Custom label callout colors using attribute values

Question

How can I make the callout background color change with an attribute value, like the screenshot below? The marker icons use a unique values renderer and I want the callout background color to match the icon color. I created this screenshot with SQL-based label classes for each value, but I don't like this solution. I will have 16 unique values, so any small tweak to the label appearance would have to be done 16 times! Is there a way to make the callout background color change based on an attribute? I am comfortable with ArcPy and Arcade if scripting is needed.

I tried Composite Labels, but gave up. It just seemed too complicated, but maybe this is the way to go.

Another idea was to use ArcPy to create label classes. I said above that I don't want SQL-based label classes, but if I can automate it, that takes the pain out of maintaining them. Something like this:

* Set up one class of labels the way I want it. Save to .stylx files for the text symbol and label placement. [manual - I may update these over time]
* Create 16 label classes, each with a SQL clause matching a marker icon. [manual or ArcPy - only need to do this once]
* Apply the .stylx files (text symbol and label placement) to every class [ArcPy]
* Set the callout background color specific to each class. [ArcPy]

This doesn't seem super hard, but I have no experience using ArcPy to modify label classes, so any tips there would be great. Thanks!

davedoesgis · Accepted Answer

I figured it out and it was really simple. The composite callouts that I mentioned are cool, but also unnecessary. It turns out you can use those formatting tags in all kinds of callouts, not just composite style. Here is a better sample that shows how to use them for "Background" style callouts. That sample starts with a very simple static formatting sample. After that, it goes through some code to modify the various elements based on the field value. For a demo, it seems overly complicated, but you'll get the idea if you know Arcade and look at it long enough. The basic idea is you're using code to produce the HTML-like formatting tags for labels. Here is a sample I created. I just set up the labels the way I wanted them and then put the formatting tags in the expression. I create 5 color variables and wrote a function to return an opening BGD tag (background) with the color corresponding to a field value. Lastly, I append my opening BGD tag, a name field, and a closing BGD tag. Here is the documentation on the text formatting tags. If you've ever done any HTML or XML, it's pretty similar. Here is the code sample from my expression (from the screenshot above): var red = [255, 24, 30, 100] var orange = [255,137, 24, 100] var yellow = [255, 215, 24, 100] var green = [0, 172, 58, 100] var other = [156, 156, 156, 100] function SetBackgroundColor(sector) { var color = other; if (sector == 'Destroyed') {color = red} if (sector == 'Failed') {color = orange} if (sector == 'Damaged') {color = yellow} if (sector == 'No Damage') {color = green} return `` } SetBackgroundColor($feature.type) + $feature.name + "" One last note: On the Composite style callouts, the background was just applied to the text, but not the margin/padding area. It was more like the highlighter tool in Word than cell shading of the 3x3 grid. The Composite style callout is cool functionality and I hope to actually use it someday, but the background color didn't feel like it was fully working. If anyone knows more getting this to work, please reply.

davedoesgis · Accepted Answer

I created a word doc walking through this. I posted a solution in Arcade below, but switched over to using Python, which I'm more comfortable with. Hope this helps.