

To move a vertex with the Vertex Edit tool

Place the cursor on the vertex you want to move. When the cursor appears as a crosshair, hold down the left mouse button and drag the vertex to the new position.

To add a new vertex with the Vertex Edit tool

Move the cursor to the position on the line where you want the new vertex. When the cursor appears as a target, click the left mouse button.

To delete a vertex with the Vertex Edit tool

Place the cursor on the vertex you want to delete. When the cursor appears as a crosshair, press the DELETE key on the keyboard.

To reshape a single polygon

1	Click the Vertex Edit tool [image].

2	Click inside the polygon. A hollow, square vertex handle appears at each vertex of the polygon's boundary.

3	Now when you move, add or delete vertices, only the single polygon will change.

To reshape a common boundary between two polygons

1	Click the Vertex Edit tool [image].

2	Click on the common boundary. Square vertex handles will appear at each vertex of the shared boundary and round anchors will appear at the vertices at each end of the common boundary.

3	Now when you move, add or delete a vertex, both polygons will change.

To move a node that is common to a number of polygons

1	Click the Vertex Edit tool [image].

2	Click on the node that is common to two or more polygon features. A square vertex handle will appear at this node, and round anchors will appear on the next closest vertex on each polygon.

3	Now when you move the common node, all polygons which share this node will change.


Resizing features

To resize a feature with the mouse

1	If the theme is not already in edit mode, make the theme active and from the Theme menu, choose Start Editing.

2	Use the Pointer tool [image] to select the feature you want to resize.

3	Click the mouse on a handle and drag. The corner handles provide stretching that will maintain the aspect ratio (i.e. if you stretch a square from one of its corner handles it will still be a square when you are done). The side handles allow you to resize in the horizontal or vertical directions. A faint outline of the feature being stretched follows the mouse movement, and the feature is redrawn when the mouse button is released.

See also

Selecting features for editing


Re-matching a geocoded theme

ArcView creates a geocoded theme in the view when address geocoding is completed. For information about performing address geocoding, see The geocoding process.

The geocoded theme contains point features that are generated by geocoding the address to the reference matchable theme. Addresses for which no match was found are written to the geocoded theme as null point shapes. They are identified as being unmatch by an "U" in the field Av_status. You can re-match any event in the geocode theme by editing the address components if there are errors or by relaxing the matching parameters in the Geocoding Preferences so that there can be a higher likelihood of finding a match.

To re-match features in the geocoded theme

1. 	Make the geocoded theme you want to re-match active.

2. 	Choose Re-match Addresses from the view's Theme menu to display the Re-match Addresses dialog box for viewing the results of geocoding of the theme and choose an option to re-match all or selected records in the theme

3. 	You can set the new matching preferences and choose Batch Re-match or Interactive Re-match.

If you choose Interactive Re-match, ArcView displays the Geocoding Editor. You can edit the addresses if there are mistakes for finding possible candidates, or manually match the address to a new candidate. Press Done when you finish re-matching the addresses.

ArcView will display this dialog box again with the updated results after the re-match is finished. You can press Done to dismiss the window. Then ArcView will commit changes to the geocoded theme and redraw the features in the view.


Save Legend
To save a legend

1  Click the Save button in the Legend Editor.

2  In the dialog box that appears, navigate to the location where you want to save your legend file and click OK.

Note   You must use the default extension .AVL in order to load your saved legend.


Selecting features for editing

While editing a theme, you can move, resize or delete features if you select them with the Pointer tool [image]. When you select a feature with the Pointer tool, selection handles appear around it.

To select features for editing

With the Pointer tool [image] click on an individual feature or drag a selection box over several features. Features that fall partly or wholly inside the box you define will be selected. Hold down the SHIFT key when you click on features if you want to add them to the selected set.


Selecting features on a view

Selecting features on a view enables you to find specific geographic features that interest you or meet certain important criteria, and to work with specific geographic features in a variety of ways to find out more about them.

Features highlight on the view when they are selected and remain highlighted until a different selection is made, or until they are deselected. By default, selected features highlight in yellow. You can choose the color in which features are highlighted when they are selected, by making the Project window active then choosing Properties from the Project menu.

When you save your project, ArcView remembers which themes were active and which features were selected, so they'll be ready for use when you next open the project.

Before you can select features from a theme, you have to click on the theme in the view's Table of Contents to make it active.

 Selecting features with the mouse

The Select Feature tool [image] lets you select features with the mouse by pointing at them or by dragging a selection box over them. Features that fall partly or wholly inside the box you define will be selected. Features will be selected from all of the currently active themes.

 Selecting features using shapes

The Select Features Using Shape button [image] lets you select features that fall inside or are intersected by shapes such as circles, boxes, lines and polygons that you have already drawn on a view using the Draw tools. Features will be selected from all of the currently active themes.

 Selecting a feature using Find

Find [image] is a quick way to select a particular feature of interest. For example, if you are working with a theme of the world's cities and you want to select Paris, simply type that name into the Find dialog box. Find only lets you select one feature at a time. See Finding features on a view.

 Selecting features by selecting records in a theme's table

When you use the Select tool [image] to select records in the table describing a theme's features, the features that these records represent are selected on the view. This is especially useful if you work with a table and a view side-by-side because you can browse through the table, select records for features that interest you, then see where they are on the view. Hold down SHIFT when you use the Select tool to select more than one record in a table.

 Selecting features using a query

Build a query with the Query Builder [image] when you want to select features according to their attribute values. For example, you can build a query to select all the states in the USA with populations greater than 10 million. You can build more complex queries too. You can also use the Query Builder to narrow down your selection by building a query that only selects features from the set you have already selected.

Example

You might have a theme displaying the point locations of your customers, and want to find out which customers living within a 20 mile radius of your store have not purchased anything this year. In this case you would first select according to location to find all the customers living in that area, and then use the Query Builder to narrow down the selection to those meeting your purchasing criteria:

1	Click on the theme in the Table of Contents to make it active

2	Use the Draw tools [image] to draw a circle with a 20 mile radius centered on your store.

3	Click the Select Features Using Shape button [image] to select the customers in this area.

4	Click the Query Builder button [image]. Build a query to select customers who have not purchased anything this year.

5	Press Select From Set on the Query Builder. From the set of customers that is already selected, ArcView will select those which match the query.

With the Query Builder you can also add additional features to the set of features you have already selected. For example, you might want to select customers who either live in a particular location or visit that location frequently. In this case you could use the mouse to select the customers living in the location, and then use the Query Builder to build a query to select those who visit it frequently. After building your query in the Query Builder, press the Add To Set button.

Note    You can permanently redefine a theme to contain only a selection of the features in its data source. This enables you to make a certain selection of features become a permanent part of your view. See Defining a feature selection for a theme.

 Switching the selected and unselected sets of features

If you, for example, want to select all your customers who don't live with 20 miles of a particular location, start by selecting those who do, and then switch the selection:

1	Click on the theme in the Table of Contents to make it active if it is not already.

2	Click the Open Theme Table button [image].

3	Click the Switch Selection button [image].

 Clearing the selected set of features

Click the Clear Selected Features button [image] to deselect the selected features in the active theme(s).

 Selecting all the features in a theme

1	Click on the theme in the Table of Contents to make it active, if it is not already.

2	Click the Open Theme Table button [image].

3	Click the Select All button [image].

  Related topics


Setting a theme's display properties

A theme's display property defines the range of scales at which the theme may be drawn on a view. When the view's scale is outside this range the theme won't be drawn.

In this way you can control how the view appears at the various scales at which you may be working. For example, you can automatically hide a detailed theme that might otherwise clutter up your view when you are working at small scales. Or you can set up your view so that themes with progressively more detail are drawn as you zoom in on an area.

When a theme's display property prevents it from being drawn, its check box in the Table of Contents still remains checked.

To set a theme's display property

1	Decide the range of scales at which you want the theme to be drawn.

2	Click on the theme in the Table of Contents to make it active.

3	Click the Theme Properties button [image] or from the Theme menu choose Properties.

4	On the Theme Properties dialog box, choose the Display category. By default, no display property is set, so the theme will be visible at any scale.

5	Enter your desired scale range by filling in one or both of the Minimum and Maximum scale boxes to define your desired range. For example to set one of the fields to be a scale of 1:24 000, enter "24000".

6	Choose the OK button. ArcView will immediately turn the theme off if the current scale of the view is outside the range you defined.

Once a theme's display property has been set, it applies whenever the theme is displayed or printed. It also applies if the view is placed on a layout using a live link.

Examples

 If you only want a theme to be drawn when the view's scale is smaller than 1:50,000, enter "50000" in the Minimum scale box. If the view's scale is 1:100,000, the theme will be drawn. If it is 1:30,000 the theme won't be drawn.

 If you only want the theme to be drawn when the view's scale is larger than 1:50,000, enter "50000" in the Maximum scale box. If the view's scale is 1:30,000, the theme will be drawn. If it is 1:100,000, the theme won't be drawn.

 If you only want the theme to be drawn when the view's scale is between 1:25,000 and 1:50,000, enter "25000" in the Minimum scale box and "50000" in the Maximum scale box.

To clear a theme's display property

Do this if a theme only gets drawn at particular scales and you want it to be drawn at any scale.

1	Click on the theme in the Table of Contents to make it active.

2	Click the Theme Properties button [image] or from the Theme menu choose Properties.

3	On the Theme Properties dialog box, choose the Display category.

4	Delete the scale setting(s).

5	Press OK.

Tip   To stop a theme from drawing at any scale, simply turn it off in the Table of Contents.

See also

Setting view scale

Map scale and accuracy


Setting a theme's geocoding properties

Setting a theme's geocoding property determines the method of address geocoding to be used based on  the concept of an address style. An address style contains the definition of a geocoding process, which includes the following items:

 Data fields in the reference feature theme needed for geocoding

 Methods for building geocoding indexes

 Rules for index query

 Rules for address standardization

 Rules for candidate scoring

In the case of street address geocoding, an address style may also contain the following items useful for intersection geocoding:

 Data fields in the reference feature theme needed for intersection geocoding

 Methods for building intersection indexes

 Rules for intersection index query

 Rules for address standardization

 Rules for candidate scoring

The data and data format required for geocoding differs depending on the Address Style being used. These are the ten available address styles:

 US Streets with Zone

 US Streets

 US Single Range with Zone

 US Single Range

 US Single House with Zone

 US Single House

 Zip+4

 Zip+4 Range

 5-digit ZIP

 Single Field

Depending on the geocoding process, or Address Style, some of the reference theme fields may not be required. For example, address geocoding can be performed if the reference theme does not contain street prefix direction; however, address events with prefix directions may be incorrectly geocoded. On the other hand, address geocoding cannot be performed if street names or house numbers are missing from the reference theme. See each address style for information about required address fields.

Choosing an Address Style will also affect the data and data format in your address event table for address matching and the way to locate a single address on a view interactively.

The geocoding theme property also defines whether a place name alias table is used for matching. See Working with place name aliases for more information.

To set a theme's geocoding property

1	Click on the theme in the Table of Contents to make it active.

2	Press the Theme Properties button [image] or from the Theme menu choose Properties.

3	In the Theme Properties dialog, choose the Gecoding category.

4	ArcView finds the default field from the feature attribute table for each component of the address style. See Geocoding Theme Properties for a description of each available style and its components. You can change the field by selecting a new field from the drop-down list. A check mark in front of the address component indicates that the component is required. This component needs to be filled with a data field from the attribute table. A component without a check mark is an optional component. If no suitable data fields are found in the feature attribute table, <None> can be set for the non-required components. Note that if no data fields are selected for the required components, the theme cannot be made matchable.

5	ArcView provides you an option to use place name aliases. Select a table in your project that contains the aliases and their associated addresses. See Working with place name aliases for how to create and use an alias table. Attaching alias information to the theme allows you to locate an address using a place name alias. Select <None> if you don't want to use place name aliases.

6	Press OK and ArcView will display a message box prompting you to confirm building the geocoding index for the theme. An index file will be created in your project workspace. You can change the project work directory in the Project Properties dialog box.

See also

What is geocoding

Address geocoding

The geocoding process


Setting a theme's label properties

To set the label positioning preferences, label field, and whether labels scale:

1	Make the theme that you want to set the labeling properties for Active by clicking on it in the view's Table of Contents.

2	From the Theme menu choose Properties.

3	Choose Text Labels from the list of icons on the left.

4	Set your preferences and click OK.

Notes

 The label position preferences apply to labels you interactively place using the Label tool [image].

 The label position preferences also apply when the Find Best Label Placement option is not used in the Auto-label dialog.


Setting a theme's properties

By setting a theme's properties you can control various characteristics such as the theme's name in the view's Table of Contents, what the theme contains, how it is displayed in the view, etc. The properties you can set depends on the type of data source the theme is based on. Theme properties can be set and changed at any time.

To review or set a theme's properties

1	Click on the theme's name in the Table of Contents to make it active.

2	Click the Theme Properties button [image] or from the Theme menu choose Properties.

3	In the dialog box that is displayed, choose the icon for the theme properties you wish to review or set. By default, the theme's definition properties are displayed.

4	When you have finished, press OK.

 Related topics


Setting a theme's snapping properties

With the use of the snapping environment in ArcView, you can improve how new features meet and align as you create them. When the snapping environment is set, ArcView moves the vertices or line segments of the new features you add to align with the vertices or line segments of other features that are within a specified distance, the snap tolerance. This way, for line themes, all line features coming together at an intersection will share the same endpoint, and there will be no overshoots or undershoots, and for polygon themes, there will be no gaps or overlap between adjacent polygon features. There are two types of snapping, general and interactive.

General snapping

If you want your features to be automatically snapped to other features within the specified tolerance, set ArcView’s general snapping environment. General snapping is feature-to-feature snapping that gets applied as soon as you have added a new feature.

To set the general snapping environment by typing in a tolerance

1	Click on the name of the theme you are editing in the view's Table of Contents to make it active.

2	Click the Theme Properties button [image].

3	In the dialog that appears, click the Editing icon to display the theme's editing properties. In the Snapping panel, click the General check box to turn this snapping on. Type a tolerance value into the tolerance field that appears. Press OK.

