HOW TO

Use SYMBOL 1000 to create and modify symbolsets.

Last Published: April 25, 2020

Procedure

Question

How to use SYMBOL 1000 and either
SHADEINFO|MARKERINFO|LINEINFO|TEXTINFO to modify and create symbolsets?

Answer

I. Understanding the concepts

To take advantage of symbol modification and creation in ArcPlot, an understanding of the SYMBOL 1000 and the commands SHADEINFO, MARKERINFO, LINEINFO, TEXTINFO and how they relate to each other is needed. Once these fundamental concepts are understood, it is easier to create and modify symbolsets.

Let's explore SYMBOL 1000 and how it relates to and influences the various symbolsets. The following information applies to SHADESETS, LINESETS, TEXTSETS and MARKERSETS. Using SHADESET as an example:

SYMBOL 1000 is the current symbol. When starting ArcPlot, SYMBOL 1000 is
empty. It is waiting to be assigned characteristics such as COLOR, SIZE, ANGLE and other details that allow it to display certain features on the screen or hardcopy. Type the following in ArcPlot:

Display 9999
SHADEINFO 1000

It should display:

Shadescale factor is 1.
Layer Type Pattern Angle Size Separation Offset Font Pensize
1 Hardware 0 0.00 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0 0.000
Lincecap Linejoin
BUTT MITER
1 Color: Device color index 1

Stretch the ARC command line window wider if the information looks jumbled. Notice all the settings are "0". LINEINFO 1000, and MARKERINFO 1000 will also return blank information. Each parameter returned with SHADEINFO can be modified in ArcPlot. Online documentation under MAP DISPLAY AND QUERY shows what commands control which parameter since the parameter listed with SHADEINFO may not necessarily be the exact ArcPlot command name. For example, SHADEINFO shows: "Type: Hardware" but the ArcPlot command to alter this will be "SHADETYPE".

Symbol 1000 is a blank slate. Once commands are implemented, ArcPlot can either use the handcrafted symbol in ArcPlot, save these changes to an existing symbolset, or use them in the current ArcPlot session. Make a blue hatch pattern angled at forty-five degrees:

Arcplot: shadeinfo 1000 /******notice it is "empty".
Arcplot: shadetype hatch
Arcplot: shadecolor blue
Arcplot: shadeseparation .1 .1
Arcplot: shadeangle 45
Arcplot: shadeinfo 1000 /******notice now SYMBOL 1000 has some
/******characteristics.
Arcplot: patch 1 1 2 2

Now that it can be understood how to read SHADEINFO and modify SYMBOL 1000, it should be easy to modify existing symbolsets and create new ones.

II. Altering a symbol

When entering ArcPlot, a set of default symbols are available. The defaults are PLOTTER.LIN, PLOTTER.SHD, and PLOTTER.MRK. Each symbolset has a number of symbols associated with it. For example, PLOTTER.SHD has 100 shades available. A SHADESET is simply a collection of SHADESYMBOLS. To examine the characteristics of a particular SHADESYMBOL perform:

Arcplot: shadeset plotter.shd
Arcplot: pagesize 8.5 11
Arcplot: shadeinfo 2

Notice the characteristics that make up SHADESYMBOL 2: It contains a SHADETYPE HATCH with a small vertical SHADESEPARATION (SEPARATION .005 .000) and the color is red.

Modify SHADESYMBOL 2 in PLOTTER.SHD to create a more pronounced hatching pattern and a 45 degree angle. Not only can symbol characteristics be assigned from scratch, they can also be inserted and altered into an existing symbol. Try the following:

Arcplot: clear
Arcplot: shadeseparation .1
Arcplot: shadeangle 45
Arcplot: shadeinfo 1000 /****Notice SYMBOL 1000 is updated
Arcplot: shadeput 2
Arcplot: patch 4 4 5 5

SHADEPUT applies the characteristics of SYMBOL 1000 to a shadesymbol. In the example, SHADEPUT 2 inserts SHADESEPARARTION & SHADEANGLE to SHADESYMBOL 2.

STEP 3: Saving Changes

SHADESYMBOL 2 is altered for the rest of the ArcPlot session. When quitting ArcPlot all the changes are lost. To save the symbol changes to a custom shadeset:

Arcplot: shadesave /****any name will do
Arcplot: quit
Arc: Arcplot
Arcplot: Shadeset /****name specified above
Arcplot: disp 9999
Arcplot: pagesize 8.5 11
Arcplot: shadesymbol 2
Arcplot: patch 2 2 3 3 /**This is your custom symbol.

The shadeset is saved to the current workspace. The ".shd" file is appended automatically to the shadeset name. If desired, copy the shadeset to $ARCHOME/symbols. This directory stores all the symbolsets provided by ArcInfo. When retrieving a symbolset, ArcPlot first looks in the current workspace; if the symbolset is not there it then looks in $ARCHOME/symbols.

Below is an example of modifying a symbolset. The purpose is to assign SHADEINFO parameters, to create simple SHADESYMBOLs, and then save these SHADESYMBOLs to a SHADESET. This SHADESET will contain 8 different symbols.

Example:

arcplot /****or RESET if in ArcPlot already
disp 9999

shadedelete all

shadetype hatch

shadecolor blue
shadeangle 180
shadeseparation 0.15
shadeoffset 0
shadeput 1

shadecolor blue
shadeangle 90
shadeseparation 0.15
shadeoffset 0
shadeput 2

shadecolor blue
shadeangle 135
shadeseparation 0.15
shadeoffset 0
shadeput 3

shadecolor blue
shadeangle 45
shadeseparation 0.15
shadeoffset 0
shadeput 4

shadecolor 3
shadeangle 180
shadeseparation 0.15
shadeoffset 0 0.075
shadeput 5

shadecolor 2
shadeangle 90
shadeseparation 0.15
shadeoffset 0 0.075
shadeput 6

shadecolor 2
shadeangle 135
shadeseparation 0.15
shadeoffset 0 0.075
shadeput 7

shadecolor 2
shadeangle 45
shadeseparation 0.15
shadeoffset 0 0.075
shadeput 8

shadesave doc.shd
Note:
For more information about symbol creation see the online documentation under Map Display and Query, Specifying Symbols.

Below are two examples of how a red color is displayed with SHADEINFO. Color can be represented as either a software or hardware color.

1 Color: Device color index 2
or
1 Color: C-0.000% M-100.000% Y-100.000% K-0.000% (Red)

For a full explanation of how color is defined see the online documentation
under "Map Output & Plotting, Managing Color Display":

See the ArcPlot command SYMBOLDUMP for tips on how to display SYMBOLSETS in ArcPlot.

Article ID:000001370

Software:
  • Legacy Products

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