General details of object types

This topic describes the general details and options that you can view and modify for different object types in the Administration Console.

About object type general details

In the Object Types section of the Administration Console, you can view and edit the following general details for an object type:

Object type description.
Item, request, and project types: Additional options that determine the object type rules and behavior.

Select an object type in the navigation pane so that you can view its details it in the General section of the content pane.

Item type options

The item type options determine the behavior of a particular type of item. You can enable or disable them when you create, copy, or edit an item type.

The following table describes the options for item types:

Option	Description
Allow Parallel Checkout	When set, users can check out different or the same revisions of an item in parallel provided that the project owning the item also has the Parallel Checkout option set. For details, see Item type options.
Require User Comment	When set, users must enter a comment explaining the reason for the item revision update before Dimensions CM permits the item revision to be created, updated, or checked in. This option applies when creating, updating, editing, or checking in an item revision, or merging two item revisions.
Auto-generate Item Identifier	When set, an item identifier is generated automatically when an item is created. In this case Dimensions CM generates a unique identifier. The identifier is automatically generated even if the user enters a value.
Enable Item Header Substitution	When set, item header substitution is enabled when users get a copy of an item or browse an item (but not when checking one out). For details on how to specify item header substitution variables, see Use header substitution variables.
Don't Force New Revision Number on Check-in	When set, either the originator or all users (determined by the Restrict previous Option to Originator option) can overwrite an item at its initial lifecycle state without changing the revision. Note: When a request is specified when checking out items, new revisions are always created.
Restrict previous Option to Originator	When the option Don't Force new Revision Number on Check-in is selected, use this option to specify whether all users or only the originator can perform such overwrites.
Compress Library File	When set, files are stored in compressed form in the Dimensions item library. For details, see Library file compression. The compression is not available for delta library storage. Caution: We strongly recommend that you do not use compression for storing text items.
Check in only changed revisions	If set, when Dimensions CM receives a check-in item request, it checks that the checksum for the item revision in the item library is different from its last value. This ensures that you cannot check in exactly the same item revision that was checked out. It forces you to change checked out item revisions before you check them in. Note: This setting does not affect the web client. In the web client, this behavior can be achieved for all item types on a per-user basis in the Preferences dialog box by deselecting Check in for the If workfile unchanged option.
Enforce Primary Role Constraint	When set, the user can action an item to a new, non-terminal state only if a primary user exists for that lifecycle state. If the primary role is assigned to a user, the leader role cannot be assigned to the same user.
Enforce Leader Role Constraint	When set, the user can action an item to a new, non-terminal state only if at least one leader user exists for that lifecycle state. If the leader role is assigned to a user, the primary role cannot be assigned to the same user.
Use standard level numbering scheme for revisioning	Use the standard Dimensions Algorithm for determining the numbering of item revisions when a new branch is created. This means that the first revision of the first new branch of an item has ".1.0" appended. For example, a new branch created from revision 2.1 is 2.1.1.0 (if a named branch is not used) and the next revision in this new branch is 2.1.1.1. If this option is not set, the first revision in a new branch has ".1" appended. For example, a new branch created from revision 2.1 is 2.1.1 (if a named branch is not used) and the next revision in this new branch is 2.1.2.

Library file compression

Dimensions CM provides a file compression utility that you can enable for an item type. This causes all files of that item type to be stored in compressed form in the relevant item library.

When a user browses, gets a copy, or checks out a compressed file, Dimensions CM uncompresses the file.

The compression is affected by the settings of the parameters DM_COMPRESS_FILES_ON_TRANSFER and DM_COMPRESSION_MIN_FILELENGTH in the server's dm.cfg file. For details, see Administration.

For example, you may want to store all binary files in compressed form.

Note: You cannot enable file compression for delta libraries.

The compress and uncompress commands used by Dimensions CM by default are the standard Lempel-Ziv compress and uncompress utilities. You can override the defaults by changing the following parameters in the server's dm.cfg file:

UNIX	Parameters COMPRESS and UNCOMPRESS.
Windows	Parameters DM_PARAM_COMPRESS and DM_PARAM_UNCOMPRESS.

