The Layers pane lists all layers in a window and provides basic controls. The Layers pane is the primary user interface when maps have many layers, and for setting layer characteristics, like layer opacity, even when maps have few layers.
We can switch to the Layers pane by clicking its tab if it is open, by choosing Layers in the View - Panes menu, or by using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+3.
The Layers pane provides so many capabilities that several topics are required. See also:
The Layers pane allows us to alter the order of layers in the display stack, turn layers on and off, and group layers together in folders that allow one-click on/off of many layers at once. We can also change layer opacity, and specify the background color of a window. We can specify scale range limits, so the layer automatically is displayed within those range limits and is automatically hidden when the map window is zoomed closer than the minimum scale or farther than the maximum scale. Scale limits are also called zoom ranges in Release 8, or scale ranges in Esri products.
We can also set the Pick mode, whether objects in the layer can be picked with an Alt-click to show attributes or to edit the object, and we can set the Snap mode, whether objects in the layer can be snapped to when editing drawings.
The Layers pane works for drawing, image and map windows, and it also controls the order and appearance of frames in layouts and columns in tables.
In the illustration above all of the drawing and image layers are on except the Bing satellite and street map layers, which are off. The Layers pane shows four virtual layers, which do not come from components but which are added by the map window.
The Background layer is a virtual layer present in all visual display windows. It provides a layer of background color, in the illustration set to a dark gray instead of the default white, as seen in the sample color box. Double-click into the color box to change the color. When using image server layers like Bing or Canvas, which completely fill their layers with pixels, the background color will not be visible if the image server layers are at 100% opacity.
The North Arrow, Scale Bar, and Grid virtual layers provide virtual overlays in map windows to show a north arrow, a scale bar, or a grid or latitude and longitude reticule over the window.
By default, the Layers pane appears with the Project pane in a tab strip to the left of the Manifold desktop.
When panes are docked, if the Project pane is in the foreground, click on the Layers pane tab to bring the Layers pane forward. If we have switched to a different pane, we can switch to the Layers pane by clicking the pane's tab, or by choosing it in the View - Panes menu. A keyboard shortcut of Ctrl+3 switches to the Layers pane.
Shift-click the pane's name tab to undock the pane. Shift-click the title bar to dock it again, or right-click the title bar and choose Dock. An undocked pane can be resized and moved anywhere on our Windows desktop. Close a docked pane by choosing its tab and then pressing the X button to close. Close an undocked pane by right-clicking the title bar and choosing Close.
Illustrations in this topic may
be reduced in size to allow more compact documentation display. Undocked
panes can be resized to be larger or smaller, but not as small as the
smallest illustrations that may appear.
The Layers pane shares many of the same controls as a table. For example, the keyboard arrow keys move the current cell, indicated by a dotted outline, up and down, left and right. Layers can be selected just like rows in tables can be selected.
For a step-by-step illustrated tutorial to the Layers pane, see the Example: Layers Tutorial topic.
Some controls in the toolbar are enabled when one or more layers have been selected by Ctrl-clicking a layer.
Toolbar command buttons are not enabled if there is only one layer,
and they are not enabled when only the Background
is selected. The Delete
button is not enabled for the Background and it is not enabled when one
layer remains in a drawing, image or labels window.
The Layers pane shares the same table-style, "grid" user interface used throughout Manifold where items are presented in rows and columns. The subject of commands and actions is designated by:
Ctrl-click on a layer or folder to select it or deselect it.
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Create a new folder using the New Folder dialog, which allows naming the new folder. Add layers to the new folder by selecting them and using the Move to Folder button.
Keyboard shortcut: Insert |
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Move all selected layers into the folder chosen from the drop down list. The drop down list also provides a Move to Root choice that moves selected layers out of all folders, that is, to the root of the list. |
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Move all selected items up in the list. |
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Move all selected items down in the list. |
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Move all selected items to the top of the list, retaining their relative orders at the top of the stack. |
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Move all selected items to the bottom of the list, retaining their relative orders at the bottom of the stack. |
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Delete selected items from the window. We cannot delete the Background from a window. Does not appear for table windows.
If a map has one layer we can delete that to leave a blank map. However, with only one layer in a drawing, image or labels window we cannot delete the defining layer from its own window.
To delete a folder without deleting the layers it contains, empty the folder by selecting all layers in the folder and then using the Move to Folder button to move layers to the root, that is, out of the folder. We can then select the folder (do not forget to deselect the layers that were moved out) and delete it. |
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Enter text to be matched, case not significant. The list of layers and folders will be reduced to show only those which match the text. For example, entering ro will reduce the list to layers such as roads, railroads, and crops, all of which have the two letter sequence ro in their names, but will not include layers like buildings or places. Applies to both layers and folders.
