​CartoLegend then calls ThematicName.

Then a SQL query is run to select the region to be printed. ​

In this final blog about automatically creating  a series of maps in an atlas type program,  we will look at adding some text options for the user.

The first option, regarding adding text to a series of maps, is to add a text box so the user can put text on to one or more maps.  This could be achieved by adding an additional ribbon tab for adding text to the map.  In previous versions of the Atlas program updating the organisation details was an option in which a dialogue box automatically appeared when a new selection was created.  Whilst this option enabled updates to occur to organisational data it may be overkill if changes rarely occur.  By adding a tab, where this option could be accessed as an when necessary,  would therefore be an acceptable alternative.  This is option is shown in the graphics below.  

​When the Data option is selected the dialogue box appears with an additional option of a text box for inputting additional information in the map.

This text box could be used to input text relevant to all the maps in a series.  However, this option would not be suitable for customised statements which would be relevant to individual maps.  For this option you will need to add MapBasic code into the Atlas program.  This option would be appropriate if you have data in your tables which you would like to display in your map series.  We can achieve this by updating the code in the LayoutPortrait and LayoutLandscape modules.  
​
Here is the result of some standard text included within a section from the map of French departments.  This French departmental map was used in the original version of the program called PrintLayout developed by Egge-Jan Pollé.

​We could also add some text into a map series which contains variable data by creating code with MapBasic.  Here is an example using data from the map's browser.

​Here is a close up of the variable text.

​Here is the browser data from which this information is derived.

So far in previous blogs we have used MapBasic to create an Atlas program which can iterate through the regions of a specified layer in order to create individual customised maps. The Atlas program could be further enhanced if the user could have cartographic and thematic legends automatically created as required. Additionally the thematic layer should also be made available for the user to include in the printouts.

In the following screen shot a workspace has just been loaded into MapInfo Pro. As you can see the Legend Designer window is in focus. (As seen by the blue band at the top of its window).   

The Atlas program requires the map window to be in focus in order to create a cartographic or thematic legend for each selected region. In the next screen shot a Note message informs the user of the need to change the focus if they require a cartographic or thematic legend. If they ignore this message a map or maps can still be created but without a legend being included in the output.
Here is a screen shot of the Note message.

Assuming that the focus is on the map window, output can be obtained like the following screen shots which are based on the Canadian map provided in the MapInfo Professional trial data. Note that in this map the capital and highways data is not particularly informative.  It is recommended that you save the layers with more meaningful names as is shown in further examples.

Here we have saved the capital and highway layers with more meaningful names:-

The cartographic legend can also be incorporated into maps which have a mask element as in the following screen shots:-

Having created cartographic legends automatically from a workspace the next stage is to also be able to automatically create output from thematic maps with an appropriate legend.

Here is another workspace of the Canadian regions which has a thematic theme and legend.

The Atlas program has MapBasic code to check whether a thematic layer is present. In that case the program creates maps which reflect the theme and also includes a thematic legend as in the following screen shots.

Here is another example:-

As with the cartographic examples, maps with a thematic element can also can be enhanced with a mask. Here are some examples:-

And here is another example:-

The Atlas program needs several new modules in order to be able to create maps which have thematic layers or cartographic legends.

Here is the project code showing the respective modules.

Project file: Atlas.mbp

In all we are adding four new modules, ShadeInfo1, SearchReplace, ThematicName and CartoLegend.

​Additionally, Atlas.def has also been updated.

''************************************************************************************
'**  Project Atlas
'**  
'**  Definition file
'**  
'**  Author: Joseph Short
'**  Date: 14 September 2017
'**  Version: AppVersion (see below)
'************************************************************************************
Include "MAPBASIC.DEF"
Include "ICONS.DEF"
Include "MENU.DEF"

Declare Sub Main
Declare Sub End_Program
Declare Sub Endhandler
Declare Sub InputAtlasDefaultSettings
Declare Sub MLB
Declare Sub LayoutPortrait
Declare Sub LayoutLandscape
Declare Sub MLBOKButton
Declare Sub SelectAllFromMLB
Declare Sub HighLightSelectedRegions
Declare Sub PopulateRegionsArray
Declare Sub DlgHandler
Declare Sub Atlas_dialog
Declare Sub AddMaps
Declare Sub DialogHandler
Declare Sub AtlasAbout
Declare Sub RibbonMaskSettings
Declare Sub CreateMaskMaps
Declare Sub CreateRibbonMask
Declare Sub ShadeInfo1
Declare Sub ThematicName
Declare Sub LegendInfo
Declare Sub CartoLegend
Declare Sub WinFocusChangedHandler 
Declare Function LongDate(ByVal dDate As Date) As String
Declare Function SearchReplace(ByVal strInput as String, ByVal strReplace as String, ByVal strReplacement as String) as String