To set the general snapping environment with the mouse

1	In the view, hold down the right mouse button to display the popup menu, and choose Enable General Snapping from this menu.

2	Click the Snap tool palette [image] and in the list of tools that pops down, click the General Snap tool [image]. In the view, click and drag out a circle to represent the tolerance distance. The radius of the circle is displayed in the status bar. This radius value becomes the general snap tolerance.

Interactive snapping

For better control over how your features get snapped, use interactive snapping. With interactive snapping, you can apply different snapping rules on a per vertex basis while you are adding a new line or polygon feature. In this way, you will be able to control how each vertex along the line or polygon boundary you are adding is snapped to existing lines or polygons in the theme. You can choose one of the following snap rules from the popup menu while you are adding the feature:

 Snap to Vertex: snaps the next vertex to the nearest vertex in an existing line or polygon.

 Snap to Boundary: snaps the next vertex to the nearest line segment in an existing line or polygon boundary.

 Snap to Intersection: snaps the next vertex to the nearest node common to two or more lines or polygons.

 Snap to Endpoint: snaps the next vertex to the nearest endpoint of an existing line.(Available for line themes only).

To set the interactive snapping environment by typing in a tolerance

1	Make the theme you are editing active, if it isn't already.

2	Click the Theme Properties button [image].

3	In the dialog that appears, click the Editing icon to display the theme's editing properties. In the Snapping panel, click the Interactive check box to turn this snapping on. Type a tolerance value into the tolerance field that appears. Press OK.

To set the interactive snapping environment with the mouse

1	In the view, hold down the right mouse button to display the popup menu, and choose Enable Interactive Snapping from this menu.

2	Click the Snap tool palette [image] and in the list of tools that pops down, click the Interactive Snap tool [image]. In the view, click and drag out a circle to represent the tolerance distance. The radius of the circle is displayed in the status bar. This radius value becomes the interactive snap tolerance.

Snap tolerance cursor

When either general or interactive snapping is turned on, you have the option of displaying a circle representing the snap tolerance with the cursor as you create polylines, polygons, or edit vertices. This is known as the snap tolerance cursor. If general snapping is turned on, the circle represents the general snap tolerance. If interactive snapping is also turned on, the circle will change to the interactive snap tolerance when you chose an interactive snap rule. By default, the snap tolerance cursor is turned on when snapping is turned on.

To turn the snap tolerance cursor off

1	Click on the name of the theme you are editing in the view's Table of Contents to make it active.

2	Click the Theme Properties button [image].

3	In the dialog that appears, click the Editing icon to display the theme's editing properties. In the Snapping panel, click the Show snap tolerance cursor check box to turn this off. Note, this checkbox is only visible when general and/or interactive snapping is turned on.

To turn the snap tolerance cursor off with the mouse

1	In the view, hold down the right mouse button to display the popup menu, and choose Hide Snap Tolerance Cursor.


Setting distance units

Distance units are the units used by ArcView to display or indicate:

 The results of measurements you make on a view with the Measure tool.

 The dimensions of shapes you draw on a view with the Draw tool.

 The dimensions of the selection box you define when selecting features in a particular area on a view with the Select Feature tool.

 The distance tolerance specified in the Select By Theme dialog box for selecting one set of features from another.

 The offset distance specified in the Geocode Addresses dialog box for placing the location of an address event.

These measurements and dimensions are displayed on ArcView's status bar. Each view has its own distance units setting, so you can choose the most appropriate units for the particular view you are working with. The default is unknown. This field is disabled until you select map units for your view.

To set a view's distance units

1	From the View menu choose Properties. The View Properties dialog box will be displayed.

2	Set the map units if you haven't. From the Map Units list, choose the units for the feature data source in the view.

3	From the Distance Units list, choose the units you wish to use.

4	Press OK.


Setting map units

Map units are the units of the view’s display surface. If the view has not been projected, Map units are the units in which the coordinates of the spatial data contained in your view are stored. If the view has been projected, Map units are the units into which this data is being projected in the view. ArcView uses the map units setting to determine the correct scale of your view. If Map Units are not set correctly, the scale ArcView displays for your view may be incorrect, and ArcView won't know how large to draw your view if you specify a scale for your view.

To set a view's map units when the view is not projected

1	From the View menu choose Properties. The View Properties dialog box is displayed.

2	From the Map Units list, choose the units of your base data. The default units are Unknown. If you don't know what units your data is stored in, you can leave the setting as Unknown. Otherwise you should set them. For example, if you know your ARC/INFO coverages are stored in State Plane feet, set Map Units to feet. (See below for how to find out what units your spatial data is stored in).

3	Press OK.

To set a view's map units when the view is projected

If the map units of your spatial data is in Decimal Degrees, you can project your view. When you project your view, ArcView projects it into meters by default, but you can choose what units you want the view to be projected into by setting the Map Units.

1	From the View menu choose Properties. The View Properties dialog box is displayed.

2	From the Map Units list, choose the units you wish to use. For example, to set the projected units of the view to be feet, select feet.

3	Press OK.

Note   A view's Map Units setting is independent of its Distance Units setting.

How can I tell what map units my spatial data is stored in?

It is important to determine what map units your spatial data is stored in. You to set the Map Units for your view so ArcView can show you what scale your map is displayed at, and draw the map correctly if you specify a particular scale. Also, you can only specify a map projection for your view if the spatial data it contains is stored in decimal degrees.

All the ready-to-use data that comes with ArcView is in decimal degrees, and the majority of spatial data available for use in ArcView from commercial data vendors is provided in decimal degrees. In this way you can choose which projection you display it with and easily align it with raster data sources such as images and grids. Spatial data you obtain from other sources, such as ARC/INFO coverages from a city or state agency's Geographic Information System (GIS), is usually in decimal degrees, feet or meters depending on how their GIS is set up. For example, local government GIS data in the USA is frequently stored in feet using the State Plane coordinate system (the same coordinate system used by USGS 7.5 and 15 minute quad sheets) instead of decimal degrees.  Agencies that provide you with GIS data should also be able to provide you with metadata documenting what units the data is in.

One way to find out if your spatial data is in decimal degrees is to add the data as a theme to a new, empty view, and look at the coordinate read-out at the right hand side of ArcView's tool bar as you move the mouse over the view. If the X coordinates range between -180 and 180, and the Y coordinates range between -90 and 90, your data is most likely in decimal degrees, like the data in this example.

If your data is an ARC/INFO coverage or grid you can also find out what units it is stored in by looking at the prj or prj.adf file that usually comes with the data. This file is created when the coverage or grid is used in the ARC/INFO PROJECT command, so not all coverages and grids have this file. Look for this file in the directory that contains the various data files that make up the coverage or grid.

The prj or prj.adf file is an ASCII file you can read with any text editor. The exact contents of this file will vary, but the file should say what map units and projection the data is in. Look for the Units entry in this file. It will say DD if the data is in decimal degrees, or it might say METERS, FEET, etc. Reading the prj file is also useful if you want to know how a coverage or grid has been projected, for example, if you want to see what projection a grid uses so you can align other data to it. If you have access to ARC/INFO, you can use the DESCRIBE command to see what units any coverage or grid uses, instead of reading its prj file.


Setting Null Values

By setting a null value for your classification field, you can force the classification method to ignore specified values.

1  Click the [image] button in the Legend Editor.

2  Optionally, scroll to the field you need to set a Null Value for.

3  Type in the field’s null value.

4  Optionally check the box to display the No Data class in your theme’s legend.

5  Click OK

Notes

You may optionally repeat steps 2 and 3 to set null values for all the fields you may be working with.

By displaying the No Data class in your legend it will appear in your theme’s Table of Contents and in the legend frame for your view if you use your view in a layout.

ArcView automatically ignores empty cells in string fields.


Setting text font and style

To specify the font, style and color properties of a text label before you draw it

1	From the Window menu, choose Show Symbol Window.

2	Set the symbol properties, i.e., color, font, size, etc. as required.

To change the properties of an individual text label after you have drawn it

1	Use the pointer tool [image] and click on some text to selected, then from the Window menu choose Show Symbol Window.

2	Set the symbol properties, i.e., color, font, size, etc. as required.

To change the properties of text labels after you have drawn them

1	Use the pointer tool [image] to select the label(s) you wish to change the properties of, if they are not already selected.

2	From the Window menu, choose Show Symbol Window.

3	Set the symbol properties, i.e., color, font, size, etc., as required.


Setting the extent of an image

You may want to define how a theme based on an image displays in a view by specifying a different spatial extent. By defining a spatial extent less than the actual extent, you can effectively constrain what portion of the image displays in the view. If you have a large image you can greatly reduce the time it takes to draw the image in the area of interest by setting the extent in this manner.

ArcView provides several ways to set the extent of a theme based on image in the Definition panel of the Theme Properties dialog box. By default the extent is set by the actual extent of the image. The dialog box displays this extent as the image default setting.

To alter the spatial extent of a theme based on an image

Make the theme active and click Properties in the Theme menu. Choose the Definition button at the left of the dialog box. Select the extent limit and click OK.

To set the extent to the current extent of the View's display

Choose Display in the Extent Limit drop-down list and then click OK.

To set the extent to the extent of the View (extent of all themes)

Choose View in the Extent Limit drop-down list and then click OK.

To set the extent to the extent of another theme in the View

Choose Theme in the Extent Limit drop-down list and then specify the theme to use. Then click OK.

To set the extent using coordinates you specify

Choose Specified in the Extent Limit drop-down list and enter the coordinates of the lower left corner and the upper right corner of the area of interest of the image in the appropriate fields.


Setting the map projection

To set a view's map projection

1	From the View menu choose Properties. The View Properties dialog box will be displayed.

2	Press the Projection button. ArcView displays the Projection properties dialog box.

3	Choose the projection you want to use. If desired, you can also set custom projection parameters.

4	Press OK on the Projection Properties dialog box. ArcView sets the Map Units to meters. The name of the projection will be displayed above the Projection button,  indicating that the view is projected, and that the map units are meters. If the map units are changed from meters to another unit, for example, feet, then the units of the projection are set to feet. If the map units are changed from meters to unknown or decimal degrees, then the projection is removed.

5	Press OK on the View Properties dialog box. ArcView redraws the view using the projection you chose.

Note Images (including grids added as Image sources) are not projected.

Map projections allow areas on the surface of the Earth (a spheroid) to be represented on a map (a flat surface). The type of map projection used on a map affects both its aesthetic and geometric qualities, although for most general purpose ArcView applications these impacts are not large. See Map projections for more general information about projections. To learn more about a specific projection, click the Index tab of the on-line help and type in the name of the projection you are interested in (for example, Mercator projection).

You do not have to set a specific map projection in order to create or work with a view successfully. In many applications you might not care what projection is used, or you might be displaying such a small part of the Earth's surface, such as a neighborhood or town, that the choice of map projection will have almost no aesthetic and geometric effect.

However, there are also situations where you need to control the map projection used in the view, especially where locational accuracy and minimal geometric distortion are demanded. In these situations, ArcView lets you choose from a range of different map projections and coordinate systems, and also allows you to customize the key projection parameters.

When your data is in decimal degrees

A view's map projection can only be set if the map units of the spatial data it contains (or will contain) are decimal degrees (i.e., degrees of longitude-latitude expressed as a decimal rather than in degrees, minutes and seconds). This is because data in decimal degrees is in a spherical coordinate system and so is, by definition, unprojected. This data can therefore be drawn in any projection in ArcView. The map projection used by a view is set in the View Properties dialog box.

If your data is in decimal degrees and you set the Map units to decimal degrees but you choose not to set a projection, ArcView will draw the view by simply treating the longitude-latitude coordinates as unprojected spherical coordinates. This produces a map that looks the same as one that has been projected with the Plate Carree map projection, although its geometric characteristics are not the same.

If your data is not in decimal degrees

Spatial data in other map units such as meters, is in a planar coordinate system and so is, by definition, already projected. This data either still reflects the projection of the source map it was digitized from, or has been transformed into a new map projection using ARC/INFO or another program.

When you use this data in ArcView, you can't choose a different map projection for it, and you shouldn't use the Projection button in the View Properties. If you know the map units of your data, then set the map units and distance units in the dialog box. Note that ArcView, at this release, does not support the transformation of data between different projection systems. Instead, data that is not in decimal degrees is displayed using the projection system in which the data is currently stored.

Most, but not all, ARC/INFO coverages and grids contain an ASCII file called prj that describes the coordinate system used by that data set. You can look at this file to find out what projection your data is currently stored in.

Tip   When your spatial data is not in decimal degrees, and you are using data from a variety of different data sources on the same view, you should make sure that all these data sources are currently stored in the same map projection. If you draw data sources that are currently stored in different map projections on the same view you may get errors and inaccurate results.

See also

Map projections

Setting map units

Unsetting the map projection


Setting up ArcView to use the file lock manager

ArcView's multiuser file locking consists of a lock manager client (an ArcView session) that communicates with a lock manager service (server). To use multiuser file locking, the computers on which you are running ArcView must be connected to each other on a network using a Windows Sockets (WINSOCK) compliant TCP/IP stack for PCs or ONC/RPC for Unix platforms. The mechanism for communication between ArcView and the Lock Manager is ONC-RPC.

To use ArcView’s multiuser file locking environment, your system administrator needs to designate one computer as the Lock Manager server, start the Lock Manager, and set up Lock Manager clients (ArcView sessions) on the other computers on the network that will be using file locking.

Starting the Lock Manager server

1. Start Portmap (Windows platform only)

If the computer you have designated as the Lock Manager server is a Windows platform (Windows95 or Windows NT), make sure a portmap is running on that machine before you start the Lock Manager. Servers register with portmap and clients locate the appropriate server through portmap. If portmap is not running, then ArcView clients cannot access the Lock Manager server. If the Lock Manager server is on a Unix platform then you do not have to start a portmap.

A portmap executable (PortMap.exe) comes with ArcView. If your network solution (such as Chameleon32NFS or PCNFSPro) provides a portmap executable, use that one rather than the one included with ArcView. To start the portmap, simply double click on the PortMap icon in the ArcView program group or the program group of your network solution. When starting portmap, if you get the error message "portmap: cannot bind UDP socket' winsock: Address already in use", then a portmap is already executing on your system.

