Description

A layer that can visualize annotation text data. Annotation can be used to symbolize text on your maps as described in the Annotation ArcGIS Pro documentation. Annotation is defined by a text string, geographical location, and display properties including font, size, and color. These are stored together in an annotation feature class within a geodatabase.

There are two kinds of annotation:

Standard annotation is not formally associated with features in the geodatabase. An example of standard annotation is the text on a map for a mountain range. No specific feature represents the mountain range, but it is an area you want to mark. Standard annotation is read-only.

Feature-linked annotation is associated with a specific feature in another feature class in the geodatabase. The text in feature-linked annotation reflects the value of a field or fields from the feature to which it is linked. For example, the water transmission mains in a water network can be annotated with their names, which are stored in a field in the transmission mains feature class. If you edit the attributes and/or geographical position of the feature associated with the feature-linked annotation, any changes will be applied to the annotation feature table, and visible changes to the annotation will be reflected in the AGSMapView. If the feature-linked annotation is stored in an Enterprise server, its feature and annotation tables must contain global object ids.

You can construct an annotation layer in the following ways:

URL or portal item of an online annotation feature class.
An online AGSServiceFeatureTable that has a feature layer service type of AGSArcGISFeatureLayerInfoServiceType::annotationLayer.
An offline AGSGeodatabaseFeatureTable returned by the AGSGeodatabase::geodatabaseAnnotationTables array when a AGSGenerateGeodatabaseJob has completed.

Annotation layers can be taken offline from a feature service hosted on ArcGIS Enterprise 10.7.1 or later, using the AGSGeodatabaseSyncTask. Annotation layers are also supported in mobile map packages created in ArcGIS Pro 2.3 or later.

Annotation respects the reference scale defined by the map, so annotation will always be presented to the user at the correct size and position, as defined by the annotation author.

Each annotation layer is partitioned into annotation sublayers. Each annotation sublayer corresponds to the label class of the original labels that were used to publish the annotation. In ArcGIS Pro, the annotation sublayers are known as annotation classes.

Annotation sublayers offer greater control over the annotation:

An author can set different visual properties on the sublayer compared to the parent annotation layer. For example, font, size, color, or different minimum and maximum scale ranges.
You can access the annotation sublayer metadata information, such as the legend information, and set the visibility of each annotation sublayer.
See also
AGSLayer, Sample: Display annotation, Sample: Control annotation sublayer visibility

Since
100.5

Inheritance diagram for AGSAnnotationLayer:

Instance Methods
(void)	- cancelLoad

(void)	- clearSelection

(void)	- doCancelLoading

(void)	- doStartLoading:

(id< AGSCancelable >)	- fetchLegendInfosWithCompletion:

(instancetype)	- initWithFeatureTable:

(instancetype)	- initWithItem:serviceLayerID:

(instancetype)	- initWithURL:

(BOOL)	- isEqualToLayer:

(BOOL)	- isVisibleAtScale:

(void)	- loadDidFinishWithError:

(void)	- loadWithCompletion:

(void)	- onLoadStatusChanged

(void)	- resetFeaturesVisible

(void)	- retryLoadWithCompletion:

(id< AGSCancelable >)	- selectedFeaturesWithCompletion:

(void)	- selectFeature:

(void)	- selectFeatures:

(id< AGSCancelable >)	- selectFeaturesWithParameters:mode:completion:

(void)	- setFeature:visible:

(void)	- setFeatures:visible:

(void)	- unselectFeature:

(void)	- unselectFeatures:

Class Methods
(instancetype)	+ annotationLayerWithFeatureTable:

(instancetype)	+ annotationLayerWithItem:serviceLayerID:

(instancetype)	+ annotationLayerWithURL:

Properties
NSString *	attribution

AGSLabelBarrierWeight	barrierWeight

BOOL	canChangeVisibility

AGSCredential *	credential

NSString *	definitionExpression

AGSArcGISFeatureTable *	featureTable

AGSEnvelope *	fullExtent

BOOL	identifyEnabled

AGSItem *	item

NSString *	layerDescription

NSString *	layerID

NSError *	loadError

AGSLoadStatus	loadStatus

double	maxScale

double	minScale

NSString *	name

float	opacity

double	referenceScale

AGSRequestConfiguration *	requestConfiguration

NSInteger	serviceLayerID

BOOL	showInLegend

AGSSpatialReference *	spatialReference

NSArray< id< AGSLayerContent > > *	subLayerContents

void(^	subLayerContentsChangedHandler )(void)

