MapInfo Pro

Hello, I would like to know if it is possible to rotate a layer's symbology based on a column in the table, but using a style override not the base symbology (so the Rotate Symbols tool is not what I am looking for).

Hi Natalia

Unfortunately this can't be done right now. It would have been nice if you could pick a column for the rotation instead of just entering a fixed value.

I tried to play a bit with the MapBasic part of setting the Layer Override but I weren't able to make it work.

When you set a layer override, a global symbology, you get a MapBasic command like this in the MapBasic window:

Set Map Window 3075 Layer 1 Display Global   Global Symbol (55, 16711680, 18, "MapInfo Symbols", 0, 15)  

where 15 is the rotation.

I tried referring to a column with this statement:

Set Map Window 3075 Layer 1 Display Global   Global Symbol (55, 16711680, 18, "MapInfo Symbols", 0, ADDRESSES.DIRECTION)  

But it just read the rotation from the first record in the table and used that for all the symbols.

We do have kind of the same limitation with labels. Currently labels can only by rotated using the direction of a line, not using a value in a column.

In Denmark this would be useful for rotating house numbers so that they align with the street direction.

You do mention that Rotate Symbols tool. Is there a specific reason why that won't work in your case?

What if data is in an SQL server table? You could make a trigger on the table to update the MI_STYLE column with the rotation from another column. Would that work?

That's actually a great idea, @Account Deleted?. You coul even create a view that concatenates the MI_STYLE column on the fly using a rotation value from a column.

It doesn't have to by SQL Server. It could even be MS Access where you setup a DMBS connection, add a MapCatalog to the database and then have the table as a attribute table with X and Y coordinates.

Ah, you see it's for display purposes. I am using the same layer with different symbology so that it looks nice (an arrow with a perpendicular line at the start), hence why I can't change the data in the layer.

The Rotate Symbols tool will do what you want. Take a copy of your table and alter the symbols to your liking, then apply the rotation from a column containing the angle.

Hi Natalia

If you apply a style to a layer or use themes, this will overwrite individual styles on the objects in the layer. For the above solution to work, you need to apply styles to every single object and not have a theme or layer style applied. I am not sure if you can copy the styles from a theme or layer to each individual object to get you started.

Thanks for your answers guys but I don't want to alter the underlying symbology as I wanted to use the same layer twice with different symbol (but same rotation).

I'll have to carry on with two separate layers.

Natalia,

I have added the Product Improvement Ideas topic to your question to also make it show up in the area where users can request improvements to the software. Can you maybe add an image of what you wanted the resulting map/symbol to look like?

As shown in the above image, I have one point that is currently represented by two separate layers with different symbology, one is a line and one is an arrow. Both are rotated within mapinfo to the same degree, based on a field in the tables.

I can't find this symbol anywhere and I don't have access to a font creator which is why there needs to be two symbols.

It would be really great to be able to rotate within style override based on a column.

Would be great if images applied to points could be rotated. Then you could use any custom image as symbol and rotate, instead of, like you, having to combine different drawings and symbols to create one.

You could use the Stacked Style option for style override to merge two symbols on one layer.

But you'd still need to be able to set a rotation via a column some where.

Hi  there,

 I have a point layer that has 5 different symbols based on the types (- which is in a column in the table) and I also have an angle of  rotation  in a column. I am using the "add theme" content to differentiate the types.  Is  there anyway to rotate the symbols in a theme?

(Current - Workaround is   5 different layers with one symbol  for each and then  rotate them using the Rotate symbol tool - I only have about 142 points in total and this looks like a bit of an overkill - so just found out - that I can just individually assign and rotate each symbol so i do not need to have 5 different layers!!   )


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Jimaima Le Grand []
[Spatial Scientist]
[Queensland]
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Original Message:
Sent: 10-03-2017 04:04
From: Peter Horsbøll Møller
Subject: Rotate symbols

You could use the Stacked Style option for style override to merge two symbols on one layer.

But you'd still need to be able to set a rotation via a column some where.