Editing Curve Label StylesConcept

Each curve label style has properties that define what type of data the label style contains, what text style the label style uses, and what units the label style uses. Each label style has a unique name. You can edit a label style to change any of these aspects.

NOTE  The Save and Delete buttons in the Edit Label Styles dialog box commit the changes that you have made. Clicking Cancel after clicking Save or Delete does not undo your changes.

Procedure

To edit a curve label style

1. From the Labels menu, choose Edit Label Styles to display the Edit Label Styles dialog box.

2. Click the Curve Label Styles tab.

3. Do one of the following:

From the Name list, select the name of the label style that you want to edit. Type a new name in the Name list to create a new label style. Be sure to click Save to save the

new style. Label style names are limited to 255 characters, including path and file extension. Invalid characters include \ / : * ? " < > |.

NOTE  For future upgrading purposes, it is recommended that you do not edit the default label styles. Instead, create new label styles for your custom requirements. Or, after editing a default label style, save it to a new name.

When you select a style, the Text Above and Text Below sections of the dialog box display the selected data elements. The box on the right shows you a preview of what this label would look like.

4. You can edit any of the following label style items:

Text Properties

Under Text Properties, select a text style for the label. If you select *Current*, then any time that you label an object using this style, the label is created using the current text style.

NOTE  If you subsequently change the current text style for the drawing (STYLE command), then the labels that were created using the *Current* option are updated to the new current style, even if the labels are static or disassociated.

If you selected a zero-height style, then specify a height in the Height box.

NOTE  If the selected text style has a fixed height, then the value in the Height box has no effect on the height.

You can specify an Offset for the label. This value is not a distance; it is a factor. The offset value that you specify is a factor that is multiplied by the text height to compute the actual offset distance.

Select a Layer for the label. If you select *Current*, then any time you label an object using this style, the label is placed on the current layer.

NOTE  If you subsequently change the current layer for the drawing, then the labels that were created using the *Current* option remain on their original layer.

Select one of the following justification methods for the text: Left: Left-justifies the label on the object. Right: Right-justifies the label on the object. Center: Centers the label on the object.

Data Elements

From the Data list, select the data element that you want to include in the label.

When you define curve label styles, you can specify what items you want to label on each curve. These items are called data elements. Select a data element, and then click the Text Above or Text Below button to add that element to the label style.

Data elements for curve label styles 

Data element Function

Radius Labels the radius of the curve.

Length Labels the length of the curve.

Delta Angle Labels the central angle of the curve.

Tangent Labels the tangent length of the curve.

Chord Direction Labels the direction of the chord.

Chord Labels the length of the chord.

Text Break Creates multiple text objects. A text break can be used to separate the labels on an

object. When you insert this data element, it shows up as "100" in the preview box.

Plus/Minus Symbol Inserts a plus/minus ( + ) symbol into the label.

Delta Symbol Inserts a delta symbol into the label.

The Plus/Minus symbol only appears in the labels if the text style being used for the label supports the Plus/Minus symbol. Many true type fonts do not support this character.

Do one of the following: Click the Text Above button to place the data element in the Text Above box. When you label an

object with this style, any data element in the Text Above box appears in the label above the object.

Click the Text Below button to place the data element in the Text Below box. Any data element in the Text Below box appears in the label below the object.

NOTE  The 100.00 preview values next to the Text Above and Text Below boxes are numeric place holders and do not necessarily represent actual values.

Text Above and Text Below

The Text Above and Text Below boxes contain the data elements for a label style. The box on the right shows a preview of what the label looks like.

NOTE  The 100.00 preview values next to the Text Above and Text Below boxes are numeric place holders and do not necessarily represent actual values.

You can type text into these boxes. This text appears in the label. For example, you can type meters into one of these boxes to create metric labels with the word "meters" appended to the end of the label.

Text Above and Text Below

You can make any of the following changes to the data elements for a label style:

First complete steps 1-4 in Editing Curve Label Styles. In the Text Above or Text Below box, you can type, select, delete, copy, and paste text. You can add prefixes or suffixes to labels. For example, you can type meters to append the word

"meters" to the end of a label. You can add formulas to labels by inserting them into the Text Above or the Text Below boxes.

For more information, see Using a Formula Within a Label Style to Convert Values.

Units

Under Units, select Linear to display the Linear Units dialog box. Enter the precision values for the following units: Linear: For labeling lengths. The precision value is used to label the delta angle. Formula: For labeling the results of formula calculations. Coordinate: For labeling northing and easting coordinates.

NOTE  You can either type a value in the boxes, or use the up and down arrows to select a value.

Click OK to return to the Edit Label Styles dialog box. Under Units, select Angular to display the Angular Units dialog box. Select the Allow Text Spaces check box to place spaces in angular labels. This setting is typically

used only for line labels.

In the Angular box, enter the precision for displaying angles. This precision value is used to label chord direction only.

In the Formula box, enter the precision for displaying the results of formula calculations. This precision value is used to label formulas that are applied to chord direction.

Click OK to return to the Edit Label Styles dialog box.

Arrow, Tick, Crows Feet

Under Text Above and/or Text Below, do the following: Select the Arrow check box to insert arrows on the objects you label to indicate their direction. Select either Tick or Crows Feet to insert either tick marks or crows feet on the objects you label.