If the filter shows a layer within a folder that does not match the filter, the folder will appear anyway. For example entering ro will show both a roads layer that matches the filter, and also a Transportation folder that does not match the filter, if the roads layer is in that Transportation folder. |
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Filter by type of component, for example, to show only drawings, or only images, or only labels in maps, or to show only non-computed fields or only computed fields with tables.
Also configures the control column to show controls. With maps, choices are:
Layers that are hidden when a map is zoomed outside the scale limits from minimum to maximum scale do not participate in interactive operations such as editing, picking, selecting, or snapping. Scale limits are also called zoom ranges in Release 8, or scale ranges in Esri products. Render scale is called reference scale in Esri products.
With tables, choices are:
When Align, Language, Style, or Width is shown for table fields, a click onto that cell for any row will call up a context menu that allows us to change that setting for a table field.
See the Styling Table Fields topic for a list of style codes used to format table fields, as well as examples of using different language specifications to style fields.
With layouts, the filter button is used to restrict the Layers pane list to only showing frames of the desired type.
See the Layers Pane and Layouts topic for an example using the Filter button with a layout.
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Expanded / collapsed icons appear next to a folder. Click + to expand a collapsed folder. Click - to collapse an expanded folder.
Switching between windows preserves the expanded/collapsed status of folders for each window. Moving commands automatically expand folders that contain selected layers, to make the effect of commands visible.
Keyboard shortcuts when the cursor is on a folder: + key or the right arrow to expand, and the - key or the left arrow to collapse. |
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Double-click the opacity % setting to change the opacity of a layer in percent. No need to enter the % character when changing opacity. Applies to all selected layers. |
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Click the on/off box to toggle the layer off and on. Any changes to a selected layer's box will apply to all selected layers. Filled box = Layer displayed. Empty box = Layer hidden.
Click a folder's on/off box to turn the folder off and on, including everything within the folder. When a folder is turned off, and then back on, the on/off status of all items within the folder will be preserved when it is turned back on.
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spacebar |
Toggles the current layer on/off. Same as clicking the on/off box. |
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Color well showing the background color. Double-click the Background row or the color well to change the background color. |
Click |
Click a layer in the layers list to make it the context item in the list. This does not make that layer active in the corresponding map, layout, or table (use Alt-click for that). It simply moves the cursor to that row. This is mainly used to mark the spot above which a folder will be created when adding folders to the layers pane. |
Alt-click |
Alt-click a visible layer to pick it, putting the list cursor on that layer. Alt-clicking a layer in the Layers pane will make it the active layer in a map, the active frame in a layout, and the active column in a table, scrolling it into view.
This is a great way to bring a column into view in tables that have very many fields, or to bring a layer tab into view and make it active in a map that has very many layers. When layers are within a folder, and thus packaged within the same tab in a map, Alt-clicking a layer in the folder will make that folder the active layer and will switch the layer tab to using that layer. |
Right-click |
Right-click a layer row for a context menu:
Center, Zoom, and Best Fit choices operate for all selected layer rows. |
Ctrl-click |
Ctrl-click onto a layer to select or to de-select that layer.
Ctrl-clicking a folder will select or de-select all sub-folders and layers within that folder. |
Right-clicking the title tab of a docked Layers pane, or the title bar of the Layers pane pops open a menu for docking, undocking, and to close the pane.
Right-click a layer row in the layers pane for a context menu.
The context menu will present different choices for maps, tables and layouts, as seen above.
Active |
Make the layer the active layer. Choosing Active has the same effect as Alt-clicking that layer: that makes it the active layer in a map, the active frame in a layout, and the active column in a table, scrolling it into view.
As with Alt-click, the layer must be visible (turned on for display) to make it active with a right-click. If the layer is already active, the Active choice will indicate that with a dot icon. |
Center |
Center the display at current zoom on the contents of the layer. |
Zoom |
Zoom to fit the contents of the layer. |
Zoom to Selection |
Zoom to fit all selected objects in the layer. Disabled if there is no selection in the layer. |
Best Fit |
Resize the column width to best fit contents in the column, scanning field values that occur in the column to estimate a bet fit. Appears in the layers pane for tables. Using Best Fit on binary fields does not scan field values for the contents and instead uses a width that is wide enough to fit most reasonable values of the relevant binary type.
Best Fit all columns:
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Best Fit Title |
Resize the column width to best fit the name of the column as well as the contents of the column. Appears in the layers pane for tables. If the contents are wider than then name of the column then the column will be made wider to accommodate the contents. If the contents are narrower than the name of the column, the column width will be set based on the name.