2. Run AVLock

To start the ArcView Lock Manager (AVLock.exe), simply double-click on the AVLock icon from the ArcView  program group on Windows platforms or run the avlock executable located in the AVHOME/bin directory on Unix platforms. If you did not install the Multiuser File Locking Support when you installed ArcView, refer to the ‘To add ArcView components’ section of the ArcView installation guide and install this option.

3. Start the lock manager service

To start the Lock Manager service so that the clients can communicate with the Lock Manager, click on the Start button located on the top lefthand corner of the ArcView Lock Manager window.  The Start Service dialog box will appear with default values for Server ID, Version  and Refresh Rate. On most environments these default values should work fine.

The server identification number (Server ID) and version number (Version) uniquely identify the server on that host. The Server Id is written out as a hexadecimal number. Open Network Computing (ONC) recommends the server identification number fall in the range from 0x40000000 to 0x5FFFFFFF. The version number allows you to uniquely identify different generations of the same application. If you already have an RPC server using the same Server ID, then use another unique value.

The Refresh Rate defaults to 40 minutes. Change this to suit your requirements. A small refresh value means that the server would quickly detect if a cooperating ArcView session has crashed or lost its network connection and all file locks held by that particular ArcView session would be released. A high refresh value means an assumption that this scenario would not occur if ArcView could not talk to the Lock Manager server because it was reading or writing a huge data source. There is a trade off here.

When you click OK on the dialog box, the Lock Manager Server will be registered with the PortMapper. If the service started successfully, the Local Machine (the hostname of the machine the Lock Manager server is running on), Server ID, Version and Refresh Rate will be displayed in the ArcView Lock Manager window.  Also a default.flm file will be created in ArcView’s bin directory,

 C:\ESRI\ARCVIEW\BIN32 directory for Windows NT and Windows 95 platforms

 $AVHOME/bin for Unix platforms

The default.flm file contains the hostname, server identification number and version number. An example of this file is:

BLUENOSE

0x40000001

1

Setting up Lock Manager clients

When an ArcView session starts up on a particular computer, it checks to see if there's a default.flm file in ArcView’s etc directory. If so, it tries to connect to the Lock Manager. Absence of this file in the etc directory (by default, there is no default.flm in the etc directory) indicates that file locking is disabled and all ArcView sessions on this computer will run in singleuser (stand-alone) mode.

Copy the default.flm file that was created when the Lock Manager service was started into ArcView's etc directory on all machines that will be running ArcView sessions that would need to cooperate with the Lock Manager for file locking. Now anytime an ArcView session is started on any of these computers, it will connect to the  Lock Manager.

If ArcView cannot connect to the Lock Manager, check to see if the computer where the client is to be run can connect to the computer that the Lock Manager is running on. At the system level (at the DOS prompt or Unix prompt) type

ping <hostname >

where hostname is the name of the computer where the Lock manager is running. If the ping fails you may need to update your systems hosts file on the client computer to add the IP address of the Lock Manager computer.

It is important that all external drives are mounted the same way on all the Lock Manager client computers. If two clients are accessing the same file but the two computers have different mounts points for the drive that the file is located on, the Lock Manager may not recognize it as the same file and locking will not work properly.  It is suggested that all client computers mount shared disks on the network using the same share name.

For example, suppose an ArcView session on computer Bluenose is accesing a file c:\temp\theme1.dbf on its local drive. The share name of this drive should be "c" if there is going to be ArcView sessions on other computers that will be accessing files this same directory. The ArcView session on Bluenose will acquire a lock for \\bluenose\c\temp\theme1.dbf . If the share name for this directory happened to be "cdrive" instead of "c" and an ArcView session on computer Fang was using the same file, Fang would acquire a lock for \\bluenose\cdrive\temp\theme1.dbf rather than \\bluenose\c\temp\theme1.dbf. The Lock Manager would not recognize this as the same file.

Note  On Windows NT and Windows95, if you are running the Lock Manager server and an ArcView client simultaneously on the same computer, you will notice that the ArcView client will run slower than it would if it were on a separate machine.

The mixing of case in file names on Unix drives is not supported if Windows platforms are accessing these files on Unix drives. If all the clients are on Unix platforms then file names can have upper and lower case.

See also

Overview of using file locking


Setting view properties

By setting a view's properties you can control various view characteristics. View properties can be set and changed at any time. You don't have to set view properties before you add themes or start working with a new view you have created.

To review or set a view's properties

From the View menu choose Properties. The View Properties dialog is displayed.

Changing a view's name

The view name that appears in the view's title bar and in the Project window is a view property. See Changing a view's name.

Storing comments about a view

The View Properties dialog box has a text box where comments can be stored documenting the view. See Storing comments about a view.

Setting map units

This lets you specify the units of the coordinates of the view’s display area. See Setting map units.

Setting distance units

This lets you specify the units in which dimensions and measurements related to the view will be displayed. See Setting distance units.

Setting the map projection

You can choose from a number of map projections for your view, or you can simply let ArcView handle this for you. See Setting the map projection.

Setting the Area Of Interest

You can set the Area Of Interest to control access to library-based themes. See Area Of Interest.


Setting view scale

A view's scale is displayed on the right hand side of the tool bar. As you zoom in and out on a view or resize the view window, the scale automatically changes to reflect the current scale of the view.

A view's scale is displayed as a scale ratio, like 1:24,000. For more information about scale, see Map scale and accuracy.

In order for ArcView to display the scale of your view correctly, the Map Units of the spatial data in your view must be specified correctly. See Setting map units.

To specify scale directly

1	Click inside the scale field.

2	Type in your desired scale ratio.

3	Press ENTER. The view will redraw at the scale you specified, centered on the middle of the view.

Specifying scale from Avenue

You can use a request to the Display class to set the scale of a view. For example, copy the following lines into a script, then compile and run it to set View1’s scale to 1:10000.

MyView = av.FindDoc("View1")

MyScale = 10000

MyView.GetDisplay.ZoomToScale(MyScale)


Set a classification
To set a classification

1  Click the Classify button in ArcView’s legend editor.

2  Choose a type of classification.

3  Set the number of classifications. You may use the drop-down method or click on the value box and directly type in your number of classes.

If you chose the Standard Deviations classification, set the Interval that will determine the class breaks.

If you chose the Manual Equal Interval classification, set the minimum and maximum value for the data range.

4  Choose the place at which your data values will be rounded.

5  Click OK.


Set a null value and symbol
To set a null value and symbol

1  Click the Null Value button.

2  In the dialog box that appears enter the null value for the field.

3  Optionally, you may change the null symbol by double clicking the symbol and changing its properties using the symbol window.  Initially, the null symbol will be transparent.


Single Field Address Style

This address style is used for geocoding based on the value of a single field in the reference theme's attribute table. The style contains one single component, the KeyField. Since it a required component, it must be filled with a data field from the attribute table in order the make the theme matchable.

Required	Component	Description
Y	KeyField	Any single field in the attribute table. It can be the permit number, parcel ID, or postal zip+4 code.

The KeyField component contains a list of preferred field names. ArcView reads the fields in the theme's attribute table and locates the default field, if available.

Component	Preferred Field Names
KeyField	ZIP  ZIP4  ZIPCODE  AREA_CODE  NAME
See also

Geocoding Theme Properties

US Streets with Zone Address Style

US Single Range with Zone Address Style

US Single Range Address Style

US Single House with Zone Address Style

US Single House Address Style

US Streets Address Style

Zip+4 Address Style

Zip+4 Range Address Style

5-digit ZIP Address Style


Sort the elements of a legend
To sort the elements of a legend

1  Click on either the Value, Label, or Count button to depress it.

2  Click either the Sort Ascending [image] or Sort Descending [image] button.

Note    For numeric data, the Value and Count field values are sorted numerically, but the label field sorted alphabetically.


Spatial Join

If you join two theme attribute tables together using their Shape field as the common field, ArcView automatically bases the join on the spatial relationship between the features in the two themes. This is called a spatial join.

To perform a spatial join

1	From the view, open the attribute tables of the themes you wish to join.

2	Make the source table active. This is the table you wish to join to the other table.

3	Click the Shape field's name.

4	Make the destination table active. This is the table you wish to receive the values of the source table.

5	Click the Shape field's name.

6	From the Table menu choose Join, or click the Join button [image]. The source table is joined to the destination table. The source table is closed automatically.

A spatial join is similar to an attribute join; however it is based on the spatial relationship between the features in the two themes. For each feature represented in the destination table, ArcView looks to see if it has one of the following spatial relationships with any feature represented in the source table, and if it does, that feature's record from the source table is joined into the destination table:

	point	line	polygon
point	nearest	nearest	inside
line	nearest	part of	inside
polygon	n/a	n/a	inside

When the spatial join is based on the 'nearest' relationship (i.e., neither of the two themes involved contains polygons and one of them contains points), ArcView adds a Distance field to the destination table. This field is automatically calculated by ArcView and contains the distance to the nearest feature represented in the source table for each feature represented in the destination table. The distance is calculated in the view’s map units.

When the spatial join is based on the 'part of' relationship (i.e., both themes involved contain line features), the line features represented in the destination table have to be substrings of the line features represented in the source table to satisfy the spatial join. In other words, the lines in one theme are part of the lines in the other theme. For example, if you had the Rio Branco in one theme, and all the rivers in the Amazon basin in another theme, all the features in the first theme are considered to be 'part of' the features in the second theme, because the Rio Branco is a tributary of the Amazon, and features representing the Rio Branco are present in the second theme.

See also

Joining tables

Performing spatial analysis with ArcView


Spatial relation types

ArcView provides the ability to select the features of one or more themes using the features of another theme. Selecting features in this way is one of the spatial analysis methods you can use to resolve problems that involve issues of proximity, adjacency, and containment.

ArcView provides several spatial relation types or predicates to qualify the selection that you make in the Select By Theme dialog box. These relations or predicates are associated with the feature type of the selector theme. The available spatial relation types appear in the Select By Theme dialog box, and are expressed by the following phrases:

Are Completely Within - selects features in the target themes if they fall completely within one or more of the selector theme's features.

Completely Contain - selects features in the target themes that completely contain one or more of the selector theme's features

Have their Center In - selects features in the target themes if their center falls inside the selector theme's features.

Contain the Center Of - selects features in the target themes that contain the center of one or more of the selector theme's features

Intersect - selects features in the target themes that intersect the features in the target. Intersection implies that at least one point is common to both the selector and the target or one of them is completely within the other. If the selector and target are the same, Intersect will select adjacent features.

Are Within Distance Of - selects features in the target themes that are within a specified distance of the selector theme's features. You can specify the type of distance units in the View Properties dialog box.


Specifying the label field

To specify a theme's label field:

1	Click on the theme in the Table of Contents to make it active.

2	Choose Properties from the Theme menu.

3	Choose the Text Labels category.

4	Choose the field you want to use from the Label Field list.

5	Optionally specify label position preferences.

6	Click OK.

Tips

   The value in the label field is also used by the Identify tool.

   Any field from the theme's attribute table can be used as its label field.

   The Auto-label dialog can also be used to set a theme's label field.


Splitting_line_features
Splitting line features

In ArcView, you can use the Line Split tool [image] to create a line that gets split wherever it crosses another line, and also splits all lines it crosses.

To split line features

1	If the theme is not already in edit mode, make the theme active and from the Theme menu, choose Start Editing.

2	Click the Drawing tool palette [image] and in the list of tools that pops down, click the Line Split tool [image].

3	In the view, click the left mouse button  where you want the line to start, click each vertex, then double-click the final vertex. The line you draw with the Line Split tool must cross over at least one other line for any new features to be created. Both the existing line and the new line are split into two separate lines at the point where they cross. (The same new line can cross more than one existing line if you want to split a number of lines at once).

When a  feature is split with the Line Split tool [image], the record of that feature is removed from the theme’s feature attribute table and two new records are added to the table to represent the new features. If you want to specify how the data in  the original record is handled when you split line features, you can set attribute update rules for each field in the table.


Splitting polygon features

When you are editing polygons, you can use the Polygon Split tool [image] to draw a line across a polygon to split it into separate polygons. For example, to create 10 adjacent land parcels, you can create one polygon that represents the outer boundary of all the parcels, and then use the Polygon Split tool to draw the boundary lines between them to split the polygon into 10 separate polygons. This capability also makes it easy to modify existing polygons. For example, to make a polygon smaller you can use the Polygon Split tool to simply split off the unwanted part, select it, and then delete it.

To split polygon features

1	If the theme is not already in edit mode, make the theme active and from the Theme menu, choose Start Editing.

2	Click the Drawing tool palette [image] and in the list of tools that pops down, click the Polygon Split tool [image]. (If this tool is dimmed out, your theme is not currently in edit mode. Choose Start Editing from the Theme menu).

3	Draw a line across the polygon you want to split. To draw the line, click where you want the line to start, click each vertex along the line, then double-click the final vertex. You can overshoot the boundary of the polygon you are splitting. (The same line can continue through more than one polygon if you want to split a number of polygons at once).

When you have finished drawing the line, ArcView automatically splits the polygon along the line your drew, and removes any overshoots from the line

When a  feature is split with the Polygon Split tool [image], the record of that feature is removed from the theme’s feature attribute table and two new records are added to the table to represent the new features. If you want to specify how the data in  the original record is handled when you split polygon features, you can set attribute update rules for each field in the table.


Storing comments about a theme

To store or edit comments documenting a theme

1	Click on the theme in the Table of Contents to make it active.

2	Press the Theme Properties button [image] or from the Theme menu choose Properties.

3	Choose the Definition category if it is not already chosen.

4	Add or edit comments in the Comments text box.

5	Press OK.


Storing comments about a view

To store or edit comments documenting a view

1	From the View menu choose Properties. The View Properties dialog box will be displayed.

2	Add or edit comments in the Comments text box.

3	Press OK.

The date the view was created and the name of the user who created the view are automatically recorded by ArcView in the View Properties dialog box.

See also

Storing comments about a theme


Text and label options

ArcView has a variety of ways to place text or labels on a view or layout. Labels and text are only slightly different in that labels get their text from an attribute in a theme, while text is determined by you typing in the text you want to show. The following diagram shows the tools and examples of the kind of text or label they add to a view or layout:

For information on how to create each of these types of labels, see Drawing labels and shapes on a view.


