This page is most important when migrating from versions prior to 7.0. If you have already used version 7.0 then the only major interface change you will note with 8.0 is the inclusion of all data objects in the Project Explorer regardless of the current module. In version 7.0 you could only see the terrain data objects like TINs and DEMs when in the terrain data or delineation modules, or coverages when in the map module. In version 8.0 you can now see all data objects in the Project Explorer at all times. The remainder of this page is applicable only if you are migrating from versions prior to 7.0.
Recent technological advances in software development tools, migration away from Unix/X-Windows compatibility, and the inclusion of improved terrain editing tools have allowed/forced us to make some important changes in the interface. While we believe that overall these changes improve WMS, it is nevertheless different. This page highlights some of the important changes that users of versions of WMS prior to 7.0 will want to review so that they are not confused or lost.
There is no longer a distinction between files that are opened (WMS Native files) and files that are imported (Non-native WMS files) or files that are saved and exported as there was in previous versions. The file type specified in the Open/Save dialogs allows WMS to distinguish from among the many file types.
Because we have added hydraulic modeling capabilities and enhanced the floodplain delineation tools there was a need to be able to edit/create/merge digital terrain models for both basin delineation and hydraulic model development. It makes more sense now to have the basic TIN/DEM editing tools in one module and then have the tools for watershed delineation (from TINs or DEMS) combined in a separate module. So whereas in previous versions you had a TIN and DEM module that had tools for editing and basin delineation, in version 7.0 you will find editing of TIN and DEM data together in the Terrain Data Module, and basin delineation using TIN and DEM together in the Drainage Module.
Coverage management including creating, visibility, display order, and specifying the active coverage are all handled from a new Project Explorer on the left side of the WMS interface. Check boxes appear by each group of data (TINs, Coverages, Scattered Data Sets, etc.) that can be toggled on/off to control the display. Right-clicking on a data object in the Project Explorer will bring up a menu that allows you to rename, delete, view properties, transform coordinates, etc. We envision that the Project Explorer will become more and more integrated with WMS functionality in future versions.
The separate windows (tools, macros, edit, Project Explorer) of the WMS interface can now be separated from the WMS interface as floating windows, resized, and docked at new positions.
Previous versions of WMS had a separate window for displaying hydrographs that initially was not mapped. When viewing hydrographs you had to "Open" the hydrograph window which placed a window to the right of the main graphics window. When hydrographs were selected they were displayed in this window. In version 7.0 a separate plotting utility is used for all 2D plots. This means that each display is brought up in its own floating window. You can double-click on a hydrograph to create a new window with the hydrograph plot, or you can select the hydrograph and choose the Open Hydrograph Plot from the Display menu.
The new GIS Data module allows for much better management of shapefile and other GIS data types. In previous versions when you wanted to import a shapefile, all of the data had to be converted to a coverage. You can still do it this way in version 8.0, but you can also use the tools in the GIS data module to open a shapefile, view it's table attributes, join a separate database file, and then select only the features (points/lines/polygons) that you need to convert.
Related Topics:
What's new in WMS 8.0
Getting Started