Inserting a shape map

Before you can insert a shape map, you need to create a tabular report or a banded object.

To insert a shape map into a report:

1. Select a tabular cell, or the banded header/footer, group header/footer, or banded page header/footer panel of the banded object.
2. Click Insert > Map > Shape Map on the menu bar, or the Insert Shape Map button on the Insert toolbar. The Shape Map Editor window appears. See the window.

   

3. If you want to use an image as background of the map, click Insert > Background Image on the menu bar of the Shape Map Editor window, then click in the Shape Map Background Image dialog to specify the image.
4. Next is to add areas to the map. You can do this either by importing from an previously saved XML file or an ESRI file which has been defined with some area information, or by drawing the areas manually, or using a combination of these two.
   • To import the predefined map areas, click File > Open in the Shape Map Editor window, then in the Import Map Area dialog, specify the .xml file or .shp file that contains the required area information and click Open to import the areas. If you choose to import the map areas from a .shp file, you need to further specify a field in the ESRI shape file to define area name of the map, and if required, you can also select fields from the ESRI shape file to define the area tooltips.
   • To draw the areas manually, first check the Insert Mode item on the Edit menu to switch the Shape Map Editor to insert mode.

     To draw an area, click the left mouse button to pick the start point of the area. Move the mouse pointer and click the left mouse button to select the other points. The points will be connected automatically. When you move the mouse pointer to the start point, a square will appear indicating that the area will be closed. Click the left mouse button to finish drawing the area. If you want to undo your last line, click the right mouse button.

5. If you want to further change the shape or position of the areas, uncheck Insert Mode on the Edit menu to change the Shape Map Editor to edit mode.

   To change the shape of an area, move the mouse pointer over the border or the points of the area. When it becomes a cross, choose a point on the line and drag it to create a new point. You can also choose a point of the area and drag it to a new position. If there are three points on one line, the middle point will be deleted automatically.

   To move an area, move the mouse pointer close its border. When it changes to a four-headed arrow, drag the area to a new position.

   Tip: If you have specified a background image for the map, and the size of it is not the same as that of the map object, you can click Insert > Match Background Image in the Shape Map Editor window to resize the map object so as to make it match the size of the background image.

6. To bind data to the map areas, click Insert > Bind Data, then specify the settings according to your requirements (for details, refer to Binding data to a shape map).
7. If you want to add some conditional formats to the map areas, click Format > Conditional Formatting, then define the conditions and formats as required (for details, refer to Adding conditional formats to shape map areas).
8. To make the map areas link to other reports, URLs or e-mails, right-click the map areas and select Link from the shortcut menu. Then in the Insert Link dialog, specify the target to which the map areas will be linked and set the options for the link target. (for details, refer to Binding links to shape map areas).
9. In the Map Area Inspector panel, edit properties of any area, label, summary field and line in the map if necessary.
10. If you want to save the area information you have defined in a file for future use, click File > Save As. In the Save Map Area dialog, specify the directory where you want to save the file and a name for it, then click Save. Then, when you create a report with a map next time, you can choose to import areas from the saved XML file.
11. When done, click File > Save to save the changes to the map and close the Shape Map Editor window.
12. Click the mouse button in the tabular cell, or banded panel to insert the map.

When a map has been inserted into a report, you can customize its appearance and behavior by setting properties in the Report Inspector, which can be saved as a CSS style for future use (for details, see Creating a CSS style).

See also Shape Map Editor window for details about options in the window.