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# Associate work areas with projects or streams

You can associate work areas with projects or streams using Windows Explorer.

In this topic:

## Good practices when associating work areas

Follows these recommendations when you associate a work area with a project/stream:

- Microsoft Windows Explorer plugin: You can associate a work area with a project or stream from Windows Explorer using the Dimensions > Associate with source control menu option. This creates the required metadata information in the folder to enable you to download to or update your work area from Windows Explorer.

- Desktop client: You need to associate your project or stream from the desktop client. Update your work area using the desktop client.

- If you are working on multiple projects and/or streams, the work areas you associate with the projects and/or streams should be siblings. Avoid nesting them one under another.

  Example: If you have projects DEV and MAINT, their respective work areas are C:\projects\dev and C:\projects\maint.

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## Associate a Windows folder as work area

You can associate a Windows folder as your Dimensions CM work area.

To associate a Windows folder as a work area:

1. Create a new folder or select a folder that has not previously been associated with a project or stream. Right-click and select Dimensions > Associate with source control.

   Note: This option is not available if the folder has metadata associated with it, or if it is in a folder associated with Dimensions source control.

   Log in if prompted. The Work Area Defaults dialog box opens.

2. For Project Type select either Stream or Project to associate the folder with a stream or project.

3. In the Associated Dimensions Project/Stream field, accept the default.

   Or browse to select a project/stream. In the Select Project/Stream dialog box, select one of the options. If you select Another project/stream, do one of the following:

   - Specify the ID of a project or stream. Enter a text string to display only those project/stream names that contain the characters in your string. For example, to find QLARIUS:JAVA_BRANCHA, enter vs.

   - Select a project or stream from the list. Favorites and recently used projects/streams are displayed at the top.

   - Streams only: To create a new stream, select Create New and complete the Create Stream wizard.

   Click OK.

4. To change the settings that Dimensions CM makes by default, click the Show defaults button, and change the defaults:

   Field | Description
   --- | ---
   Comment for check in | Enter any text you want to be used by default for any items that you check in or deliver.
   Default request | Enter a request ID if you require a request to be related to any new item revisions you create.
   Part specification | If required, enter an owning design part for new items. This value overrides the design part defined for a new item when a file has been added to a folder within this work area. The owning design part of a new item is normally determined from the upload rules based on the file type, but can be overridden by this field.
   Local file exclusions | If required, enter an expression to specify file types in the work area that you do not want to deliver to the repository. For examples, see Include and exclude expressions.
   Repository file exclusions | Enter an expression to specify file types in the repository that you do not want include when updating the work area.
   Permissions after update | Choose between Make read only and Make writable for the permissions to be set on the file after updating the work area from the repository. Note: You do not need to set file permissions to read-only just to distinguish files that have been updated. The Change Type column maintained by Dimensions CM provides a more accurate account of whether files need updating. It is now possible to always work with writable files. Setting the Permissions after update and Permissions after deliver to Make writable saves you having to first set permissions each time you want to edit a file.
   Permissions after deliver | Choose between Make read only and Keep unchanged for the permissions to be set on the file after delivering to the repository. See note above.
   Enable synchronize logging | Select Yes If you require an output log for the results of synchronizations between the work area and the repository.
   Log folder | To change the default log folder, use the browse button to select another folder.

5. Click OK.

To disassociate a Windows folder as a Dimensions CM work area:

1. Right-click the folder and select Disassociate from source control.

2. Click OK.

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## Get file copies and associate a Windows folder as work area

You can get copies of files and associate the selected Windows folder as a work area.

To get file copies and associate a Windows folder as a work area:

1. Right-click a folder that is not already associated with a Dimensions CM project or stream and select Dimensions > Get. Log in if prompted.

   Note: This option is not available if the folder has metadata associated with it, or if it is in a folder associated with Dimensions source control.

2. In the Project/Stream field, specify the ID of a project or stream. Enter a text string to display only those project/stream names that contain the characters in your string. For example, to find QLARIUS:JAVA_BRANCHA, enter vs.

   Or select a project or stream from the list. Favorite and recently used projects and streams are displayed at the top.

   Click OK.

3. To get files from a subfolder of the stream or project, click Select repository folder to get, and select a folder from the tree.

4. Select the options you require for the files to be copied:

   - Expand substitution variables.

   - Automatically overwrite files.

   - Apply system date/time to files.

5. Click OK.

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## Update folder properties

You can update the properties of a folder associated as a Dimensions CM work area.

To update work area folder properties:

1. Right-click a folder that has already been associated as a work area and select Dimensions > Folder Settings. If necessary, complete the Log in to Dimensions dialog box and click OK.

