Catalog Item Manager - Moving DataGroup content


 Product(s):OpenBuildings Designer
 Version(s):CONNECT Edition
 Environment:N\A
 Area:DataGroup System
 Subarea:DataGroup Catalog Editor

This article is written for CONNECT Edition; the process is almost identical for V8i other than the Configuration structure and terminology. The UK Dataset is used in the examples below.

The Catalog Item Manager allows DataGroup items to be moved around between Organization, WorkSpace, WorkSet and Library [V8i - Company, Project and Library.]

There may be content in the delivered datasets that you do not want to see ever again or may want to use at a later date. You may also want to move content from a WorkSet to the WorkSpace or Organization levels for sharing and reuse. The Catalog Item Manager manages moving the xml that defines the Catalog Items. However there in some cases there will still be the need to move other related resources manually.

Examples

Example 1 - Hide Mechanical Wall variations

This dataset includes a number of generic walls, there is set for each of the Architectural, Structural and Mechanical disciplines. In this example the variations of the mechanical walls will be moved.

To start, right-click on the Catalog Type and pick Catalog Item Manager:

Note that the Catalog Type is listed as 'Wall', items can only be moved around within the same Catalog Type as the underlying schema must match in all locations.

Browse to select the Library Source File. In this dataset there are a number of existing library files as we have moved some existing content into the library to slim down the default content presented to the UI. Pick Walls.xml:

Note that the Library content is now listed in the left-hand panel:

To Move the Mecahical wall variations to the library select them in the right-hand panel:

Click the (single) leftward arrow to move them to the library, click OK to finish:

Note the reduced list, only one generic Mechanical wall remains:

Example 2 - Move Items between configuration levels

A similar process can be used to move content form one configuration level to another. Listed below are a number of user defined profiles and their locations. The profiles delivered with the dataset are in the Organization. Custom  profiles are in the WorkSpace and WorkSet:

Opening the Catalog Item Manager the items are listed under those levels:

In this case there is no existing library file, so create a new file, Profile.xml:

Shown below are two moves:

1. A-Profile 01 has been moved to the library and is stored in the new Profile.xml file

2. A-Balustrade_Glass_02 has been moved to the WorkSpace and is stored in the existing Catalog xml file contained in the WorkSet

Moving other resources

In the Example 2 above moving A-Profile 01 to the library does not need any other action, the cell used to generate the profile is still present in the WorkSpace cell folder so is available to all WorkSets in the WorkSpace. If A-Profile 01 is moved back to the WorkSpace the cell will still be available.

However for A-Balustrade_Glass_02 the profile cell that is used is still in the WorkSet that it was created in so will not be available to other WorkSets. That cell must be moved to an appropriate cell library in the WorkSpace (use the Import Model function when in the target library).

This would also apply to other resources required by DataGroup Items. If any custom Definitions are created they will need to be moved to the same level as the related Items. This is currently a manual process so ensure that custom definitions are created in clearly identifiable files.

(It doesn't do any harm to keep notes during the creation of dataset content tracking the resources created.) 

Use Cases:

Hiding dataset content:

This is most likely to be useful when delivered dataset content is unwanted

Moving dataset content:

This is most likely to be useful when dataset content is created at WorkSet level and then found to be useful for either a whole WorkSpace or the whole Organization or created at WorkSpace level and is found to be useful for the whole Organization.