'Function to check whether a table is open or not
Declare Function TableIsOpen (ByVal sTabName As String) As Logical

' /////     Class "MBExtensions.MBDateAndTime"     /////
' Allows you to retreive information from a MapBasic Date (i.e. YYYYMMDD) or
' DateTime (i.e. YYYYMMDDHHMMSSFFF) string
 
' Convert the string to it's equivalent long date string representation
' (depends on Control Panel > Regional and Language Options)
Declare Method RegionalLongDate
    Class "MBExtensions.MBDateAndTime"
    Lib "MBExtensions.dll" (ByVal sDateString as string) As String

Define AppName "Ribbon Based Atlas Sample Code"
Define AppVersion "0.70"
Define MLBID 1001
Define SelectAllMLBID 1002 

'Defining Dialog Width and Height
'This allows you to specify with and height clauses in terms of characters (i.e., Width 30dW, Height 10dH).
Define dW *4 'Four dialog units equals one character in width
Define dH *8 'Eight dialog units equals one character in height

Global tTime as Time
Global dDate as Date
Global sTabFile, sTable, sColA, sColB, sRegionsArray(), sAddressArray(5), sPrintDate, sCopyrightText, sFont, sRegion, sRegionTitle, sPrinterName, sDocTitle, sPapersize, sOutputFolder, sThematicLayer, sShadeText, sTotalString,sFirstLine, sFirstPart, sSecondPart,sFirstPartThematic, sSecondPartThematic, s_title, sColumn,sRec1, sLegendText As String 
Global iRegionsSelectedArray(), iPaperChoice, iPapersize, iLogoWindowID, iMapWindowID, iInitialMapWindowID,iLayoutWindowID, iLayoutFontSize1, iLayoutFontSize2, iLayoutFontSize3, iLayoutFontSize4, iOrientation as Integer
Global fZoom, fMp, fPaper1, fPaper2, fPaperWidth, fPaperHeight, fHorizontalDistance, fVerticalDistance, fPos1, fPos2 As Float
Global lRegionObjectsSelected As Logical
Global l_create_mask, l_shadeInfo, is_thematic, is_legend, is_cartographic As Logical 'TRUE means include mask 
Global sMaskTable, sMaskTabFilePath As String
Global sPctTranslucencyArray(5) As String
Global fX1, fY1, fX2, fY2 As Float
Global oRectangle, oCutter, oMask, ObjRegion As Object
Global iPctTranslucency As Integer
Global pPenStyle As Pen
Global alAlias,alTable As Alias

In the last blog we developed an atlas program to create A4 and A3 printable maps from tables and workspaces. We could further enhance the program by adding a mask facility. The code for the mask was originally developed by Egge-Jan Pollé.

Here is a screen shot of the updated ribbon based atlas program including the mask option.

If we now use the Canadian maps provided in the MapInfo Pro trial data folder we can see how the mask works. Here is a screen shot after the Mask Settings OK button is pressed.

The Create Mask Settings dialogue box allows the user to select a Border style and Translucency level if the Create Mask Settings option is enabled. If the OK button is pressed with the default settings a map will be printed with the following border style.

The translucency and border options are shown below:-

Having clicked the OK button these settings will be reflected in the maps selected. If we choose the Atlas Example button a dialogue box appears. Her you can choose a table and a column for your map/s as shown in the next screenshot:-

Clicking OK brings up the Default Settings dialogue box. Here you can make changes as required. Here is a screen shot of the dialogue box.

Clicking on OK will bring up the Ribbon Based Atlas Sample Code dialogue box as shown in this screen shot.

Having chosen one or more regions clicking on the Print button will produce output like the following screen shot.

We could change the translucency level or the borders by clicking on the Mask button. The screen shot shows the proposed changes.

Here is a screen shot of a printed map after making these changes to the border type.

If you require a map without a mask you can do this by clicking on the Mask Settings button and deselecting the mask option. Here is a map created after deselecting the mask option:_

In the previous blog we looked at updating the PrintLayout program to a ribbon based interface in MapInfo Pro. As mentioned in that blog the PrintLayout program is an excellent template for creating an atlas program for MapInfo Pro.

We need to make some changes to the code so that a number of extra features can be made available to potential users. For instance, we need to let the user have some means of updating the default settings for the company data. Also the user should be able to use different tables and workspaces with the atlas program.

Here is a screen shot of the atlas code showing the ribbon interface set up in MapInfo Pro.

The atlas program should be able to ascertain whether there are tables open when the Atlas Example button is pressed. As shown in the next screen shot.