Thematic mapping in ArcView GIS

Thematic mapping capabilities

The Legend Editor lets you choose from a number of different legend types, each one corresponding to a different sort of thematic map. These are chosen from a dropdown list on the Legend Editor:

Single Symbol - use the same symbol and color to represent all features (the default).

Graduated Color - classify features according to a numeric attribute and represent the classes with a color ramp or your own symbol & color choices.

Graduated Symbol - classify point or line features according to a numeric attribute and represent the classes with a ramp of different sized symbols.

Unique Value - classify features according to a numeric or string attribute so that every unique value is placed in a separate class, and represent the classes with a color scheme or your own symbol & color choices.

Dot - represent a numeric attribute of polygon features using a dot pattern in which the density of dots in each polygon is proportional to the attribute value.

Chart - represent multiple numeric attributes for features by symbolizing each feature with a column chart or pie chart. You can choose the fill and color of each column or wedge in the chart symbols. Pie chart symbols can be the same size or made proportional to the values of any one numeric attribute.

See Types of thematic maps.

Ways to classify features

ArcView has methods for classifying features in a theme according to a numeric attribute. You can choose a classification method when the legend type is graduated color or graduated symbol.

Natural Breaks - identifies breakpoints between classes using a statistical formula (Jenk's optimization) that minimizes the sum of the variance for each of the classes. This option is good at revealing underlying groupings and patterns in your data.

Standard Deviations - finds the mean value and then places class breaks above and below the mean at intervals of either 1, 1/2, or 1/4 standard deviation until all the data values are contained within the class boundaries. ArcView will aggregate all values that are beyond three standard deviations from the mean into two classes, "> 3 Std Dev." and "< -3 Std. Dev."

Equal Area  - classifies polygon features by finding breakpoints so that the total area of the polygons in each class is the approximately the same. Similar to Quantile except that the division of polygons into classes is more likely to look equal on the view because it is based on the area covered by polygons in each class rather than the number of polygons in each class. In other words, each feature is given a weight in the classification equal to its area rather than equal to 1.

The default classification type is natural breaks.

Classifications can be normalized

When you classify features according to data in a numeric attribute, ArcView offers the option of normalizing the data as part of classification. Normalization makes data easier to use and understand in many situations, and provides new ways of visualizing and analyzing its content. You can choose from two normalization methods:

Normalize by any other numeric attribute - you specify a second attribute against which the values of the first attribute are normalized. In this way you can map how your data relates to the values of another attribute. For example, you can make a map showing population density of regions by normalizing population by the area of each region. Normalizing in this way also provides the ratio between two attributes. For example, to make a map showing the ratio of old people to young people, you could classify on population over 60 and normalize this to the population under 18.

Normalize By Percent of Total - new values are calculated to reflect the numeric attribute's values normalized as a percent of the sum of those values. This is especially useful because in many cases numeric data is easier to use in percentage form. For example, if you are analyzing a particular year's sales figures, it easier to compare different regions if they are classified by the percentage of sales they contributed that year rather than the absolute volume of sales.

Null value handling

The Legend Editor lets you specify the null value (value that some features have for an attribute that indicates that no data is available or an observation was not possible, for example -99) and choose whether features having this value will be displayed in the classification as a separate 'No data' class or simply excluded from the classification. If a 'No data' class is displayed, it is automatically excluded from color ramps and symbol ramps. The symbol used to represent the 'No data' class can be chosen manually like any other symbol.

Other capabilities for classifying features

You can add and delete classes on the Legend Editor. Adding classes makes it easier to create manual classification schemes. Deleting classes makes it easier to control exactly what is displayed in the view.

When you choose a classification method, you can round decimal values in the class boundaries up or down. You can choose the number of decimal points to round to.

You can control the order classes are listed in. You can sort classes in ascending or descending order on the values field or the labels field. You can drag and drop classes to re-order them. You can also 'flip' a color ramp or symbol ramp to reverse the order the symbols appear in. Unlike sorting, flipping symbols does not change the order of the values or labels. For example, if your legend represents polygons classified by population with a ramp going from white to red as population increases, flipping the symbols will result in a ramp going from red to white as population increases.

When you use the unique value legend type, you can create classes containing discrete values. Discrete values are separated by commas. For example, a class specified as:

10, 15, 90

will contain only features having any of these values. Discrete values can also be specified for text string values, for example:

England, France, Germany, Holland

With numeric attributes, discrete values can be combined with ranges in one class. For example, this class:

500 - 1000, 6000

will contain features with values between and including 500 to 1000, or with a value of 6000.

You can automatically update the label that appears next to a class in a legend to reflect changes to the class definition. After changing a class definition, simply click inside the label field to make it match the new definition. For example, if you redefine the values of a class to be 20 - 80, clicking in its label field will automatically make the label 20 - 80 too.

Better color ramps and color schemes

In addition to choosing your own colors and creating your own color ramps, you can choose from pre-defined color ramps and color schemes when you use the Legend editor. Pre-defined color ramps include ramps useful for showing land elevation, bathymetric elevation, precipitation, and temperature, as well as general purpose ramps such as red monochromatic, gray monochromatic, blues to greens, greens to reds, etc.

The way that ArcView generates color ramps has been redesigned so that you get smoother, more pleasing color gradations between different hues. ArcView also enables you to create true dichromatic color ramps (e.g., dark blue to dark red via white). These are especially useful for representing features according to the extent to which they are above or below a certain base data value (such as sea level, the mean in the standard deviation classification method, financial thresholds, etc.).

In ArcView you can set the color of one or more intermediate classes in order to create inflection points in the color ramp. For example, you can create a color ramp that goes from yellow to green to dark blue (without the green inflection point yellow would normally ramp to dark blue via brown).

Statistics button on Legend Editor

The Statistics button opens a dialog that shows statistics for the theme currently in the legend editor. You can change the field property to show the statistics for any field in your theme.

Undo button on Legend Editor

You can press Undo to return to using the theme's previous legend. Undo can also work successively allowing you to undo the last five changes you have made to a theme's legend since you started editing it.

Scaleable marker and line symbols

ArcView now lets you choose whether marker and line symbols scale when you change the scale of your view. By default, symbols do not scale (they remain the same size irrespective of the view's scale). You can turn scaling symbols on and off in the Advanced Options dialog on the Legend Editor.

When you turn scaling symbols on, you can also choose a reference scale. The reference scale defaults to the current scale of your view. This is the scale of the view at which scaling marker and line symbols will appear at the same size as they are in the Legend Editor. Thus if you create a line symbol 12 points wide, turn scaling on and set the reference scale to 1:24000, the line will be 24 points wide if you zoom in on your view to 1:12000.

Using scaling symbols you'll be able, for example, to create line symbols for roads with line widths that approximate the actual width of the roads on the ground. This relationship will remain correct as you change scales.

Rotating marker symbols for point features

Marker symbols based on TrueType fonts can be rotated. When you draw point features you can specify the rotation angle when you choose their marker symbols from the Marker Palette. You can also automatically rotate marker symbols according to the values of one of the numeric attributes of the points. The rotation field for point features can be specified in the Advanced Options dialog on the Legend Editor.

Offset pen symbols for line features

The features of line themes can be offset a fixed distance from their original coordinates. This is especially useful for displaying routes that you find using ArcView's Network Analyst extension because if the route doubles back on itself, this information is clearly communicated in the form of a loop.

Saving and loading legend files

When you load a legend file, a dialog box lets you choose whether you want to load the classification definition, the symbol definition, or both. It also shows you the name of the attribute that was used to create the legend saved in the legend file, and lets you choose to assign the legend either to this attribute or another one in your current theme. In ArcView you can also save and load a single symbol legend (legend in which the features are not classified according to an attribute).


Theme on theme selection

Selecting the features of one theme with the features of another contributes to solutions to many spatial analysis problems. You can help answer questions of whether one feature lies within another, whether it completely contains another, whether it is within a specified distance of another, and so on.

Select one or more target themes and then use Select By Theme in the Theme menu to access these spatial analysis tools.

See also

Spatial relation types


The geocoding process

Follow these steps to perform address geocoding in ArcView:

To make a theme matchable

1.   Add a theme to a view. The theme should contain the necessary matchable address attributes for geocoding. Geocoding against SDE database themes is not supported.

Note	If the data source already contains a geocoding match source object data base and a geocoding index, the theme will become matchable right away. See Geocoding Index. You can skip the following steps of making the theme matchable.

2.   Make the theme active. Open the Theme Properties dialog box and display the geocoding theme property panel to choose a suitable address style for the theme. The address style you choose determines the fields and the way of indexing a field, as well as the data used for geocoding addresses and locating an address in a view.

3.   ArcView finds the default field from the attribute table for each component of the address style. See Geocoding Theme Properties for description of each available style and its components. You can change the field by selecting a new field from the drop-down list. A check mark in front of the address component indicates that the component is required. A checked component needs to be filled with a data field from the attribute table. A component without a check mark is an optional component. If no suitable data field is found from the attribute table, <None> can be set to the non-required component. Note that if no data fields are selected for the required components, the theme cannot be made matchable.

4.   ArcView provides you with an option to use place name aliases. Select a table in your project that contains the aliases and their associated addresses. See Working with place name aliases to learn how to create and use an alias table. Attaching alias information to the theme allows you to locate an address using a place name alias. Select <None> if you do not want to use place name aliases.

5.   Press OK to make the theme matchable. ArcView will display a message box for you to confirm building the geocoding index using the selected address style. Press Yes to start indexing the data of the required components. If <None> is selected for a required component of an address style, pressing OK will not make the theme matchable.

To geocode addresses against a matchable theme

1.   Add a tabular data file containing the addresses to the project. The address must be stored in a single field in this table. The zone information should be stored in another field if the address style requires a zone. Values in the address field can also be in the form of street intersections or place name aliases.

If you want to geocode an address file without adding it to a project, you can specify the file in the Geocode Addresses dialog box.

2.   From the View menu, choose Geocode Addresses to open the Geocode Addresses dialog box. Specify the options and choose Batch Match or Interactive Match.

For Batch Match, ArcView will match the addresses without invoking the Geocoding Editor.

If you choose Interactive Match, ArcView will display the Geocoding Editor for you to control the address matching process. If multiple or no matches exist, you can adjust the matching parameters in the  Geocoding Preferences dialog box, interactively edit the addresses if there are mistakes, or manually assign geographic coordinates to the events with missing information.

3.   During the process, ArcView will create a geocoded theme in the form of an ArcView shapefile to store the attributes of all records in the address event table and the XY coordinates of the successfully matched records.

4.   When the matching process is done, ArcView will display the results of geocoding and allow you to re-match the addresses. When you press Done in the Re-match Addresses dialog box, ArcView will add the geocoded theme to the view.

5.   You can also re-match the geocoded theme at a later time. See Re-matching a geocoded theme.

See also

What is geocoding

Address geocoding

Locating an address on a view

Geocoding street intersections


The Table of Contents

Each view has its own Table of Contents that lists the themes in the view. Like the table of contents of a book, you look at a view's Table of Contents to see what's in it. You can change how the table of contents looks by choosing TOC Style from the View menu. You also use the Table of Contents to control how the view is drawn:

The Table of Contents shows:

 The name of each theme in the view

Themes can be given any name. By default, a theme is named after the data source it represents, such as "COV143" or "Landuse". You can give themes longer, more descriptive names. See Changing a theme's name.

 The legend for each theme

A theme's legend shows the symbols and colors used to draw the theme. A theme may be drawn using one symbol, or a range of different symbols and colors may be used in order to classify the features in the theme. To learn more about how legends are used in thematic mapping, see Types of thematic maps.

 Whether a theme is on or off

Each theme has a check box to its left that indicates whether the theme is currently drawn in the view. You control which themes are drawn in your view by simply checking these boxes. See Turning themes on and off .

 The order the themes are drawn in

The theme at the top of the Table of Contents is drawn on top of those below it. Themes that form the background to your view are therefore at the bottom of the list. Simply drag themes up and down in the Table of Contents to change the order they are drawn in. See Changing the order themes are drawn in.

 Which themes are active

When you make themes active you choose which themes you wish to work with. When a theme is active it is highlighted in the Table of Contents. Simply click a theme's name or legend to make it active.  To make more than one theme active, hold down SHIFT when you click on the themes.  In this example, the Major highways theme is active:

Most of the operations you can perform on a view work on the active theme(s). For example, when you select features on a view, features are only selected from the active theme(s).

 Which theme is editable

A dashed line around the theme's check box indicates that you are currently editing the features in the theme. Only themes based on a shapefile  can be edited. See Editing a theme.

Hiding the Table of Contents

To hide the Table of Contents, drag its right border all the way to the left. The view will redraw to fill the whole window. To show the Table of Contents again, drag its border back to the right again.

Hiding a theme's legend

The Table of Contents normally shows the legend of each theme in the view. However, you can save space in the Table of Contents by hiding legends. This is especially useful when a view contains many themes. To hide a theme's legend, make the theme active and then choose Hide/Show Legend from the Theme menu. When a legend is hidden, the name of the theme and its check box remain visible.

Cutting, copying, and pasting themes

You can copy and paste themes back into the same view or into another view. To remove a theme from a view, simply cut it from the Table of Contents. The view will automatically redraw without the theme you cut.

You can change the following display settings for the TOCs in all views in your project by choosing TOC Style from the View menu:

Line Flatness

This is the degree to which the line symbols in the legend are flat. This setting also affects how line symbols are shown the Legend Editor and the Symbol window

Symbol length

This is the length of the line symbol in the TOC. Sometimes it is necessary to show a line that is longer in order to effectively show the pattern of dashes or symbols along a line symbol

TOC Text Symbol

This sets how the text in a legend will appear. This also affects how legend frames appear in a layout.


To add an ARC/INFO ArcStorm database library layer

1	Set up your system for accessing ARC/INFO Libraries if you haven't. See Accessing ARC/INFO Libraries.

2	Click the Add Theme button [image].

3	In the Data Source Types box, choose Feature Data Source.

4	Select the Libraries option.

5	In the Database box, choose the name of the ArcStorm database you wish to access. (The entries in the drop-down list, except the first one, are the names of the ArcStorm databases available to you.) ArcView will list all the libraries available in the database you chose.

