Duplicating Layer Properties in HDMapper™
Q: How can I make all the roads on my coverage map the same color?
A: With TAP6.0.2219 or later and a Maintenance Subscription date of February 28, 2008, or later, you can use a function to copy the properties (color, size, symbol) of one layer and paste those properties into another layer of the same type.
Note that all values in this example are for demonstration purposes only. You should determine appropriate settings for your application.
Setting layers in HDMapper to the same properties can be useful, for example, if you want to include roads on the map, and multiple shapefiles (such as state roads, US highways, county roads, etc.) are involved.
The program loads shapefiles with different colors to help distinguish features on the map. You can change the default settings of the files to load and the properties to use. You can set the properties of each layer individually. The Copy Properties function saves several steps in this process. Another feature to help setting layers as visible or invisible is also available.
For example, suppose you have a coverage map:
For the purpose of this example, we can hide the coverage layer by unchecking the box:
Making the coverage layer temporarily invisible will help illustrate the use of the Copy Properties feature.
To set the properties of the interstate highway layer, double-click that layer in the legend:
When the Layer properties form is displayed, double-click the symbol to set the color and other properties you want.
Set the values and click the Continue button
On the Layers form, click the Continue button:
The new settings are applied to the map for the selected layer:
Notice that other road or highway layers still have different properties (color and line width).
To easily apply the desired settings to other layers, right-click the layer with the property settings you want:
When the popup menu is displayed, select “Copy Properties:”
Then right-click the layer you want to change:
Click “Paste Properties:”
The properties will be applied to that layer:
Note that you can only paste properties into a layer of the same type. Shapefiles can be either of three types:
· Polygon area (counties, fire protection district, property lines, etc.)
· Lines (roads, rivers)
· Points (reference for population blocks, city center reference point, etc.
The type of layer you copy properties from can only be pasted into a layer of the same type (polygon, line, point). For example, you could copy properties from a “roads” layer (line properties) and paste into a “rivers” layer – also lines. Of course, that would make roads and rivers indistinguishable on the map.
But you cannot copy from a “roads” layer and paste into a “counties” layer, since counties are generally shown as polygon shapefiles. If you try to paste into a different layer type, a warning is displayed:
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Copyright 2008 by SoftWright LLC