- Saving connection parameters to settings file

OpenCities Map provides two means to connect to a spatial database:

1. Through a named graphical source which is defined in the Geospatial Administrator.  A named connection typically defines all aspects of working with features including placing and editing.  It will also include placement rules, property-based annotation, property-based symbology definitions and more.
2. Through an ad hoc connection established via the New Connection tool in the Map Connections dialog. An ad hoc connection is a direct connection to the spatial database and does not include any customizations for feature placement and editing.  Ad hoc connections also do not include pre-defined symbology.

When defining an ad hoc connection to any of the supported spatial databases, it can take quite some time for the connection to be established.  This can be due to a number of factors including:

• Location of the server
• Network speed
• Number of spatial features needing to be discovered by the connection process

Let's take a brief look at how your productivity with ad hoc connections can be improved.

Create a new ad hoc connection and wait for the New Connection Parameters to be populated with features.  In some situations, you may be inclined to unselect all features (and there may be hundreds of them) and only leave one or two features ticked.  

Clicking Connect will add the selected features to the current session and load the features to the Map Connections dialog. 

At this point the selected features are ready to be queried, locked, modified and posted.  However, in the event that you need to access different features from the same connection, you'll need to:

- Remove the existing connection

- Establish a new ad hoc connection - and wait for the discovery of perhaps hundreds of features.

- Unselect those  features not needed.

- Connect.

- Query, lock, modify and post as needed.

To simplify this process, it's recommended to establish the connection with all features available.  Once the connection is made, simply choose Save Connection from the Connection Tools icon bar, set the Spatial Extent as needed, and enter a data point to accept the spatial area options.

The Save As dialog will open where you can enter a name of your choice.

The next time you need an ad hoc connection to that specific server and features, simply open the previously saved settings file.  Like the Save tool, the Open tool is found in the Connection Tools icon bar.  In this case there is no waiting for the features to be discovered and the connection is established almost immediately.  For those who are working with hundreds of features, this could certainly be a time saver. 

To query specific features, simply select Query from their right click menu.  Only those selected features will be queried.