6	Double-click the name of the library containing the layer you wish to add. All the layers in the library you select are listed.

7	If the layer contains more than one feature class, you can click on its folder icon to reveal them for selection. Double-click the layer you wish to add.

Tip	Hold down SHIFT to select several layers and/or feature classes at once

Note	When you add a theme to a view, ArcView does not immediately draw it on the view. This enables you to first edit the theme's legend, or change the drawing order if there are several themes, etc. To draw a theme you add, click the check box next to the theme's name in the view's Table of Contents.


To add an ARC/INFO coverage or ArcView shapefile to a view
To add an ARC/INFO coverage or ArcView shapefile

1	Click the Add Theme button [image].

2	In the Data Source Types box, choose Feature Data Source.

3	Navigate to the directory that contains the ARC/INFO coverage or ArcView shapefile you want to add. Double-click on the directory name to list the files it contains.

4	ArcView shapefiles are listed with a .shp extension. ARC/INFO coverages are shown by name. Click the shapefile or coverage you wish to select. If an ARC/INFO coverage contains more than one class of features, it will be shown with a folder icon in the list of coverages. In these cases, click the name of the coverage to select the default feature class, or click the folder to display a list of available feature classes and choose the one you want to use. The default feature class is the first one listed.

Tip	To add several ARC/INFO coverages or ArcView shapefiles to a view at once, hold down SHIFT and click on them in the list of files.

Notes

   When you add a theme to a view, ArcView does not immediately draw it on the view. This enables you to first edit the theme's legend, or change the drawing order if there are several themes, etc. To draw a theme you add, click the check box next to the theme's name in the view's Table of Contents.

    Shapefiles that appear in workspaces that contain a capital letter in the pathname will not appear in the Add Theme dialog in UNIX ArcView.


To add an ARC/INFO LIBRARIAN layer

1	Set up your system for accessing ARC/INFO Libraries if you haven't. See Accessing ARC/INFO Libraries.

2	Click the Add Theme button [image].

3	In the Data Source Types box, choose Feature Data Source.

4	Select the Libraries option. Leave the Database box set to ARC/INFO*LIBRARIAN. The LIBRARIAN libraries available to you are listed.

5	Double-click the name of the library containing the layer you wish to add. All the layers in the library you select are listed.

6	If the layer contains more than one feature class, you can click on its folder icon to reveal them for selection. Double-click the layer you wish to add.

Tip	Hold down SHIFT to select several layers and/or feature classes at once.

Note	When you add a theme to a view, ArcView does not immediately draw it on the view. This enables you to first edit the theme's legend, or change the drawing order if there are several themes, etc. To draw a theme you add, click the check box next to the theme's name in the view's Table of Contents.


To add an image to a view
To add an image

1	Click the Add Theme button [image].

2	In the Data Source Types box, choose Image Data Source.

3	Navigate to the directory that contains image you want to add. Double-click on the directory name to list the image data sources it contains. See Supported image formats.

4	Double-click the image data source you wish to add.

Note	When you add a theme to a view, ArcView does not immediately draw it on the view. This enables you to first edit the theme's legend, or change the drawing order if there are several themes, etc. To draw a theme you add, click the check box next to the theme's name in the view's Table of Contents.


To add an image catalog
To add an image catalog to a view

1	Click the Add Theme button [image].

2	In the Data Source Types box, choose Image Data Source.

3	Navigate to the directory that contains the image catalog you want to add.  Double-click on the directory name to list the image catalogs sources it contiains.

4	Double-click the image catalog source you wish to add.

Note   If you want to add an image catalog that is stored in an INFO file you must navigate into the INFO directory that holds the INFO file.


To add a table of events occurring along line features

1	From the View menu choose Add Event Theme. (If this menu choice is dimmed, you’ll need to add the table to your project first.)

2	Choose the Routes button [image].

3	Choose the route theme from the Route theme list.

4	Choose the field that contains the route key from the Route field list.

5	Click the Lines button.

6	In the Table list, select the table that contains the line events. ArcView will read the table's field names to find likely defaults, if any, for the fields it needs in order to add the theme.

7	Press OK. ArcView adds a theme where each event in the table is represented by a line.


To add a table of events occurring at point features

Before you can add a theme based on events occurring at point features, the view must have a theme representing the appropriate route system on which the point features are based.

1	From the View menu choose Add Event Theme. (If this menu choice is dimmed, you’ll need to add the table to your project first.)

2	Choose the Routes button [image].

3	Choose the route theme from the Route theme list.

4	Click the Points button.

5	Choose the field that contains the route key from the Route field list.

6	In the Table list, select the table that contains the point events. ArcView will read the table's field names to find likely defaults, if any, for the fields it needs in order to add the theme.

7	Press OK. ArcView adds a theme where each event in the table is represented by a point.


To add a table of street addresses

Before you can add a theme based on street address, your view must contain a theme representing a street network or similar data which ArcView can use as the base map for geocoding the table. A theme is made matchable by setting its geocoding properties in the Theme Properties dialog.

ArcView matches each address against the base map (the reference theme) to find the location and creates a point shapefile to store the geometry and attributes of all geocoded addresses.

1	From the View menu choose Geocode Addresses to display the dialog.

2	In the Reference theme list, select the theme that you can match your addresses to.

3	(Optional) Choose a field from the address theme's attribute table that can be joined to the output geocoded theme.

4	In the Table list, select the name of the table that you want to geocode. Select the field that contains the address from the Address field drop-down list.

5	(Optional) Select an additional field such as the name of customer or business that can help you identify the address you want to geocode easily. This field will be displayed in the Geocoding Editor.

6	(Optional) Select a place name alias table if your events contain place name aliases. See Working with place name aliases.

7	(Optional) Specify an offset distance to determine where to place the point location in relation to the street segment.

8	Press Batch Match or Interactive Match.

See also

What is geocoding

The geocoding process


To add a table of XY coordinates

1	From the View menu choose Add Event Theme. (If this menu choice is dimmed, you’ll need to add the table to your project first.)

2	Choose the XY button [image].

3	In the Table list, select the table that contains the XY coordinates. Choose the appropriate fields containing the coordinate information.

4	Press OK. ArcView adds a theme where each location in the table is represented by a point.


To attach graphics to a theme

1	Click on the theme in the Table of Contents to make it active, if it is not already. Make sure only one theme is active.

2	Select the graphicsyou want to attach to the active theme using the pointer tool [image] .

3	From the Graphics menu, choose Attach Graphics.

Notes

 If you attach the same graphics to another theme, the graphics will be detached automatically from the previous attached theme because you can attach the graphics to only one theme.

 If you Auto-label a theme, ArcView attaches the labels to the theme automatically.


To Auto-label street themes

When you Auto-label a street theme, you should consider how large the overall size of your map is going to be and what scale your street theme is going to be. With this information in mind, you can make a good estimation of how large your text should be on your map. In the example below, the label on the left is 14 point Arial, and is obviously too large, while the label on the right is 8 point Arial and is comparatively aesthetic.

To Auto-label street themes:

1	From the Window menu choose Show Symbol Window and click the font palette [image] button to show the font palette.

2	Set the font, size and style that you would like your labels to be drawn with.

3	From the Theme menu choose Auto-label.

4	In the Auto-label dialog make sure the label field is correct and then click OK.


To Auto-label themes using fixed label placement

Some maps require that all features must be labeled and all labels must be in the same location with respect to the feature being labeled. To do this in ArcView:

1	From the Theme menu choose Properties.

2	Click the Text Labels icon to show the Text placement options.

3	Select the options you want and then Click OK.

4	From the Theme menu choose Auto-label.

5	Choose the field that contains the values you want to use for the labels.

6	Choose Use Label Placement from Theme Properties

7	Click OK.


To change overlapping labels propertiesTo change overlapping labels properties
To change overlapping labels properties

To change the color or symbols of overlapping labels (usually drawn in green text) to be like the color or symbol of otherwise good labels, you should:

1	Select the overlapping labels that you want to change the symbol of using the pointer tool

2	Select a label that has the symbol that you want to convert the overlapping labels to.

3	From the Theme menu choose Convert Overlapping Labels.

Notes

 In general do not convert overlapping labels to a text symbol that is of a different size because ArcView does not constantly manage the label positioning information that was used to initially place the label on or near the feature it corresponds to. The result would be a label that is either too far from its feature or it may even overlap its feature.

 Do Not use the symbol window to change the color of overlapping labels to a color of well placed labels. The way ArcView knows if a label is overlapping or not is rather simplistic, it is just the color of the label. If you select an overlapping label and then change its color by directly using the Symbol Window, this will change the color of all overlapping labels, and ArcView will not be able to explicitly remove them using the Remove Overlapping Labels choice on the Theme menu.

 If you have more than one well placed label selected, ArcView will convert the overlapping labels to the symbol of the first well placed label it finds in the selected set.


To create a new theme in a view

1	From the View menu, choose New Theme.

2	In the dialog that appears, choose the type of features you want your new theme to contain. Your theme can contain either point, line or polygon features. Press OK

3	In the dialog that appears, specify a name and location for the new shapefile that ArcView will create to store features you add to your new theme. Press OK.

A new, empty theme appears in your view's Table of Contents. The theme's drawing check box has a dashed line around it indicating that it is ready for editing. You can now add features to it with the Drawing and Editing tools.

Note  If you create a new theme in a view that contains no other themes, and no projection has been specified for the view, the shapefile that is created is stored in the map units of the view. If you create a new theme in a view for which a projection has been specified, the shapefile will also be stored in decimal degrees. The spatial data you create will align correctly with any themes based on data sources that are also stored in decimal degrees, and you'll be able to display this data in any projection you specify for the view.

If you create a new theme in a view that contains themes based on data sources that are not in decimal degrees (i.e. this data is stored in projected units) the shapefile that is created is stored in the same projected units as these existing data sources. For example, suppose you have a view containing some themes based on data sources that are in UTM meters. If you create a new theme in this view, the new shapefile will also be stored in UTM meters. The spatial data you create will only align correctly with themes based on data sources that are also stored in UTM meters. You won't be able to display this data using a different projection in ArcView, because you can only specify a projection for a view if the vector themes it contains are based on data stored in decimal degrees.

See also

Creating point features

Creating line features

Creating polygon features


To detach graphics from a theme

1	Click on the theme(s) in the Table of Contents to make it active, if it is not already.

2	From the Graphics menu, choose Detach Graphics.

Tip   Detach Graphics will remove the association of all graphics to any active themes, not just the selected graphics.


To draw shapes on a view

These tools are used to add shapes (graphics) to a view. When you click on a Draw tool, ArcView drops down a column showing the other draw tools. Here is how you use each of the Draw Tools:

 Draw a point

Click where you want to draw a point.

 Draw a straight line

Click down to establish the start point of a line and then drag to where you want the end point to be located and release the mouse button.

 Draw a line with two or more vertices

Click where you want each vertex to be located then double-click to place the end point of your line.

 Draw a rectangle

Click down to establish the origin of your rectangle and then drag to establish the extents of your rectange and then release the mouse button.

 Draw a circle

Click down to establish the center of your circle and then drag to establish the extents of your circle and then release the mouse button.

 Draw a polygon

Click where you want each vertex to be located then double-click to place the last point of your point.

The following tools are only active if you are editing a theme:

 Draw a line to split line features

 Draw a line to split polygon features

  Draw a line to append a new polygon adjacent to other polygons

To change the properties of a graphic after you have drawn it, double-click on it with the Pointer tool [image] to access the Symbol Window where you can set the symbol properties as required.  You may also change the properties of more than one graphic, select them all with the Pointer tool and then choose Show Symbol Window from the Window menu. Set symbol properties as required.


 To hide or show a theme's legend

1  Click on the theme's name in the Table of Contents to make it active.

2  From the Theme menu, choose Hide/Show Legend.

Hiding a theme's legend enables you to save space in a view's Table of Contents, especially when your theme's legend has a large number of classes. When a legend is hidden, the name of the theme and its check box remain visible so you can still turn the theme on and off, double-click it to edit its legend, drag and drop it to change drawing order, etc.


To set an offset for a line theme's symbols

1	Click the Advanced button on the Legend Editor

2	Enter an offset distance in points (1/72 of an inch), which will be the distance that features are offset on your screen or printed map.

3	Click OK in the Advanced Options window and Click Apply in the Legend Editor.


To set a reference scale for a theme's symbols

1	Click the Advanced button in the Legend Editor

2	Check the Scale Symbols box.

3	You may optionally type in a reference scale other than the default which is the scale of the current view document.

4	Click the OK button in the Advanced Options window and Click the Apply button in the Legend Editor’

Notes

 You must have either set a projection for your view, or set map and distance units.  Otherwise your view’s display does not have a scale.

 If you enter a specific scale, i.e., 24000, or 250000, the symbols in the Legend Editor will be displayed at the sizes you have selected only for the reference scale.

 Only symbols for point and line features can be scaled.


To set a rotation angle field for a point theme

1  Click the Advanced button on the Legend Editor

2  Choose a field that contains rotation angle values from the Rotation Field drop-down list.

3  Click OK in the Advanced Options window and then click Apply in the Legend Editor.


Turning themes on and off

Use the check boxes next to the theme names in the Table of Contents to control which themes are drawn in your view. These check boxes let you toggle themes on and off in the view.

To turn a theme on

 Click on the check box next to the theme's name in the Table of Contents to check it. The theme will be drawn in the view.

To turn a theme off

 Click on the check box next to the theme's name in the Table of Contents to uncheck it. The view will redraw without the theme.

To turn all the themes on at once

 Choose Themes On from the View menu. You can also hold down CTRL and click on the check box of any theme in the Table of Contents that is off. All the themes that are off will turn on and be drawn in the view.

To turn all the themes off at once

 Choose Themes Off from the View menu or press ESC. You can also hold down CTRL and click on the check box of any theme in the Table of Contents that is on. All the themes that are on will turn off and no themes will appear in the view.

When a view is saved, the on or off state of each theme is also saved.

What can you do with a theme that is turned off?

You can't Identify or Find a feature in a theme that is not drawn on the view. All other options may be used.

For example, you can use both the mouse and queries to select features in a theme that is off. You just won't see the selected features highlighted in the view until you turn the theme back on. See Selecting features on a view.

