FusionMaps XT uses Styles concept from FusionCharts XT to help you apply font, effects and animations to objects of the map. Styles lends a simple mechanism using which you can easily control the visual layout of map.

To use Styles, all you need to do is:

  • Define your own style attributes in the XML data document, and
  • Associate (i.e., apply) them with defined Objects of the map.
 
Defined Objects for the Map

Each FusionMaps XT map has the following list of defined Objects for direct association with style definitions. For example, the background of the map is termed as BACKGROUND. Similarly, the plot on the map is named as PLOT. This enables you to associate each style to multiple map objects or associate multiple map objects to a particular style.

Object Name Description Features Supported Animation Parameters Supported
BACKGROUND BACKGROUND refers to the entire background of the map.
  • Animation
  • Shadow
  • Glow
  • Bevel
  • Blur
  • _alpha
  • _x
  • _y
  • _xScale
  • _yScale
PLOT Plot refers to the actual map entities on the map i.e., individual city/state/county drawings.
  • Animation
  • Shadow
  • Glow
  • Bevel
  • Blur
  • _alpha
  • _x
  • _y
  • _xScale
  • _yScale
LABELS LABELS refers to all the labels of individual entities.
  • Animation
  • Font
  • Shadow
  • Glow
  • Bevel
  • Blur
  • _alpha
  • _x
  • _y
MARKERLABELS MARKERLABELS refers to the labels of the defined markers on the map.
  • Animation
  • Font
  • Shadow
  • Glow
  • Bevel
  • Blur
  • _alpha
MARKERS MARKERS refers to all the defined markers on the map.
  • Animation
  • Shadow
  • Glow
  • Bevel
  • Blur
  • _alpha
  • _x
  • _y
  • _xscale
  • _yscale
LEGEND LEGEND is the object in which the names of defined color ranges for the map show up.
  • Animation
  • Font
  • Shadow
  • Glow
  • Bevel
  • Blur
  • _alpha
TOOLTIP TOOLTIP refers to the tool tip shown when mouse is hovered over the entities.
  • Font
MARKERCONNECTORS MARKERCONNECTORS refers to any defined connectors between markers and the connector labels (if defined).
  • Animation
  • Font
  • Shadow
  • Glow
  • Bevel
  • Blur
  • _alpha
  • _xscale
  • _yscale
 
Advantages of using Style
  • Better control over map look & feel.
  • You can precisely define custom animations and effects according to your own taste.
  • Your formatting (cosmetic) attributes are grouped together in one element in the XML document, thereby separating data from visual formatting.
  • You can store the entire style definition in a central location in your application, so that all maps within application can utilize it.
  • Easy re-use of style definitions. Each style can be applied to multiple map objects or vice versa.
 
Style Types
Before we delve into more details, let's briefly skim over the different style type options that are present in FusionMaps XT.
Font The Font style allows you to control text properties for all the text on the map. Using this, you can set the font family, color, size, background color, border color, spacing etc. of individual text elements on the map
Animation Animation style type allows you to define your custom animations for your background, plot, legend and text. Each of the above object can have multiple animation properties (like x, y, xscale, yscale, alpha etc.) and each sequence can have its own duration
Shadow To apply shadow effect to any object on the map, use this style type with configurable properties
Glow Glow Style type lets you apply glow effects to objects on the map.
Bevel To apply bevel effect for any of the map objects, use this style type.
Blur Blur Style type helps to create a blur effect for any object on the map. The amount and distance of blur are configurable.
Note: In JavaScript maps, customized animation, shadow, glow, bevel and blur style types are not available. JavaScript maps provide limited support for customized Font style.