If the user opens one or more tables the program will then open a dialogue box to let the user choose a layer and an associated column as shown in the following screen.

Here three tables have been opened using the USA data from the MapInfo trial data. The user has selected the States table and the corresponding State_Name column data, as shown in the next screen shot.

Once the user clicks OK the Default Settings dialogue box appears. This contains the basic organisation information for input into the completed maps. Here is a screen shot of the dialogue box. Note that each element can be updated for this session.

When the user clicks OK the MLB dialogue box appears which contains all the relevant States in the USA States map. Here the user can choose one or more States to create individual maps of selected States. Clicking on Georgia and clicking on the Print button, as shown in the next screen shot, starts the map creation process.

Clicking on the Print button will create the following map into the Output folder.

When the user needs to exit the program clicking on the Info button produces the following dialogue box.

So by adding some additional modules to the original program we have been able to create an atlas program which can be used with both individual tables and workspaces. Additionally the maps can be printed with an organisations’ details.

As mentioned in previous blogs, in order to create this atlas ribbon based program within MapInfo Pro, we first need to create a definition file, relevant modules and a project file.

Here is the code for the definition file:

The PrintLayout program provided by Egge-Jan Pollé on his website is a code sample which iterates through polygons in a map in order to create individual maps from a selection of departmental polygons. This code has the potential to be updated into an atlas like program for general use within MapInfo Pro.

The first thing to note about this program is that all the information is hard coded. The program currently only works with a specific map of France and related data such as the company information which is already in written into the code. If you want to use a different map and update the company data then the program has to be re-compiled for the updates to take effect. So as mentioned before, this program is an excellent template for creating an atlas program but will need more than a ribbon interface for it to be viable for general use.

MapInfo Pro provides some information in MapBasic Help concerning legacy code for creating layout windows. However, some features within the legacy layout, available in earlier versions of MapInfo, are no longer supported. For instance, earlier versions of MapInfo had a graph function. Graphs are no longer supported so any code to include graphs in a layout is now redundant and needs to be removed. If the code is left in, at best you will end up with a blank space in the layout, or MapInfo may try to fill the space with a map window frame.

Another issue concerning coding is thematic and cartographic legend layer support for legacy code. If you look up cartographic legend in MapBasic Help you will find code which was developed for the legacy layout format. Below is a section from the Create Cartographic Legend section.

The first section of this code which should create a Cartographic Legend window creates errors when run in MapInfo Pro.   The second section of code should create a frame for a Thematic Legend window.   However the recommendation to create a frame for a Thematic Legend window, by changing the title to the following does not work as it contains errors:-

S_title="Theme Legend of " + WindowInfo (I_map_id, WW_INFO_NAME)

 By using a note statement you can ascertain the legend name using the first section of the code snippet as shown in the screen below.

The Mask application developed by TWIA.NL enables the user to create a mask around one or more selected polygons. The program is menu driven and also has a button and menu options which are enabled when one or more polygons are selected. When this program is run in the new MapInfo Pro ribbon interface the code is displayed under a legacy tab as shown in the following screen shot.

​The following screen shot shows how the button containing a mask image is disabled whilst there are no polygons selected.

Once a map has been opened and polygons selected the button and menu options are enabled as shown in the following screen shot.

Clicking on the enabled Mask button brings up a dialogue box where the user can choose various options when creating a mask. Once selected the mask is created and automatically saved to the table and location chosen by the user as shown in the following screen shot.  

Once the various options have been chosen the mask is created as in the following screen shot.

If you run any menu based MapBasic code in the latest version of MapInfo Pro it should still be available to use. The code is converted to accommodate the new ribbon interface. In this case your code will create a Legacy tab automatically as seen in the example below.

In many cases this is sufficient for the user and perhaps updating the code is not necessary. However, if the code does need to be updated then the process is not altogether a difficult task. All of the steps have been clearly explained by Peter Horsboll Moller in his slide presentations. Using the steps outlined in these presentations you could modify existing menu based code to a ribbon based solution.

To use the ribbon based interface used in the slide presentation examples, you also need some understanding of modular programming. Again this has been fully explained by Egg-Jan Polle in his pdf Modular Programming in MapBasic. As the example code for Modular Programming in MapBasic uses the menu based version of MapInfo Pro we could modify the User Interface Module: ProjectUI.mb. This module contains menu based code and can be used to demonstrate how to update existing code to a ribbon based interface. One of the advantages of modular code is that only those modules requiring changes need to be modified. All the other modules can be linked again to form the executable without further work or need for compiling of these modules.

Using the slide presentation we can create the appropriate file structures to create the revised version of this modular programming application. Below is the first stage in the process:-