Removing a theme from a view

Turning a theme off simply means it will not be drawn in the view. To completely remove a theme from a view so that it no longer appears in the Table of Contents, you should cut it from the Table of Contents.

Tip    Turning a theme on or off is not the same as making it active. To turn a theme on or off you check or uncheck the theme's check box in the Table of Contents. To make a theme active you click on its name or legend in the Table of Contents. You make a theme active before performing something on it, like copying it or selecting its features.  See Making a theme active.

If you turn a theme on but it doesn't seem to get drawn in the view, this might be because:

 Another theme in the view may be drawn on top of your theme, hiding it. To see if this is the case, drag your theme up to the top of the Table of Contents to change the order the themes are drawn in. Moving your theme to the top of the Table of Contents will ensure that no other theme is drawn on top of it, because the theme at the top of the Table of Contents is always drawn on top of the other themes in the view.

 A scale-dependent display property may have been defined for the theme. This property defines the range of scales at which a theme is drawn on the view, and the scale of your view may currently be outside this range. To see if this has been defined, choose Properties from the Theme menu and look at the Display property.

 Your view may be zoomed in to an area where your theme has no features. To zoom to the area covered by your theme, make the theme active and then zoom to the active theme [image].

 A feature selection may be defined for your theme. This theme property defines which features will be included in a theme, by selecting them based on their attribute values. If nothing is being drawn for your theme it might be because none of the features in the theme currently met the selection criteria that have been set. To see if a selection definition has been set, chose Properties from the Theme menu, go to the Definition category if this panel is not already displayed, and see if the Definition box contains a query. If it does, press Clear and then press OK.

 Your theme may be drawn with a symbol that is the same color as the background of the view (i.e., white), or the same color as a theme drawn behind yours. If your theme contains polygon or line features, it is also possible that these features are being drawn with the transparent color, no fill, or no line symbol. To see if any of these conditions apply, look at your theme's legend in the Table of Contents. If they do, edit your theme's legend.

 Your theme's data source may contain no data. To see if this is the case, make the theme active and then choose Table from the Theme menu. If no table appears, or if the table that does appear contains no records, it is likely that your data source contains no data.


Types of thematic maps

Single Symbol  All the features in the theme are displayed with the same colors and symbols. This is useful when you only need to show where a theme’s features are located.

Graduated Color Features are displayed with the same symbol type, but the colors represent the progression of values for a data attribute you specify. See Graduated Color Maps to learn more.

Graduated Symbol  The features are displayed with the same colors and symbols, representing a progression of values. This is the best way to symbolize data that expresses size or magnitude. Graduated symbol is only available for point and line data. See Graduated Symbol Maps to learn more.

Unique Value  Each unique value in a theme is represented with a unique symbol. This is the most effective method for displaying categorical data. See Unique Value Maps to learn more.

Dot Density  The features of a polygon theme are displayed with a number of dots corresponding to a value. This method is good for showing how particular things are distributed throughout an area. For instance, a dot map depicting population will most likely have the strongest concentrations of dots along rivers and near coastlines. See Dot Density Maps to learn more.

Chart  The features are displayed with a chart. The components of the chart correspond to data attributes  you specify, and the size of each part in a chart is determined by the value of each data attribute. You can specify whether the charts are pie charts or column charts. This is a good method for displaying the values of many attributes. See Chart Maps to learn more.


Understanding GeoProcessing
What can you accomplish with GeoProcessing?

GeoProcessing is a way to create new data based on themes in your view. In most cases you will alter the geometric properties of the features in a dataset while controlling some aspects of how its attribute data is handled.

To reduce the extent of a theme

 clip one theme based on another

This process creates a new theme by using a polygon theme (or selected polygons in that theme) as a cookie cutter on a point, line, or polygon theme. The output theme will only contain data from the theme you're clipping--the theme used as a cookie cutter is only used to define the clipping boundary. You might use the boundary of your study area to clip a theme of roads or customers that extends over a much larger area.

 intersect two themes

This process is similar to clipping a theme, except it preserves only those features falling within the spatial extent common to both themes. The features of the input theme are intersected or sliced by the intersect theme. The attribute data from both themes are included in the new theme's attribute table. You could use of theme of flood zones to intersect a theme of land parcels.

To combine features in one theme that are alike

 dissolve features based on an attribute

Dissolving features in a theme coalesces adjacent features that have the same attribute value. You might dissolve a theme of U.S. census counties based on predominant political affiliation. This would remove boundaries between adjacent tracts with the same predominant political affiliation.

To combine features in two or more themes

 union two themes

Union creates a new theme by combining two polygon themes. The new theme has data and shapes from both themes, including their intersection. In fact, union differs from intersect only by the fact that all the features of both themes are included in the resultant theme, including those features that did not overlap.

 merge themes together

Using merge is similar to union--a new theme is created from multiple themes but their features are not intersected. Merge allows you to combine the features from two or more themes of the same geometric type. When you merge themes, you specify which theme has the same fields you want the new theme to have. If the other themes you're merging have more fields than the theme you have specified, those fields won't be in the new theme's table. If the other themes don't have the same fields as the theme you've specified, empty cells will be added to the new theme's table. You might merge several tiled county themes with census data to make a metropolitan area.

To use one theme’s data in another theme

 assign data by location

Assigning data by location uses a spatial relationship to join data from one theme to another theme. For example, a travel agency concerned about client safety might assign data from a theme of hotels in a major city to a theme of crime events. The hotel data would be added to the crime event data, along with the distance to the hotel nearest the crime event. As a result the hotels nearest the most crimes may not be recommended to the travel agency’s safety conscious clientele.


Unique Value Maps

Unique Value maps display data values such that the symbol for one value is no more or less prominent than the symbols for any other value. To help make the seemingly conflicting task of differentiating data in an anonymous way easy, ArcView has several tools.

Predefined color schemes

Each scheme is comprised of groups of colors that are harmonious as a group, and of a similar value or intensity. For instance the Bountiful Harvest color scheme has primarily browns, beiges and greens; the overall effect is a warm and organic. Other schemes are more appropriate for symbolizing background themes. The Pastels scheme is a good for these.

Random Symbols

The random symbols button will change the properties of each symbol. Marker and pen symbols will get  a different foreground pattern (always black) and the background will randomly change colors. Fill symbols will get a random pattern and random color, but no background.

Random Colors

This button has four distinct ways to generate random colors. Essentially the color spectrum is divided up by the number of unique values you have. Then a saturation and value are randomly assigned to each color. Then these colors are randomly assigned to your legend. Each time you click the random colors button, ArcView sequentially uses a different method of determining which part of the value and saturation scale is used.

In theory, the random colors button will rarely duplicate a color in your legend. However, reality dictates that computer hardware, namely monitors and printers, will confound the theory. Because many computer monitors and some older color printers are not capable of displaying more than 256 unique colors, you may see many duplicated colors. Basically, when ArcView tells a monitor or printer to display a color that is not available, the hardware device figures out the closest match available and displays that color instead. Newer monitors and printers are usually capable of displaying over sixteen million colors, so if color is important, explore your monitor’s setup program and see if a better option is available.


Unsetting the map projection

You can remove the map projection used by a view. The longitude/latitude coordinates will be drawn as planar x,y coordinates.

To reset a view so that no map projection is used

1	From the View menu choose Properties.

2	In the View Properties dialog, click the Projection button.

3	In the Projection Properties dialog, click the Standard radio button if the Custom projection panel is currently displayed.

4	Set the Category to Projections of the World, if it isn’t set already to that.

5	Set the Type to None.

6	Press OK in the Projection Properties dialog.

7	Press OK in the View Properties dialog. ArcView redraws the view using no map projection.


US Single House Address Style

This address style considers parcel or point addresses with zone information such as postal zip codes or city names. Features are represented by a single house number.

Each component of this style should be stored in a separate field in the reference theme's attribute table. Each required component must be filled with a data field from the attribute table in order to make the theme matchable.

Required	Component	Description
Y	HouseNum	House number
N	Dir	Prefix direction, e.g., W
N	PreType	Prefix type, e.g., Ave
Y	StreetName	Street name, e.g., Main
N	StreetType	Street type, e.g., Street
N	SuffixDir	Suffix direction, e.g., NW

Each component of this address style contains a list of preferred field names. ArcView reads the fields in the theme's attribute table and locates the default field, if available, for each component of the address.

Component	Preferred Field Names
HouseNum	HOUSENUM  NUMBER  HOUSE.NUM  HOUSE_NUM  HOUSE-NUM  HOUSE.NUMBER  HOUSE_NUMBER  HOUSE-NUMBER  HOUSE_NUMB ADD
Dir	PREFIX  FDPRE  PRE.DIR  PRE_DIR  PRE-DIR  STREET.DIR  STREET_DIR  STREET-DIR
PreType	PRE.TYPE  PRE_TYPE  PREFIX_TYPE
StreetName	FNAME  NAME  STREET.NAME  STREET_NAME  STREET-NAME  STREET_NAM  STREETNAME  ST.NAME  ST_NAME  ST-NAME  STR.NAME  STR_NAME  STR-NAME
StreetType	TYPE  FTYPE  STREET.TYPE  STREET_TYPE  STREET-TYPE  STREET_TYP  ST.TYPE  ST_TYPE  ST-TYPE  STR.TYPE  STR_TYPE  STR-TYPE
SuffixDir	SUFFIX  FDSUF  SUFFIXDIR  SUFDIR  SUF.DIR  SUF_DIR  SUF-DIR  SUFFIX.DIR  SUFFIX_DIR  SUFFIX-DIR  STREET.DIR  STREET_DIR  STREET-DIR
Tip   No offset distance can be set for events using this address style. Events are geocoded against polygon or point features.

See also

Geocoding Theme Properties

US Streets with Zone Address Style

US Streets Address Style

US Single Range with Zone Address Style

US Single Range Address Style

US Single House with Zone Address Style

Zip+4 Address Style

Zip+4 Range Address Style

5-digit ZIP Address Style

Single Field Address Style


US Single House with Zone Address Style

This address style considers parcel or point addresses with zone information such as postal zip codes or city names. Features are represented by a single house number.

Each component of this style should be stored in a separate field in the reference theme's attribute table. Each required component must be filled with a data field from the attribute table in order to make the theme matchable.

Required	Component	Description
Y	HouseNum	House number
N	Dir	Prefix direction, e.g., W
N	PreType	Prefix type, e.g., Ave
Y	StreetName	Street name, e.g., Main
N	StreetType	Street type, e.g., Street
N	SuffixDir	Suffix direction, e.g., NW
Y	Zone	Zone, e.g. postal zip code

Each component of this address style contains a list of preferred field names. ArcView reads the fields in the theme's attribute table and locates the default field, if available, for each component of the address.

Component	Preferred Field Names
HouseNum	HOUSENUM  NUMBER  HOUSE.NUM  HOUSE_NUM  HOUSE-NUM  HOUSE.NUMBER  HOUSE_NUMBER  HOUSE-NUMBER  HOUSE_NUMB ADD
Dir	PREFIX  FDPRE  PRE.DIR  PRE_DIR  PRE-DIR  STREET.DIR  STREET_DIR  STREET-DIR
PreType	PRE.TYPE  PRE_TYPE  PREFIX_TYPE
StreetName	FNAME  NAME  STREET.NAME  STREET_NAME  STREET-NAME  STREET_NAM  STREETNAME  ST.NAME  ST_NAME  ST-NAME  STR.NAME  STR_NAME  STR-NAME
StreetType	TYPE  FTYPE  STREET.TYPE  STREET_TYPE  STREET-TYPE  STREET_TYP  ST.TYPE  ST_TYPE  ST-TYPE  STR.TYPE  STR_TYPE  STR-TYPE
SuffixDir	SUFFIX  FDSUF  SUFFIXDIR  SUFDIR  SUF.DIR  SUF_DIR  SUF-DIR  SUFFIX.DIR  SUFFIX_DIR  SUFFIX-DIR  STREET.DIR  STREET_DIR  STREET-DIR
Zone	ZIP ZONE CITY TRACT CFCC

Tips

 If your matchable theme does not contain a zone attribute, use US Single House Address Style.

 If you choose this address style, your address events should contain the zone information in order to maintain a higher matching score. If zone information is missing, events may be incorrectly geocoded or no candidates may be identified. Use the US Single House Address Style instead if your address events do not have zone information.

 No offset distance can be set for events using this address style. Events are geocoded against polygon or point features.

See also

Geocoding Theme Properties

US Streets with Zone Address Style

US Streets Address Style

US Single Range with Zone Address Style

US Single Range Address Style

US Single House Address Style

Zip+4 Address Style

Zip+4 Range Address Style

5-digit ZIP Address Style

Single Field Address Style


US Single Range Address Style

This address style is used for address geocoding without zone information. Features are represented by one house number interval. No parity (odd/even) of the house numbers is required. The beginning number of the interval may either be lower or higher than the end number.

Each component of this style should be stored in a separate field in the reference theme's attribute table. Each required component must be filled with a data field from the attribute table in order to make the theme matchable.

Required	Component	Description
Y	From	From house number
Y	To	To house number
N	Dir	Prefix direction, e.g., W
N	PreType	Prefix type, e.g., Ave
Y	StreetName	Street name, e.g., Main
N	StreetType	Street type, e.g., Street
N	SuffixDir	Suffix direction, e.g., NW

Each component of this address style contains a list of preferred field names. ArcView reads the fields in the theme's attribute table and locates the default field, if available, for each component of the address.

