Default Attributes

Attributes may be defined as they are needed, or they may be selected from a default set of attributes defined in a file named MAPPLOT.AAT. (the INIT command can be used to select a different default attribute table). When MAPPLOT starts up, the system path is searched for the default AAT file. If this is found, then the attributes it contains are defined for use in the control file being processed. These attributes may be re-defined or overridden by attribute definitions in the control file. The output attribute file will contain all the default attributes from MAPPLOT.AAT, plus any new attributes defined in the control file.

The MAPPLOT.AAT is an ASCII file with the same format as produced by the PLATT program. It may be modified using a text file editor. The following are the default attributes supplied with MAPPLOT.

  • The default attributes use the names "1", "2", etc. in order to be compatible with the use of pen numbers in older versions of the software. Attributes "1" to "4" are black lines at increasing thickness, and attributes "5" to "10" are primary colours Red, Green, Blue, Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow respectively.
  • label_field lb lc lm ly thk sty ptc fb fc fm fy ht wd sp sl font

     

    1 255 0 0 0 150 1 0.0 0 0 0 0 3.0 3.0 3.0 0.0 DEFAULT

     

    2 255 0 0 0 300 1 0.0 0 0 0 0 3.0 3.0 3.0 0.0 DEFAULT

     

    3 255 0 0 0 450 1 0.0 0 0 0 0 3.0 3.0 3.0 0.0 DEFAULT

     

    4 255 0 0 0 600 1 0.0 0 0 0 0 3.0 3.0 3.0 0.0 DEFAULT

     

    5 0 0 255 255 150 1 0.0 0 0 0 0 3.0 3.0 3.0 0.0 DEFAULT

     

    6 0 255 0 255 150 1 0.0 0 0 0 0 3.0 3.0 3.0 0.0 DEFAULT

     

    7 0 255 255 0 150 1 0.0 0 0 0 0 3.0 3.0 3.0 0.0 DEFAULT

     

    8 0 255 0 0 150 1 0.0 0 0 0 0 3.0 3.0 3.0 0.0 DEFAULT

     

    9 0 0 255 0 150 1 0.0 0 0 0 0 3.0 3.0 3.0 0.0 DEFAULT

     

    10 0 0 0 255 150 1 0.0 0 0 0 0 3.0 3.0 3.0 0.0 DEFAULT

    The columns are defined as follows:

    Label_field

    Attribute label consisting of up to 15 characters (no spaces). The label is used to specify the attribute in the control file.

    lb lc lm ly

    Black, cyan, magenta and yellow colour intensities (integer values between 0 and 255) that define the colour.

    thk

    Line thickness in microns

    sty

    Line style

    ptc

    Line pitch in millimetres

    fb fc fm fy

    Black, cyan, magenta and yellow colour intensities (between 0 and 255) that define the fill colour for polygonal features and filled symbols

    ht wd sp sl

    Text height, width and spacing in millimetres, and slant in degrees from vertical.

    font

    Text font