IHMC CmapTools & CmapServer Support Forum

Cmap v6.02 & OS-X v10.12.6

I'm using Cmap stand alone. Not as the end, but as the means to an end. The Views tool is all well and good, but that's extremely inconvenient for me as I'm using another app to gather and organize all my project files. When I do manage to crawl through the maze of unhelpfully named folders and renamed files using Cmap's Views, I can open a .cmap file just fine (but with files renamed, I have to open them all to find the one I want).

This other app gives me a link from its equivalent of "views" to the .cmap file. But I cannot get Cmap to open its document by double-clicking on that link. Cmap starts up with its Views, but the document file doesn't open. The last time I used Cmap was an older Cmap, an older OS-X and an older controlling app. And it worked perfectly.

I tried opening a .cmap file directly from the Finder. Cmap's Views opens just fine, but the .cmap file does not. I poked around a bit in the Applications folder and figured out what some of the files associated with Cmap do, but so far I have not been able to open a .cmap file by double-clicking on it.

If I could get a .cmap file to open from the Finder, I'm sure it would open from my other app. How do I accomplish this? Thanks a million.

We don't support opening a Cmap outside of the Views. The reason is that within CmapTools every resource (Cmap, image, movie, etc.) has an object ID and links are handled through these object IDs, not through the file system path to where they are located. That is why you can move resources around in the View and thee links are not broken. If the Cmap is opened from outside the Views, then the program would not have its resource information, etc., and would not be able to save any changes. Opening Cmaps from outside the Views leads to moving the files outside from under Cmap file-hierarchy, where the project.idx files keep track of resource-ids. This leads to links to resources not working.

So we don't support opening Cmaps outside of CmapTools.

Having stated that, depending on the operating system you can (sometimes) open Cmaps by double-clicking on the .cmap file and get away with it, but we have found that it doesn't work consistently, and often breaks as new versions of the OS are released.

Thanks.

The issue seems to be that some apps want to be the ultimate at organization, planning, and creating whatever document type they eventually output. They want to be the center of the universe for their kind of project. Cmap uses the native file system for organization, the other "ultimate" app I'm using is Scrivener, which uses a moby XML file for organization, then renames and hides everything you put into it. So dropping a .cmap file into Scrivener means it just sort of vanishes into a deep dark hole. But hey, when Scrivener "displays" a Cmap document you see a giant icon and a link to click on. Bummer it doesn't work.

If a Cmap document (with the full complexity, beauty, and utility possible) was the end goal of my efforts, then The Cmap Way would be brilliant. I'm just using it for a bit of brain storming. As much as I love Cmap's paradigm of organizing my thoughts, I may have to find something else to use with Scrivener.

Bummer.

Of course I'll keep Cmap for when a beautiful mind map is the object of my efforts.

Yes, I see your point. You could "drop" a link to the Cmap stored in the Cmap Cloud, in which case it would open in a web browser but would not be able to edit it.

I too would like to have a way of launching directly to a Cmap from a notetaking/todo list/resource collecting type tool. I am currently working with OmniFocus.

It seems to me like this could be solved with some programming wizardry.

OmniFocus is based on the 'Getting Things Done' methodology created by David Allen. He advocates 'mind mapping' in his books. I find mind mapping to be too simple and two-dimensional. I love the greater complexity and multi-dimensional thinking that concept mapping allows. Some may feel this is a small distinction, but I think it is very important.

OmniFocus allows you to copy a url link to any item in its database. This can then be pasted into another program (or somewhere else within OmniFocus). When it is double clicked, OmniFocus launches if it is not already launched, and the linked item appears in the window. This is very convenient for organizing and viewing resources efficiently.

I imagine that there could be some file format that creates a launch icon for a Cmap that accesses its object ID, then CmapTools could extrapolate the Cmap's current position within the file hierarchy.

Linking to an Omnifocus item from a Cmap works flawlessly. I would very much like to efficiently hyper-link/launch in the other direction, from OmniFocus to a Cmap.

Please, consider adding this important (to me, at least) functionality in CmapTools.

One of the issues we have is that this feature is very OS-specific. That is, it means that we have to figure out how to do it for Linux (and all its variants), Windows, OS X, etc, and we try to have as little OS-specific code in the software as possible. The fact that CmapTools is written in Java doesn't help either in this case, but it gives us one single bode base for all platforms. Having specific code for each platform complicates the builds (some pieces go to each build), the installer, etc. You mention 'some programming wizardry', and yes, it will require some wizardry for each OS. Our efforts are very much determined by the funding we receive, mainly research grants, and this has never been a priority. But, we'll add it to our list of features to implement/complete. If anybody has this need a s 'fundable' piece of a research effort, that would be great, we could collaborate.