Obviously, creating schemes and assignments for a lerge project is a lot of work. It would be beyond reason to do that work more than once, and so PlantTracks has implemented methods for importing and exporting your PlantTracks data to other projects. Projects can become standardized and therefore more descriptive to the designer who is used to his or her own creative touch.
At the top right of the PlantTracks dialog box, above the tab pages, are four buttons that are used to control PlantTracks as a whole. Clicking on the (Data) button will display another dialog of choices. These buttons allow the user to manipulate the data collected by PlantTracks so it can be used in other projects.
Reset - The Reset button causes all existing data to be discarded and allows PlantTracks to start out fresh, with no schemes and no assignments. This should be regarded as a "tool of last resort" when all other ways to clear data from PlantTracks fails, or perhaps as a method to clear the way for the use of a file import function.
Export - The Export button causes all of the current plant depiction schemes and assignments to be saved to a datafile structured like a standard Windows .ini file. While such a file is editable with any ASCII editor such as "NotePad", it's primary reason for existance is to allow the user to import the file back into a separate PlantTracks project and to build upon the previous work done creating depiction schemes and assigning them to plants. With Import and Export your schemes and assignments can transcend the current project and be used in others.
Import - This function imports a previously saved export file into PlantTracks, bringing the schemes and assignments from another project into play here. The schemes and assignments are added to those already in existance.
OK - The OK button closes the dialog and returns control back to the main PlantTracks dialog. The same effect will occur following any of the other functions as well.
Help - Help gives access to this hopefully helpful file.
An export file created by the export function will have a ".ptz" extension on it to make it recognizable to PlantTracks. The Export and Import functions open up a standard Windows FileOpen dialog to identify the file to be exported to or imported from.
The other three buttons at the top require no introduction. Help retrieves the help documentation you are now reading. Cancel asks whether you really want to loose all the work you did since you opened PlantTracks, and does so if you allow it to. OK saves the current scheme's data and exits back to PlansPlus.
PlantTracks and the contents of this help file are
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