File System View

Basically, the ITP/MDK Repository maintains a database of documents and other objects, organized in projects, and within projects, in folders. Projects, folders, documents and other objects are analogous to an ordinary file system that has drives with folders and files. There are important differences, such as revision control and dependency tracking, but for now, it suffices to consider the ITP/MDK Repository as if it were an ordinary file system.

More specifically, the ITP/MDK Repository stores:

• Documents
  Although the ITP/MDK Repository can store any kind of file, it is specifically aimed at storing documents. In general, if we talk about documents, we mean txt, doc, and docx files. There is also limited support for OpenOffice.org documents. For OpenOffice.org to work correctly the OpenOffice.org Quickstarter needs to be activated. The ITP/MDK Repository has integrated support for opening and editing such files. For model documents, which are also ordinary text processing files, the ITP/MDK Repository has additional support for compiling and running.
• Models
  Model documents are translated into ITP Models during the create model process. Not all documents have a model. Initially, a document does not have one. If you select a document and choose Create Model from the Action menu, the corresponding model will be created, and stored in the ITP/MDK Repository. It gets attached to the corresponding source as an inseparable buddy. If you move a document to another location, its model moves too. In other words, documents and their models form a unit.

  Note

  To create ITP Models based on Microsoft Word documents (*.docx), ITP/Create Model Package version 3.5.4 (or higher) has to be installed.

• Text Blocks
  Text Blocks can be used in a model document. They are treated as a separate object. Text Blocks hold text, possibly with some variables.
• Forms
  Like Text Blocks, forms are part of a model document. Forms define forms.
• View
  A View is a selection of Text Blocks. Views are used in Forms and in Text Block Selection Groups of Content Wizards.
• Field Sets
  A Field Set is a collection of Fields to prepare (variable) data.
• DIDs
  The DID file describes how the data is accessed. It is used during the Create model process.
• Folders
  Documents (and if applicable, their attached models), Text Blocks, Forms, Views and Field Sets are organized in folders. There are a few different types of folders. We will come back to this later.
• Projects
  At the top level, everything is organized in projects. In a way, a project can be seen as a top-level folder. Projects are special because they contain the most important settings for creating and running models.

The fact that the ITP/MDK Repository acts much like an ordinary file system is reflected in the fact that it presents itself much like Microsoft Internet Explorer does. If you start the ITP/MDK Repository client program and click on the plus sign in front of the Projects folder, you will see a tree-view with projects, folders and the other objects. There is a content pane, on the right, that shows a detailed list of elements of the currently selected item in the tree view. At the bottom there is a Description pane that shows the description of the currently selected item in either tree view or content pane. Below the Description pane the status bar shows you the user who is currently logged in on the left. Next to the user F5 is shown when another user has changed the ITP/MDK Repository and the window needs to be updated.