Using the Advanced Callout Script Builder tool
The Advanced Callout Script Builder tool allows you to create a label expression that can be used to interactively build, format, and symbolize an advanced callout and customize its structure.
The tool functionality has all the label expression information necessary to build an advanced callout. Prior to this enhancement, the process of building and creating a label was long and difficult with manual editing and testing necessary.
The Advanced Callout Script Builder tool is not dependant on any database, and it does not use any data from the .mxd file. To use the Advanced Callout Script Builder tool, you need a product library, an appropriate license, and an aviation production database with which to work.
The following steps allow you to create and edit an advanced callout using the Advanced Callout Script Builder tool:
- 启动 ArcMap 或 ArcCatalog。
- Click File > New to create a new blank MXD file.
- On the main menu, click Customize > Toolbars > Aviation Data Management.
- Click the Advanced Callout Script Builder button
on the Aviation Data Management toolbar.The Advanced Callout Script Builder dialog box appears. The fields are populated with default values. Factory defaults are available at <Installation location>\Program Files (x86)\ArcGIS\AviationCharting\10.5.1\Utilities\AdvancedCalloutScriptBuilder. You can create a sample advanced callout with this information.
- In the Style tree, you can check and uncheck various callout properties.
The options on the right side of the dialog box change according to the options you check in the Style tree. The callout preview also changes accordingly.
- Right-click Line 1 in each of the options to add or remove additional lines.
- 单击应用。
- 单击确定。
- Click Customize > Production > Production Properties.
The Production Properties dialog box appears.
- Click Aviation Properties and scroll to Log File Location. The output files will be located wherever you configured your log files.
An AdvancedCalloutScriptBuilder folder is created locally on your machine. This folder will contain your output, which is configurable. The folder contains two .xml files and one .lxp file. The output default .xml file is an updated version of the .xml input file. The next time the Advanced Callout Script Builder tool opens, changes stored in the output .xml file will be restored. Thus, you can continue working where you left off. The Preview.xml and Script.lxp files are your true outputs.
Preview.xml is the raw annotation .xml file that the Advanced Callout Script Builder tool uses to generate its previews.
Script.lxp is the actual label expression.
Components of the Advanced Callout Script Builder tool
The following sections highlight the different options available on the Advanced Callout Script Builder dialog box.
Style tree
This tree has various options that allow you to build, format, and symbolize an advanced callout and customize its structure.
Placement
This manipulates the actual text in the callout. Various options are available, such as Top, Bottom, Middle, Left, Right, and Rotating.
Of all the options, Top, Bottom, Left, and Right are similar in their functionality. They allow you to create a line and change symbology in the callout. Changing each of these options will change different corresponding components of the callout, which can be previewed. You can add text or remove the line by right-clicking Add Text or Remove Line, respectively. Text color and size can also be changed.
The information you insert in the Top element, will be converted, injected, and saved in the .xml file and inserted into the body of the Visual Basic code text. The same is true for all other tree options of the Advanced Callout Script Builder tool.
Middle
The Middle element attributes, before Advanced Callout Script Builder functionality was available, managed the placement of the middle element in the advanced callout element. Using Advanced Callout Script Builder, after right-clicking Middle, you can access the Add VMC (Vertical Morse Code) option. You may need to remove it before enabling it. The font is fixed and the text cannot be localized or modified. Another option, Line Leading, allows you to edit the distance between Middle and Bottom.
Preview
There are a set of buttons under the preview that allow you to toggle the way you want to view the callout.
Creating a label expression using Advanced Callout Script Builder
A label expression (LXP) is used to adjust the formatting of your annotation. Both XML and VBS samples are created at the installation location. All the editing and formatting done in ArcMap will be saved in VBS format. The log file location will contain the .xml and .lxp files and a raw preview can be saved in XML format to the clipboard, which is editable in ArcMap.
For more information, see Creating a label expression (LXP).