Creating and changing objects

In the layout of the folder page, the menu entries that create objects of different types are lo­cated in four places:

•      In the top menu bar, you may create objects in the current folder by selecting the object type entry from the  File    New  menu, e.g.  File    New    Folder  creates a new subfolder of the current folder. The action form has three sections:

•      In the ‘General’ section, you enter the name and optional tags and description.

Note: Starting with BSCW version 5.1, folder and document names may only use a restricted character set in order to ensure a better compatibility with the naming con­ventions of the different operating systems (e.g. when downloading a BSCW archive). When creating a new folder, you will be notified of an invalid name (e.g. containing one of the following characters \ * : ? / < > | "). In this case you have to correct the name before you can create the folder.    
Invalid names of existing folders or documents from an older BSCW version are only changed when you duplicate folders or documents (e.g. by copying) or when your BSCW administrator arranges for all invalid names to be made valid.

•      If you are manager of the current workspace, you will see two additional sections of the action form. In the ‘Document Review’ section, you can define a review process for the docu­ments of the folder to be created (details in 12.3 Document review). In the ‘Auto Versioning’ section, you specify whether documents in the new folder are to be automatically put under version control (details in 8.3.6 Automatic versioning).

•      Finally hit [OK] to create the new folder.

•      The action shortcut bar allows for creating frequently used objects in the current fol­der, e.g. clicking on new folder also creates a new subfolder in the cur­rent fol­der with ex­act­ly the same action form as above.

•      The context menu allows for creating new objects in the current folder by selecting the object type from the action  New  menu, e.g. action  New    Discussion Forum  creates a new dis­cus­sion forum in the current folder.

•      The action menus of folder entries (or entries of other container objects like discussion fo­rums, website folders or projects) also offer a action  New  menu for creating new ob­jects; e.g. action  New    Poll  in the action menu of a subfolder creates a new poll in this sub­fol­der.

All actions for the creation of a new object will bring up a form in which to enter the in­for­ma­tion that BSCW needs to create the new object. The form depends on the object type selected. For the different object types see 3.2 Shareable objects.

You can change the properties of an object after creation by

•      selecting action  Change    Properties  in the action menu of the object.

The action form for changing the properties of an object is the same as the form for creating an object and depends on the object type. With a folder, e.g., the action form has the three sections ‘General’, ‘Document Review’ and ‘Auto Versioning’, in which you my change the name, tags and description of the folder and its settings concerning document review and automatic versioning of documents contained in the folder (the latter only if you are man­ager).

Some objects may only be created within specific other objects, e.g. notes may only be cre­ated within discussion forums, phases may only be created within projects. Creation of com­mu­nities via the  File  menu is only possible in your home folder.

Note: You may create shared workspaces in your home folder via  File    New    Workspace , which is a shortcut for first creating a private folder and then inviting other users as members (see 3.3.3 Inviting members). This menu entry is available only in home folders and is meant to avoid a confusion of workspaces and communities for new BSCW users.