Specifying predefined schematic attributes to manage schematic features' initial geometry

The initial geometry for the schematic features contained in schematic diagrams—that is, initial x-and y-coordinates for schematic feature nodes or initial vertices along schematic feature links—is usually automatically managed by the builder that creates the schematic features. For example, the Standard and Network Dataset builders are able to decode the geometry from the input GIS features on which the diagram generation is based, and they automatically initialize the schematic features geometry with this decoded geometry. For the XML builder, if the particular <InitialX>, <InitialY>, and <Vertices> XML tags are found in the input XML data, it automatically initializes the built schematic features geometry with this data.

However, if this initial geometry is not the one you want to be initialized for the built schematic features, or if you want to initialize a geometry for schematic features built by custom queries, three predefined schematic attributes can be configured on your schematic feature classes—InitialXPosition, InitialYPosition, and InitialVertices.

• The InitialXPosition predefined attribute can only be configured on node schematic feature class. It is expected to return the initial x-coordinate for a schematic node in user coordinates.
• The InitialYPosition predefined attribute is the one to use for specifying the initial y-coordinate for a schematic node in user coordinates.
• The InitialListPoints predefined attribute can only be configured on link schematic feature class. It is expected to return the list of initial vertices that display along a schematic link. This list is expected to be a string based on a specific format: N;X1;Y1; . . . ;Xi;Yi; . . . ;XN;YN, where N is the number of vertices, Xi and Yi are the coordinates of each i vertex, and the semicolon is a separator.

When these InitialXPosition, InitialYPosition, or InitialListPoints predefined attributes are configured on a schematic feature class, they will overwrite the initial geometry that may be usually managed by the builder. Depending on the evaluation mode configured for the predefined attribute, this new geometry will be reflected on the schematic features contained in the generated schematic diagrams after these diagrams have been updated or when they are loaded in memory.