   The Folder Settings dialog box is displayed.

2. To change the Associated Dimensions Project/Stream, click the browse button and select the project/stream.

3. If the Work area defaults fields are not visible, click the Show defaults button.

4. Update the required fields:

   Field | Description
   --- | ---
   Comment for check in | Enter any text you want to be used by default for any items that you check in or deliver.
   Default request | Enter a request ID if you require a request to be related to any new item revisions you create.
   Part specification | If required, enter an owning design part for new items. This value overrides the design part defined for a new item when a file has been added to a folder within this work area. The owning design part of a new item is normally determined from the upload rules based on the file type, but can be overridden by this field.
   Local file exclusions | If required, enter an expression to specify file types in the work area that you do not want to deliver to the repository. For examples, see Include and exclude expressions.
   Repository file exclusions | Enter an expression to specify file types in the repository that you do not want include when updating the work area.
   Permissions after update | Choose between Make read only and Make writable for the permissions to be set on the file after updating the work area from the repository. Note: You do not need to set file permissions to read-only just to distinguish files that have been updated. The Change Type column maintained by Dimensions CM provides a more accurate account of whether files need updating. It is now possible to always work with writable files. Setting the Permissions after update and Permissions after deliver to Make writable saves you having to first set permissions each time you want to edit a file.
   Permissions after deliver | Choose between Make read only and Keep unchanged for the permissions to be set on the file after delivering to the repository. See note above.
   Enable synchronize logging | Select Yes If you require an output log for the results of synchronizations between the work area and the repository.
   Log folder | To change the default log folder, use the browse button to select another folder.

   For details about these fields, see step 4 of Associate a Windows folder as work area.

5. Click OK.

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## Update file properties

You can change the properties of Dimensions CM files in Windows Explorer.

To view or update the properties of a file:

1. Right-click the file and select Properties.

2. Click the Dimensions tab and update the following fields as needed:

   Field | Description
   --- | ---
   Comment for check in | Enter any text you want to be automatically used for the items that you check in or deliver.
   Request under work | Browse for, or enter a request ID if you need a request to be related to any new item revision you create using this file.
   Part specification | Browse for, or enter a design part specification for the design part to be used for any new items that are created in the project/stream.
   Local file exclusions | If required, enter an expression to specify file types in the work area that you do not want to deliver to the repository. For examples, see Include and exclude expressions.
   Repository file exclusions | Enter an expression to specify file types in the repository that you do not want include when updating the work area.
   Permissions after update | Choose between Make read only and Make writable for the permissions to be set on the file after updating the work area from the repository, or set to <Use default> to take the default action.
   Permissions after deliver | Choose between Make read only and Keep unchanged for the permissions to be set on the file after delivering changes to the repository, or set to <Use default> to take the default action.

   You can also view the following fields:

   Field | Description
   --- | ---
   Header substituted | Indicates whether header substitution was used when the item file was fetched from the repository.
   Is extracted | Indicates whether the item was checked out at the time that the item file was fetched from the repository.
   Item specification | Displays the item specification.
   Item status | Displays the status of the item revision at the time that the item file was updated from the repository.
   Original modification date | Displays the modification date of the file at the time it was updated from the repository.

3. Click OK.

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## Set file preferences

In Windows Explorer, you can change the preferences of Dimensions CM files.

To set Dimensions CM preferences for files:

1. Right-click a file or folder and select Dimensions > Preferences.

2. Select the change detection option you require:

   - Select Use modification time to use the timestamp to detect whether the selected file, or the files in the selected folder, have changed when the file sizes are the same.

   - Select Checksum file content to use the file checksum to detect whether the selected file, or the files in the selected folder, have changed when the timestamps are the same.

   - To apply item header substitution to this file, select Expand substitution variables. Note that you should specify reversible substitution variables to prevent the variables from being overwritten by the expanded values when the items are delivered back to the repository.

   - To enable network folder support, select Enable support for network folders. By default, this option is disabled for performance reasons.

3. Click OK.

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## Enable network folder support

You can enable support for network folders in Windows Explorer.

To enable network folder support:

Do one of the following:

- Right-click a file or folder under Dimensions CM control, select Dimensions > Preferences, and select Enable support for network folders.

- In Windows Explorer, right-click a file or folder on the network and select Dimensions > Enable support for network folders.

The Dimensions CM menus and icon decorations are not displayed for network folders.

If this option is disabled, most Dimensions CM menu options for network files and folders or their icon decorations are not displayed. If you access a network folder associated with Dimensions CM, you are prompted on the first occasion as to whether you want to enable support for network folders.

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See also:

- Use the Windows Explorer plugin
- Perform operations in Windows Explorer

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