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Creating Network Maps
6-48 Customizing Your Map
(termed a “compound” document) — in this case, your network maps. You can use OLE
to link or embed documents created via word processors, spreadsheets, databases, an
audio application — or any other OLE server application — into your maps.
A linked or embedded data structure is generically termed an Object, since the data can be
created by any OLE supporting application. From the NetSight Element Manager map
interface, there is no apparent difference between a linked or embedded object — each
appears on your map as an icon (or picture) within a border from which you can access the
object data. The difference between an embedded or a linked object is in how its data is
stored and updated with respect to the map data. Whether you choose to link or embed an
object will generally depend on the circumstances in which people are going to access and
use its information.
An object that is embedded accesses data that was created via an external application, but
inserted within the map file data; the map becomes a container for the embedded data,
which does not exist as an independent file. The benefit of embedding data is that when it
is updated and saved, it is done within the confines of the map file data. For instance, you
could embed voice annotations created via Microsoft Sound Recorder to describe each
subnetwork map used by a single management station, and update them as necessary to
reflect changes to your network. However, since the data is constrained to the map in
which the object is embedded, it cannot be edited by its native application outside of the
map file or shared (like linked data), and the size of the map file will increase
correspondingly to the amount of embedded information.
An object that has been linked references data created from a source document that was
created and saved external to the map. The object icon is a link or pointer to that source
file. Clicking on the icon will open up the source document via the link, and any edits
made to the data and saved will update the original. The advantage of linked information
is that you can maintain a single source file and share its data via multiple links — for
example, if you had multiple management stations running NetSight Element Manager,
you could create and maintain a statistics database as a document on a central file server,
then use a linked object in a map on each management station to reference that file. Each
management station could copy statistics to that file that were applicable to their own
subnetwork. However, since a source document is only maintained in one location, you
must be careful that the links do not become corrupted by unintentionally deleting or
renaming the source file. Objects are embedded by default; you must select a special
option to create a linked object.
A separate means of linking and embedding information is to embed an Object Package
into a map file. A “package” is a special type of embedded object — created via the
Microsoft Object Packager — that itself contains an embedded or linked document, or part
of that document, or an MS-DOS command line to be carried out from within the map file.
You access the package contents by double-clicking on its icon, just as with other
embedded or linked data. However, packaging data has some advantages over strictly
linking or embedding data, since you can use the command line within a package to run a
batch program or start another application from directly within a map.