Component	Preferred Field Names
From	FR.ADD  FR_ADD  FR-ADD  F.ADD  F_ADD  F-ADD  FROM  LOW  ADD.FROM  ADD_FROM  ADD-FROM
To	TO.ADD TO_ADD TO-ADD T.ADD T_ADD T-ADD TOHIGH ADD.TO ADD_TO ADD-TO
Dir	PREFIX  FDPRE  PRE.DIR  PRE_DIR  PRE-DIR  STREET.DIR  STREET_DIR  STREET-DIR
PreType	PRE.TYPE  PRE_TYPE  PREFIX_TYPE
StreetName	FNAME  NAME  STREET.NAME  STREET_NAME  STREET-NAME  STREET_NAM  STREETNAME  ST.NAME  ST_NAME  ST-NAME  STR.NAME  STR_NAME  STR-NAME
StreetType	TYPE  FTYPE  STREET.TYPE  STREET_TYPE  STREET-TYPE  STREET_TYP  ST.TYPE  ST_TYPE  ST-TYPE  STR.TYPE  STR_TYPE  STR-TYPE
SuffixDir	SUFFIX  FDSUF  SUFFIXDIR  SUFDIR  SUF.DIR  SUF_DIR  SUF-DIR  SUFFIX.DIR  SUFFIX_DIR  SUFFIX-DIR  STREET.DIR  STREET_DIR  STREET-DIR
Tip   No offset distance can be set for events using this address style because a left or right side of the street cannot be specified. Use US Streets Address Style if you need to specify an offset distance.

See also

Geocoding Theme Properties

US Streets with Zone Address Style

US Streets Address Style

US Single Range with Zone Address Style

US Single House with Zone Address Style

US Single House Address Style

Zip+4 Address Style

Zip+4 Range Address Style

5-digit ZIP Address Style

Single Field Address Style


US Single Range with Zone Address Style

This address style considers street or parcel addresses with zone information such as postal zip codes or city names. Features are represented by one house number interval. No parity (odd/even) of the house numbers is required. The beginning number of the interval may either be lower or higher than the end number.

Each component of this style should be stored in a separate field in the reference theme's attribute table. Each required component must be filled with a data field from the attribute table in order to make the theme matchable.

Required	Component	Description
Y	From	From house number
Y	To	To house number
N	Dir	Prefix direction, e.g., W
N	PreType	Prefix type, e.g., Ave
Y	StreetName	Street name, e.g., Main
N	StreetType	Street type, e.g., Street
N	SuffixDir	Suffix direction, e.g., NW
Y	Zone	Zone, e.g. postal zip code

Each component of this address style contains a list of preferred field names. ArcView reads the fields in the theme's attribute table and locates the default field, if available, for each component of the address.

Component	Preferred Field Names
From	FR.ADD  FR_ADD  FR-ADD  F.ADD  F_ADD  F-ADD  FROM  LOW  ADD.FROM  ADD_FROM  ADD-FROM
To	TO.ADD TO_ADD TO-ADD T.ADD T_ADD T-ADD TOHIGH ADD.TO ADD_TO ADD-TO
Dir	PREFIX  FDPRE  PRE.DIR  PRE_DIR  PRE-DIR  STREET.DIR  STREET_DIR  STREET-DIR
PreType	PRE.TYPE  PRE_TYPE  PREFIX_TYPE
StreetName	FNAME  NAME  STREET.NAME  STREET_NAME  STREET-NAME  STREET_NAM  STREETNAME  ST.NAME  ST_NAME  ST-NAME  STR.NAME  STR_NAME  STR-NAME
StreetType	TYPE  FTYPE  STREET.TYPE  STREET_TYPE  STREET-TYPE  STREET_TYP  ST.TYPE  ST_TYPE  ST-TYPE  STR.TYPE  STR_TYPE  STR-TYPE
SuffixDir	SUFFIX  FDSUF  SUFFIXDIR  SUFDIR  SUF.DIR  SUF_DIR  SUF-DIR  SUFFIX.DIR  SUFFIX_DIR  SUFFIX-DIR  STREET.DIR  STREET_DIR  STREET-DIR
Zone	ZIP ZONE CITY TRACT CFCC

Tips

 If your matchable theme does not contain a zone attribute, use US Single Range Address Style.

 If you choose this address style, your address events should contain the zone information in order to maintain a higher matching score. If zone information is missing, events may be incorrectly geocoded or no candidates may be identified. Use the US Single Range Address Style instead if your address events do not have zone information.

 No offset distance can be set for events using this address style because a left or right side of the street cannot be specified. Use US Streets with Zone AddressStyle if you need to specify an offset distance.

See also

Geocoding Theme Properties

US Streets with Zone Address Style

US Streets Address Style

US Single Range Address Style

US Single House with Zone Address Style

US Single House Address Style

Zip+4 Address Style

Zip+4 Range Address Style

5-digit ZIP Address Style

Single Field Address Style


US Streets Address Style

This address style is used for address geocoding without zone information. Street features are represented by two house number intervals, one for the left side of the street and the other for the right side of the street. The parity (odd/even) of each interval should agree. The beginning number of the intervals may either be lower or higher than the end number.

Each component of this style should be stored in a separate field in the reference theme's attribute table. Each required component must be filled with a data field from the attribute table in order to make the theme matchable.

Required	Component	Description
Y	LeftFrom	Left from house number
Y	RightFrom	Right from house number
Y	LeftTo	Left to house number
Y	RightTo	Right to house number
N	Dir	Prefix direction, e.g., W
N	PreType	Prefix type, e.g., Ave
Y	StreetName	Street name, e.g., Main
N	StreetType	Street type, e.g., Street
N	SuffixDir	Suffix direction, e.g., NW

Each component of this address style contains a list of preferred field names. ArcView reads the fields in the theme's attribute table and locates the default field, if available, for each component of the address style.

Component	Preferred Field Names
LeftFrom	L-F-ADD  L_F_ADD  LEFTADD1  L-ADD.FROM  L-ADD_FROM  L_ADD_FROM  L_ADD.FROM  L_ADD_FROM  L_ADD-FROM  LADD.FROM  LADD_FROM  LADD-FROM  LADD.FR  LADD_FR  LADD-FR  LFROM
RightFrom	R-F-ADD  R_F_ADD  RGTADD  R-ADD.FROM  R-ADD_FROM  R_ADD_FROM  R_ADD.FROM  R_ADD_FROM  R_ADD-FROM  RADD.FROM  RADD_FROM  RADD-FROM  RADD.FR  RADD_FR  RADD-FR  RFROM
LeftTo	L-T-ADD  L_T_ADD  LEFTADD2  L-ADD.TO  L-ADD_TO  L_ADD_TO  L_ADD.TO  L_ADD_TO  L_ADD-TO  LADD.TO  LADD_TO  LADD-TO  LADD.TO  LADD-TO  LTO
RightTo	R-T-ADD  R_T_ADD  RGTADD2  R-ADD.TO  R-ADD_TO  R_ADD_TO  R_ADD.TO  R_ADD_TO  R_ADD-TO  RADD.TO  RADD_TO  RADD-TO  RADD.TO  RADD-TO  RTO
Dir	PREFIX  FDPRE  PRE.DIR  PRE_DIR  PRE-DIR  STREET.DIR  STREET_DIR  STREET-DIR
PreType	PRE.TYPE  PRE_TYPE  PREFIX_TYPE
StreetName	FNAME  NAME  STREET.NAME  STREET_NAME  STREET-NAME  STREET_NAM  STREETNAME  ST.NAME  ST_NAME  ST-NAME  STR.NAME  STR_NAME  STR-NAME
StreetType	TYPE  FTYPE  STREET.TYPE  STREET_TYPE  STREET-TYPE  STREET_TYP  ST.TYPE  ST_TYPE  ST-TYPE  STR.TYPE  STR_TYPE  STR-TYPE
SuffixDir	SUFFIX  FDSUF  SUFFIXDIR  SUFDIR  SUF.DIR  SUF_DIR  SUF-DIR  SUFFIX.DIR  SUFFIX_DIR  SUFFIX-DIR  STREET.DIR  STREET_DIR  STREET-DIR

Tips

 An offset distance can be set for events if desired using this address style. See Geocode Addresses.

See also

Geocoding Theme Properties

US Streets with Zone Address Style

US Single Range with Zone Address Style

US Single Range Address Style

US Single House with Zone Address Style

US Single House Address Style

Zip+4 Address Style

Zip+4 Range Address Style

5-digit ZIP Address Style

Single Field Address Style


US Streets with Zone Address Style

This address style considers street addresses with zone information such as postal zip codes or city names. Street features are represented by two house number intervals, one for the left side of the street and the other for the right side of the street. The parity (odd/even) of each interval should agree. The beginning number of the intervals may either be lower or higher than the end number.

Each component of this style should be stored in a separate field in the reference theme's attribute table. Each required component must be filled with a data field from the attribute table in order to make the theme matchable.

Required	Component	Description
Y	LeftFrom	Left from house number
Y	RightFrom	Right from house number
Y	LeftTo	Left to house number
Y	RightTo	Right to house number
N	Dir	Prefix direction, e.g., W
N	PreType	Prefix type, e.g., Ave
Y	StreetName	Street name, e.g., Main
N	StreetType	Street type, e.g., Street
N	SuffixDir	Suffix direction, e.g., NW
Y	LeftZone	Left zone, e.g. postal zip code
Y	RightZone	Right zone, e.g. postal zip code

Each component of this address style contains a list of preferred field names. ArcView reads the fields in the theme's attribute table and locates the default field, if available, for each component of the address.

Component	Preferred Field Names
LeftFrom	L-F-ADD  L_F_ADD  LEFTADD1  L-ADD.FROM  L-ADD_FROM  L_ADD_FROM  L_ADD.FROM  L_ADD_FROM  L_ADD-FROM  LADD.FROM  LADD_FROM  LADD-FROM  LADD.FR  LADD_FR  LADD-FR  LFROM
RightFrom	R-F-ADD  R_F_ADD  RGTADD  R-ADD.FROM  R-ADD_FROM  R_ADD_FROM  R_ADD.FROM  R_ADD_FROM  R_ADD-FROM  RADD.FROM  RADD_FROM  RADD-FROM  RADD.FR  RADD_FR  RADD-FR  RFROM
LeftTo	L-T-ADD  L_T_ADD  LEFTADD2  L-ADD.TO  L-ADD_TO  L_ADD_TO  L_ADD.TO  L_ADD_TO  L_ADD-TO  LADD.TO  LADD_TO  LADD-TO  LADD.TO  LADD-TO  LTO
RightTo	R-T-ADD  R_T_ADD  RGTADD2  R-ADD.TO  R-ADD_TO  R_ADD_TO  R_ADD.TO  R_ADD_TO  R_ADD-TO  RADD.TO  RADD_TO  RADD-TO  RADD.TO  RADD-TO  RTO
Dir	PREFIX  FDPRE  PRE.DIR  PRE_DIR  PRE-DIR  STREET.DIR  STREET_DIR  STREET-DIR
PreType	PRE.TYPE  PRE_TYPE  PREFIX_TYPE
StreetName	FNAME  NAME  STREET.NAME  STREET_NAME  STREET-NAME  STREET_NAM  STREETNAME  ST.NAME  ST_NAME  ST-NAME  STR.NAME  STR_NAME  STR-NAME
StreetType	TYPE  FTYPE  STREET.TYPE  STREET_TYPE  STREET-TYPE  STREET_TYP  ST.TYPE  ST_TYPE  ST-TYPE  STR.TYPE  STR_TYPE  STR-TYPE
SuffixDir	SUFFIX  FDSUF  SUFFIXDIR  SUFDIR  SUF.DIR  SUF_DIR  SUF-DIR  SUFFIX.DIR  SUFFIX_DIR  SUFFIX-DIR  STREET.DIR  STREET_DIR  STREET-DIR
LeftZone	LZIP  ZIPL  LCITY  ZIP.LEFT  ZIP_LEFT  ZIP-LEFT  LEFT.ZIP  LEFT_ZIP  LEFT-ZIP  L.ZIP  L_ZIP  L-ZIP  LEFT.CITY  LEFT_CITY  LEFT-CITY  L.CITY  L_CITY  L-CITY  LEFT.ZONE  LEFT_ZONE  LEFT-ZONE  L.PLACE  L_PLACE  L-PLACE  LEFT.PLACE  LEFT_PLACE  LEFT-PLACE  ZIP  ZONE  CITY
RightZone	RZIP  ZIPR  RCITY  ZIP.RIGHT  ZIP_RIGHT  ZIP-RIGHT  RIGHT.ZIP  RIGHT_ZIP  RIGHT-ZIP  R.ZIP  R_ZIP  R-ZIP  RIGHT.CITY  RIGHT_CITY  RIGHT-CITY   R.CITY  R_CITY  R-CITY  RIGHT.ZONE  RIGHT_ZONE  RIGHT-ZONE  R.ZONE  R_ZONE  R-ZONE  R.PLACE  R_PLACE  R-PLACE  RIGHT.PLACE  RIGHT_PLACE  RIGHT-PLACE  RIGHT_PLAC  ZIP  ZONE  CITY

Tips

 If your matchable theme does not contain a zone attribute, use US Streets Address Style.

 If you choose this address style, your address events should contain the zone information in order to maintain a higher matching score. If zone information is missing, events may be incorrectly geocoded or no candidates may be identified. Use the US Streets Address Style instead if your address events do not have zone information.

 An offset distance can be set for events if desired using this address style. See Geocode Addresses.

See also

Geocoding Theme Properties

US Streets Address Style

US Single Range with Zone Address Style

US Single Range Address Style

US Single House with Zone Address Style

US Single House Address Style

Zip+4 Address Style

Zip+4 Range Address Style

5-digit ZIP Address Style

Single Field Address Style


What are hot links?

Hot links let you access virtually any data or application directly from a view. For example, you might click on a building to display its floor plan, click on a land parcel to review its legal documents, or click on a country to play a video about it.

A hot link is followed when you click on a feature in a theme with the Hot Link tool [image].

When you follow a hot link from a feature, ArcView performs an action using as input the value that feature has for a specified field in the theme's attribute table. For example, the action may be to open another view, and the value may be the name of the view.

The action and the field are specified in the Hot Links panel of the Theme Properties dialog. Each theme in a view can have its own hot link definition. There is no default hot link definition. Hot links have to be defined before they can be used. If you click on a feature and you hear a beep, ArcView cannot find the application or file defined for that feature.

See also

Defining a hot link for a theme

Hot Link with script example


What is a theme?

A theme is a set of geographic features in a view. A theme represents a source of geographic data such as:

 A spatial data source such as an ARC/INFO coverage, ArcView shapefile, or a data layer managed by ESRI’s Spatial Database Engine (SDE) (if ArcView's Database Access extension is loaded).

 A CAD drawing such as an AutoCAD drawing (if ArcView’s CAD Reader extension is loaded).

