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Project Functions

Project Functions in Navigation Bar

The functions that display in the Navigation Bar will vary depending on whether the project you have selected is checked in our checked out and whether you are on the Project Grid tab or the Selected Project Details tab.  The following sections will detail all possible functions.

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Open this Project in SI Text

This launches the project in the SI Text interface.  The SI Text file is the “main” or “primary” file associated with every project.  This interface does not show any drawings that have been created for the project.

Generate Quote

This opens a mini window that allows you to run any Client report for the selected project.  The report will generate on the Reports tab within the Navigator.  Since the project is already selected prior to clicking this option, you skip straight to Step 2 of 2.

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Note: If you run the “Generate Quote” from other locations with SI5.5 where you don’t have a project selected, you will be prompted to pick a project on Step 1 of 2:

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Here you can use the dropdown menu button File:06Projects/Project_Functions/image004.png to change the project tree structure as desired to find the project you are looking for:

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View Project Information

Opens a window that displays all of the information related to the selected Project.  You can Check Out/In the project or Edit any of the information:

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Check In this Project

This will check the project in to the server.  You must do this for most of the Orders and Accounting and Scheduling functions.

Check Out this Project

this will check out the project from the server to your local machine.  You must do this to edit a project.  If you attempt to open a project that is “checked in” you will be prompted to check out the project before opening.  If you choose [No], the project will open in a Read-Only state.

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Undo Check Out

This function is here as a safety measure.  This allows you to essentially discard any changes that you have made locally and restore the status of the project on the server to “checked in”.  This would be used if you made a mistake while working on a project and saved the project file.  This may also be used if a project was checked out to a machine that no longer exists (crashed, got stolen). You will see the following prompt when you select this option:

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Create a New Project

This launches the New Project Wizard.

Copy This Project

Allows you to make a copy of the selected Project.  You will be prompted to choose a folder to store the Project files.  Although you have the option to create the file anywhere you want, you should create a folder within your default Projects folder.  We recommend sticking with the Client Name->Project Name Format.  If you are copying a project for the same client, you should create a new folder under the existing Client Name folder.  There can only be one .dtl per folder, see Project File Rules Overview.

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This creates a copy of all of the Project files.  All project files will retain their names.  The Project name will have “Copy of” added to it.  Only the most current revision of the project will be copied:

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Move this Project

This allows you to move a project to a new folder.  This is the ONLY method of moving project files that is supported by D-Tools.  DO NOT manually move files around.  When you move a project, it should still reside in the same folder where you store your SI5 projects.  See Client\Server Rules for details.

Create a New Revision of This Project

This creates a revision of the selected Project.  You have a place to change the name of the file (we highly recommend you don't change this) and a Description field, 500 character limit, for any internal information you wish to track, e.g. what changes are taking place on this revision).

File:Si5Wiki/SI5/06Projects/Project_Functions/create_new_revision_form.jpg

When a project is created it is by default Rev 0.  When the first revision is made, Rev 0 is stored and a new copy of the project is created called Rev 1, or Current Project.  This process is repeated each time a revision is created.  As shown below, the current revision number is incremented and the next revision becomes the Current Project.  For more information on revisions, see Project Revisions.

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Open this revision in SI Text

This option will open the revision in the Text interface.  Revisions are Read-Only and cannot be modified.

Promote this revision

This function will promote the selected revision to be the most current version of the project (making it editable).  During this process, the current revision will be added to the list of revisions.  You will be prompted:

File:06Projects/Project_Functions/image012.png

For more information on revisions, see Project Revisions.

Delete this revision

This will delete the selected revision from your list.  Deleting revisions does not reset the auto-numbering for revisions.  This action is not reversible.

For more information on revisions, see Project Revisions.

Archive this project

This function will archive the project. In order view your Archived projects you must select that view:

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Import a project

this allows you import a project into the SI5 application.  A wizard will open where you browse to the .dtl file for the project.  Once the .dtl is selected, a Project Summary will show what files will be converted:

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If the project is in a format from a previous version of SI it will be converted to SI5 format during the import.

If you are converting an SI 4 project that has Visio or AutoCAD files associated with it, those applications will open during the conversion process.  Prior to conversion, you must make some changes to your Visio settings.

