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Creating and managing dimension styles (ArcInfo and ArcEditor only)

Creating and managing dimension styles (ArcInfo and ArcEditor only)
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About creating and managing dimension styles

Note: This topic was updated for 9.3.1.

NOTE: Although dimension classes can be both created and edited in ArcInfo and ArcEditor, they are read-only in ArcView.

A dimension style describes how a dimension feature is displayed, including its symbology, label font, and label text. Each dimension feature class has at least one style. Dimension features within the dimension class are associated with a particular style. All dimension features of a particular style have certain characteristics that are the same, and other characteristics can be overridden on a feature-by-feature basis.

Dimension styles are created and managed in ArcCatalog in the Feature Class Properties dialog box. You can create, delete, rename, and import dimension styles, and you can specify the default style for a dimension feature class.

The dimension styles' properties are defined in the Dimension Style Properties dialog box. This dialog box has three tabs: the Lines and Arrows tab, the Text tab, and the Fit tab. The Lines and Arrows tab allows you to set the properties for the dimension lines, line arrows, and extension lines. The Text tab allows you to control the content of the dimension text as well as its symbology. The Fit tab allows you to define how the dimension and dimension text adjust when the dimension's length is too short to display the arrows and text between the extension lines. Each tab and property on the Dimension Style Properties dialog box is discussed in the following pages.

When creating dimension features and assigning them a style, some properties can be overridden on a feature-by-feature basis. The properties that you can override for each feature are:

Click the links below for more information on editing dimension features:

Editing dimension features

Editing your geodatabase in ArcMap

An exclusive lock is required when creating, renaming, or deleting styles in a dimension feature class.

Learn more about schema locking.

How to create and manage dimensions (ArcInfo and ArcEditor only)

Creating a new dimension style

  1. In ArcCatalog, right-click the dimension feature class.

  2. Click Properties.

  3. Click the Dimension tab.

  4. Click New.

  5. Type a name for the new style.

  6. Click the drop-down arrow and click the style in the dimension feature class that contains the properties you want to copy into the new style.

  7. In the Dimension Style Properties dialog box, modify those elements of the dimension style you want to change.

  8. Click OK.

  9. Click Apply.

Tips

  • Newly created dimension styles' names are colored red, indicating they have not yet been written to the database. Once you click Apply or OK, these dimension styles' names are colored black to indicate they are in the database.

  • Each dimension style has an ID. A dimension feature stores this ID in a STYLEID field. You can create and apply default values and domains to this field at the feature class or subtype as an alternative to using the Dimension toolbar in ArcMap to assign styles to your dimension features.

  • You can choose to copy the characteristics of an existing style to your new style, then use the Dimension Style Properties dialog box to modify the style elements. You cannot use styles that have not yet been stored in the database as a template for your new style.

Importing dimension styles

  1. In ArcCatalog, right-click the dimension feature class.

  2. Click Properties.

  3. Click the Dimension tab.

  4. Click Import.

  5. Click the Browse button to browse for a geodatabase. Once a geodatabase is selected, the dimension feature classes and feature datasets containing dimension feature classes are listed in the tree view.

  6. Click the dimension feature class that contains the styles you want to import.

  7. Hold down the Ctrl key and click the dimension styles that you want to import.

  8. Click Import.

  9. A dialog box displays whether or not the import was successful.

  10. Click OK.

  11. Repeat steps 6 through 10 to import more styles from the same geodatabase or steps 5 through 8 to import styles from a different geodatabase.

  12. Click OK.

Renaming a dimension style

  1. In ArcCatalog, right-click the dimension feature class.

  2. Click Properties.

  3. Click the Dimension tab.

  4. Right-click the dimension style you want to rename.

  5. Click Rename.

  6. Type the new name for the style and press Enter.

  7. Click Apply.

Tip

  • If dimension features referencing the style you want to rename already exist in your dimension feature class, they will not be affected. Those features will still reference the same style after it has been renamed.

Setting the default dimension style

  1. In ArcCatalog, right-click the dimension feature class.

  2. Click Properties.

  3. Click the Dimension tab.

  4. Right-click the dimension style you want to set as the default.

  5. Click Set as Default.

  6. Click Apply.

Tip

  • Any style can be the default style. The default style is the style that is assigned to all new dimensions when they are created, unless another style has been selected in the Dimensioning toolbar.

Deleting a dimension style

  1. In ArcCatalog, right-click the dimension feature class.

  2. Click Properties.

  3. Click the Dimension tab.

  4. Right-click the dimension style you want to delete.

  5. Click Delete.

  6. Click Apply.

Tip

  • All features that reference a deleted style are symbolized as raw lines and a box for the text. You can use ArcMap editing capabilities to assign a different style to those dimension features.

See Also

  • Creating dimension feature classes
  • Dimensions in the geodatabase
  • About editing dimension features
  • About editing geometric network features