Best Fit Title for all columns:
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When
the Filter / Configuration button
is used to show Align, Language,
Style, or Width
or table fields, a click
onto that cell for any row will call up a context menu that allows us
to change that setting for a table field.
Consider the table above, which has two fields that both show datetime values. Both fields have been styled to alter the way the values are displayed, and both use default, left alignment.
In the Layers pane we can press the Filter / Configuration button and choose Show
Align to have the alignment
of each field shown, instead of showing the width of the field.
We can change the Align setting of any of the fields by double-cicking into the alignment value cell for any of the fields and changing it in the menu that pops open. For example, we can change the alignment of the Datetime field from left to right.
That immediately changes the alignment of the field in the table.
If we like, we can use the Filter / Configuration button to change what is displayed to showing the Language specified in the display style for each field.
To change the language specified for a field, we click the language cell and choose More, or we can choose one of the Favorites that appears in the list. neutral is in the Favorites list by default. In the above illustration, we are working on a system that has had de-DE added as a language favorite, for German language as spoken in Germany.
Choosing More... launches the full Language dialog, which allows us to pick any of over 600 language-country designations available in Windows 10 or 11. We choose Cherokee as used in the United States. Press OK.
The new choice appears in the Layers pane.
It also immediately is put to use to display that field in the table as well, using Cherokee language for the names of the days of the week and the months of the year.
We can likewise use the Layers pane to change any of the settings for fields for Align, Language, Style, or Width when those are chosen to show in the Layers pane using the Filter / Configuration button.
If the layer that was right-clicked is selected, the Center, Zoom... and Best Fit... commands will operate using all selected layers. If the layer that was right-clicked was not selected, the command will operate only using that layer.
When selecting multiple fields in the Layers pane and then changing the Style if that characteristic is shown using the Filter / Configuration button, the new style will be changed only for those fields whose type is compatible with the active field. For example, if we select some text fields as well as some numeric fields, but then we click onto the Style setting for a numeric field and change the style to a currency type, that will not change the style for any of the text fields, since a currency style is only applicable to numeric fields and not to text fields.
A frequent use for selection in the Layers pane is to apply Best Fit and Best Fit Title to all columns in a table.
Consider a table as seen above, for a drawing of roads extracted from OpenStreetMap. The Layers pane is shown below.
Note how some columns, such as mfd_id and fclass, are much wider than necessary either to show the name of the column or the contents of the column. Other columns, such as name, are more than wide enough for the name of the column but too narrow for the contents. We can fix that by using Best Fit Title.
We first will apply the context menu command to only one column, to see what happens, and then we will select all columns and apply the same command, to show how selection extends the action of the command to all selected columns.
We right-click the fclass row in the Layers pane, and then in the context menu that pops open we choose Best Fit Title.
Immediately, the fclass column is narrowed to provide a good fit for the contents.
Best Fit Title considers both the width of the name of the column as well as the width that would accommodate contents, including contents not in sight. In this case, it made the column wider than necessary for fclass contents in sight, in order to make it wide enough to fit contents that appear in the fclass field for records not in sight.
Next, we will select all rows in the Layers pane by clicking into the Layers pane to move the focus there, and then pressing Ctrl-A to select all.
We right-click any of the selected rows, that is, any row in this case, and then in the context menu that pops open we choose Best Fit Title.
Immediately, the Best Fit Title command is applied to all columns in the table.
Columns that have shorter field values in their contents than the names of the column, such as mfd_id, and oneway, have been resized to a width big enough to fit the column name. Columns that have shorter column names than the contents of the column, such as fclass and name, have been resized to a width big enough to fit the contents.
Let us consider an example using layers in a map.
In the map seen above, two of the places layer points are selected, with their icons shown in red selection color. In the buildings layer, four of the building areas are selected, with their areas shown in red selection color.
We first will apply the Zoom to Selection context menu command to only the buildings layer, to see what happens, and then we will select all layers and apply the same command, to show how selection extends the action of the command to all selected layers.
We right-click the buildings row in the Layers pane, and then in the context menu that pops open we choose Zoom to Selection.
Immediately, the map window zooms to fit all selected objects in the buildings layer.
Next, we will select all rows in the Layers pane by clicking into the Layers pane to move the focus there, and then pressing Ctrl-A to select all.
We right-click any of the selected rows, that is, any row in this case, and then in the context menu that pops open we choose Zoom to Selection.
Immediately, the map window zooms to fit all selected objects in both the places layer and the buildings layer. If any objects were selected in any other layers, the Zoom operation would consider them as well, even if the layer containing them was not visible.