NSURL *	URL

BOOL	visible

Method Documentation

◆ annotationLayerWithFeatureTable:

+ (instancetype) annotationLayerWithFeatureTable: (AGSArcGISFeatureTable *) featureTable

Creates an annotation layer from a feature table containing annotation features. If the feature table does not contain annotation data then the AGSAnnotationLayer will fail to load. AGSArcGISFeatureTable::layerInfo and AGSArcGISFeatureLayerInfo::serviceType can be checked, to verify the feature type, before attempting to create an AGSLayer.

Parameters

featureTable The feature table, containing annotation features, used as the source of the annotation layer.

See also: AGSArcGISFeatureTable

Since: 100.6

◆ annotationLayerWithItem:serviceLayerID:

+ (instancetype) annotationLayerWithItem:	(AGSItem *)	item
serviceLayerID:	(NSInteger)	serviceLayerID

Creates a new annotation layer from a feature service portal item.

Parameters

item	A feature service `AGSPortalItem`.
serviceLayerID	The ID of the layer in the service for which to create the annotation layer.

See also: AGSLayer::item

Since: 100.5

◆ annotationLayerWithURL:

+ (instancetype) annotationLayerWithURL: (NSURL *) URL

Creates a new annotation layer from a feature service URL. If the specified URL is not a valid Feature Service endpoint, then it will fail to load.

Parameters

URL	The URL to the feature service layer.

Since: 100.5

◆ cancelLoad

- (void) cancelLoad

requiredinherited

Cancels loading if it is in progress, otherwise it does nothing. This should be called carefully because other objects could be waiting for loadWithCompletion: or retryLoadWithCompletion: to complete and this will call them all back with the error of NSUserCancelledError

Since: 100

◆ clearSelection

- (void) clearSelection

Updates any selected features in the layer back to the un-selected state.

Since: 100.12

◆ doCancelLoading

- (void) doCancelLoading

Never call this method directly. The framework calls this method on a background thread when cancelLoad (AGSLoadable-p) is called. It is meant to be overriden by subclasses. Subclasses should override this method to cancel loading their data and call loadDidFinishWithError: (AGSLoadableBase(ForSubclassEyesOnly)) at the end passing in an error representing NSUserCancelledError.

Since: 100

Provided by category AGSLoadableBase(ForSubclassEyesOnly).

◆ doStartLoading:

- (void) doStartLoading: (BOOL) retrying

Never call this method directly. The framework calls this method on a background thread when loadWithCompletion: (AGSLoadable-p) or retryLoadWithCompletion: (AGSLoadable-p) is called. It is meant to be overriden by subclasses. Subclasses should override this method to load their data and call loadDidFinishWithError: (AGSLoadableBase(ForSubclassEyesOnly)) upon completion, passing in the error if any.

Parameters

retrying flag that is true if this method was called from retryLoadWithCompletion: (AGSLoadable-p).

Since: 100

Provided by category AGSLoadableBase(ForSubclassEyesOnly).

◆ fetchLegendInfosWithCompletion:

- (id<AGSCancelable>) fetchLegendInfosWithCompletion: (void(^)(NSArray< AGSLegendInfo * > *__nullable legendInfos, NSError *__nullable error)) completion

Fetches the array of legend infos (AGSLegendInfo) for this layer.

Since: 100

◆ initWithFeatureTable:

- (instancetype) initWithFeatureTable: (AGSArcGISFeatureTable *) featureTable

Creates an annotation layer from a feature table containing annotation features. If the feature table does not contain annotation data then the AGSAnnotationLayer will fail to load. AGSArcGISFeatureTable::layerInfo and AGSArcGISFeatureLayerInfo::serviceType can be checked, to verify the feature type, before attempting to create an AGSLayer.

Parameters

featureTable The feature table, containing annotation features, used as the source of the annotation layer.

See also: AGSArcGISFeatureTable

Since: 100.6

◆ initWithItem:serviceLayerID:

- (instancetype) initWithItem:	(AGSItem *)	item
serviceLayerID:	(NSInteger)	serviceLayerID

Creates a new annotation layer from a feature service portal item.

Parameters

item	A feature service `AGSPortalItem`.
serviceLayerID	The ID of the layer in the service for which to create the annotation layer.

