HOW TO

Automatically place map book page number labels

Last Published: April 25, 2020

Summary

Note:
This article pertains to ArcGIS versions 8.x. Later versions of ArcGIS may contain different functionality, as well as different names and locations for menus, commands and geoprocessing tools.

You can automatically place labels representing bordering maps' page numbers. This example assumes page numbers increase by 1 to the north and by 100 to the east. So the page number of a map to the northwest of map 1245 would be 1146. This example also assumes the map page is 8.5 x 11. Edit the code to work with other page sizes.

Note: 
Support for Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) for ArcMap and ArcCatalog ended with the ArcGIS 10.2.2 release, and Esri has not included VBA compatibility setups since version 10.5. See: ArcGIS Desktop and VBA Moving Forward

Procedure

  1. Start ArcMap.
  2. Create a new UIButtonControl: How To: Create a new UIButtonControl​
Note:
For more information on creating a UIControl, see the ArcGIS Desktop Help topic: 'Creating custom commands with VBA and UI Controls'
  1. Right-click the UIButtonControl and select View Source.
  2. Copy this code into the UIButtonControl's click event.
Private Sub UIButtonControl1_Click()
  Dim pMxDoc As IMxDocument
  Dim pActiveView As IActiveView
  Dim pGraphicsContainer As IGraphicsContainer
  
  Set pMxDoc = Application.Document
  If Not pMxDoc.ActiveView Is pMxDoc.PageLayout Then
    MsgBox "Switch to Layout view in order to use this tool"
    Exit Sub
  End If
  Set pActiveView = pMxDoc.PageLayout
  Set pGraphicsContainer = pMxDoc.PageLayout
  
  Dim CurrentMap As Double
  Dim NorthMap, NorthEastMap, NorthWestMap, SouthMap, SouthEastMap, SouthWestMap, WestMap, EastMap
  CurrentPageNumber = InputBox("Enter Current page Number")
  If IsNumeric(CurrentPageNumber) Then
    Else
    MsgBox "Invalid page number entry. Try again."
    Exit Sub
  End If
  
  'Variable List = A list (Bordering Map, X location of text, Y location of text, Rotation Angle)
  NorthMap = Array(CurrentPageNumber + 1, 4.25, 10.1, 0)
  EastMap = Array(CurrentPageNumber + 100, 7.75, 5.5, 90)
  WestMap = Array(CurrentPageNumber - 100, 0.75, 5.5, 270)
  SouthMap = Array(CurrentPageNumber - 1, 4.25, 0.75, 0)
  NorthEastMap = Array(CurrentPageNumber + 101, 7.9, 10.3, 45)
  NorthWestMap = Array(CurrentPageNumber - 99, 0.6, 10.35, 315)
  SouthWestMap = Array(CurrentPageNumber - 99, 0.65, 0.6, 45)
  SouthEastMap = Array(CurrentPageNumber + 99, 7.85, 0.6, -45)
  
  Dim MapList As Variant
  MapList = Array(NorthMap, NorthEastMap, NorthWestMap, SouthMap, SouthEastMap, SouthWestMap, EastMap, WestMap)

  Dim pTextElement As ITextElement
  Dim pElement As IElement
  Dim pGeometry As IGeometry
  Dim pPoint As IPoint
  Dim pTrans2D As ITransform2D
  
  For Each Map In MapList
    Set pTextElement = New TextElement
    Set pTrans2D = pTextElement
    Set pPoint = New Point
    Set pGeometry = pPoint
    Set pElement = pTextElement
    
    pTextElement.Text = "MAP # " & Map(0)
    pPoint.x = Map(1)
    pPoint.y = Map(2)
    pElement.Geometry = pPoint
    pTrans2D.Rotate pPoint, Map(3) * 22 / 1260
    pGraphicsContainer.AddElement pElement, 0
  Next
  
  pMxDoc.ActiveView.PartialRefresh esriViewGraphics, Nothing, Nothing

End Sub

Article ID:000005045

Software:
  • ArcMap 8 x

Get help from ArcGIS experts

Contact technical support

Download the Esri Support App

Go to download options

Discover more on this topic