Controls such as opacity, the layer on/off boxes or various Move Up or Move Down controls apply to all selected layers or folders.
This allows us to apply the same settings or action to many layers or folders at once. Selecting more than one layer or folder is a convenient way of moving more than one layer up or down, simultaneously changing the opacity of multiple layers at once and so on.
Move buttons will move all selected items, layers and folders, together. Selected items need not be next to each other in the stack to be moved in the same relative direction up or down. Commands will have no action on layers for which they are impossible. For example, if several layers are selected and one of them is the lowest layer in the stack then that last layer will not move on a Move down command while the rest the selected layers will move down one step.
Folders are persistent in components where layers are persistent. For example, if we move layers into folders in a map, or fields in a table, or frames in a layout, and we then close and reopen the component, or if we save, close, and then reopen the project, those folders will still be in place. In contrast, for components like drawings or images where layers are temporary and go away when the window is closed, any folders that are specified in the Layers pane will go away, along with the layers, when the drawing or image window is closed. To save folders in layers for drawing or image windows, use Edit - Save as Map to save the drawing or image window as a map.
The Filter / Configure button configures the display within the Layers pane. It filters what type of layers are shown, and it configures the control column to show controls for opacity, pick mode or snap mode.
Press
the Filter / Configure button for a menu of choices.
Choosing Drawings will filter the Layers pane to only showing layers that are drawings.
Choosing All will restore display of all layer types.
Press
the Filter / Configure button to configure the control column to display
Opacity, Pick Mode, Snap Mode, or Scale limits. Scale
limits are also called zoom
ranges in Release 8, or scale ranges in Esri products. Setting Opacity,
Pick Mode, Snap Mode, or Scale limits. for a layer in a map applies only
to how that layer participates in that particular map, or any copies we
make of that map. For example, if we disable picks for a layer
in a map, that does not change Pick Mode for that layer in some other
map.
By default, the Layers pane shows opacity controls. See the discussion in the Layer Opacity topic. We can change that by pressing the Filter / Configure button.
When the Save as Image dialog is used to create an image from a map, the saved image will be a four channel image that includes an alpha channel to correctly display all opacity effects resulting from the combination of various layer opacity settings in the map.
Choosing Show Overlap Mode will switch the control column to showing the overlap mode status of labels layers. Overlap modes control how labels are automatically not shown if they overlap other labels. See also the Label Overlaps topic for examples.
Overlap mode status is shown only for labels layers, with a choice of:
For labels layers which are set to map overlap mode, labels from lower layers in the map are given priority over labels from higher layers, that is, labels in higher layers will be clipped if they overlap with labels in lower layers. When overlap mode is set for a map, labels will be clipped in displays using that map that are created for the map window, in layout frames that show that map, and during printing of layouts.
In the illustrations below, there are two labels layers in the map, with both labels layers initially set to the default overlap mode of layer.
Double-click an overlap mode cell to change overlap mode for that labels layer.
For example, double-clicking into the layer mode setting for the buildings Labels layer pulls up a menu allowing us to click on map, to change the overlap mode to map for that layer.
To change the overlap mode for multiple layers at once, we first select the layers desired by Ctrl-clicking them, and then changing the overlap mode for any of the layers will change the overlap mode for all of them. That comes in handy when we would like to change many labels layers from the layer default overlap mode to map, so conflicts between labels in multiple layers can be resolved.
Choosing Show Pick Mode will switch the control column to showing the Pick mode status of each layer. A pick mode of pick means that objects in that layer may be picked for use in the Info pane with an Alt-click or a Shift-Alt-click.
Double-click a pick mode cell to change pick mode for that layer.
Choose no pick to change the pick mode of a layer to not allowing picks of objects in that layer. A no pick mode is indicated with a blank pick mode cell.
Press the Filter / Configure button to switch the control column to displaying
Snap Mode.
Choosing Show Snap Mode will switch the control column to showing the Snap mode status of each layer. A snap mode of snap means that objects in that layer may be used to guide snapping when editing drawings or when making measurements.
We can double-click a snap mode cell to change snap mode. If we want to change many layers at once, we Ctrl-click layers to select them, and then we double-click the snap mode cell in any of the selected layers.
Choose no snap to turn off snapping. Changing a snap mode in any selected layer will change snap mode for all selected layers. A no snap mode is indicated with a blank snap mode cell.
Deselect all layers with a Shift-Ctrl-A keyboard shortcut, or with a quick Ctrl-A, Ctrl-I sequence, which some people find easier to keyboard.
Press the Filter / Configure button to switch the control column to displaying
minimum and maximum scale limits.
