Setting and Editing Feature Layer Properties

The Layer property sheet includes up to three tabs for standard layers:

§ The Feature tab (Polygon, Polyline, or Point)

§ The Annotation tab

§ The Layer tab

Note: Most data sources include a homogenous set of features of the same geometry type, so they have one feature tab that corresponds to the layer’s geometry type. Other types (e.g., DGN, DXF) are of the “feature collection” type, which supports multiple geometry types within one layer. Their property sheets have tabs for each of the geometry types: polygon, polyline, and point.

The Feature and Layer tabs are always included in the property sheet. For standard layers, the inclusion of the Annotation tab depends on your selection in the Options section in the General Settings dialog at the time of loading. See “Selecting General Layer Settings” in this chapter to learn about the Create Annotations check box.

Layer properties can be set when a feature layer is loaded. If properties were not set or you want to modify properties, you can open the layer’s property sheet and do so.

To set layer properties when loading a feature layer:

1. In the Layer Settings dialog, in the property sheet, select the required tab and set the parameter values.

2. If you want to undo/redo any property change, on the top of the layer's property sheet, click Undo / Redo . Changes can be undone or redone, even after the property sheet is closed, and then reopened.

Tab	Description
Features (Polygons or Polyline or Points) tab	This tab contains the properties related to the objects (the features) contained within the layer. Note: Most data sources include a homogenous set of features of the same geometry type, so they have one feature tab that corresponds to the layer’s geometry type. Other types are added as feature collections (e.g., DGN, DXF), which can have more than one type of geometry, and will therefore have multiple feature tabs, one for each geometry type. Depending on the type of features that the layer contains, the Feature tab displays one of the following: § Points: The Points properties displayed in the property sheet depend on the symbol type selected in the Symbol field located at the top of the Points tab. Symbol types can be Text Label, Image Label, Shape, Regular polygon, Circle, Ellipse, Arc, 2D Arrow, Box, Pyramid, Cone, Cylinder, Sphere, 3D Arrow, or 3D Model. See the relevant properties specification for each type of symbol in the guide section dedicated for it. § Polylines - See “Creating a New Polyline” in the “Objects and Labels” chapter for more information. § Polygons: The Polygon properties displayed in the property sheet depend on the symbol type selected in the Symbol field located at the top of the Polygon tab. Polygon symbol types can be Polygon, 3D Polygon or Building. See the relevant properties specification for each type of symbol in the guide section dedicated for it. See the relevant properties specification for each type of symbol in the guide section dedicated for it. Note: You can copy a layer style and paste it on to another layer with features of the same geometry type. All feature and annotation properties, i.e., properties included on the Feature (Polygon, Polyline or Point) and Annotation tabs are copied and pasted. See “Copying and Pasting Layer Styles” in this chapter for more information.
Annotations tab	The Annotation properties displayed in the property sheet depend on the symbol type selected in the Symbol field located at the top of the Annotation tab. Annotation symbol types can be Text Label, Image Label, Rectangle, Regular Polygon, Circle, Ellipse, Arc, 2D Arrow, Box, Pyramid, Cone, Cylinder, Sphere, 3D Arrow or 3DModel. See the relevant properties specification for each type of symbol in the guide section dedicated for it.
Layer tab	This tab contains the properties related to the layer as a whole, e.g., loading mode and coordinate system. See “Layer Tab” in this chapter for further information.