XTM Import / Export

Goozzee tries to comply to the ISO-13250 XTM-Topic Maps standard, which describes a syntax for the exchange of topic maps using using XTM files. These XTM files are simple XML text files containing the description of a whole topic map. Using these XTM files makes it very easy to share your topic maps with others via e-mail, or import topic maps that you may find on the web.

Three things to remember when importing/exporting :
  • Some Goozzee features are not strictly complying to the XTM standard – properties for example. If you define categories containing properties, these will be exported correctly to the XTM file, but if you import this file into another topic map engine, your properties won't show as you would expect them... they may even not be imported at all.
  • Exporting doesn't export everything ! Beware that all Goozzee's users and groups aren't exported to XTM files. These data are specific to Goozzee and aren't part of the XTM standard specification.
  • Goozzee's trying to stick to the XTM standard, but is still far from 100% compliant. So if you download XTM files from the web, some of them won't import correctly into Goozzee. During Goozzee's development, all import/export tests were done using Steve Pepper's 'Italian Opera Topic Map' XTM file. So this topic map will be perfectly imported.
The import/export functionality is available from the File menu.

Exporting

First of all, you must select the export file name, using the 'Choose file' button. When exporting data to a XTM file, you must also specify the subset of your topic map you want exported. This is done by either selecting a specific scope – and everything belonging to this scope will appear in the XTM file –, or by checking the 'Export whole database' box, if you really want to export everything.
XTM Export
But beware that, if you choose to export a specific scope, only the associations belonging to that scope will be exported. Which means that, if you have a topic in that scope, but that topic isn't a member of any of the associations of the chosen scope, this topic will not be exported.

Once you've chosen the name of the output file, click the 'Start export' button, and let it roll.. A report – well, only one line, in fact – will appear once the export is finished.

Importing

Using the XTM import dialog, you must first choose a XTM file to import, with the 'Choose file' button. Once chosen, the selected file name will be displayed beside the 'Choose file' button. Most of the time, the full path and name of the file you selected will be too long to be displayed entirely on the window. But leaving your mouse a few seconds over this name will popup a bubble help showing the full file name.
XTM Import
If you want to tag the data you're going to import, you can assign it one or more special scopes, with the 'Scopes to assign' button.

When ready, just click the 'Start Import' button. And wait ... ( On Mac OSX, don't worry if the Spinning Beach Ball of Death appears after a while.). At the end of the import, a report shows you the topics/associations and occurrences imported. If an error occurs during the import (usually due to some syntax error in the XTM file), it will appear at the end of this report. Once the topic map is imported, beware that you may not see any change in the currently opened topic. To see the imported data, the best way is to try a search using the scope you specified for the import...