For example, choosing Show Min / Max Scale will allow us to set the farthest, maximum scale limit as well as the closest, minimum scale limit. If we zoom the map farther out beyond the maximum scale specified for a layer, that layer will be hidden. If we zoom the map closer in than the minimum scale specified for a layer, the layer will be hidden.
Applying scale limits to a layer keeps the layer visible at a scale exactly equal to the minimum scale, but hides it at a scale exactly equal to the maximum scale. This allows showing exactly one layer out of a sequence of layers that have matching scale boundaries, such as +10k, 10k-50k, and 50k+. The +10k turns off exactly when the 10k-50k layer turns on, and that layer turns off exactly when the 50k+ layer turns on.
The default setting of any means that there is no maximum scale and no minimum scale specified: the layer will always be visible regardless of the zoom level.
To set the maximum scale limit to 1:10000 for the roads layer we double-click the any setting, to launch the Scales dialog.
The Scales dialog allows us to set the Minimum, Maximum, and Render scale values. We can enter desired values directly into the boxes or use the pull down menu for quick picks.
For example, to set the Maximum scale to 10,000, we use the pull down menu to choose 10,000. Values can be entered with or without separators like the comma , character.
If any other layer has minimum or maximum scales set, those will also appear in the pull down menu. That makes it easy to match layers to use the same scale values.
Press OK.
To save space and for readability, the Layers pane automatically shortens the display of maximum and minimum scales rounded to only the first two digits plus an abbreviation of k for thousands, m for millions, b for billions, and then for very large values, two digits plus exponential notation.
For example, the 1:10000 maximum scale limit we set is shown as +10k. The + symbol coming before the 10k value indicates the layer appears "up to" a zoom level of 10k. Whenever we zoom the map window farther out than a scale of 1:10000, the roads layer will automatically be hidden.
The Minimum scale setting works the same way. We can double-click the +10k value for roads to launch the Scales dialog again:
We enter 5000 directly into the Minimum scale box and press OK.
The scale limit for the roads layer is now reported as 5k-10k, meaning the layer will appear at zoom scales between 5000 and 10000.
To see how a Minimum scale setting is reported without any Maximum scale, we double-click the scale setting for the places layer.
In the pull down menu for the Minimum scale box we choose 5,000. Note that the pull down menu now has a 5,000 value added, since that is scale limit that was set for the roads layer.
Press OK.
The scale limit for the places layer is reported as 5k+. The + symbol coming after 5k indicates the layer will appear at any zoom level above 5000.
To clear a scale limit, double-click the scale limit readout to launch the Scales dialog, and the highlight the scale limit to be removed and press the Delete key.
Press OK.
Deleting a scale limit resets the scale limit back to any.
When showing "layers," that is fields, in a table, the Layers pane can show the width of the field's column in points or the data type of the field, as well as other characteristics of fields such as alignment, language, and style.
With tables, the Layers pane shows the width of field columns by default. We can switch to showing data types for fields by choosing Show Type.
We can also use the Filter / Configure button to filter display to only fields that are not computed, or to only computed fields.
In addition to the layers tab strip at the bottom of a map window the Layers pane is our primary interface to see what is in the window and to manage layers. The list shows the display order of layers in the window, with higher layers in the list rendered above lower layers in the list. A "virtual layer" called the Background appears at the bottom of the list to allow us to control the background color of the window and to turn background color off and on.
The Layers pane with the focus on a map window also shows virtual layers for a North arrow, scale bar, legend, and grid. Turning on those layers adds those elements to the map window.
Click on the on/off box to turn a layer off and on, and double-click the % value to change the opacity of a layer. For example, the buildings layer in the illustration above has an opacity of 50%. We can easily move one or more layers up and down the list, delete them from the map and combine them within folders for easy management as a group. Virtual layers such as the layers for background, North arrow, scale bar, legend, and grid do not have opacity settings but are always fully opaque.
The illustration above shows only a few layers, but when there are dozens of layers in a map the Layers pane is the only way to manipulate layer ordering, to group layers into folders, and to quickly turn layers off and on.
The Layers pane shows a check box to turn the Background color on and off. The Background is not a real layer in that it does not correspond to any drawing, image or labels layer in the context window.
The Background shows what color to put underneath all other layers. By default, background color is white. We can change it by double-clicking into the color well and we can turn it on or off for display like the other layers. Changing the background color to a color other than white allows us easily to see if any white space in the window is part of the background or not. See the Example: Layers Tutorial topic.
With layouts the Layers pane controls the vertical order of frames in the display stack, their transparency and whether they are on or off for display. We can also select frames by selecting them in the Layers pane.
With tables, the Labels pane controls the horizontal placement of columns in the table, their width or data type, and whether they are on or off for display.
