MetaLocator Categories are the primary way you can separate, filter and organize your data in MetaLocator. You can place a single record in multiple categories. To view the existing Categories in the MetaLocator Control Panel, click Data, then Categories.
Categories can be used to:
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Present a list of checkboxes on your search that filter by category
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Display a drop-down list of categories
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Display groups of drop-down lists or checkboxes
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Filter the data in your Interface to a certain category or categories
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Prioritize one group of records over another
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Control the map marker icon of certain records
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Display a legend of map marker icons above or below the map
To create a Category, click New in the toolbar in the upper right. To edit a Category, click it’s name.
Either operation will open the Category Editor. Similar to other editors, the Category information is organized into a tabbed layout. Here we see it opened to the Basic Information tab.
Basic Information:
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Name: The Name of the Category. Your users will see this label. If you have multiple languages to manage, see this article.
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Color: The color class to use for the category. This corresponds to the color selected in the Interface Builder under Style & Color settings.
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Icon: The icon used to represent the category.
Category Options:
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Ordering: The numerical ordering of the category. This is also used when choosing the icon to display when a Record is in multiple Categories.
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Group Name: Categories can be assigned to groups by providing the same Category Group for multiple Categories. This is used on the search form to group multiple Categories into collections of options.
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Marker URL: The image file used to display the map marker.
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Prioritize In Search Results: If set to Yes, this will promote Records in this category *above* others within the same set of search results. This is useful for promoting special, or preferred Records in your database.
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Show in Legend: This option allows you to prevent the display of certain Categories within the Legend if it is displayed.
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Show in Front-end Location Form. This option allows you to hide certain Categories from the public data entry form displayed in the Record Form Layout.