Config Sets

Vertec installations can be adapted to the customer’s needs to a large extent. The majority of possible configurations are made in the customer’s database.

Such configurations can be exported as an XML file and imported into another Vertec installation. Such a configuration definition is called config set.

A variety of config sets for download can be found in our collection of plug-ins.

Config sets affect the entire Vertec, so only users with administrator privileges can import config sets.

The config sets are controlled via the config set dialog, which is opened via the menu Settings > config sets.

A config set is imported via an import action in the config set dialog. By clicking on the Import button an explorer appears in which the config set XML file can be selected.

Note: In the Web app are the buttons Neu and Bearbeiten not present, as it is a non-modal dialog that allows clicks into the Vertec tree, which cannot be mapped in the Web app.

When importing, the config set is first checked for plausibility. The following conditions must be met for the set to be applied:

• Preconditions explicitly formulated in the config set are met
• All listed external references are available
• All internal aliases are unique
• Members with references refer to defined aliases
• Additional classes included in the config set are not yet available in the system
• Custom field items included in the config set are not yet available in the system

If errors occur, an error message is output and the config set is not applied.

If there are no errors, the config set is applied directly and the corresponding objects are created in Vertec.

After applying a config set, it appears in the list in the config set dialog.

In Python, there is a method vtcapp.importconfigset() which accepts a config set as a string (or as a file).

For the create of config sets, the config set Builder is available in the Desktop App and the Cloud app. This allows the interactive compilation of the configuration and exports the config set as an XML data file.

To create a new config set, click the New button in the config set dialog. The config set Builder opens:

It has the following fields:

<version-requirement>6.7.0.1

Under Selected Objects, the config set Builder displays a list of Vertec objects that are included in the config set.

To add a specific object to the list, select it in the active Vertec window and then click on the + button in the config set Builder or drag and drop it directly into the field.

Multiple selection in a Vertec list and Drag&Drop allows multiple objects to be dragged into a config set at the same time.

To remove an object from the config set list, select it and click the - button.

In the case of hierarchical objects that “have” their subobjects, the subobjects are automatically included. In the case of a folder structure, for example, only the parent folder has to be inserted.

By clicking on the Export button, the config set Builder creates an XML file. You can save it to your filesystem via the Save dialog box.

This config set can then be imported into the target installation.

Objects in the config set can be aliased and referenced explicitly, within the config set or from another config set. Within a config set, an alias must be unique.

If an object is added via the config set Builder, it is given an automatic alias. To change this alias, right-click the object in the list > Rename and assign the desired alias.

In certain situations, no new object is created for an object element in a config set, but the properties of an existing object are written.

• If the object has an Entry ID, the existing object is first searched for in the corresponding class and updated.
• Class-Settings are handled in a special way: Normally, the existing object is searched based on the class name. However, this special handling does not apply to the class settings of additional classes – an error will be reported if the class settings of an existing additional class are changed. See also Handling Special Cases below.
• Setting properties to their default value (e.g. string to empty string) on existing objects is not supported.

The entry ID of Vertec objects is central to the handling of Config Sets. The Entry ID identifies whether the object already exists in the target database or not.

The entry ID can be found in the Properties dialog next to the corresponding objects (right mouse button > Property):

Objects that are passed without an Entry ID reference (entryid=”XX”) are created in the target system.

When creating a config set , when inserting an object, it is checked whether the parent folder (parent folder) has a parent folder entry ID In this case, it is assumed that the parent folder already exists in the target system and that the object can be create in it.

If an object that is referenced with an entry ID is not found in the target system, the import throws an error.

It is therefore important that all structural data (folders, link types) supplied by Vertec have an entry ID in Vertec. This is ensured by Vertec with version 6.2.

Below are two scenarios that illustrate the way in which the Entry ID has to be paid attention.

In this scenario, the user receives a config set, which he implements in order to obtain a specific configuration.

It is assumed that the structural data supplied by Vertec as standard, such as folders (root data, public folders, link types, etc.) are available and can be referenced.

If such a structure does not exist in Vertec when importing a config set, an error message will be shown.