See also: AGSLayer::item

Since: 100.5

◆ initWithURL:

- (instancetype) initWithURL: (NSURL *) URL

Creates a new annotation layer from a feature service URL. If the specified URL is not a valid Feature Service endpoint, then it will fail to load.

Parameters

URL	The URL to the feature service layer.

Since: 100.5

◆ isEqualToLayer:

- (BOOL) isEqualToLayer: (AGSLayer *) other

◆ isVisibleAtScale:

- (BOOL) isVisibleAtScale: (double) scale

Check whether this layer is visible at a given scale.

Since: 100

◆ loadDidFinishWithError:

- (void) loadDidFinishWithError: (nullable NSError *) error

Only subclasses should call this method in doStartLoading: (AGSLoadableBase(ForSubclassEyesOnly)) and doCancelLoading (AGSLoadableBase(ForSubclassEyesOnly)) when done loading or failed to load.

Since: 100

Provided by category AGSLoadableBase(ForSubclassEyesOnly).

◆ loadWithCompletion:

- (void) loadWithCompletion: (nullable void(^)(NSError *__nullable error)) completion

requiredinherited

Loads data for the object asynchronously. The completion block is invoked upon completion.

You can call this method any number of times, however only one attempt is made to load the data. If it is already loading, it will just continue to load (i.e. not force a reload). If it has already loaded successfully, the completion block will be invoked right away. If it has already failed to load, the completion block will be invoked right away with error previously encountered. This method supports multiple callers and will call them all back on completion. However, each caller's completion block will be invoked once and only once.

Parameters

completion block that is invoked when object loads successfully or fails to load. An error is passed to the block if the object fails to load.

Note: The completion block is always invoked on the main thread.

Since: 100

See also: - cancelLoad to cancel loading; - retryLoadWithCompletion: to force reload

◆ onLoadStatusChanged

- (void) onLoadStatusChanged

Never call this method directly. The framework calls this method on a background thread when AGSLoadable::loadStatus changes is called. Subclasses can optionally implement this to know when their loading status has changed.

Since: 100

Provided by category AGSLoadableBase(ForSubclassEyesOnly).

◆ resetFeaturesVisible

- (void) resetFeaturesVisible

Resets the visibility of the layer's features back to the original visibility when loaded from the data source.

Since: 100.12

◆ retryLoadWithCompletion:

- (void) retryLoadWithCompletion: (nullable void(^)(NSError *__nullable error)) completion

requiredinherited

Tries to reload when an object has failed to load. This method should be called judiciously. It should be called when:

you didn't have network connectivity earlier when it failed and you want to retry now that you have connectivity
the server was down earlier when it failed and you want to retry
the request is taking too long and you want to cancel it and retry, in which case you will first call cancelLoad and then this method

If the data hasn't started loading, it will start loading. If it is already loading, it will just continue to load. If it has already loaded successfully, calls back right away. If it has already failed to load, tries again. This method supports multiple callers and will call them all back on completion. However, each caller's completion block will be invoked once and only once.

Parameters

completion block that is invoked when object loads successfully or fails to load. An error is passed to the block if the object fails to load.

Note: The completion block is always invoked on the main thread.

Since: 100

◆ selectedFeaturesWithCompletion:

- (id<AGSCancelable>) selectedFeaturesWithCompletion: (void(^)(AGSFeatureQueryResult *__nullable result, NSError *__nullable error)) completion

Finds a list of the currently selected features.

Parameters

completion A block that is invoked when the operation finishes. The result parameter is populated if the operation completed successfully, otherwise the error parameter is populated.

Returns: An operation which can be canceled.

Since: 100.12

◆ selectFeature:

- (void) selectFeature: (AGSFeature *) feature

Selects the given feature and adds it to the current list of selected features.

Parameters

feature The feature.

Since: 100.12

◆ selectFeatures:

- (void) selectFeatures: (NSArray< AGSFeature * > *) features

Selects the features in the list and adds them to the current list of selected features.

Parameters

features An NSArray of type AGSFeature. Contents of the NSArray are copied.

Since: 100.12

◆ selectFeaturesWithParameters:mode:completion:

- (id<AGSCancelable>) selectFeaturesWithParameters:	(AGSQueryParameters *)	parameters
mode:	(AGSSelectionMode)	mode
completion:	(void(^)(AGSFeatureQueryResult __nullable result, NSError __nullable error))	completion

Selects the features that match the criteria in the AGSQueryParameters object and adds them to the current list of selected features.

