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Print Template

Introducing Print Templates

Example of Print Template use

Edit Title Bar text

Add KeyMap

Creating your own KeyMap

Creating your own Backdrops for KeyMaps

Add Theme Legend(s)

Add Scale Bar(s)

Add North Point(s)

Add Orthogonal Grid

Add Lat/Lon Graticule

Saving a Graticule as a Named Object

Graticule parameters

Dicing

Step

Span

Margin

Tick length

Label

Label format

Pen

Text height

Add automatic date and time entries

Introducing Print Templates

The command Quick Print Template [File-Print Template] uses a Print Template Wizard to take a Map Window or a 3D Window and place the picture inside a Print Template.

The command Print Template [File-Print Template] allows you to choose which Print Template to use, and at which scale (when used with a Map Window), what "furniture" to add (e.g. a Scale Bar, a North Point, a Key Map, etc.), and whether to just print the results, or to create a new SIS Workspace Definition (SWD) for further editing.

The Quick Print Template command is a simplified version of the Print Template command.

Example of Print Template use

Make sure the current window contains the view that you want to print.

Select Print Template [File-Print Template].
On the Select Print Template dialog, select the required print template from the tree structure in the left-hand pane. You will see an image of the chosen template in the right-hand pane, with its dimensions shown below.

The inner rectangle on the print template is called the "Map Frame", this is the area where your map will be placed.

In the Map Window area of the dialog you can do the following:

Change the Scale if required.

Change the Angle of rotation if required. You may want to do this, for example, to align a major road or building horizontally on the paper. You have two options:

Fixed - Type in the angle required. North is 0°, East is 90° etc. The print template is rotated anti-clockwise. For example, if you type an angle of 90°, East will be pointing up. Note that when you come to place the print template on the map base, it will appear to be rotated in the opposite direction. This is because the map graphics are to appear rotated once the print template is aligned back with the sheet of paper.

Snaps - When you later place the template, this option will require you to give an extra snap to indicate interactively the angle of rotation.

View of map in the current window, showing the print template rectangle at a scale of 1:1250, rotated at an angle of 72°:

The resulting print template:

Click the Next button.

If the Print Template is not compatible with the paper size the following Print Size dialog will be displayed:

If you do not see the Place Print Template dialog, proceed to step 5.

If you do see the Print Size dialog then the print template you have chosen does not fit onto the current printer paper at the scale you have chosen. You can:

go back a step and choose another print template.

choose Print Setup [File-Print] to access the Print Setup dialog to change the paper used.

click on Fit in the Print Size dialog to fit the template to the paper. In this case the stretch factor to be applied to the Print Template to make it fit onto the current printer page setup will be shown:

press Next to continue.

In the Place Print Template dialog you will see the same area of the map base as in your current view, and you should see a rectangle attached to the cursor. This rectangle shows you the area of the map which will be displayed in the resulting print template. If you typed in an angle of rotation, the rectangle will be rotated. This rectangle may be outside the extents of the wizard view.

If you cannot see the rectangle, it is either bigger than the view or very small. Zoom out or in until you can see it using the “+” or “*” keys on the numeric keypad, the mouse wheel, the Up, Down, Left or Right arrows, or return to the first page to choose a different scale or print size.

Click to place the centre of the template at the centre of the area to be printed. Alternatively you can type the coordinates of a position. If you chose to rotate the print template using snaps, you are required to give a second position to indicate the angle of rotation.

Click Next.
On the Print Wizard Options dialog, select the options you want to appear on the print:

Click Next.

Edit Title Bar text

The Title Bar text field can contain your own information for the print.

To change the title to your own requirement select Title in the Prompt column and press F2 to highlight the title text for editing. Make the change and press Enter when complete.

Click Next.

Add KeyMap

A KeyMap gives a visual indication of the spatial location of the area being printed. It displays a polygon representing the area of map printed, superimposed on a larger area (the backdrop).

