Documentation Center

Property Sheets

Depending on your configuration, Property Sheets are customized to satisfy your requirements. The property sheet fields discussed here are the standard delivered property sheets.

A property sheet field may:
  • Require that the user supply data in the field.

    If the field mandates that you supply data, you cannot close the property sheet until the data is entered. Data may be entered using the keyboard or from a predefined drop-down list.

    For example, the Name field is mandatory.

  • Contain a default entry.

    Default field entries may be defined by the system or by the Contenta administrator who defines them using the Contenta Administration tool. If the Contenta Administrator defines a default entry, s/he can specify whether the field is read-only or editable.

    For example, the Access Level field for a desktop contains a default entry and can be modified by the System Administrator when he or she creates the desktop.

  • Contain data that is supplied by the system.

    System-supplied data fields are not editable.

    For example, the Creator field is supplied by the system and cannot be modified— the system supplies your desktop or username in the Creator field.

  • Be optional and not required to contain data.

    Some fields do not require data and may be left empty.

    For example, refer to the property sheet of the CompoundDoc, delivered with the Contenta software—all fields other than Name and Access Level are optional.

The hierarchy for all data resides on the sysadmin desktop. If you, the projman, are responsible for creating a hierarchy for the data, the sysadmin must create the top-level container object, and then place a linked copy of the object on your desktop. If the top-level container or containers exist, then the sysadmin may just place a linked copy of the container on your desktop.

After the top-level object is copied to your desktop, you can finish creating the hierarchy or add objects to an already existing hierarchy. Since the top-level container object is linked, all objects you create are displayed and accessible from the sysadmin desktop also. If you cannot create some objects, it may be because you do not have permission to do so. Use the pcmadmin tool to add the create permission for any such objects. If you have permission to create objects but do not see the object you want to add to the hierarchy, it may not fall within the containment rules for the parent object. See the Contenta Administration User topics for information about the create permission, adding permissions to a toolbox, and defining containment rules. The steps for creating a new object are explained in this section.