Overview of Folders and Paths

This topic provides a general overview of folders and paths.

In this topic:

In StarTeam, three types of folders play important, yet dissimilar, roles.

Original workstation folder	Users set up this folder and its contents on a workstation, then use the New Project Wizard to create a new project. This folder, which may contain files and other folders, becomes the root folder of the new project – that is, it becomes the root folder of the project's initial or root view. StarTeam creates the project, the root view of the project, and root folder at the same time. The project, view, and root folder initially have the same name, although the name can be changed later
StarTeam folder	StarTeam uses the folders to group items in a project view. For example, a folder named Source Code can group source code files, requested changes to those files, and other related items. These folders can be created automatically at the same time as a project or added later by administrators or team members with the appropriate privileges. The hierarchy of folders in the current view appears as a folder tree in the project view window.
Working folder on the workstation	A working folder is actually a property of a StarTeam folder, but is quite different, as it is an object controlled by the operating system. It stores files that are copied or checked out from StarTeam or that will be added to StarTeam . A folder is an object controlled from within StarTeam. Data about it is stored in the database that holds all project data. A project, its root view, and its root folder all have the same working folder. If additional views of the project are created, each view and its root folder have the same working folder. The working folder for the root folder always has an absolute path, which starts with the drive letter and lists the appropriate directories until it reaches the working folder itself.

You can add to a project at any time after it has been created. These folders can be moved from or shared with another StarTeam view or added from a workstation.

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Understanding Working Folders

Understanding the relationship between application folders and their working folders is important because the working folder stores the files that you check in and check out.

Each folder has a default working folder from which you modify working files. For team members that use the same folders, the working folder structure on one person’s workstation is often the same as those on another person’s workstation.

When you check out a file, the application copies the requested file revision to the appropriate working folder. If the working folder does not already exist on your workstation, the application automatically creates it for you as you check out files that go in that folder.

The application expects you to add and check in new file revisions from those working folders. If the working folder does not exist on your workstation, you can create it manually or automatically using the Create Working Folders command. After the working folder exists, you can add files to it.

The exact location of a working folder is displayed as one of the application folder’s properties.

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Alternate Working Folders

The view’s working folder may not be the optimal choice for all users. You, or any other user with the access rights to do so, can select a more useful location for the view’s working folder on your own workstation by designating an alternate working folder. For example, you might want to use a shorter path or a different drive letter. Remember that a working folder must point to a physically discrete location, such as a drive on your workstation or a personal directory on a shared file server. We do not recommend putting your settings on a mapped network drive.

The alternate working folder path for the view is specific to the workstation and user. For example, if you log onto the project as another user or use another workstation, your alternate working folder setting is not known.

When you designate an alternate working folder for the view, the path to the working folder for each child folder in the view may be similarly modified for your workstation.

For every folder in the hierarchy whose working folder is relative to the path of the view’s working folder (as opposed to having an absolute path or an alternate working folder path of its own), your alternate path for the view’s working folder becomes part of the paths to its child folders’ working folders.

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Folder Paths

StarTeam often stores working folder paths from development environment applications as relative paths. For example, ..\sc may be the working folder for a project’s Source Code folder. If you move a folder to another location in the hierarchy, its working folder may end up in an unexpected location. This result occurs because the application applies the relative path to the working folder path for the new parent folder. Therefore, if you move a folder, you may want to specify a working folder path that is not relative, to avoid accidentally changing the working folder path on users’ workstations.

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Folder Tab

StarTeam includes a component tab for folders called Folder. When selected, this tab displays a main menu item and context -menu that contains many of the same menu commands that you would use when working with files, change requests, requirements, and so on. It is possible to perform some operations on multiple selected Folder items, such as adding files to a view.

Folder states are represented by the following folder icons:

	Regular folder.
	Invisible Folder: Indicates a folder where the Visible property is not selected in the Folder Properties dialog box.
	Not-in-View Folder: Indicates a folder on your local disk that does not map to a folder.
	Missing Working Folder: Indicates that local working folders do not exist.
	Folder uses an alternate working folder path than the default one set up by the project.

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