1)    Open Visio and select Tools->Macros->Security…

2)    Verify that your Security level is set to Medium or Low:

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3)    Click the Trusted Publisher tab and check the “Trust access to Visual Basic Project” option.

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4)    Click [OK].

5)    Close Visio.

During the conversion, you will be prompted by two messages shown below.  Click [OK] for both messages:

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note_50If you were using Business Manager in SI 4, you have the option of converting just the project file or converting the project files and the SQL data (Sales Orders, Work Orders) for the project. Revisions for the project will NOT be converted.  This is due to the new format for Revisions in SI5.

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When you select “Convert DTL and Business Manager Database” and click [Next], you are then prompted to select the location of your SI 4 database.  The dropdown will list the machine names of all the machines on your network that have instances of SQL installed.  Select the machine name of the “server” machine you were using for SI 4. If you used the default MSDE SQL Server that was included with the SI4 LANSync install you will need to add “\DTOOLSMSDE” after the machine name.  In the example below, the machine where my SI 4 SQL instance is located is named “DT4136”.  The User Name and Password are automatically filled in for you on this form.

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Open this file

Opens the selected file.

Add a file to this project

When you click this option, you will be prompted to browse to the file(s) you wish to add to your project folder.  Use this to add any additional files you require for this project such as floor plans, .pdf files, spreadsheets, etc. These files are not "SI5 Linked" like our Visio and AutoCAD files, however they will copy up and down from your SI5 Server so all users will be able to access them.

Definition time – “SI5 linked” means that the file has a connection to the main SI5 Project file for a Project (the .dtl file). There can be only one .dtl file per Project in SI5.  When a drawing file, either Visio (.vsd) or AutoCAD (.dwg) are created using the “Create new Visio/AutoCAD drawing for this project” functions (described below), those files are considered “SI5 linked”.  You may, however, choose to have .vsd and .dwg files for a Project that are NOT “SI5 linked”, for reference or floor plans to use as xrefs. These files would be ones not created from within the Navigator interface, i.e.- they were created directly in Visio and/or AutoCAD launched externally of SI5.

Delete this Project

When you click this option, you will be prompted whether you are sure

File:Si5Wiki/SI5/06Projects/Project_Functions/confirm_project_delete.jpg

Remove local project files

Use this option if you just want to remove the local project files from your machine.  You would use this if you wanted to clean up hard disk space on your local machine.  It is very unlikely that you will have to use this function.  The project will still exist on the server.

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Delete This File

This will delete the selected file from the project.  This can be used for Visio, AutoCAD or other files associated with a project.

Create New Visio Drawing for This Project

This will create a new “SI5 linked” Visio file for the Project.  You will be prompted to select a template:

File:Projects/Project_Functions/image019.png

notes_50In SI5, you can have multiple Visio project files for a Project. You can choose to do all of the drawing pages in one Visio file or you may choose to do the drawing pages in separate Visio files.

Example: You may choose to have one file SE024 Enos Home.vsd that has all of the Plan, Line, Elevation and Schematic pages or you could have a separate Visio file for each drawing page: SE024 Enos Home AV Schematic.vsd, SE024 Enos Home First Level Plan.vsd, etc.

The stock templates that ship with SI5 have six pages but you can easily create your own Templates.  For information on creating a Visio template see Template Creation.

Create New AutoCAD Drawing for this Project

This will create a new “SI5 linked” AutoCAD file for the Project.  You will be prompted to select a template:

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Get latest version of all files for this project

This updates the local project files with the latest project files from the server without checking the project out.  This function should be used if you wish to have the latest project files on your machine and do not want to check out the project from the server or if you can’t check out a project file from the server because someone else has the project checked out to them.

Make project available offline

This will cache the project locally to your machine in a read-only state.  This will allow you to view the project while disconnected from your network.  If you want the product to be editable while you are offline, you would use the “Check Out this project” function rather than this one.  You will see the following message when you use this function:

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Restore this archived project

This function will restore an archived project to an active project.

Example: You have archived a project that you wish to restore an active project.

1)    On the Projects tab within the navigator, select to show “Archived Projects”:

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2)    Select the archived project that you wish to restore and click “Restore this archived project”:

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