php3-mapscript and symbology

[Stephen Lime]

MapServer CGI can't do this, not without some work. If you're talking relatively
few combinations you could use logical expressions i.e. ([ITEM1] == 1 and [ITEM2] == 2).
But with lots of options that could get tedious. MapScript could be of use
if things got really complex to set this up on the fly. If you be more specific I might
have other ideas.

Steve

Stephen Lime
Internet Applications Analyst

Minnesota DNR
500 Lafayette Road
St. Paul, MN 55155
651-297-2937

>>> John Hockaday <johnh at erin.gov.au> 09/05/00 05:16PM >>>
Hi,

I have the same situation but a little bit different.  I want to draw
the symbol according to an attribute value and make the colour decided
by another attribute value in the shapefile table.  This is similar in
that it is a dynamic symbology and dynamic colouring.

I see from Steve's comments that I could have an annotation layer for
each symbol but how do I determine the colour according to an attribute
value?  Can someone supply an excerpt from a .map file or do I need
some code to do the dynamic stuff?


Johnh

> Date: Tue, 05 Sep 2000 12:11:14 -0500
> From: "Stephen Lime" <steve.lime at dnr.state.mn.us>

> Ok, here are some ideas:
> 
> - multiple symbols: I recently added the ability to overlay 2 symbols to the 
CVS version although
> useful for building more complex symbols it's not what you want. In your case 
you need to draw
> the layer mutiple times positioning the labels accordingly. Note I said 
labels. Symbols are always
> centered on the label point and labels can have varied positions. I am adding 
symbol offset control
> but it's not quite ready.
> 
> - dynamic symbols: What you describe is what I use annotation for. For 
example, in labeling road
> shields I use a base symbol (GIF image) and drop text over the top. Same can 
be done in your
> case. Use an annotation layer with a circle symbol. You'll have to experiment 
to find the symbol
> and font sizes that look good together.
> 
> Steve
> 
> Stephen Lime
> Internet Applications Analyst
> 
> Minnesota DNR
> 500 Lafayette Road
> St. Paul, MN 55155
> 651-297-2937
> 
> >>> "Doyon, Jean-Francois" <Jean-Francois.Doyon at CCRS.NRCan.gc.ca> 09/05/00 
10:40AM >>>
> Everyone,
> 
> Allright, I got the TTF Symbology going, turns out the .ttf file I was using
> had some
> problems with the encoding in it ... I had to switch it to Windows Unicode
> from
> Windows Symbol, abd boum, everything fell into place ! Took me long enough
> to
> figure that out though !
> 
> Now for some more advanced questions :
> 
> Can I have multiple symbols for one point ? I have a city let's say, but I
> want
> 3 symbols around it ... Can this be done ?
> 
> How do I create dynamic symbols ? I would like to create circles that
> contain
> a number, only this number will vary (Number of hits from a search, I'm
> mapping
> search results here). I vaguely recall seeing talk about this on the list,
> but I 
> can't find anything about it anymore :) And can I use a TTF symbol to do
> this ?
> Or do I have to create independent symbols for each possiblity ?
> 
> Thanks !
> J.F.
> 
> 
> > ----------
> > From: 	Doyon,
> > Jean-Francois[SMTP:Jean-Francois.Doyon at CCRS.NRCan.gc.ca] 
> > Sent: 	Thursday, August 31, 2000 4:43 PM
> > To: 	mapserver-users at lists.gis.umn.edu 
> > Subject: 	php3-mapscript and TTF Symbology
> > 
> > Hello AGAIN :)
> > 
> > Allright, got the projection stuff going great, thanks again :)
> > 
> > Now I'm trying to get TTF Symbology working, and am running
> > into some problems.
> > 
> > I'm using a file called "geosymb.ttf", no idea where it came from.
> > 
> > Then I define in marker.sym
> > 
> > Symbol
> > Name 'capital'
> > Type TrueType
> > Filled
> > Antialias
> > Character "e"
> > END
> > 
> > But nothing shows up ! Ever ! Even stranger, sometimes ALL my TTF stuff
> > disappears off the chart (All city names and their symbols, which are
> > vectors, I'm just
> > trying to change the symbol on ONE city). In some instances, it seems that
> > everything
> > within a certain radius (the bigger the symbol size, the more disappears)
> > of
> > the said city
> > disappears ! Things also seem to behave differently depending on
> > extent/zoom
> > level. 
> > Basically, the minute I try to put a TTF symbol in there things go bezerk.
> > 
> > The Text (Labelling) is TTF, and that's been working fine all along.
> > 
> > I even tried using my arial.ttf file (Which I use for labeling) to do
> > symbols, but ... same thing.
> > 
> > This is the TOP layer BTW, (i.e. the last one to be added) if that makes a
> > difference.
> > 
> > Oh , an dI've of course tried a variety of "Character" ... Also, when
> > windows says a character
> > is "Alt+0168", how do I use that with a symbol file ???
> > 
> > Anybody have any problems with this ? Any idea what I'm doing wrong ?
> > 
> > Maybe I'll go try it with the Perl version if I have some time tomorrow
> > ...
> > 
> > Thanks again, and again, and again ...
> > 
> > 
> > 
>