[mapserver-users] truetype symbols

[Joe Bussell]

Greetings Listers and Lurkers,
    I have just made a first attempt to apply a truetype symbol with no
success.  I have data for airport locations in a group of shapefiles
tied together with a tileIndex.  Presently I use a user defined circle
symbol declared as type ELIPSE.  I downloaded a ttf font set that
included an airplane image as one of the characters.  I believed form
the documentation site that I could use this symbol in my mapfile as an
R-value for the SYMBOL object in a CLASS object.

    I defined my symbol in my mapfile as such:

SYMBOL
    NAME        "airportIcon"
    TYPE        TRUETYPE
    FONT        transport
    FILLED      true
    ANTIALIAS   true
    CHARACTER   "e"
END

In my fontlist file I declare transport to point to the path of the font
that I downloaded.  I verified that the font was available by writing a
label with it (looked weird, but it did what I wanted).  I attempted to 
make use of the defined symbol in the following mapfile snippet: 

LAYER
    NAME    pointsOfInterrest
    GROUP   defaultLayer
    TYPE    POINT
    TILEINDEX td_pi.shp    #  DATA usa06037______pi
    STATUS  ON
    LABELITEM "NAME"
    CLASSITEM "FEATTYP"
    MAXSCALE    150000
... snip ...
    CLASS
        # airport
        EXPRESSION ( ( [FEATTYP] = 7383 ) )
        NAME "Airport"
        BACKGROUNDCOLOR 255 255 255
        COLOR   0 0 0
        OUTLINECOLOR    255 0 0
        SIZE    20
        SYMBOL  "airportIcon"
        LABEL
            ANGLE           AUTO
            ANTIALIAS       TRUE
            BUFFER          2
            COLOR           0 0 0
            WRAP " "
            FONT            Arial
            FORCE           TRUE
            MAXSIZE         256
            MINDISTANCE     10
            MINSIZE         4
            OFFSET          0 0
            PARTIALS        TRUE
            POSITION        lr
            SIZE            6
            TYPE            TRUETYPE
        END
    END
... snip ...
END

The feature does not appear, nor does its label.  If I replace
"airportIcon" with "circle" I get the results that we currently display.
Any ideas on how to get ttf symbols to work?
-

Cordially,

Joe Bussell
On Time Systems
www.TrafficDodger.com