Saving maps

To preserve the map definition for use at a later time, you must save the map. Before Map Designer Express saves a map, it first validates the map. For more information, see "Validating a map".

Map Designer Express provides two ways to save the current map:

Important:
For Map Designer Express to be able to save a map, a map must currently be open.

Saving a map to a project

A map definition stores map information in a project in System Manager. This map definition contains the following information for a map:

To save a map to a project in System Manager, you can perform any of the actions shown in Table 13..

Table 13. Saving a map to the project

If you want to . . . Then . . .
Save the map definition to the name of the currently open map.

Use any of the following:

  • Select To Project from the File --> Save submenu.
  • Use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+S.
  • In the Standard toolbar, click the Save Map to Project button).

Save the map definition to a name different from the currently open map.

Use any of the following:

  • Select To Project from the File--> Save As submenu.
  • Use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Alt+S.

Result: Map Designer Express displays the Save Map As dialog in which you can specify the map name.


Figure 23. Save As dialog

When you save the map, Map Designer Express saves the map definition and map content to the project in System Manager. It saves the map content as XML data.

Note:
You can specify whether Map Designer Express automatically saves a map to the project in System Manager before compiling the map with the option Compile Map: save map before compile. By default, this option is enabled. You can change the setting of this option on the General tab of the Preferences dialog. For more information, see "Specifying General Preferences".
Tip:
To rename an existing map, select To Project from the File--> Save As submenu.

Saving a map to a file

A map definition can be stored as text in an operating-system file, called a map definition file. A map definition file contains the complete map definition; that is, this file uses Extended Markup Language ( XML) format to represent the following parts of a map definition:

Recommendation: Map Designer Express creates a map definition file with a .cwm extension. You should follow a naming convention for your map definition files, such as. using the file extension (.cwm) to distinguish them.

You import a map definition into Map Designer Express by opening an existing map definition file. For more information, see "Opening a map from a file"..

You can save the currently open map to a map definition file in any of the ways shown in Table 14..

Table 14. Saving a map to a map definition File

If you want to . . . Then . . .

Save the map to the name of the currently open map in the format:

MapName.cwm
 

(where MapName is the name of the currently open map)

Note:
Map Designer Express will always open the File Save dialog if you do not open the currently opened map from file.

Use any of the following:

  • Select To File from the File--> Save submenu.
  • Use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+E.
  • In the Standard toolbar, click the Save Map to File button (see Figure 23).

Save the map to a specified map definition file. Map Designer Express displays a dialog box to allow you to select the file name.

Use either of the following:

  • Select To File from the File--> Save As submenu.
  • Use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Alt+F.

Note:
When you select the To File option from the File-->Save or File-->Save As menus, Map Designer Express displays a dialog box to allow you to select the file name. This file name identifies the file. It is not necessarily the name of the map.

Example: You can save MapA in a file named fileA.cwm. This fileA file contains the map definition for MapA. When Map Designer Express opens the fileA map definition file, it displays the MapA map definition.

Tip: Exporting a map copies only the map.

Copyright IBM Corp. 2003