Products in a series (Maritime Charting)

Part of building the product library is adding products or map sheets. The number of map sheets you include in the series can vary based on the purpose of the series and the number of areas of interest. For example, if you are creating topographic maps for a particular region, you could have several map sheets, whereas series for aeronautical charts could only have one to two map sheets.

Product properties

There are two sections of properties associated with a product: General and Product. The General section contains properties such as the name, alias, description, and current status of the product. The Product section contains properties such as the bar code number, the name of the parent series, the product code, the product type, the reference code, and the name and location of the file itself.

When you are creating a product, the properties in the General section and the map document are required. By default, the document file name matches the name of your product. You can optionally indicate the bar code, reference code, and other product-specific information.

General properties

The properties in the General section define basic information about the product and its state. They include the following:

Property name	Description
Name	The name of the product (limited to 230 characters)
Alias	The name displayed for the product in the Product Library tree view
Description	A description of the product
Visible	Indicates whether the product is visible to other users when a Spatial Database Engine (SDE) database is used as the product library (By default, the value is False. When it is set to True, other product library users can see the product in the Product Library tree view.)

General product properties

Product properties

The properties in the Product section allow you to define information such as the map document's bar code number and the product type.

Properties in the Product section include the following:

Property name	Description
Bar Code	The bar code number associated with the product
Parent Series	The names of the solution, product class, and series associated with the product
Product Code	The code name or number associated with the product
Product Type	The name of the product type (For aeronautical charts, examples include High or Medium, and for nautical charts, examples include Safety Of Life at Sea [SOLAS] and Leisure.)
Reference Code	The code that is used as a reference for the map document

Product properties

Properties related to the map document include the following:

Property name	Description
MxD	The name and current status of the product
File	The file name of the product
Name	The name of the product
Description	A description of the product
File Type	The file type of the product, which is .mxd
Status	The current status of the product
Author	The user name of the person who has associated the map document with the product
Check Out Location	The path to the directory to which the product is copied when it is checked out
Last Modified	Date and time the product was last modified
Username	The user name of the person who last modified the product

MxD properties

Properties related to the map document's metadata XML file (item description) include the following:

Property name	Description
MxD Metadata	The name and current status of the XML file
File	The file name of the XML
Name	The name of the XML
Description	A description of the XML file
File Type	The file type of the file, which is .xml
Status	The current status of the XML file
Author	The user name of the person who has associated the XML file with the product
Check Out Location	The path to the directory to which the XML file is copied when it is checked out
Last Modified	Date and time the XML file was last modified
Username	The user name of the person who last modified the XML file

MxD Metadata properties

Template instructions

Template instructions allow products to be more dynamic, allowing them to perform actions during key events like a checkout. There are three types of template instructions controlled by file types: data frame rules, layout rules, and python scripts.

The Map Document (MxD) properties are populated from the Template .mxd properties on the General pane.

Property name	Description
Map Document (MxD)	The name and current status of the template MXD file
Name	The name of the template MXD file
Description	A description of the template MXD file
File Type	The file type associated with the template MXD in the product library
Status	The current status of the template MXD file
Author	The user name of the person who has associated the product class with the file
Check Out Location	The path to the directory to which the template MXD file is going to be copied when it is checked out
Last Modified	The date and time the template MXD file was last modified
Username	The user name of the person who has modified the template MXD file

Map Document MxD properties

The Data Frame Rules properties allow products to have their data frame settings, such as scale, extent, coordinate system, and rotation, updated based on a product's associated instance AOI(s).

Property name	Description
Data Frame Rules	Data frame settings based on a product's associated instances AOI(s)
File	The name of the data frame rules file
Description	A description of the data frame rules file
File Type	The file type
Status	The current status of the file
Author	The user name of the person who has associated the data frame rules with the file
Check Out Location	The path to the directory to which the file is going to be copied when it is checked out
Last Modified	The date and time the file was last modified
Username	The user name of the person who has modified the file
Data Frame Type	The data frame(s) to which rules are applied
Data Frame Name	The specific data frame the data frame rules are applied to when using the custom option under the Data Frame Type property

Data Frame Rules properties

The Layout Rules properties enable a product map document's layout size and orientation and the relative placement of elements on that layout to react to changes that happen on dynamic cartographic products.

Property name	Description
Layout Rules	The name and current status of the file containing the layout rules
File	The name of the layout rules file
Name	The name of the layout rules file
Description	A description of the file
File Type	The file type
Status	The current status of the file
Author	The user name of the person who has associated the layout rules with the file
Check Out Location	The path to the directory to which the file is going to be copied when it is checked out
Last Modified	The date and time the file was last modified
Username	The user name of the person who has modified the file

Layout Rules properties

The Python Scripts properties allow custom business logic to be executed on a product. A single python file can be saved as part of template instructions.

Property name	Description
Python Scripts	The name and current status of the python script
File	The name of the python script
Name	The name of the python script
Description	A description of the python script
File Type	The file type
Status	The current status of the file
Author	The user name of the person who has associated the script with the file
Check Out Location	The path to the directory to which the python script is going to be copied when it is checked out
Last Modified	The date and time the script was last modified
Username	The user name of the person who has modified the script

Python Scripts properties

Product creation based on existing features

Another way to add products to a series, besides using the New Product dialog box, is to base the individual products on existing features from a feature class you have loaded into your table of contents. This process automates the creation of individual products, including instances, and areas of interest.

Learn how to import selected features as products.

Product instances

Product instances, and their data frames, are generated based on the way you want to use repeating values for the product name. Instances can be generated for the products in one of two ways:

• Combine to create one instance per product—Features that have the same value for the product name are combined. This is the default method used to create instances for each product or map document.
• Allow multiple instances per product—One instance is created on the map document for each area of interest that has a unique instance value.

  If you use this method, you must choose the field that is going to be used as the name of the instance. Any areas of interest that have the same product name are included in the same instance and appended with a number.