Forms Designer - Map Placement Control

Modified on 2022/04/19 19:22 by Adam — Categorized as: Uncategorized

The Form Designer's map control allows the user to designate one or more areas on their custom form to populate the desired map type(s).

A form needs a map in order to display the Print and PDF options. Otherwise a map is not necessary on a form if it is intended to simply show data or save to a custom layer.

How to add the Map area to the template¶

In order to place a map on the design canvas first left click the Map button

Now left click on the area of the design view that you would like your map to appear.

Note: You can place multiple maps on the form at a time, each with separate properties.

You can edit the size of the map by changing the width value in the Properties panel.

->Note: The width value controls both Height and Width since the Maps are always proportional values.

Position the Map¶

You are able to move the map in a couple different ways.

1.Click on the select tool on the left hand panel.

Now left click, hold and drag the map around the design canvas and release the left click to drop it where you want it.

2. Click the select tool in the left hand panel.

Left click the map so that it is highlighted yellow.

Change the "left" and "top" values in the Properties panel.

To move the map down, increase the top value.
To move the map up, decrease the top value.
To move the map right, increase the left value.
To move the map left, decrease the left value.

The align tools can also be useful when working with the map control. Use the select tool and click and drag to select multiple controls or Ctrl + click on multiple controls. Then use the Edit drop down or the shortcut key combinations to align or delete as desired.

Map Control Properties¶

With (only) the map selected with the select tool, the Control Properties will display allowing you to change what type of map it is and how it behaves.

Current Map
The Current Map option (enabled) will simply produce what is shown on the mapping interface at the time the map/form is generated.

Map Layers

If you turn the Current Map option OFF, then specific layers will need to be enabled to display.

Map Extent

The Map Extents determine how close or far the map is zoomed once this particular form is generated.

Current View will keep the same zoom level that the map interface has when the form is generated.
Section Plus Border extent will zoom to the section size or if the boundary exceeds the borders of the section then the view will extend to the size of the border.
Border Extent will zoom the map view close to the selected or drawn border.
Custom Extent when this is selected, type in a number to extend the map to that number in miles. ie 4 = 4 mile wide map view
--> If any extent besides the Custom Extent is used, then an Additional Extent Miles can be used to add the defined number of miles to the width of the already defined zoom level.

FSA Photo Max scale is typically used when adding smaller sized maps to the canvas. Use this setting to set how large of an extent (in miles) the imagery layer appears. Note that the Current Map option needs to be turned off and the Latest FSA Photo layer enabled.

Reference Controls

Reference controls are layers that are determined from some other control object on the form.

The Crop History layer requires another object to contain a year in order for the form to know which crop history year's data to display.

First place a text box with the following formula or something similar to determine the year

=@cropYear-1

and name the control something other than the default name. Ex: CropHistoryYear

Then click on your map again to bring up the control properties and select the name of the control from the Crop History Year control drop down.

The NDVI Legend Control is used to match the map with the appropriate NDVI legend. Note that the drop down will be blank until an NDVI legend is added to the form canvas. If used, the NDVI layer will be applied to the map.

The NDVI Hillshade is a modifier to the NDVI layer and will apply the hillshading to the map.