We can use effects from all of the Line Style dialog tabs to create a more complex line style. This example shows how to create a line style with an arrowhead symbol at the end of the line, a symbol at the beginning of the line and accessory lines in different colors to the left and right of the main line. We illustrate each tab in the dialog.
See the discussion in the Style: Lines topic before proceeding.
The Symbol tab uses a Plain line symbol that is 4 points in size, using white Stroke color and black fill color. The black color goes unused with the Plain line symbology. Without any specification in the Dashes box we get a plain, solid line 4 points in size. We have set a medium gray background color for the preview pane.
The Left / right offset is a fixed value of 4 points. If we wanted to make the style fully self-adjusting, we could use a specification of 100% for the Left / right offset, which would automatically size the offsets up and down to be the same size as the line if the line size were to be changed.
The Begin tab adds a Circle symbol at the beginning of the line that is 400% in size, which works out to 16 points when the line size is 4 points. The symbol uses a white Stroke color and green Fill color The use of white as a stroke color give the circle symbol the appearance of being fused into the line as an integral part of the line. We use a fixed Stroke size of 1 point. For a fully self-adjusting style, we could use a Stroke specification of about 5%, so the thickness of the Stroke line would automatically increase and decrease in proportion as the point size changed.
The End tab adds an Arrow Triangle symbol at the end of the line that is 1200% of the size of the line. With arrows we almost always will adjust the proportion of the arrow by changing the Width parameter to a value like 40%, so the arrow is longer and not too squat. Given a line size of 4 points, twelve times that is 48, and 40% of 48 is just over 19 points, a reasonable size for a reasonably proportioned arrowhead at the end of the line. The arrow is drawn with white color for both Stroke color and Fill color, so the stroke size is irrelevant since the white colors blend together. Using white for the arrow head makes it appear to be an integral part of the main, white line.
The Left tab also uses the Plain symbology, with a fixed size of 3 points and a Stroke color of black. The Fill color of red is not used in the Plain symbology. For a fully self-adjusting style, we could have used a size specification of 75%, so the width of the Left effect would automatically scale to the size of the line. The line used for the Left effect uses a Dashes specification of 200%,200%. With a Left line size of 3 points that works out to dashes 6 points in length followed by spaces 6 points in length. The Dash cap is round, which provides a softer feel to the dashed line.
A Halo in red color uses a Padding specification of -3@, that is, three points less than the size of the Left line, for zero padding. The halo just fills in the spaces in the dashed line with red color, without bleeding to a wider halo width. For a self-adjusting style we could use a very small fixed value, such as 0.01, for the halo padding value.
The Right tab also uses the Plain symbology, with a fixed size of 4 points and a Stroke color of black. A Dashes specification of 1,2 to produce "dashes" which are shorter than they are tall, gives the effect of short lines that are perpendicular to the main line.
We press OK to apply the Style as seen above in the map.
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