INTRODUCTION > Projects and Views

Projects

The information and layers displayed in a waterRIDE™ project are not actually stored in the project file, but in the original source data files. The waterRIDE™ project file simply stores the name and path of all the files used in the project, so that these files can be accessed when the project is next opened. A waterRIDE™ project file is denoted with the file extension *.vmmap. Companion project files are stored along with the *.vmmap file. The first two letters of the extension of these files will be "vm" (eg *.vmmap, *.vmscr, *.vmsql, *.vmini, *.vmfpm, *.vmrep).

Files used by waterRIDE™ can be stored in any location. The paths to these locations are stored within the project file (either as relative paths or absolute paths). However, if these files are then moved, waterRIDE™ will not be able to find the specified file and hence, will not be able to display that file when the project is next opened. The best practice for arranging the files used by waterRIDE™ is to store them in folders underneath the project file. When this system is used, the folder containing the waterRIDE™ project can be moved to different locations without affecting the established links contained inside the project file.

Views

A waterRIDE project will be made of multiple, logically structured views. Within each view, a number of layers will be turned on with specific colouring and thematic ranges. One of these layers is usually made active. When you are interrogating a view, it is usally this active layer that is being interrogated.

Whilst a project provides access to any number of layers, waterRIDE uses Views to provide "ready to go" access to information without the user necessarily needing to understand where the layers "live" or what needs to be turned on to provide access to the information they are after.

A well structured project should be self-explanatory to an end-user, especially if that user is operating in Viewer mode.