4.2 Project File Format

All projects are stored on the file system in a directory. By default, this is in the C:\Documents and Settings\Username\designer_workspace directory on a Windows workstation. However, you can specify a different directory when you create the project. (See Creating a Project in the NetIQ Designer for Identity Manager Administration Guide.) All of your data and graphical layout information is saved in a directory corresponding to the project name. For example, the following files and directories are stored under the \designer_workspace3\Blanston01 directory:

Figure 4-1 Local Directory Structure

The main file in the project’s directory is the .proj file. This file uses an industry-standard XML format called XMI (XML Metadata Interchange Format). You never need to directly edit this file.

4.2.1 What is XMI?

XMI enables easy interchange of metadata between modeling tools and between tools and metadata repositories in distributed heterogeneous environments. XMI integrates three key industry standards:

  • XML (Extensible Markup Language, a W3C standard)

  • UML (Unified Modeling Language, an Object Management Group (OMG) modeling standard)

  • MOF (Meta Object Facility, an OMG modeling and metadata repository standard)

The integration of these three standards into XMI combines the best of OMG and W3C metadata and modeling technologies. The integration enables developers of distributed systems to share object models and other metadata. XMI, together with MOF and UML, forms the core of the OMG repository architecture that integrates object-oriented modeling and design tools with each other and with a MOF-based extensible repository framework.

For more information about XMI, go to XML Metadata Interchange (XMI).