If you set these parameters to use another compression utility, make sure it is consistently used for all such item types.

Request type options

The request type options determine the behavior of a specific request type. You can enable or disable them when you create, copy, or edit a request type.

The following table describes the options for request types:

Option	Description
Create Requires Role	When this option is set, users can create a request of this type only if they have the Create Request privilege. By default, this means they require a role on the product to have this privilege. Note: Users can be granted the Create privilege for requests under general grant rules, Grant to all users.
Save History	When this option is set, request attribute and action description history is saved when actioning to a new state. If set, the user can browse a request and view it at any particular action number. If the option is not set, the user can only browse the request at the current action number.
Notify Originator on Close	When this option is set, Dimensions CM automatically emails the request's originator when a request is actioned to its end lifecycle state.
Enforce Primary Role Constraint	When this option is set, the user can action a request to a new state only if a primary user exists for that state. If the primary role is assigned to a user, the leader role cannot be assigned to the same user.
Enforce Leader Role Constraint	When this option is set, the user can action a request to a new state only if at least one leader user exists for that state. If the leader role is assigned to a user, the primary role cannot be assigned to the same user.
Take roles from all affected design parts	This option affects the way that roles are calculated for the Request type. When the option is set, the roles are calculated on a request of that type by including the role assignments on all the design parts to which it is related. When the option is not set, role assignments are taken only from the common ancestor design part for all the related design parts. For details, see Roles and objects.
Disabled request type	When this option is set, users cannot create any new requests of this type.

Project type options

Project type options determine the behavior of a specific project type. You can enable or disable them when you create, copy, or edit a project type.

The following table describes the options for project types.

Note: For streams (projects of type STREAM) some options are dimmed and cannot be changed.

Field	Description
Project is trunk	When set, the numbering of item revisions is determined by incrementing the last numeral. For example, if an item is at revision 5, subsequent revisions are 6 and 7. When the option is not set, item revisions are incremented by appending a period before the new number. For example, if a branch is created from revision 5, next revisions are 5.1 and 5.2. For streams, this option is cleared and cannot be changed.
Automatic revision generation	When set, new revisions are automatically generated when an item is edited or updated. When the option is not set, new revisions are not automatically generated. The user need to supply a revision ID. For streams, this option is selected and cannot be changed.
Parallel check out	When set, an item revision in this project can be checked out by multiple users at a time. Note: This is overridden by the Allow Parallel Checkout setting for an individual item type. See Project type options. This setting applies only to newly created projects of the type. To change this option for existing projects, use the UWA command. For details, see the Command-Line Reference. For streams, this option is cleared and cannot be changed.
Use local stages	This deployment-related option determines whether the stage of item revisions is "local" to this project/stream or can be affected by changes in other projects/streams. (This means that the same item revision could be at a different stage in different projects/streams.) If you select this option, the stage of an item revision in this project/stream is not affected when the same item revision is promoted/demoted to another stage as a result of activities in any other project/stream. If you do not select this option, when an item revision in any project/stream is promoted/demoted to another stage, then the stage of the same item revision in this project/stream is also updated. Note: The stage of an item revision can also be changed when it is actioned if its lifecycle states have been mapped to stages in the GSL.
Always disable CM Rules	When set, a project of this type has the option for CM rules for items in that project set to Always disabled by default when it is created (but you can override this). When this option is set for a specific project, item operations in that project act as if CM Rules were not enabled for any item types or request types.
Always enable CM Rules	When set, a project of this type has the option for CM rules for items in that project set to Always enabled by default when it is created (but you can override this). When this option is set for a specific project, item operations in that project act as if CM Rules were enabled for all item types and request types. For details, see Object Types content area.
Require change control when refactoring	When set, a project of this type has the option Request required to refactor set by default when it is created. When this option is set, the user is required to provide a request ID when making any refactoring changes to the project, such as moving or renaming items or project folders.