Add an entity type

To add an entity type to a link chart, complete the following steps:

1. Click Entity Type on the contextual Link Chart tab.

   The Add new entity type from layer dialog box appears.

2. Choose a layer or stand-alone table from the Choose Layer drop-down menu.

   Only data sources with a field of data type Object ID are listed in the drop-down menu.

3. Choose one or more fields from the Choose field(s) for entities drop-down list.

   The values in the fields represent the entities that will be rendered as individual nodes in the link chart. Choosing multiple fields is useful when the data source contains fields that represent both the source and target and each field contains values of the same entity type. This field can be of data type Text, Date, Short Integer, Long Integer, Float, Double, Object ID, GUID, Global ID, and XML.

   Note:

   When you choose more then one field, the data type of each field must be the same.

4. Type a name for your entity type in the Enter name for entity type text box.

   This name will help distinguish between entity types that may be from the same dataset.

5. Optionally, check the Visually Collapse Duplicate Entities check box.

   If checked, all duplicate values in the field specified in Choose field for entities will render as a single node.

6. Click OK to load the entities into the link chart.

   Individual entity types are loaded into the link chart and displayed as nodes. The symbology of the nodes is the same as the symbology of the source layer; if the source of the entities is a stand-alone table, the symbology of the nodes defaults to a single symbol. To change the symbology, select the entity type in the Contents pane and click Symbology on the contextual Entity Format tab or right-click the entity type and click Symbology .

   Note:

   Edits made to the link chart data sources—such as adding new records, updating record attributes, or deleting records—are not automatically synced to the link chart; you must click the Refresh button in the link chart view pane to sync them. The time the link chart was last synced is displayed in the Current as of label in the link chart view pane.

7. Optionally, click Entity Type and repeat the steps above to add more entity types.

   You can add more than one entity type, as long as they are all sourced from data in the same map. For example, you can have a link chart that contains entity types from multiple layers and entity types from the same layer with different fields defining the entity field.

8. Optionally, edit the parameters of an existing entity type.
   1. Right-click the entity type in the Contents pane and click Properties .

      The Entities Properties dialog box appears.

   2. Make your changes and click OK.

      The chart updates.

Change the entity symbology

By default, entity types use the same symbology as the layer; entity types based on stand-alone tables default to a single symbol. To change the symbology of an entity type, complete the following steps:

Note:

When link charts draw at small scales, entities are displayed using a simple symbol with a default color. To adjust the default color, enable the Override overview node symbol color option, and select a color from the color picker.

1. Select the entity type in the Contents pane and click Symbology on the contextual Entity Format tab.

   The Symbology pane appears.

2. In the drop-down menu, choose Single Symbol.
To go back to using map symbology, choose Map Symbology.
3. Click the symbol to open the symbol gallery, and choose a symbol for the nodes.
The symbol gallery displays all point symbols from all styles in the project. To use custom symbology for a node set, add those symbols to a new style in the project.
4. Click the symbol again, click the Properties tab, and edit the symbol properties.
5. Optionally, edit the label properties.
   1. Click to select the entity type in the Contents pane and click Label on the contextual Entity Format tab to turn labels off and on.

      The labels for that entity type appear in the link chart.

   2. Change any of the additional labeling options:
      • Label field controls which field is used to label each entity

        Note:

        Selecting the <Entities> value as the label field will display the unique value from which the entity was created. This is recommended when creating multifield entities.

      • Label font
      • Label font size
      • Text symbol font size
      • Font color
6. Optionally, turn on the node frame by enabling the Display node frame option in the Link Chart Symbology pane.

   By default, the node frame is not displayed for all nodes.