SIS provides two backdrops for the UK: one based on 100 kilometre squares, the other on 50 kilometre squares. These are stored as named items in the (standard) library. If the scale of the backdrop is too large in comparison to the map being printed (e.g. a backdrop with scale 1:10 000 000 and a print map with scale 1:3000), the backdrop will appear as a blank rectangle in the print template.

Select the key map required in the top left-hand box. An image of it will be displayed in the lower box.
To place the key map, click two corners within the print template which define the opposite corners of the key map.

Click Next.

Creating your own KeyMap

Open an SWD containing the data for the KeyMap (this can be vector or raster).
Select all the items to be used as the key map and choose Store Item [Create-Miscellaneous]. In the Save Item As dialog, enter *KM in the Folder field, this means that the file can be viewed only in the print template, and enter the name of the file in the Name field.

Note: Clicking on Toggle ‘*’ Objects (local command on the Libraries Control Bar, Libraries item), will toggle the display of the *KM folder.

Creating your own Backdrops for KeyMaps

For details of creating (and copying) your own backdrops for KeyMaps see Loading maps (and other data files).

Add Theme Legend(s)

This option is available only where you are using themed overlays, or overlays and datasets which use Cadcorp Feature Tables. It allows you to place theme legends on the template.

Select the theme required from the tree structure (top left box). As you do so, you will see its legend displayed in the lower box.
Click on the template where you want to place the legend.
If the legend is the wrong size for the template, it can be edited using local commands once the template has been created.

If you wish to add a theme legend to a previously created template, you can do so using the Map Frame's local command Legend.

Click Next.

Add Scale Bar(s)

Select the Scale Bar required from the tree structure. As you do so you will see it displayed in the lower box, together with its length in real world units relative to the Map Frame.

Click the position on the template where you want to place the scale bar.
If you make a mistake in placing the scale bar, click on Back to go back a stage, then Next to return to this option, or you can edit it using local commands on the template Map Frame.

If you wish to add a scale bar to a previously created template, you can do so using the Map Frame's local command Create Scale Bar.

Add North Point(s)

Select the North Point required from the tree structure. As you do so you will see it displayed in the lower box, together with its dimensions.

Click the position on the template where you want to place it.

If you make a mistake in placing the North Point, click on Back to go back a step, then Next to return to this option.

If you wish to add a north point to a previously created template, you can do so using the Map Frame's local command Create North Point.

Add Orthogonal Grid

This option allows you to show eastings and northings by means of grid lines and/or annotation.

Select the Add Orthogonal Grid option in the Print Wizard Options dialog and click Next:
On the Map Frame Grid dialog select the map frame to have a grid (a template can contain more than one map frame item). If you have already created any grids and saved them as named objects, the Edit and Remove buttons are enabled. Otherwise, click on Add.

Click on the Add button, and in the Properties of Map Frame dialog give the parameters for the grid:

The Properties of Map Frame dialog is the standard properties dialog for map frames, and allows you to change other parameters as well as those of the grid. You can choose:

which overlays will be shown in the map frame(Overlays)

the scale of the map frame contents (Drawing scale), and optionally, a generalisation scale (Threshold

scale). The Threshold scale means that only those items which would be visible at that scale on the map SWD will be visible in the print template map frame item, irrespective of the Drawing scale of the print template.

to create a default grid using the current settings (Default)

to clear the grid from the map frame(Clear)

When deciding how the grid lines should appear, you can choose:

the Pens and their Spacing to be used for both Minor grid and Major grid lines

whether the grid lines are shown, or just the annotation (Show Lines)

whether annotations are displayed along the edges (Edge Annotation), and whether the special annotation given at the corners is shown (Corner Annotation)

the appearance of the annotation text (Text Height and Font)

whether annotations are shown in full, or abbreviated so that only the changing portion of edge annotation is shown (Abbreviate annotation)

whether text, which would normally appear upside down when viewed from the bottom of the map frame, should be flipped (Flip inverted text)

Most of the options you specify here become properties of the map frame and can be changed later in the map frame’s Properties dialog.

