Why XML data?
eminec MYmap 2000 and NG stored your maps in a proprietary format (EMM) only. This format can only be opened by eminec MYmap. Its advantages are the highly efficient compression method and the fact that it was designed just for eminec MYmap. As a result, you get very small files that can be opened and edited without any problems on every installation of eminec MYmap. The current, new version XG also saves XML files and allows for integration with other software packages.
Export as TXT, HTML or JPEG
You can export your maps from eminec MYmap as a traditional outline (TXT or HTML) or as a picture (JPEG) in order to reuse your information on a web page or in presentation software. When you open the exported data, the target program only uses part of the information that had originally been available, and there is no information about semantics. Processing this kind of data is a complex task. If you enter project planning data into eminec MYmap, the software you want to transfer the data to does not know about the meaning of the given pieces of information. The field »Responsible person« (in this example) can be stored as a user-defined property in eminec MYmap and can be output during outline export, but the target program cannot use this piece of information, as there is no information about semantics (as described above).
Export as XML
The XML export interface of eminec MYmap allows you to save your data as XML (Extensible Markup Language) files. This format, standardized by the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium), can contain almost any type of information. A corresponding XSD (XML Schema Definition) file documents the meaning of the data contained in the XML file; it describes not only semantics, but also the structure of the XML file.
Therefore, XML files allow for an easier connection between different software programs, and no part of the original information will be lost. (XML files are often human-readable without any specialized software program and can be displayed in their most basic form as a tree structure.)
XML becomes the standard format of eminec MYmap
As described above, eminec MYmap stores your maps as EMM files and offers the additional possibility to export XML. Currently, this is a one-way solution: once saved as XML, the files cannot be opened back in eminec MYmap.
One of the next upgrades will enable eminec MYmap to open XML files complying to the eminec XSD for eminec MYmap documents. Then, eminec MYmap will transition from EMM to XML as its standard file format. You maps will then always be stored as XML and need not be exported in an additional step.
How to start
Select the command »File« > »Export«, oder press the keys Ctrl+E. The window »Export« appears. Select »XML« from the list on the left, and click »OK«. The program asks you to select a storage location. You can also choose between the file extensions ».mmxml« (for »eminec MYmap XML«) and ».xml«. Format and file content are identical in both cases, but the extension specific to eminec MYmap allows you to recognize eminec MYmap documents at a glance, e. g. in Windows Explorer.