Experienced users working with many layers report it is often quicker to use the keyboard to toggle layers on/off, to select layers, and to move selected layers up and down. The current layer is the one with the cursor (dotted outline) around it.
Ctrl-A, Ctrl-I |
Ctrl-A is Select All, to select all layers. Ctrl-I is Select Inverse, to invert the selection. A quick way to de-select all layers is to do a quick Ctrl-A followed by a Ctrl-I. |
Shift-Ctrl-A |
Shift-Ctrl-A deselects all layers. Whether this is easier/quicker than doing a quick Ctrl-A followed by a Ctrl-I is a matter of individual taste and keyboarding habits. |
spacebar |
Toggles the current layer on/off. Same as clicking the on/off box. No effect on folders. |
Ctrl-spacebar |
Select / Deselect current layer or folder. Same as Ctrl-clicking the layer or folder. |
Ctrl-Up Arrow Ctrl-Down Arrow |
Move selected layers or folders up or down in the stack. |
Enter |
Begin editing opacity in current cell. |
Up, Down Arrow Keys |
Move current cell cursor up or down. |
Right Arrow |
Expand a closed folder.
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+ |
The + key expands a closed folder. |
Left Arrow |
Collapse an open folder. |
- |
The - key collapses an open folder. |
Home |
Move current cell cursor all the way to the left (layer names). |
End |
Move current cell cursor all the way to the right (on/off box). |
Ctrl-Home |
Move current cell cursor to the top layer. |
Ctrl-End |
Move current cell cursor to the bottom layer (Background). |
Page Up Page Down |
Move current cell cursor up or down one page's worth. |
Scroll bar |
A vertical scroll bar appears when there are more layers than can fit into the display. Scrolling the display does not move the current cell cursor. |
Scroll bar clicks |
Clicks in the scroll bar region:
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Scroll bar context menu |
Right-clicking onto the scroll bar calls up a context menu:
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When there are many layers in a window it can be much quicker to turn layers off and on by using the Layers pane instead of double-clicking tabs in the tab strip of a window. Clever use of folders as well as selection with Ctrl-A to Select All and Ctrl-I to Select Inverse can greatly reduce the number of clicks.
Suppose we start with a mix of many layers, some of which are on and some of which are off:
We want to turn on all layers except four layers. We Ctrl-click the four layers we want off to select them. In the illustration above, we have just Ctrl-clicked the last of the four layers to select it.
Next, we click the on/off button for one of the selected layers to turn that layer off. All four of the selected layers will also turn off.
We then press Ctrl-I, or choose Edit - Select Inverse in the main menu, to invert the selection.
Inverting the selection selects all the layers that were not selected, including the four virtual layers at the top of the Layers pane. We do not want those to be selected, so we Ctrl-click in turn the North Arrow, the Scale Bar, the Legend and the Grid layer to deselect them.
Next, we click the on/off button for one of the selected layers to turn that layer on. All of the selected layers will also turn on. Done. The example shows a relatively small number of layers. When we work with maps or layouts that have many dozens of layers or frames, this technique can be a huge time saver.
The filter box will
hide layers that do not include the given text in their names. The
filter box is a great way of finding layers or fields when there are hundreds
of layers or fields in the Layers pane. The filter box is an essential
tool for reducing long lists of layers or fields to only those items of
interest,
When the filter box has hidden some layers, that has an effect on other commands as follows:
Applying a filter disables moving and folder commands, as their effect could be invisible.
Deleting, editing, or toggling selected layers can affect layers that are hidden by the filter.
Selecting or deselecting layers can affect layers hidden by the filter as well, since selecting a folder will select all layers within that folder, including those that are hidden by the filter.
Consider an example, using the Layers pane with a map that has multiple layers that are organized into two folders:
At left above we see the Layers pane with both folders open. At right above, we have closed the upper, Misc Places folder.
In the illustration at left above, we have entered po into the filter box The Layers pane now shows only those layers or folders that have the two letters p and o in sequence together. It will also show any folders that contain a layer or subfolder with po in the name, even if that higher folder itself does not have po in the name.
The Filter box will not expand any folders that are collapsed. In the illustration at left above the Transportation folder was open before we entered text into the Filter box, and the Misc Places folder was closed. In the illustration at right above we have expanded the Misc Places folder, to see the layers it contains which match the pattern in the Filter box.
We usually use the Background layer with map windows. The background color is a property of a map and, once set, will persist even if the map window is closed.
Consider a map with two layers as seen above, a Cities layer of points and a Regions layer that is a drawing of regions as areas. By default the Layers pane uses white color for the background.
