8 replies to this topic

[oskarlin]

I have one big base map in ArcGIS in a geodatabase from which I have made several annotation classes for different map sheets.

Now I have noticed I need to change the design (font, etc) of some of the annotations and I was hoping to be able to do changes for all annotations in a class (not with symbol substitution) in a simple way. How do I do this?

It's very important that the annotations positions stay the same.

Thanks in advance!

Oskar

[ELeFevre]

Hi Oskar,
Try this:

1. Start Editing
2. Select all of the features in the annotation class
3. Open the Attribute palette in the Editor toolbar
4. Select the class you want to change in the dropdown box and choose a new font, color, et cetera.

Doing it this way shouldn't adjust the positioning at all.

I hope this helps.

Erin

[oskarlin]

Hi, thanks,

but the problem is that I want to change the border around the text label. And as far as I know there's no way altering that in the attribute data?

[oskarlin]

Oh wait! It worked!

Also I found this guide which I think is a this pretty obscure way of changing the expression of an annotation.

Why is ArcGIS so illogical sometimes?

Also thanks again!

[ceicher]

Hi,

The above steps will change all of your selected annotation, but it will NOT change the "master list" of annotation symbols in your geodatabase. Because you are using your geodatabase as a "master", I would recommend using a different process to update your annotation symbols. This process updates the symbols in the geodatabase Symbol Collection ("master list").

See also these help topis (yes, geodatabase annotation is a tricky topic):

http://webhelp.esri....lass_properties

http://webhelp.esri....the_geodatabase

Rough steps are below:

Good luck,

-Cory


-----------------------

How to update annotation symbols in the geodatabase symbol collection:

1. ** backup your data in case something goes wrong ; )**
2. close Arcmap and open ArcCatalog
3. annotation feature class properties > Annotation Classes tab
4. select Annotation Class (e.g. "City")
5. change a property (e.g. font, bold, etc.)
6. you will see a Yes/No dialog. choose Yes

"Are you sure you want to update the default symbol for this annotation class? When this update is performed, the existing symbol is renamed and a new symbol is created. Features will continue to reference the old symbol until they are
edited to reference another symbol"

8. make other changes to the text symbol. Apply.
9. change to Annotation tab
10. the Symbol Collection has your new symbol "City", and also the old one called "City_Old". You also see in () the SymbolId number for the symbols.

e.g. (4) City_Old, (10) City

11. Ok
12. close ArcCatalog
13. open ArcMap
14. start editing
15. select all the features which reference "City_Old"... you can do a Select By Attributes by SymbolId = 4, or you could select using Erin's method the AnnotationClass "City".
16. change all these annotation to use the new "City" symbol (10).
17. save edits
18. close arcmap
19. open arccatalog
20. annotation feature class properties > Annotation tab
21. select City_Old
22. Delete
23. Ok
24. now you have updated all of your City annotation. when you make new City annotation in the future, these annotation will have the new symbol. when you change an annotation to be a City annotation, it will have the new symbol. the Symbol Collection lives in the SCHEMA of your geodatabase, so even if there are no features, you still have these master symbols.

[oskarlin]

OK, I understand all the steps until step 16. Am I supposed to change the values in column SymbolID in the attribute data of the annotation? If I try to change all of them (by using the field calculator - SymbolID = 1 OR doing it the way Eerin suggested via the attribute button in the editor) I get this error message:

Database Row(s) Calculated: An unexpected failure occured. The spatial index grid size is invalid. [MyAnnotationName] The spatial index grid size is invalid.

what could that be?

[oskarlin]

Oh I should have googled it first. Apparently I need to delete the index (ArcCatalog -> AnnotationClass -> Properties -> Indexes -> Delete Spatial Index) first.

Then it works! Thanks!!

PS. I will be giving you another question soon, so stay tuned!

[oskarlin]

A new strange error occured today when I did the changes (from above). The lines that are drawn from the annotation to the actual point object goes crazy. Instead of pointing from the annotation to the object, the line goes on for ever south west! See attached image. Any ideas? Could it be because I delete the Index?

 lostlines.png   8.23K   68 downloads
(red is lines I've added in photoshop so you'll understand where the lines were supposed to go)

[oskarlin]

No one has any idea of how to solve this problem?