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Creating and managing products

The sample interface that comes with Products on Demand (PoD) highlights the capabilities of the technology through a few tools that allow you to define, create, and export information products on demand.

There are two methods for product creation, Custom Product and Fixed Product.

Note:

Custom Product is the default web application configuration. Fixed Product must be set in the PoD configuration file when deploying the application.

Changing display settings

You can change all supported Maritime Chart Service display settings before exporting your product.

Note:

From 10.8.1, the Display Settings pane is not available for the Fixed Product type and can be disabled by the web administrator.

  1. Click the Change display properties button Display Properties to open the Display Settings window.
  2. Change either your Depth Contour (Meters) or Miscellaneous properties and see your display change based on the new values.

All display property changes are reflected on your exported product.

Adding layers

You can add layers to a map in any of the following ways:

  • Search ArcGIS Online or ArcGIS Enterprise.
  • Enter a URL.
  • Load local files.
Note:

The added layers are exported in a PDF file. You need to sign in to your ArcGIS Enterprise account to add content from your organization.

This is only available for Custom Product configuration.

  1. Click the Add Data button Add Data.

    The data pane appears.

  2. Choose one of the following methods to begin adding data:
    • Click the Search tab, and enter the data in the Search text box. You can further refine your search by clicking the Type drop-down arrow and the Relevance drop-down arrow.
      Note:

      Click the Within map toggle button Within map toggle green to choose layers from within the map. For layers outside the scope of the map area, click the Within map toggle button Within map toggle red once to turn it red.

    • Click the URL tab, and type the information in the URL text box. You can further refine your search by clicking the An ArcGIS Server Web Service drop-down arrow. Click Add.
    • Click the File tab and browse through files you want to add locally.
      Note:

      Shapefiles in ZIP, CSV, GPX, GeoJSON, and KML format are supported in ArcGIS Online.

  3. Click the Layer list button Layer list.

    The layer you added is visible in the Layers pane.

  4. Optionally, click the Layers button Layers at the bottom of the Add Data pane, and click the Remove Layer button Remove Layer next to a chosen layer to remove it from the list.
  5. Click Back to return to the main pane.

Turning layers on and off

The Layer List pane provides a list of operational layers and their symbols and allows you to turn individual layers on and off. Each layer in the list has a check box that allows you to control its visibility. You can also set the transparency of each layer.

The order in which layers appear in the Layer List pane corresponds to the layer order in the map. This pane provides functionality allowing you to change the order of layers in the map.

The visibility, transparency, and order of the layers set in the Layer List pane is reflected on your exported product.

Note:

Only the layers that are turned on are exported in the PDF file.

This is only available for the Custom Product configuration.

  1. Click the Layer list button Layer list.

    The Layers pane appears.

  2. Click the options button next to the chosen layer, and choose from one from the following options:
    • Zoom to—Sets the map extent to the extent of the layer.
    • Transparency—Sets the transparency for the layer.
    • Enable pop-up and Disable pop-up—Enables or disables the pop-up for the feature layer. If a feature layer does not have a pop-up configured in the map, clicking Enable pop-up shows all field values for the feature layer.
    • Hide labels and Show labels—For hiding or showing labels for feature layers.
    • Move up—Moves the layer one level up.
    • Move down—Moves the layer one level down.
    • Description—Opens the service description or the item details page for the service or the item associated with the layer if available.
  3. Click the Control All Layers button Control All Layers.

    You can turn the layers on or off or expand and collapse them.

  4. Optionally, press Ctrl and click the check box next to any of the layers simultaneously to turn the layers on or off in the same level.
  5. Optionally, press Ctrl and click the drop-down arrow next to any of the layers simultaneously.

    This expands or collapses layers in the same level.

  6. Click the Search button Search to find a specific layer from the layers list.
Caution:

Layers in the list are unavailable if you zoom out of their visible range.

Defining and creating a custom product

The following steps guide you through defining and creating custom products with PoD.

  1. Pan and Zoom to the area where you want to create a product.
  2. Click the Define a Product button Define a Product.
  3. Define the Scale of the product with a numeric value.
  4. Click the Page Size drop-down arrow and choose a size.
  5. Click the Orientation drop-down arrow and choose Portrait or Landscape.
  6. You are now ready to insert the product extent.
  7. Click the Create a new extent button Create a new extent.
  8. Move the pointer so that it is centered over the location where you want to create the product.
  9. Click the map to create a product extent.

    A new extent is inserted into the map and is added to the Export Queue.

Moving a Custom Product

After inserting a new extent, you may want to adjust its location. To adjust the position of your product extent, you can use the Move custom extent tool.

  1. Click the Move custom extent button Move a custom extent.
    Note:

    Fixed product areas of interests can't be moved.

  2. Move the pointer over the area of interest (AOI) on the map.
  3. Click and drag to move the AOI.
    Note:

    If you have two or more overlapping custom AOIs, choose the product in the Export Queue first. If necessary, click Move custom extent to move the AOI.

Creating a Fixed Product

Areas of interest (AOIs) for fixed products have predefined paper size for a specific location and scale. Locations of available fixed products appear on the map when a scale is chosen from the drop-down menu.

The following steps guide you through creating a Fixed Product with PoD.

  1. Pan and Zoom to the area where you want to select a new product.
  2. Click the Define a Product button Define a Product.
  3. Select the scale of the product you want from the Scale drop-down menu.

    Areas of interest appear on the map.

    Tip:

    If you can't see the grid because of other map symbols, click the Change display properties button Display Properties to open the Display Settings pane and turn off Data extents. This option may be disabled by the web administrator.

  4. Click the Select an extent button Select an extent.
  5. Move the pointer over the grid and click Select an extent.

    An extent is selected in the map and is added to the Export Queue.

Exporting a product

You can export one or multiple products created from the Export Queue list using the following steps.

  1. Click the Export products button Export .

    The Export Queue window appears.

  2. If necessary, type a chart name in the text box.
  3. If there is more than one product in the export queue, choose the one you want to export.
    Tip:

    To choose multiple products, press the Ctrl key while you click the products you want to export from the Export Queue list.

    Note:

    If nothing in the Export Queue is chosen, all the products in the queue are exported.

  4. Click the Export Products button Export Products.

    The export process begins.

  5. Click Open to view your exported product in a new tab.
  6. Note:

    If you want to download your exported product, you must do so before exiting or refreshing the PoD website. The download link is not accessible once the website is refreshed.

Deleting a product

You can delete one or multiple products by choosing them in the Export Queue window.

  1. Click the Export products button Export .

    The Export Queue window appears.

  2. If there is more than one product in the Export Queue, choose the one you want to delete.
    Tip:

    To choose multiple products, press Ctrl while you click the products you want to delete from the Export Queue.

  3. Click the Delete button Delete.
    Tip:

    You can also press Delete on your keyboard to remove a chosen product.

  4. Click OK.

The product is deleted.