Inserting a Google map

To insert a Google map in a report or a library component, take the following steps:

1. Position the mouse pointer at the destination where you want to insert the Google map.

   A Google map can be inserted into the page report areas listed in Component placement, a blank library component or the blank tabular cell in a web report.

2. Do one of the following to open the Create Google Map wizard:
   • Click Insert > Map > Google Map on the menu bar.
   • Drag Google Map from the Toolbox panel.
   • Click the Insert Google Map button on the Insert toolbar.
3. In the Data screen of the wizard,
   • If you are inserting a Google map into a page report, define or select the dataset on which the Google map will be created.
     • New
       If checked, the Google map will be built on a new dataset created from the catalog resources.
     • Existing
       If checked, specify the dataset in the current report from which the Google map will be created.
     • Current
       If checked, the Google map will be built on the dataset which is used by its parent.
   • If you are inserting a Google map into a web report or a library component, select a business view in the current catalog on which the Google map will be created.
4. In the Group screen,
   • If you are inserting a Google map into a page report, add the fields as the grouping criteria, and then specify the sorting direction of each group level in the Sort column (for details, see the same topic Grouping the data on table).
   • If you are inserting a Google map into a web report or a library component, add the fields as the grouping criteria, and then in the Sort column, specify the sorting direction which could be ascend, descend or no Sort. Moreover, you can click the Select N button to specify the Select N condition in a certain group level.
5. In the Filter screen, you may define some optional filter conditions to filter the data displayed in the Google map. If you are inserting the Google map into a web report or a library component, you can select a predefined filter from the specified business view if there are any listed in the Filter drop-down list, or select User Defined in the list to define a new filter.
6. In the Layout screen, specify the geographic data for the Google map. If the XML file that you specify does not exist it will be created in the <install_root>\gisinfo directory. The geographic data XML file is used to map the geographic latitude and longitude coordinates from Google Maps based on the location information specified for each group in the Marker tab. When the location information key string of a group value matches the "nm" field in the XML file, you will get the related latitude and longitude value for this group value.

   You can also import an XML file which contains predefined geographic data including latitude and longitude for the specific "nm" field. By default, the XML file is located in the <install_root>\gisinfo directory, if not, the file will be copied to this directory after it is imported. When you publish the report from Designer you can specify the gisinfo files to publish to the Server from the Geographic Information tab.

   If you do not publish the geographical information it will be created automatically when you first run the report.

   Then specify the map type from the Map Type drop-down list, it could be roadmap, satellite or terrain.
7. In the Marker screen, select each group level from the Google Map box and specify properties of the marker.

   Specify the location of the marker by selecting a DBField or a formula from the Location Info drop-down list which contains the values matching the "nm" field in the geographic data XML file. The values seen in this Location Info field will be used to create the "nm" field values when the XML does not already exist.

   Then set the tip information which displays when you hover the mouse on the marker at runtime by typing it in the Marker Tip text field directly, you can also use a formula to control the tip.

8. Uncheck Default Icon, then specify the settings of the marker, including the image, the shadow image, and their width and height. If you want to change the width and height for the image/shadow image at the same time in a certain proportion, check Constrain Proportion.

   In the Web Behaviors box, select a trigger event from the drop-down list in the Events column and click in the Actions column to open the Web Action List dialog, where you can bind a web action to the Google map marker such as Parameter, Filter, Sort, Property, SendMessage which will be triggered when the specified event occurs on the marker. To add a web action line, click , and if a web action is not required, click to remove it. Click or to adjust the order of the actions. Then, when an event that has been bound with more than one action happens, the upper action will be triggered first.

9. Click Finish to insert the Google map.

   If you have used the menu or toolbar command to insert the Google map into a page report, and specified to insert it to position other than the report body or tabular cell, after clicking Finish in the wizard, you need to drag it to the destination using your mouse in order to insert the Google map where you want it.

See also Create Google Map wizard for additional help about options in the wizard.

After a Google map has been created, you can customize its appearance and behavior by setting properties in the Report Inspector, which can be saved as a CSS style for future use (for details, see Creating a CSS style).