Creating and Configuring a Symbol for a Custom Data Point

Scenario: You want to display one or more properties for 50 points of the same point type. For example, you want to view the object name, present value, and units of data points that have these three properties in common. You will create a reusable symbol that displays the three properties of a custom data point and then associate a data point to each symbol instance.

In our example, we are using a text element.

1 – Create a Point Information Symbol
  1. Create a symbol.
  1. Click a drawing element and then draw a shape on the canvas to represent the data point information block, for example a rectangle.
  1. To format the drawing element, select it on the canvas, and from the Property View, format the shape as needed. In this example, do the following:
  • Expand the Rectangle property, and set the Radius X and Radius Y properties to: 10. The rectangle corners are rounded.
  • Expand the Colors property, and in the Background field, type: gray. The rectangle background changes to gray.
  1. From the ribbon, on the Home tab, in the Elements group, click the Text element, and then draw a text box in the rectangle. Repeat this action, until you have three text boxes. Format and organize the text boxes as needed.
2 – Reference the Custom Data Point Properties
  • You have created your symbols
  1. For each Text property, do the following:
  • Expand the Text property, and in the Text field, type the name of the point property.
    For example, Object_Name, or
  • (Object Model) From the Evaluation Editor, in the Property field, make sure Text is selected from the drop-down menu, and in the Expression field, type: {*}.[Property_Name].
    In our example: {*}.Object_Name
  • (Function) From the Evaluation Editor, in the Property field, make sure Text is selected from the drop-down menu, and in the Expression field, type: {*}.@[Property_Name].
    In our example: {*}.@Object_Name
  • Repeat the procedure for each property (present value, and units) you want to display in the information block.
  1. Click Save As .
  1. From the Save As dialog box, navigate to the library where you want to save the symbol and in the Name field, type a name for your symbol.
  1. Click Save.
  1. You can now drag the symbol from the library and drop it on the graphic and associate a data point with it. For help with this procedure, see Adding Data Points and Symbols to a Graphic using the Library Browser.