I know that symbols sporting the '%%Route_Num' attribute adopt this attribute from their parential object. The problem is how to figure out which symbol does support this feature?
In the object inspector I do not find this attribute. Even when I convert the symbol back into a normal shape I'm not able to detect this attribute. Is there some special 'shield' property hidden somewhere else?
Hi Ingo, The symbols that support the '%%Route_Num' attribute all contain the word "Shield" in the symbol name. Open the Symbols palette and under Symbols enter 'shield' in the search bar. All the shield symbols will appear.
As you note, these will adopt the route_num attribute from an object feature. For example, if you are drawing in highways (using a Track tool) you can add a new attribute called "Route_Num" and the associated value(s) through the Object Inspector - Attributes pane. Note, you can select one or more track at a time to add this attribute. For example from a workflow perspective, if you have a lot of roads you could select all your roads and add the attribute "route_num" to them all at once, then keeping the Object Inspector open just click through each one to add the value. When you place a shield onto the track, it will automatically adopt the route number. You can right-click a shield on a track to align it to the track or not.
- Jill
Oh yes, to your original question let's dissect an existing shield... if you place a shield on the drawing canvas and detach it from its master you can view its style component properties in the Style Inspector (you may need to ungroup the graphic as well). If you take a look at the Text Adornment component you will see that "%%Route_Num" is entered in the text well. This flags to look for Route_Num attribute when a shield is placed on a track. So, working forward, if you were to create graphic, add a text adornment with this value (or copy this component), and then create a symbol from it, you would create a new shield.
Thank you Jill for the explanations! Especially the hint about the symbol name was very useful (included in manual already?)!
Of course I tried to dissect existing symbols already. Probably I forgot to detach it from the track first. Now I successfully repeated the steps according to your description.
I also created my first shield symbol successfully!
I'm really looking forward to the Ortelius development. It seems it will be my favorite vector graphics tool - even besides creating maps! Keep up the good work!
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