Legends

Predefined Legends

By default, CadnaA provides various predefined legends that can be selected directly in the Symbol object or in the PlotDesigner. These include, for example:

• "Legend: Grid" displays the grid’s color palette, optionally considering the selected evaluation parameter.
• "Legend: Land Use" displays the land uses defined in the project. These can be adjusted via the Options | Land Use menu. All defined land uses are always shown, regardless of whether they are used in the project.

• "Legend: Objects" shows the types of objects present in the project. The following applies:

  • Symbol: Uses the appearance defined in the appearance menu for each object type. If this depends on object attributes, the last object in the object table is used as a reference.
  • Text: Defined per object type and not customizable.

Limitations of predefined legends include:

• Displaying only a selected subset of legend entries, e.g., only used land uses or only object types with active objects.
• Custom texts and symbols for legend entries.
• Displaying the same object type multiple times with different symbols, e.g., white house = residential building, gray house = garage.

With the "Legends" library entry, custom legends can be created to overcome the limitations of predefined legends.

Custom Legends

A new entry in the menu Tables | Libraries local / global | Legends defines a custom legend with any number of entries, where both symbol and text can be specified. Selecting an entry from the local library works the same as for predefined legends via the Symbol object or the PlotDesigner.

Defaults

Using the "Defaults" button, the predefined legends for object types and land uses can be copied into the custom legend. This is helpful when a predefined legend is to be used as a starting point.

The "Delete all" option is also available, which removes all previously created legend entries.

Table

The table lists all defined legend entries. New entries can be added via Insert Before / After and opened with a double-click. For an explanation of the individual columns, see "Legend Entry" below.

Legend Entry

Object Type

If the legend being created is for object types (rather than for land uses), this setting defines which object type the legend entry refers to. This is relevant for determining the symbol or text when symbol=default or text=default is selected. Additionally, this setting is required to determine whether (active) objects of this type are present in the project — see "Show Legend Entry" below.

Symbol

Defines the symbol. The following options are available:

• default: Uses the appearance defined in the appearance menu for each object type. If this depends on object attributes, the last object in the object table is used as a reference.
• Custom: Select a symbol from the 2D Symbol Library. In addition to the standard symbols available in the library, custom symbols can also be added.
• Line: Define a line by color, width, and style.
• Area: Define an area by specifying line and fill.

Text

Defines the text. The following options are available:

• default: Uses the name of the object type as defined in CadnaA.
• Custom: Enter a custom text.

Show Legend Entry

Depending on the defined object type, it can be controlled whether the legend entry should be shown in the legend or not. For example, with the setting "when active Objects exist", the legend automatically adjusts when switching variants — if all objects of a type are deactivated in a variant.

Example

Creating a legend that displays the object type Barrier twice with different representations and texts:

• Create a new custom legend in the library (local):

  • Name = Example
  • ID = exa
  • Create two new rows

• Open row 1 and define as follows:

  • Object Type = Barrier
  • Symbol = default
  • Text = Screen (existing)

• Open row 2 and define as follows:

  • Object Type = Barrier
  • Symbol = Line (color = green)
  • Text = Screen (new)

When this legend is used in a Symbol or in the PlotDesigner, the result is: