Workspaces


Workspaces represent collections of views. They are a convenient way to group together various views at certain sizes and positions, so that they are easy to access at a later date. You may wish, for example, to pre-prepare certain views, and positions them ready for a particular event, like a meeting.

A workspace is a notional concept only, it is not a persistant state. If you open a workspace, that collection of views is opened. You are not then, 'in that workspace', therefore, any changes to views, or new views opened will not automatically be saved to that workspace.


Creating Workspaces

As workspaces are created from the current views that you have open, before you create a new workspace you need to open, resize and position all the views as you wish them to appear in that workspace. Once you have done that, you need to go to The Workspaces Menu and select the 'Organize Workspaces...' option. You will then see a dialog window similar to the one in figure 1 below:


Figure 1. The Workspaces Maintenace dialog window


At the top of this window you can see an area named 'Add New Workspace'. You need to enter the name you want to call your new workspace into the text field, and then press the 'Add' button. All the current views, their sizes and positions will be saved.

N.B. You cannot use the same name twice, so if you enter a workspace name that you have already used, you will see a message appear, as in figure 2 below:


Figure 2. The message shown when an existing name is entered


At this point you can choose to update the workspace of that name, with the current views. To do this press the 'Yes' button. To cancel the operation, press the 'No' button, and then choose a new name.

Once added, the new workspace name will appear on The Workspaces Menu.


Opening Workspaces

To open a workspace, go to The Workspaces Menu and select the workspace you wish to open. All your current views will be closed, and the workspace views will be opened, in the appropriate positions and sizes.


Updating Workspaces

If you wish to update the contents of a workspace, go to the Workspaces Maintenance window, (see figure 1), select the workspace you wish to update from the 'Current Workspaces' list, and then press the 'Save As Current' button. This will replace the views saved against that workspace with the ones currently open.


Deleting Workspaces

If you wish to delete a workspace, go to the Workspaces Maintenance window, (see figure 1), select the workspace you wish to delete from the 'Current Workspaces' list, and then press the 'Delete' button. That workspace will then be removed from the database and the The Workspaces Menu.