Click on OK, and you will see the grid applied to the print template.

If the map frame contents have been rotated, the grid lines will be correspondingly rotated. Rotation angles between 0° and 45° will display eastings along the bottom and top of the map frame. Angles between 45° and 90° will display eastings along the left and right sides.

Grid lines will always be drawn on top of the map frame contents.

Add Lat/Lon Graticule

This option enables you to display a lat/lon graticule and define how it will appear. Each graticule can consist of up to 8 levels, each level being a sub-division of the previous level. For instance, level 0 (the first level), defines the appearance of the lines of latitude and longitude, and that of their labels. Level 1 defines the spacing of the dicing, and how it is labelled, and so on.

Graticule styles are named objects, stored in libraries.

Select the Add Lat/Lon Graticule option in the Print Wizard Options dialog and click Next:
On the Graticule dialog, select the map frame which will contain graticules (a template can contain more than one map frame). If you have already created any graticules and saved them as named objects, the Edit and Remove buttons are enabled. Otherwise, click on Add.
On the Graticule Style dialog define each level in turn (defaults are set automatically).

See Graticule parameters for further details.

When you have finished defining these parameters, click on OK.
Back on the Graticule dialog you now see the template with the graticule. Click on Next if OK, or Back to go back and re-define it.

If you want to add a graticule to a previously created template, you can do so using the service local command Create Graticule.

Saving a Graticule as a Named Object

Once you have created a graticule on a print template, you can save it for future use, using its item command Store style.... You can select a graticule using the S snap.

Graticules are named objects, and are stored in the current library.

Graticule parameters

The following parameters are detailed in this section:

Dicing
Step
Span
Margin
Tick length
Label
Label format
Pen
Text height

Dicing

Here you choose whether or not to display dicing. This parameter can only be set in level 1.

Step

These are the intervals at which the graticule lines will be drawn, in the current angular units

Span

The span determines how the graticule lines are drawn at this level. There are four options:

None - no lines appear across the map frame, but labels or ticks can still be drawn if required (see the Label and Tick length options below)
Grid - grid lines are ruled right across the map frame
Crosshair Grid - a crosshair is drawn at the intersection of lines
Crosshair Grid with Text - the position (in latitude and longitude) of each crosshair is shown (the level text style and label format are used):

Margin

Use this option to determine whether or not a margin is drawn at this level.

Tick length

This is the distance that the ticks which appear on the graticule border (at the step intervals) extend beyond the graticule border.

Ticks are always drawn perpendicular to the graticule border (whereas span lines are drawn along lines of equal latitude or longitude).

By selecting the Double-sided checkbox, the tick lines are drawn on both sides of the graticule border.

Label

Use this checkbox to control whether or not to have the graticule ticks labelled:

Label format

At each level you can choose whether to show degrees, minutes, seconds and the compass point. The options are:

%d or %D print the degrees (%D appends a degrees symbol)

%m or %M print the minutes (%M appends a ')

%s or %S print the seconds (%S appends a ")

%c or %C print the direction (N, S, E, or W)

%d, %D, %m, %M, %s and %S can be modified to print fixed width and precision. For example, %4.2s will print at least 4 characters, with 2 decimal places.

Pen

The pen used for the graticule lines and the labels. Use the More button to edit the current pen using the Edit Pen dialog.

Text height

This is the point height of the label text and/or the graticule span text.

Add automatic date and time entries

A Point/Box/Box Label Text item can be added to a Print Template to automatically show date and time details.

The following line of code entered in a Point Text/Box Text/Box Label text box:

Date Produced - ^(FormatDate(date(),"%x %X"))

would produce an automatic date and time for the current locale in the following format, as shown above.

Date Produced - 20/02/2014 09:39:54

See Property Expression Syntax for a full list of codes that may be used with the FormatDate routine.

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