Parameters

parameters	The definition of the query to submit to the feature table.
mode	The mode that defines how the list of currently selected features will be updated with the features returned from the query.
completion	A block that is invoked when the operation finishes. The `result` parameter is populated if the operation completed successfully, otherwise the `error` parameter is populated.

Returns: An operation which can be canceled.

Since: 100.12

◆ setFeature:visible:

- (void) setFeature:	(AGSFeature *)	feature
visible:	(BOOL)	visible

Sets the visibility of the given feature.

Parameters

feature	The feature.
visible	`YES` to show, `NO` to hide.

Since: 100.12

◆ setFeatures:visible:

- (void) setFeatures:	(NSArray< AGSFeature * > *)	features
visible:	(BOOL)	visible

Sets the visibility of the given features.

Parameters

features	An `NSArray` of type `AGSFeature`. Contents of the `NSArray` are copied.
visible	`YES` to show, `NO` to hide.

Since: 100.12

◆ unselectFeature:

- (void) unselectFeature: (AGSFeature *) feature

Unselects the given feature and removes it from the current list of selected features.

Parameters

feature The feature.

Since: 100.12

◆ unselectFeatures:

- (void) unselectFeatures: (NSArray< AGSFeature * > *) features

Unselects the features in the given list and removes them from the current list of selected features.

Parameters

features An NSArray of type AGSFeature. Contents of the NSArray are copied.

Since: 100.12

Property Documentation

◆ attribution

- (NSString*) attribution

readnonatomiccopyinherited

Attribution information of the layer.

Since: 100

◆ barrierWeight

- (AGSLabelBarrierWeight) barrierWeight

readwritenonatomicassign

The weight of annotation features when considered as barriers to labeling. The default is AGSLabelBarrierWeightHigh.

Since: 100.14

◆ canChangeVisibility

- (BOOL) canChangeVisibility

readrequirednonatomicassigninherited

Denotes whether the layer can change visibility or not.

Since: 100

◆ credential

- (AGSCredential*) credential

readwritenonatomicstronginherited

Security credentials to access the remote resource. Only applicable if the resource is secured.

Since: 100

◆ definitionExpression

- (NSString*) definitionExpression

readwritenonatomiccopy

An expression which is a SQL statement where clause to specify the subset of features to be displayed.

The definition expression string uses the SQL-92 where clause syntax (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SQL-92). The default value is an empty string, which will allow all annotation features in the data source to be used by the AGSAnnotationLayer.

Warning: : Be sure to escape special characters in the expression string as required for your platform. The DATE keyword expects the date format yyyy-mm-dd and the TIMESTAMP keyword expects the time stamp format yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm:ss. See the ArcGIS Blog article entitled "Querying Feature Services Date-Time Queries" (https://www.esri.com/arcgis-blog/products/api-rest/data-management/querying-feature-services-date-time-queries/) for more information.

Since: 100.12

◆ featureTable

- (AGSArcGISFeatureTable*) featureTable

readnonatomicstrong

The feature table associated with this layer.

Since: 100.6

◆ fullExtent

- (AGSEnvelope*) fullExtent

readnonatomicstronginherited

Full extent of the layer.

Since: 100

◆ identifyEnabled

- (BOOL) identifyEnabled

readnonatomicassigninherited

Specifies whether the layer supports identify.

Since: 100

◆ item

- (AGSItem*) item

readnonatomicstronginherited

The item the layer has been created from.

Since: 100

◆ layerDescription

- (NSString*) layerDescription

readwritenonatomiccopyinherited

The layer's description.

Since: 100

◆ layerID

- (NSString*) layerID

readwritenonatomiccopyinherited

The layer's ID specified in the web map item of ArcGIS Online or an on-premises portal.

Since: 100

◆ loadError

- (NSError*) loadError

readnonatomicstronginherited

The error that was encountered during the most recent load operation. Will be nil if the operation succeeded.

Since: 100

◆ loadStatus

- (AGSLoadStatus) loadStatus

readrequirednonatomicassigninherited

Status of the load operation.

Since: 100

◆ maxScale

- (double) maxScale

readwritenonatomicassigninherited

The maximum scale at which this layer is visible. If the map or scene is zoomed in beyond this scale, the layer will not be visible. A value of 0 means there is no maximum scale threshold and the layer will be visible at the smallest scale available for the map or scene.

