About Saving or Exporting a Display Manager Layer

This allows you to package data that is ordinarily stored in a central data store, such as an Oracle database, into a geospatial data file. However, all connection to the original data store is lost and changes you make to the SDF or SQLite file will not update the central data store.

Saving vs. Exporting

If you use the export option, you can export a single layer to an Autodesk SDF (version 3) or a SQLite file. The resulting file contains geometry and attribute data, but no styling data.

If you have joined data to the layers you are exporting, the joined data is also exported. However, metadata is not exported with the layer.

If you use the save option, you can save one layer at a time. When you save a layer, you save its styling information and pointers to the data source that defines its geometry and attributes. You can drag and drop saved layers into any map to reuse them.

You cannot use a saved layer and an exported layer together because saved layers point to the current data for the layer while exported layers contain a “snapshot” of the data at the time they were exported, and these data definitions may differ.

Using Exported Layers

You can use exported layers for any of the following:

• As a map layer in Autodesk Infrastructure Map Server or MapGuide Open Source.
• To package the layer contents as a personal geospatial data store. The resulting SDF or SQLite file can be opened and edited in any application that supports the format. However, once you export the layers, they lose their connection to their original data store, and any changes you make will not be updated in that data store.