We can change the background color to a different color by double-clicking into the background color well and changing the color to any desired, such as the light green color seen above.
Clicking the on/off box for the Background layer turns off background color, showing the default checkerboard pattern that indicates transparency.
Normally we can choose transparent
color in a color well, such as used for Style. The color well for
Background in the Layers
pane is an exception: if we choose transparent color for the well, whatever
was the prior color remains, and instead the on/off check box switches
to off, turning off the Background layer.
Each individual component, other than maps, can have its background color temporarily set to some color different than the default by opening the component in a window and setting background color in the Layers pane. The background color specified for a component window applies for the duration the component is open in its own window. If we close the window and open it again, the background color is again reset to white. To make the background color persist, use a map window, which we can create from the drawing window using Edit - Save as Map.
For example, we can double-click open in its own drawing window the Regions drawing used as a layer in the example map earlier in this topic. The Layers pane shows one layer for a drawing window until other layers are added to the window. The background color by default is white.
Just as with a map, clicking the on/off box for the Background layer turns off background color, showing the default checkerboard pattern that indicates transparency.
We can double-click into the background color well to change the background color for the drawing to a blue color as seen above. Changing the color for a drawing's background is a temporary measure that will apply only when that drawing is opened in its own window and only for as long as that window is open. It will not apply if the drawing is used as a layer in a map and will not be saved with the drawing. Only background colors specified for maps are saved with the map.
we can open the Regions drawing in its own window at the same time that it is used as a layer in a map window. With the focus on the map window, the Layers pane shows the background color specified for the map, a light green. The blue color used as a background for the Regions drawing does not carry over into the map. If we close the drawing window and reopen it again, the background color in the drawing window will again be white.
If we like a particular background color combination used in a drawing window, we can save it by choosing Edit - Save as Map. That will save the drawing as a new map with that drawing as a layer and that background color as the background.
The third dimension, height, in a coordinate system is usually called the Z axis, after the X and Y axes used for flat plotting. By analogy, the GIS and programming term Z order means the vertical order in which layers or frames appear in the vertical stack shown in a map window or a layout, as well as the left-to-right order in which fields appear in a table. Z order in Manifold maps, layouts and tables appears in the component's properties in easily human-readable form.
Consider the example map seen above, a map with two layers. The Cities layer appears above the Regions layer in the Z order stack, as shown by the order of layer tabs in the map window and by the order of layers in the Layers pane.
In the Project pane, if we right-click on the Map component and choose Properties, we can launch the properties dialog. We can see that Maps have Item properties for each layer that appears in a map, specifying information about each item in human readable JSON form. The Z values specify the vertical order, with a Z of 0 indicating the top layer, a Z of 1 indicating the next layer from the top and so on.
Moving layers up and down in the display stack, either by dragging their tabs in the Map window, or by using the Move controls in the Layer pane, simply changes their Z order numbers in the Map's Item properties. For example, suppose we move the Regions layer above the Cities layer, as seen in the illustrations above.
That changes the Z order numbers in the Properties for Item.1 and Item.0. The Cities item now has a Z value of 1 in the JSON property string, indicating it comes second in display order, lower than the Regions layer with a Z value of 0.
If we like, we can manually edit properties for the Map to change the Z values back so the Regions layer has a Z value of 1 and the Cities layer has a Z value of 0. Double-click into the properties string to edit it. In the illustration above we have edited Item.1 and we are in the process of editing Item.2. Press Enter to accept the edits in a box, and then press OK to apply the changes in the dialog.
Instantly, the Map window and Layers pane update to the new Z order.
Tech tip: If we like to modify our maps using scripts or SQL, the properties of a map appear as records in the mfd_meta table. We can modify them using SQL to move layers around or to otherwise change layer or style characteristics.
As with all properties in Manifold, the various Item properties for Maps, Layouts, and Tables can be seen in the mfd_meta System Data table. We have selected the two properties of interest in our example in the illustration above to make them more obvious.
Table components (as opposed to map components)
in default configuration, before we change default order of fields or
default sizes of fields, will not have Item
properties. Those will automatically appear when we first make a
change to default order or field size.
If for any reason a layer in a map, a frame in a layout, or a field in a table has a missing or invalid Z order number, that item will appear at the bottom of the display stack.
Changing the background color can dramatically change the appearance of a window. The following three illustrations below show the effects of changing only the background color from the default white, to black to green.
It is important to consider background color when using Style to choose colors for objects in drawings. In the illustrations above a white background hides the yellow road lines while a black background hides the black line used for a railroad. The formatting shown above was intended for use with a green background color, and not with white or black background. It is obviously a bad idea to use the same background color as used by objects in a map. See more examples in the Example: How Not to Format a Drawing topic.