Since: 100

◆ minScale

- (double) minScale

readwritenonatomicassigninherited

The minimum scale at which this layer is visible. If the map or scene is zoomed out. beyond this scale, the layer will not be visible. A value of 0 means there is no minimum scale threshold and the layer will be visible at the largest scale available for the map or scene.

Since: 100

◆ name

- (NSString*) name

readwritenonatomiccopyinherited

The name of the layer.

Since: 100

◆ opacity

- (float) opacity

readwritenonatomicassigninherited

The opacity of this layer as a value between 0 (fully transparent) and 1 (fully opaque). Default value is 1.

Since: 100

◆ referenceScale

- (double) referenceScale

readnonatomicassign

The reference scale for the layer. The reference scale of the layer is the scale at which a client should view the layer for the text to appear at its authored size.

If the client changes the viewing scale, then text will grow or shrink to keep a consistent size on the map (not the screen).

For a valid layer, the reference scale will always be a finite value, greater than zero. Until the layer is loaded, the reference scale will be zero.

Since: 100.5

◆ requestConfiguration

- (AGSRequestConfiguration*) requestConfiguration

readwritenonatomicstronginherited

The AGSRequestConfiguration object which defines the behavior and policies to use when accessing the remote resource. The default will be nil. If it is nil the [AGSRequestConfiguration globalConfiguration] will be used.

Since: 100

◆ serviceLayerID

- (NSInteger) serviceLayerID

readnonatomicassign

The layer ID that defines the layer within the feature service portal item.

See also: AGSLayer::item

Since: 100.5

◆ showInLegend

- (BOOL) showInLegend

readwritenonatomicassigninherited

Indicates whether to show legend information.

Since: 100

◆ spatialReference

- (AGSSpatialReference*) spatialReference

readnonatomicstronginherited

The spatial reference of the layer.

Since: 100

◆ subLayerContents

- (NSArray<id<AGSLayerContent> >*) subLayerContents

readnonatomiccopyinherited

This layer's sub-layers.

Since: 100

◆ subLayerContentsChangedHandler

- (void(^ subLayerContentsChangedHandler) (void))

readwritenonatomiccopyinherited

Block that is invoked when the sub layer contents changes.

Note: The block will be invoked on the same thread on which the event occurred, which could be any arbitrary thread. You need to dispatch any UI related work to the main thread.

Since: 100

◆ URL

- (NSURL*) URL

readrequirednonatomicstronginherited

The URL of the remote resource.

Since: 100

◆ visible

- (BOOL) visible

readwritenonatomicassigninherited

Denotes whether the layer is visible or not. The visibility changes can be monitored using Key-Value Observing (KVO).

Since: 100

Description

Instance Methods

Class Methods

Properties

Method Documentation

◆ annotationLayerWithFeatureTable:

◆ annotationLayerWithItem:serviceLayerID:

◆ annotationLayerWithURL:

◆ cancelLoad

◆ clearSelection

◆ doCancelLoading

◆ doStartLoading:

◆ fetchLegendInfosWithCompletion:

◆ initWithFeatureTable:

◆ initWithItem:serviceLayerID:

◆ initWithURL:

◆ isEqualToLayer:

◆ isVisibleAtScale:

◆ loadDidFinishWithError:

◆ loadWithCompletion:

◆ onLoadStatusChanged

◆ resetFeaturesVisible

◆ retryLoadWithCompletion:

◆ selectedFeaturesWithCompletion:

◆ selectFeature:

◆ selectFeatures:

◆ selectFeaturesWithParameters:mode:completion:

◆ setFeature:visible:

◆ setFeatures:visible:

◆ unselectFeature:

◆ unselectFeatures:

Property Documentation

◆ attribution

◆ barrierWeight

◆ canChangeVisibility

◆ credential

◆ definitionExpression

◆ featureTable

◆ fullExtent

◆ identifyEnabled

◆ item

◆ layerDescription

◆ layerID

◆ loadError

◆ loadStatus

◆ maxScale

◆ minScale

◆ name

◆ opacity

◆ referenceScale

◆ requestConfiguration

◆ serviceLayerID

◆ showInLegend

◆ spatialReference

◆ subLayerContents

◆ subLayerContentsChangedHandler

◆ URL

◆ visible