MG65Migration-BuidlingMaps
From MapGuide Best Practices Wiki
The next phase of the migration is to build layers that can be used in Autodesk MapGuide Enterprise maps. This process is slightly different from the original procedure used with Autodesk MapGuide and Autodesk MapGuide Author. With Autodesk MapGuide, if a user needs to add a layer to a map, the user would open Autodesk MapGuide Author and create the layer in the MWF file. If the application had multiple MWF files, the user would need to create or copy the layer into each MWF file. The user would have to format each layer individually within each MWF file. This process creates a situation where two different layers could be formatted differently even though they were intended to be the same. With Autodesk MapGuide Enterprise, users create layers and define the look of the layer, including themes, tooltips, and more, one time and then use the layer definition within various map definitions. This new functionality within Autodesk MapGuide Enterprise helps eliminate the redundant task of having to create a layer multiple times.
Of course, while migrating the existing application to Autodesk MapGuide Enterprise, users will want to duplicate the style of the layer that existed in the Autodesk MapGuide application. However, since Autodesk MapGuide Enterprise has much better rendering capabilities, users need to decide whether to retain the layer formatting of the previous application.
Once the map layers have been defined, a map can be created. With Studio, the map comprises the layers that are already formatted. Essentially, the map serves as a view of the data and layers that have been defined. The benefit of this approach is that if the format or display of the layers needs to be changed, they can be changed once and reflected wherever they are being used. With Autodesk MapGuide 6.5, in contrast, if the layer is shown on several MWF files, each layer must be changed in each MWF file individually.