Besides the practical aspect of not using a background color that is the same as a color used for objects in a drawing, the choice of background color can have a big aesthetic effect. The background color set by the Layers pane can dramatically change the look and feel of a visual display, as seen below where different formatting using the Style pane is combined with different choices of background color in the Layers pane.
The objects in all four examples below are exactly the same: only the Style and background colors have changed.
Most software, including Manifold, makes extensive use of dialogs that are modal. A modal dialog grabs the user interface so we must complete our work with the dialog, usually by clicking an OK, Cancel, or some other button, before we can continue working with other parts of the program. The term modal comes from the dialog's insistence that whatever user interface mode the dialog applies is the only one that is active.
A non-modal or modeless pane is one which does not grab exclusive use of the user interface. The Project pane, the Layers pane, and the Contents pane collection of panes are non-modal. We can have the Project pane open to show us a list of what is in the project even as we continue work with other dialogs. Display-only non-modal panes like the Project pane are fairly common in software, but in addition Manifold provides the exceptional ability to control the system using sophisticated, display + command, controls within the Layers pane and within an array of very powerful non-modal panes in the Contents pane.
When we call up a pane that pane is non-modal: it is always on, ready to display information or to accept a command with no need to enter or exit a dialog, and without locking up the rest of the program. We can move the mouse away from the pane into a different window, perhaps to pan or to zoom that window, or even into a modal dialog, to continue working however we like and the panes will automatically adjust to what we are doing. We can go back and forth between panes and other windows, panes, dialogs and other controls without any need to exit or to close the Project pane, Layers pane or Contents pane.
Most Manifold users will not close panes, but will just move them out of the way if not needed, perhaps in a stack behind other panes that are used more frequently. But if we like, we can close and open panes.
Read-only data - The Layers pane recognizes when the data it displays is read-only, and disables controls and commands that cannot be used with read-only data. Temporary layouts and temporary maps are always writable. Tables and queries always appear writable with changes to tables on read-only data sources being kept in the window and being discarded after the window is closed.
Widths in printer's points - Why are the widths of columns in tables specified in printer's points as a unit of measure? Tables display text in fonts that are specified in printer's points, with displays and printouts normally scaling to show those fonts in reasonably accurate real-world sizes. Setting the width of columns using the same units of measure allows table column sizes to scale the same way as the fonts they contain.
Folders only with consecutive layers - In the Layers pane, all layers within a folder are consecutive layers. Using consecutive layers as part of a folder repeats a familiar metaphor, as used in outlines, to group together layers under a folder in a simple, clear, easily-understood interface.
Selecting layers follows folder hierarchy - Selecting or deselecting a folder also selects or deselects everything within that folder, including all layers and subfolders. Deselecting a layer or a subfolder within a folder hierarchy, deselects all folders above it in the hierarchy. That follows the rule that if a folder is selected, all of the layers and subfolders are selected as well.
Moving layers follows folder hierarchy - Moved layers using move up/down commands in the Layers pane never change their folder level, and layers never move between folders as a result of move up/down commands.
Grouping layers in the Layers pane preserves folder selection - Actions that attempt to create folders with a selected parent and unselected children are denied.
Missing or Invalid Z Order - Table fields, layout frames, and map layers with invalid or missing Z order info are placed last in the display stack (at the bottom).
No redundant layers - A given layer can appear just once in a map. For example, a drawing of roads can appear only once as a layer in a map. We cannot have a map that has two layer tabs that both refer to the same roads drawing. It is possible using programming or by manually changing a map's properties to add two layers to a map that both refer to the same roads drawing. However, in that case only one layer tab will appear in the map window. Both "roads" layers will appear in the Layers pane but only the first, upper layer will be valid and will be usable. Any additional layers referring to the same roads drawing will be invalid and will not be usable. The invalid layers will appear in the Layers pane so we can select them and delete them, a useful way of cleaning up programming errors.
Example: Layers Tutorial - We take a tour of the Layers pane, learning how to manage layer display order, select layers, turn several layers on and off at the same time, alter opacity settings for one or more layers and how to change background color.
Example: Style Pane Quickstart - A tutorial introduction to using the Style pane to apply color, symbology, size and rotation to areas, lines and points in drawings.
Example: Create Maps - Maps are used to show layers that can be drawings, images, and labels. This topic shows how to create new, blank maps, how to create maps from existing components, and how to create maps from other maps.
Example: How Not to Format a Drawing - When using Style to format a drawing it is a really bad idea to use the same color for objects that is used for the background color. It can also be a bad idea to use transparent color for objects. This topic illustrates why.
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