If you have workspaces that contain layouts created with the classic Layout from before MapInfo Pro version 12.5 or earlier, they are converted to a new version of Layout window (also referred to as the Layout Designer window) for use in this release. However, the resulting Layout Designer window may not contain every element from your original layout.
The new Layout window was added in the 32-bit version of MapInfo Pro 12.5 (2014) alongside the classic Layout window. The classic Layout window is no longer available in 64-bit versions of MapInfo Pro. The most notable change in the new Layout window is that maps and browsers can be activated in place. Maps that are activated in place can also be edited.
When you open an older workspace containing a classic layout, MapInfo Pro preserves the following layout items:
- Map frames
- Browser frames
- Legend Designer frames
- Legacy Cartographic legends are converted to the Legend Designer window, so these will be available in the new Layout window.
- The new Layout window only supports the contents of one Legend Designer window per map. The contents of the first Legend Designer window encountered during the conversion will be converted into legend frames. It can be either a legacy Cartographic, or Legend Designer window.
- More information can be found under More about Legend Frame Support.
- Text - All text styles (Bold, Italic, Underline, Shadow, All Caps, Expanded, Halo and Background) are supported in the new Layout window.
- Lines, Rectangles, Rounded Rectangles, Ellipses, Polylines, and Polygons - There is no support for line patterns or fill patterns. Fill patterns are converted to solid fill with the pattern's foreground color. Line patterns are converted to solid lines of the same color.
- Symbols - There is no support for MapInfo 3.0 Compatible symbols, which are replaced by MapInfo Symbols regardless of system preference settings.
- Empty frames (from Create Frame statements in the workspace).
When you open an older workspace containing a classic layout, the following items are ignored and not preserved, because the new Layout Designer window does not support them:
- Arcs
- Redistricters
- Graphs - There is no support for Graph windows.
- Collection Objects - Multi-point and collection objects are not supported; they are not converted into their individual parts.
- Tool windows, such as InfoTool, Statistics, Message, and Theme Legend.
- Multiple page layouts - The contents will be brought into the Layout Designer window maintaining relative positions, however the layout will be a single page. The Layout Designer window does support multiple pages but only as separate page views. We suggest you use a custom page size, or larger page size, to fit the content.
More about Legend Frame Support
Text Frames
Text frames in Legend Designer windows are ignored during the conversion. If the original legend is in auto-position mode, the converted legend frames are auto positioned in the Layout Designer window as if the text frames did not exist. They are placed to the right of their corresponding Map window. If the original legend has a custom arrangement, the text frames are still ignored, but the legend frames should maintain their custom positions relative to each other, but still placed on the right side of their corresponding Map window.
A Legend Frame for Each Legend
In the classic layout a legend frame was a single object containing the entire contents of a Legend Designer window with all of the legend and text frames. When converted to the Layout Designer window, each legend frame will become its own layout frame and will have a transparent background.
If you weren't able to see all of your legend frames in the old layout when the legend frame was small, that issue goes away since each legend frame is separate now.
If you had created a drop shadow under the legend frame in the classic layout, it will now be created as a separate rectangle object. It will be covered by multiple legend frames. Adjust the layout as necessary.
Floating Theme Legend and Embedded Legends
The Layout Designer window does not support legacy floating Theme Legend windows, which display only thematic legends for a map. Embedded legends, created using the Legend Manager tool in earlier versions of MapInfo Pro, are not supported in this version of MapInfo Pro. Therefore, they do not convert when opening a classic Layout window.
Using MapBasic Applications to Create or Modify Layout Windows
MapBasic applications (*.MBX files) can create or modify Layout Designer windows. However, older MapBasic applications that were designed to work with classic layouts will not work on newer Layout Designer windows. Newer Layout Designer windows (sometimes referred to as Layout windows) use different MapBasic command syntax. Therefore, older MapBasic applications may need to be updated or rewritten before they can update newer Layout Designer windows.