Representing schematic nodes with ports

Like any other standard feature points, schematic nodes can be represented by a single or composed symbol based on any type of symbol; for example, simple marker symbol type, character marker symbol type, and so on. When using a composed symbol to represent your schematic nodes, there is a particular symbol layer tag specific to the Schematics extension—SchematicPort—that can be specified and allows you to manage the connection of schematic links at specific ports.

Creating symbols with ports to represent schematic nodes

To represent schematic nodes using a symbol with ports, you must create a composed symbol with several symbol layers, these symbol layers being tagged by the specific 'SchematicPort' tag. In this composed symbol, the central point of the symbol is always considered as the port#0 where all the incident links related to the schematic nodes connect by default. Placed at this central point, there is usually a Simple Marker Symbol or Character Marker Symbol type. You can keep this symbol and consider it like the symbol base of your composed symbol. Then, the ports are created by adding new symbol layers representing by any symbol type and specifying SchematicPort as a tag for those new symbol layers. The size of these new symbols is often smaller than the base symbol size and placed around or inside the symbol base.

The steps below explain how to create schematic ports on the symbol used to represent schematic nodes:

1. Launch ArcMap and use the Open Schematic Diagrams command to browse and select the diagram in which you want schematic nodes to be drawn using a symbol with ports.
2. Right-click the feature layer corresponding to the node schematic feature class that implements these schematic nodes and click Properties.

   The Layer Properties dialog box opens.

3. Click the Symbology tab.
4. Open the Symbol Editor dialog box from the Symbol button (when using Single symbol) or the Symbol field (when using Categories, Quantities, and so on).
5. Click the Edit Symbol button.

   The Symbol Property Editor dialog box opens.

   The currently specified symbol, often placed at the center, can be considered as the symbol base.

6. Click the Add Layer, + , button to add a new symbol layer for the first port you want to create.
7. Select any type symbol from the Type drop-down list.
8. Select the desired font character that will represent the port from the Character Marker tab.
9. Specify the Size value.
10. Specify the offset x- and y-values to place the port at the desired location.
11. Click this button, , on the Layers section.

    The Symbol Layer Tags dialog box opens.

12. Type SchematicPort in the new symbol layer's Tags text box.
13. Click OK.

    The Symbol Layer Tags dialog box closes.

14. Repeat steps 6 through 13 to specify any new schematic port symbol layer you need.
    Note:

    Each schematic port symbol tag must start with the specific SchematicPort string. But, to get a more understandable tag, you can complete this SchematicPort string with any other information string; for example, you can add the port number, inform about the port position in the composed symbol, and so on. The following screenshot shows a sample of such tags:

15. Click OK.
16. Close the Symbol Selector dialog box.
17. Repeat steps 4 to 15 for the next categories, quantities range, and so on, if the feature layer is drawn by categories, quantities, and so forth.
18. Close all the opened dialog boxes.

Note:

• The ports' numbering corresponds to the order of the layer tagged as SchematicPort in the Layers list from top to bottom; the port #1 being the first symbol layer with the SchematicPort tag, the port#2 being the one defined for the second symbol layer tagged as SchematicPort, and so on.
• To have this customized symbology in all diagrams implemented by the same schematic diagram template, you must save the schematic layer on which you operated the customization as a layer file and import this schematic layer file at the diagram template level using the Schematic Dataset Editor.

The screen shots below show samples of composed symbols where symbol layers have been tagged as SchematicPort (symbols that display in grey, green, blue and purple), the symbol base being a standard Character Marker Symbol with no SchematicPort tag.

Sample symbol with four ports tagged as SchematicPort that have been placed around a centered circle symbol base

Sample symbol with six ports tagged as SchematicPort that have been placed inside the symbol base

Connecting schematic links to specific ports

When schematic nodes contained in schematic diagrams are displayed with a composed symbol that used SchematicPort tags, Schematics is able to identify each port specified in the symbol and manage the schematic link so they connect at specific ports.

By default, any schematic link incident to a schematic node connects at the center of the node's symbol, this central point being the port#0. If you want the incident link to connect to a particular port, you must use the Reconnect Schematic Link tool.

The following steps explain how to work with this tool:

1. The Reconnect Schematic Link tool is not available by default in the Schematics toolbars.

   To add it, click Customize in the ArcMap menu and click Customize Mode, then click the Command tab and select the Schematics category, select the Reconnect Schematic Link tool , drag the tool, and drop it on the Schematic Editor toolbar.

2. Start an editing session on the active diagram.
3. Select the schematic link you want to reconnect at a particular port.
4. Click any point on the link segment nearest to the origin/extremity node you want to disconnect (or on the half part of the link nearest to that node, when the link is constituted to an only segment).

   The link automatically disconnects, and the clicked point becomes the origin/extremity point to reconnect.

5. Drag this point and drop it to the desired port symbol.
6. Repeat the operations for each desired link.
7. Save the diagram edits.

Tip:

When the ports defined for the symbols that represent the schematic nodes are very small, it may be difficult to reconnect the link at the desired port. In that case, you can temporally set a reference scale for the schematic layer so that after zooming in on the desired location, the reconnecting operations are easier. In that case, before saving the diagram edits, clear the reference scale so the links geometry is correctly redrawn.