Syntax

   FACTORY_DEF <ReaderKeyword> ChoppingFactory
   [FACTORY_NAME <factory name>] 
   [INPUT FEATURE_TYPE <feature type>
      [<attribute name> <attribute value>]*
      [<feature function>]*]*
   [MODE (VERTEX|LENGTH)]
   [DEAGGREGATE_INPUT (Deaggregate|Reject)]
   [MAX_VERTICES <maximum vertices>]
   [APPROX_LENGTH <LENGTH_IN_XY>]
   [CHOP_POLYGONS] [(YES|NO)]]
   [GRID_POLYGONS] [(YES|NO)]
   [REJECT_INVALID_GEOM (Yes|No)]
   [OUTPUT (UNTOUCHED|CHOPPED)
      FEATURE_TYPE <feature type>
      [<attribute name> <attribute value>]*
      [<feature function>]*]*

Overview

   This factory ensures that all features it outputs have less than or equal to 
   <maximum vertices> vertices.

   If an input feature has more than this number of vertices, it will be chopped 
   into several smaller features. Each new feature will have <maximum vertices> 
   vertices, except for the last one which may have fewer than <maximum 
   vertices> vertices. All new features will have the same attributes as the 
   original feature had and will be output using the CHOPPED clause.

   If the feature had <maximum vertices> or fewer vertices, then it is output by 
   the UNTOUCHED clause.

   If the CHOP_POLYGONS directive is specified, any polygonal features (possibly 
   with holes), that enter the factory and have more than <maximum vertices> 
   vertices, will be sliced into smaller polygons. The original polygon will be 
   cut by horizontal and vertical lines until each resulting polygon has less 
   than the maximum allowed number of vertices. All polygons produced with this 
   method will have the same attributes as the original polygon before the 
   chopping. If the resulting polygons were dissolved back together, the 
   original polygon would be the result. The CHOP_POLYGONS directive in 
   APPROX_LENGTH mode will chop without introducing new vertices, creating 
   pieces with APPROX_LENGTH width and height. The directive GRID_POLYGONS
   will only have an effect under the area chopping mode. This controls whether
   interior points are introduced into the area while it is triangulated.

      Tip: If <maximum vertices> is less than four, the CHOP_POLYGONS directive 
      is ignored.

   This factory is used to reduce the number of coordinates in a single feature 
   so that it may later be stored in a system that limits feature sizes.

   When REJECT_INVALID_GEOM is Yes, the factory will output invalid features to
   Rejected port.

Output Tags

   The ChoppingFactory supports the following output tags.

   UNTOUCHED
      
      All input features with <= MAX_VERTICES vertices are output untouched 
      here.
   
   CHOPPED
      
      Features created by chopping the original feature into smaller pieces are 
      output here. Each feature contains <= MAX_VERTICES vertices, but has all 
      of the original feature's attributes.

TO BE RESOLVED

   MODE clause added to Syntax section above, but not documented.