MindManager Extensibility and Open XML File Formats
On the Mindjet Labs MindManager Jobs Forum, Dennis Günnewig posted a query about building an Open Document Format (ODF) export plug-in for MindManager. A few other people have been asking me about ODF and someone on the MindManagerDev Yahoo group even wrote an OpenOffice Export for MindManager. Because it is kind of a complex topic I thought I might write a bit to explain the issue.
Open file formats are a great step forward for software interoperability. Mindjet realized this when it released an Open XML Format in 2003 for MindManager X5. When we heard that Microsoft was going to do the same in Word 2007, we saw an opportunity to demonstrate something really amazing. We used the Word 2007 Map Editor for Mindjet MindManager to show the power of the MindManager in conjunction with open XML formats and we were able to create an Open XML Word 2007 file without using Word 2007 at all. The great thing about open file formats, particularly open XML file formats is that they are easily transformable from one format to another.
We chose to make a demonstration that works with the Microsoft-sponsored Open XML Format for Word because most of our customers use Microsoft Office. The way that Microsoft implemented Open XML in Word 2007 was brilliant because they made it possible to include additional data in the document like Ribbon UI definitions, macros, and MindManager XML. Using an Open XML format to do a high-fidelity round-trip is interesting demo and a good use of XML. The additional functionality that Word 2007 added (ribbon UI and macros) make it a compelling demo that actually let our customer evangelists show some of the great functionality of MindManager to their colleagues. This is one of the five tennants in book Creating Customer Evangelists by Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba: "Make bite-size chunks: Devise specialized, smaller offerings to get customers to bite."
If you want to develop an interoperable solution, you should definitely explore the existing open XML file formats available and choose the one that make the most sense for you and your customers, whether it's Open Document Format or Open XML. You'll find that MindManager works great with both. Come to a Mindjet Labs Workshop if you want to get a great start on developing your solution.
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About Michael S. Scherotter
Educated as an architect, Michael has made his career in software development about combining technology in interesting ways.
After getting his Bachelor's of Architecture from the University of Arizona, Michael received a Master's of Architecture from UCLA specializing in Design Tool Development.
From there, he joined Tartus, Inc., a sofware consulting firm specializing in building architectural sofware. At Tartus, Michael rose to the role of lead software architect for BC Framer, a custom CAD solution for Boise Cascade Corporation. In this role he designed and lead development of the software through six successful release cycles.
At Mindjet, Michael started by managing the software development teams for the first tablet-pc enabled version of MindManager and MindManager X5.
From 2003 to 2007, Michael was in business development and marketing roles as a Business Solution Architect and as the Solution Platform Product Manager for MindManger. Michael designed and built the first enterprise integration for MindManager, the Accelerator for Salesforce.com which served as a reference implementation for future enterprise integrations. In this role, he created, directed, and maintained the Mindjet Labs and became the evangelist for the MindManager Solution Platform.
Now Michael is a Developer Evangelist for Microsoft Corporation.
