QGIS » QGIS Application

I guess it would also be good if they could wrap to avoid collisions with features or other labels, instead of wrapping at a specified length :)

There is already a wrapping option.
But I have never figured out how to actually get layers to wrap. How is it supposed to work?

There is already a wrapping option. But I have never figured out how to actually get layers to wrap. How is it supposed to work?

Oh, I remember now. The User Guide says multiline labels work with a true line return. I'm not sure how you're supposed to enter a true line return though (on windows).

Aha, here's the answer from the mailing list:

You have to enter a "real" newline. If you want to enter multiline labels in
QGIS you need to assign a TextEdit instead of LineEdit as edit widget in the
vector layer properties' attributes tab.

Of course this feature request is still valid, as it is about automatic wrapping, not wrapping with a manual line break.

I think this request if no longer needed since the implementation of expression based labelling : http://woostuff.wordpress.com/2011/10/27/expression-based-labeling/

Nathan Woodrow wrote:

I have added the ability to wrap labels based on a character, check on the advanced tab on the label dialog. Max length isn't done yet but it shouldn't be too hard to add.

Thanks !

How would you like max length handled. I was just thinking of copying how MapServer does it http://mapserver.org/mapfile/label.html#maxlength

I think it makes sense. This way users won't have problem to use it if they come from mapserver.
Plus I think this is the easiest yet effective way to handle this issue

Nathan Woodrow wrote:

How would you like max length handled. I was just thinking of copying how MapServer does it http://mapserver.org/mapfile/label.html#maxlength

Just to clarify: are you proposing actually doing it in the expression builder?

While I can see the benefits of doing it the same way as other software, the mapserver way isn't particularly intuitive. Especially things like this:

If maxlength > 0 and wrap = ‘char’, insert a newline at the FIRST wrap character AFTER maxlength characters

I would think that users would expect it to wrap at the LAST wrap character BEFORE maxlength characters (assuming there is one).

And I don't see why they have two ways of achieving "hard wrap (always break at exactly MAXLENGTH characters)". Perhaps when there is "no wrap", they mean to truncate at MAXLENGTH characters, not to "hard wrap".

Alister Hood wrote:

Just to clarify: are you proposing actually doing it in the expression builder?

No. The plan is to add another control to the label dialog for wrapping properties e.g. max length, wrap character etc

This is a general labeling thing not really just for expressions.