In this scenario, the customer does not have to worry about the Entry ID.

Another scenario is when configurations are to be developed on a test system and later carried over to the live system. In this case, the Entry ID is central.

The question here is whether the new objects in the target system should be inserted into an existing structure or whether this structure should also be created anew.

For example, if a new root folder is to be created in the target system, it must not have an Entry ID in the source system. However, if you want to access this root folder later on the target system, for example, in order to create new subfolders, it must have an Entry ID. In this case, the entry ID must be set manually in both the source and the target system.

This can be done via Python via argobject.eintragid=”XX” on the corresponding object.

If a specific additional class is to be configured as part of a config set, it must be ensured that it is not yet used in the target system. The config set cannot check this during the import, but this must be taken into account when creating the configuration (especially if other configurations, e.g. scripts, which are also supplied with the config set, point to this additional class).

To prevent 'accidentally’ importing an additional class that already exists, a corresponding     OCL requirement be formulated.

If an object with custom field items is added to a config set, the field values and the corresponding additional field definitions are now automatically added. These do not have to have an entry ID like other objects, but are uniquely identified via class and name.

If the custom field items are located on an additional class, the reference is also entered directly. Here it must be ensured that there is not already another additional class with the same number in the target system, because the class is simply entered accordingly on the custom field items and would therefore be incorrectly linked.

If you want to carry over the class settings of the additional class as well, these must be added separately to the config set.

Note on versions prior to 6.4

The handling of custom field items in config sets has been changed to version 6.4.

Config sets created from version 6.4 and containing objects with custom field items can therefore no longer be imported into older Vertec versions.

If a folder is included in a config set, the folder and its list settings are applied and created anew in the target system.

It is also possible to include only the list settings in the config set.

If a folder is added in the config set Builder, it can be right-clicked on it. In the context menu, the menu item Use list settings instead of folders appears.

If you click on it, only the list settings are applied. The row looks like this:

This means that ONLY the list settings are exported, but not the folder. In this case, the corresponding folder must already exist in the target system via the entry ID.

User rights cannot be carried over individually via config set, otherwise an error message appears like

The “User” property of “Object Right” refers to an object that is not included in the config set

Instead, the parent user group must be added to the config set. This will also export all their user rights. Care must be taken to ensure that each user right has an entry ID, otherwise it will be created several times during repeated import.

When passing Mlstring from Vertec 6.4, not only the text in the current language, but all specified languages including the native language introduced with this version are carried over.

This means:

• If only one term is specified in the current language, the attribute is carried over as a normal string. In this case, the import will continue to work with all versions.
• In any other case (even if only a native term is specified), the specified languages are passed as mltext attributes. This element only exists from version 6.4, which means:
  • Previously created config sets can also be imported with newer Vertec versions
  • Config sets created from Vertec 6.4 onward cannot be imported with older Vertec versions if more than one term is specified in the Mlstring attributes in the current language.

If you want to write existing system settings or create new system settings, this must be done manually. The exact procedure is described in the article config set XML.

Custom links

From Vertec 6.7.0.7 onward, custom links can be created via config set.

To do this, both linked objects and the Custom link type in the config set or on the target system with correct entry ID already exist.

To edit an existing config set, select it in the list and click the Edit button (Desktop App and Cloud app only). This will bring you back to the config set Builder where you can customize the config set as described and then export it again.

Advanced users can of course also customize the config set directly in the XML file, taking into account the described config set XML validity conditions.

Config sets can either be removed or deleted.

Remove

Select the appropriate config set in the list and click remove.

The config set is removed from the list, but the objects remain in the system. The main purpose of removing config sets is to protect them from being deleted.
The config set cannot be reimported, otherwise the objects will be duplicated. There is no way to add a config set to the list without creating the objects.

Delete

In the config set dialog, right-click on the corresponding config set and select delete.

Attention! All corresponding objects in Vertec are also deleted. This operation deletes all objects created by the config set from Vertec. If you have already worked with them, all changes made will be lost. Adjustment to previously existing objects initiated by the config set will not be undone. To protect a config set from being deleted, it can be removed from the list (removed).