 An image data source such as a satellite photo.

 A table containing XY coordinates, street addresses that can be geocoded in ArcView, or events that can be matched to route features.

This data can be on a local disk or accessed across a network. A theme points to the geographic data it represents. It does not contain the data itself.

The themes in a view are listed in its Table of Contents. For example, a view of a country might have one theme representing cities, one theme representing roads, one representing a satellite image, etc.

Normally, a theme represents all the features in a particular feature class, but you can also define a feature selection property for a theme so that it only represents a specific subset of these features. For example, if you have a data source containing roads you can define a theme that represents just the major roads.

Themes have a number of other properties that you can set to control their characteristics. For example, you can specify the range of scales at which the theme will be drawn on the view. See Setting a theme's properties.

Each theme has its own legend displayed in the Table of Contents. A theme's legend controls how the theme is displayed on the view. See Types of thematic maps to learn more about how to display a theme’s features.


 What is a view?

A view is an interactive map that lets you display, explore, query and analyze geographic data in ArcView. Views are saved in the ArcView project you are currently working with.

A view defines the geographic data that will be used and how it will be displayed, but it doesn't contain the geographic data files themselves. Instead, a view references these source data files. This means that a view is dynamic, because it reflects the current status of the source data. If the source data changes, a view that uses this data will automatically reflect the change the next time the view is drawn. It also means that the same data can be displayed on more than one view. For example, you may have one view in your project that displays a city's census tracts classified by population, and another view that shows just the outlines of these census tracts.

A view is actually a collection of themes. A theme represents a distinct set of geographic features in a particular geographic data source. For example, a view showing a country might have one theme representing cities, one theme representing roads, one representing rivers, etc. A view's themes are listed in its Table of Contents. See What is a theme?.


What is geocoding?

Many organizations maintain large databases of events by address, such as accident and crime reports, customer records, and tax and parcel records. Addresses are, in fact, the most common form of storing geographic data. With geocoding, you can display the tabular data containing addresses as points on a map and find their locations on a map easily. Address geocoding can allow you to locate fire stations by entering their addresses, show where all the students live in relation to the schools they attend, or locate customers and thereby site facilities where the customers are concentrated.

An address specifies a location in the same way that a geographic coordinate does. But since an address is merely a text string containing the information of house number, street name, direction, and/or zip codes, an address needs a mechanism to calculate the geographic coordinate for the address and then display the location on a map based on the assigned coordinate. To do so, addresses stored in tabular data files must first be associated with a geographic feature, usually in a street network. The coordinates of a data source can be used to calculate and assign coordinates to addresses if the data source features also have addresses. Geocoding is the mechanism that allows you to use addresses to identify locations on a map.

Address geocoding in ArcView is a process that creates a theme based on address data that can be displayed with other themes in a view. The addresses can be the street addresses of customers, factory sites, club members, shopping malls, stops on a delivery route, crime locations, etc. During geocoding, ArcView reads these addresses and locates them on a theme representing the street network for the area within which they occur. This involves the process of address matching. ArcView will create a geocoded theme based on an ArcView shapefile to store the attributes of all records in the address event table and the XY coordinates of the successfully matched records. ArcView adds the geocoded theme to the view and displays each matched record with a point symbol.

What does geocoding let you do?

 You can create pin maps to show locations of various events by addresses. It is just the same as pushing stick pins on a wall map to mark the locations of all branch offices of a bank.

 You can query and find geographic features using addresses. See Locating an address on a view.

 You can perform point-in-polygon analysis such as finding all customers within a trade zone. See Theme on theme selection.

Examples of geocoding applications

There are a variety of planning, administrative and operational activities which use geographic data in the form of addresses:

 A company can match customer addresses against a street network of their distributor service areas in order to know which distributor will handle a customer. The information could also be used to perform marketing analysis for each service area.

 A police department could use address geocoding to analyze crimes by address. These locations can be mapped and analyzed with other demographic data.

 Emergency dispatch operators could use geocoding to enter an address, determine who should respond, and route emergency vehicles and personnel to the address.

 A school district could use geocoding to match student addresses against a street map of a city. Once the homes of students are located, school assignments and busing plans can be created and analyzed.

 Environmental engineers can identify potential impacts of storage facilities for hazardous materials in populated areas by matching the site addresses to a theme containing census data.

To learn how to perform geocoding in ArcView, see Address geocoding.


When should spline text be used
When should spline text be used?

Spline text is useful for resolving several cartographic situations. The following clip-out from a map in ArcView shows several of these situations

  When you want to align text  to a projection

Most of the labels in this example appear to be placed at an angle. This angle corresponds to the projection (lambert conformal conic). These labels are, in fact, splined with several control points so they exactly follow the curvature of the projection. This effect is much more intuitive for map reading.

  when you want to align text to a feature

Notice that the label for the Hudson River is not completely vertical or even straight.  It aligns to the curve of the river.  This is standard practice in many mapping conventions, because the label has a better association with the river than if the label were straight and farther away from the river at certain points.

  When you want to strengthen association between feature and label

See how the label for Providence strongly curves such that it clearly points toward the Star that represents Providence. Or, the label for Bridgeport gently curves, but just enough to exclusively identify the feature on the map it labels.

  When you want to avoid other elements on a map

The label for Albany could simply have been aligned to the projection, placing it either on top of a highway or on the boundary of three states, which would have made it difficult to distinguish from the map. By splining Albany away from the highway, the figure/ground relationship is strengthened making the label much easier to see.

  When you want to soften the effect of too much text

When there is a lot of text on the map that is all shown at the same angle, with no curvature, there aren’t as many options for where a label may be placed. The result is that too many labels are placed too close together, creating an overly organized map reading experience. If the labels are splined along a curve, even if it is exaggerated, more labels can be placed because the labels make better use of space, and the overly organized effect is reduced. In fact, once the overly organized effect is eliminated, more features and labels can be added to the map without causing difficulty for the map reader.


Working with place name aliases

ArcView allows you to use place name aliases for address geocoding and locating an address on a view. Aliases are useful for commonly known places such as City Hall and General Hospital that may not have commonly known addresses.

To create an alias table

ArcView reads a table which contains at least two fields of tabular data. ArcView considers the first two character fields in the table. The first field in the table should contain the alias names and the second field must store the associated addresses or street intersections. The field name can be any name.

Alias	Address

General Hospital	411 Gaylord Street

School Crossing	Post Ave & E Dayton St

City Hall	110 State Street

See Adding tabular data for details about how to add the tabular data to an ArcView project.

An alias table can be associated with a matchable theme so that you can locate an address using a place name alias. You can also associate an alias table with your address event table when you add events to a view. During the geocoding process a case insensitive table look-up is done based on the values in the first alias table field prior to standardizing the event. The alias' true address (the value contained in the second field) is then substituted for the input event.

Note   If a reference theme is made matchable using an address style that requires a zone field, you still need to provide the zone information in an address event table for geocoding. ArcView does not consider the zone information from a street address in a place name alias table.


Working with the elements of a legend

You can change the appearance of your legend to communicate your data better.

How do you want to change your legend?

Define a null value and symbol

Sort the elements of a legend

Change the order of elements in a legend

Add new classes

Delete classes

Add a descriptive text label


Working with the selected features on a view

Once you have selected features on a view that interest you there are various ways in which you work with them.

 Zooming to the selected features

Click the Zoom to Selected Features button [image] to zoom to the extent of the features you have selected in the active theme(s). In this way you'll be able to focus in on the features you selected.

 Labeling the selected features with their attribute data

Choose Auto-label from the Theme menu to label the selected features in a theme with any field from the attribute table describing the theme's features.

 Saving the selected features to a shapefile

Make the theme active and choose Convert to Shapefile from the Theme menu. This option creates a new shapefile that just contains the currently selected features from the theme. (If no features are selected in the theme, all its features are saved into the new shapefile). You are prompted to see if you want to add this new shapefile to your view. In this way you can make the set of features you have selected a 'permanent' part of your view. Another reason you might save your selected features to a new shapefile in this way is so that someone else can use this set of features in their work. See Converting a theme to a shapefile.

 Displaying and working with the attributes of the selected features

Make the theme active and click the Open Theme Table button [image] to open the theme's attribute table. The records for any features in this theme that are currently selected will be highlighted in this table. While the theme's attribute table is open, selecting or deselecting features on the view will automatically select or deselect their records in the table.

To display the records for the selected features at the top of a theme's attribute table

 Click the Promote button [image].

To export the records for the selected features to a new table

 Choose Export from the File menu. See Exporting a table.

 To get statistics about the selected features

 Choose Statistics from the Field menu to obtain the sum, count, mean, maximum, minimum, range, variance, and standard deviation of a particular field's values in a table. Use it, for example, if you want to find the total population of the countries you have selected on a view, or the average age of the selected set of customers. See Getting statistics about a table.

 To summarize the selected features based on a summary field

 Use the Summarize button [image] to create a new table containing summary statistics about the selected features. See Summarizing a table.

 Creating a chart displaying the selected features

When you create a chart from a theme's attribute table, the chart only shows features that are currently selected. In this way you can immediately see data about your selected set of features represented in chart form. See Overview of creating a chart.

Once a chart has been created, selecting or deselecting features on the view will automatically add or remove their data from the chart. See Selecting the data to chart.

  Related topics


Working with views in a project

An ArcView project can contain any number of views.

To see which views are in a project

 Click on the Views button on the Project window. The views in the project are shown in the list.

To create a new view

 With the Views button selected, click the New button at the top of the Project window. A new, empty view will appear. ArcView names new views in numerical order: View1, View2, View3, etc. See Overview of creating a view.

To open a view

 Double-click the view's name in the list of views in the Project window, or select the view's name and click the Open button.

To close a view

 From the File menu, choose Close, or click the close control on the view's window (This control varies according to the GUI you are using).

To rename a view

 Click once on the view in the list in the Project window and choose Rename from the Project menu. A view's name is also a view property you can edit. See Changing a view's name.

To delete a view

 Click once on the view in the list in the Project window and choose Delete from the Project menu. To select several views for deletion, hold down SHIFT and click the other views to delete. You will be prompted to confirm deleting the view. Deleting a view removes it from the project, but does not affect the data sources represented in the view.

To save the work you do with a view

In ArcView, you save the work you do with any project component by saving the project. To save your project, choose Save Project from the File menu or click the Save Project button [image] in the View button bar. See Saving your work.

To copy a view from one project to another

If you want to get a view that is in another project and put it into your current project, you should import the other project into your current one using Import in the Project menu. This will copy all the components of the other project into your project. You can then delete the components that you don't require using Delete from the Project menu. See Importing other projects.

See also

ArcView's user interface

What is a project?


Zip+4 Address Style

This address style is used for geocoding ZIP+4  events to a ZIP+4 reference theme. It contains two components. Each component should be stored in a separate field in the reference theme's attribute table. Since both components are required, they must be filled with a data field from the attribute table in order the make the theme matchable.

Required	Component	Description
Y	Zip	Primary zip code (the first 5 digits)
Y	Zip4	Zip+4 code (the last 4 digits)

Each component of this address style contains a list of preferred field names. ArcView reads the fields in the theme's attribute table and locates the default field, if available, for each component of the address style.

Component	Preferred Field Names
Zip	ZIP  ZIPCODE
Zip4	ZIP4
Note   Events used for geocoding with this address style should contain the information in one of the following three formats

XXXXXXXXX   e.g., 923730040

XXXXX XXXX  e.g., 92373 0040

XXXXX-XXXX  e.g., 92373-0040

See also

Geocoding Theme Properties

US Streets with Zone Address Style

US Single Range with Zone Address Style

US Single Range Address Style

US Single House with Zone Address Style

US Single House Address Style

US Streets Address Style

Zip+4 Range Address Style

5-digit ZIP Address Style

Single Field Address Style


Zip+4 Range Address Style

This address style is used for geocoding ZIP+4  events to a ZIP+4 Range reference theme. It contains three components. Each component should be stored in a separate field in the reference theme's attribute table.

Required	Component	Description
Y	Zip	Primary zip code (the first 5 digits)
N	Zip4 Low	The low value of the +4 code
N	Zip4 High	The high value of the +4 code

Each component of this address style contains a list of preferred field names. ArcView reads the fields in the theme's attribute table and locates the default field, if available, for each component of the address style.

Component	Preferred Field Names
Zip	ZIP  ZIPCODE
Zip4 Low	Zip4Low
Zip4 High	ZIP4High
Note   Events used for geocoding with this address style should contain the information in one of the following three formats

XXXXXXXXX   e.g., 923730040

XXXXX XXXX  e.g., 92373 0040

XXXXX-XXXX  e.g., 92373-0040

See also

Geocoding Theme Properties

US Streets with Zone Address Style

US Single Range with Zone Address Style

US Single Range Address Style

US Single House with Zone Address Style

US Single House Address Style

US Streets Address Style

Zip+4 Address Style

5-digit ZIP Address Style

Single Field Address Style


Zooming in and out on a view

 Zoom In button

Zooms in on the center of a view.

 Zoom Out button

Zooms out from the center of a view.

 Zoom In tool

Zooms in on the position you click or the box you define on a view.

 Zoom Out tool

Zooms out from the position you click or the area you define on a view.

 Pan tool

At any time, you can pan the view by dragging it in any direction with the Pan tool.

 Zoom to Full Extent button

Zooms to the full extent of all the themes in a view. Click this button when you want to be able to see everything in a view.

 Zoom to Active Theme button

Click on a theme in a view's Table of Contents to make it active, and then click this button to zoom to the area covered by the active theme.

 Zoom to Selected Features button

If you have selected features on a view, simply click this button to zoom to these features of the active themes of the view.

 Zoom to Previous Extent button

Zooms back to the previous extent you were viewing. Use this option to go back to where you were before you zoomed or panned. ArcView remembers your previous five extents, so you can use this option to retrace your last five steps.

Specifying a view's scale directly

Another way to zoom in and out on a view is to specify the scale you wish to work in directly. See Setting view scale.

Scale-dependent display of themes

By setting a theme's display property, you can define a range of scales at which the theme may be drawn on the view. In this way you can automatically hide a detailed theme that would otherwise clutter up your view when you zoom out to smaller scales. See Setting a theme's display properties.


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