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Managing Work Area Contents

Module by: Connexions. E-mail the author

Summary: This module describes how to manage the contents of a Work Area.

To display a Work Area, click on the link in the navigation sidebar. If this is the first time you have displayed this Work Area or if you have just created the Work Area, there will be no content in the Work Area.

The display for your Personal Workspace has a green "Contents" and "Properties" tab at the top. Workgroups have "Contents", "Properties", and "Members" tabs. The "Content" tabs for both work areas are the same, except for the title at the top of the page. The following figure shows the "Contents" tab for a Personal Workspace.

Figure 1: "Contents" tab for "My Workspace".
Personal Workspace.

You can perform the following actions from the "Content" tab:

Creating New Items

To create new modules or collections in the work area, use the following steps:

  1. Click the down arrow in the text box next to the Create New Item button. A drop-down list of valid item types appears.
  2. Select either the "Collection" or "Module" item type and click Create New Item. The "New content: Licensing" screen displays.
  3. Select the checkbox to agree to the license and click Next. If you selected "Collection", the "Metadata" tab on the "Edit Collection" screen displays. See the How to Use the Collection Composer for a description of how to edit a collection. If you selected "Module", the "Metadata" tab on the "Edit Module" screen displays. See Editing Modules for a description of how to edit a module.

To create new files in the work area, use the following steps:

  1. Click the down arrow in the text box next to the Create New Item button. A drop-down list of valid item types appears.
  2. Select the "Image/Other File" item type and click Create New Item. The "Edit File" screen displays.
  3. Click Browse and locate the file to be added.
  4. Select the item and click OK to upload the file.
  5. Click Save to add the file to the work area.

The "File" item type allows you the freedom to upload materials that you want to use in your content. These materials must exist before you can import them into Connexions. When you create the file in the work area, you are actually creating an instance of the item in Connexions.

When you create a new image file, once you click Save a preview of the image appears and a message that your image has been saved displays. When you create any other type of new file and click Save, information about the file displays and the Click here to get the file link appears.

Checkout Content from the Repository

Besides creating new content, you can also checkout published content from the Content Repository. This places a working copy into one of your Work Areas for editing. In this way you can reuse information that appears elsewhere in Connexions. Once you make changes to the content and republish it, the published content updates to the new version.

Note:

It is possible to check out multiple copies of an item by checking it out to multiple work areas. If this happens, changes made to one working copy will not be automatically integrated into the other working copies. Because of this, it is highly recommended that you only keep one working copy of a published work. If you need to move the item to work on it in a new area, do no check out a second copy, but instead cut and paste the existing copy into the new area.

You can checkout content in one of several ways:

  1. Directly from the content viewing page. This method also allows you the option to easily derive a copy.
  2. From the search/browse returns listing. This method allows you to checkout multiple items at once.

From the content page

Search or browse to the content you want to checkout. Click on the title of the content you want to copy.

Near the top right corner, select the menu reading Reuse / Edit and click the "Reuse or edit" link for the content you want to copy. (If you are viewing a module in the context of a collection, there are "Reuse or edit" links for both the collection and the module.)

Figure 2: The 'Reuse / Edit' menu in the Content Actions bar.
The 'Reuse / Edit' menu in the Content Actions bar.

You will be prompted to log in if you have not already done so. If you do NOT have permission to edit the content, you will be prompted either to:

  • Derive a copy of the content. Deriving a copy allows you to adapt this content and then publish your adaptation.
  • Or check it out anyway. You might choose to check out the content, even though don't have permission to publish changes. You may ask to be a co-author later, derive a copy later, or just want to see how the content is constructed.
Figure 3: The pop-up with options to derive a copy or check it out anyway.
The pop-up with options to derive a copy or check it out anyway
Click Check it out anyway to checkout the content.

You will be prompted to select a work area to edit the content in.

Figure 4: 'Choose a work area to check out content to' popup.
'Choose a work area to check out content to' popup.

If you leave the "Edit the content now" checkbox selected, you will be redirected to the work area in order to immediately start editing the content.

From the search/browse returns listing

  1. Search or browse the repository.
  2. Select the checkboxes next to the items you want to checkout, or use the checkbox in the title bar to select all the results.
  3. Click the down arrow in the "Add selected content to" text box at the top of the returns listing. A drop-down list of all the work areas to which you belong displays. Select a work area from the list.
  4. Click Add. The selected items will be added to the work area you selected and the "Contents" tab for that work area will display.
    Figure 5: Adding the results of a search to your Personal Workspace.
    Adding the results of a search to your Personal Workspace.

Viewing the Work Area Contents

A work area can contain modules, collections, and files (such as images). The current contents of a work area can be seen on the "Contents" tab for the work area. The following information is displayed for each item in the work area:

  • Title - This column displays the title and the filename or ID of the item you have created or added to the work area group.
  • Type - This column displays the type of item listed. The types are: files, modules, and collections.
  • Size - This column displays the size of the item in kilobytes. No size is displayed for modules or collections.
  • Modified - This column displays the date and time the item was last modified. If the item is new, this column displays the creation date and time.
  • Status - This column displays the current status of the item. There are four possible statuses:
    • Published - The item has been checked into the Content Repository and is now accessible by the public.
    • Checked Out - The item was copied from the Content Repository and placed in your work area for editing purposes.
    • Created - The item has been created and placed in your work area, but no copy of the item exists in the Content Repository.
    • Modified - The item has been checked out and updated, and the changes have been saved. When you create a new item and make changes to it, its status changes from "Created" to "Modified".

Removing Items from a Work Area

To remove an item from a work area, select the checkbox next to the title of the item you want to remove and click Remove. You can select multiple items from the work area and remove them in one operation.

Renaming Items in a Work Area

To rename an item in a work area, use the following steps:

  1. Select the checkbox next to the title of the item you want to rename and click Rename. The "Rename item" screen displays.
  2. Enter the new name for the item in the "New Name" field.
  3. Enter the new title for the item in the "New Title" field.
  4. Click Rename All. You can rename multiple items at one time by selecting more than one item by clicking on the work area contents screen.
The items displayed on the "Contents" tab are updated to reflect the changes.

Cutting or Copying Items in a Work Area

To copy and paste an item in a work area, use the following steps:

  1. Select the checkbox next to the title of the item you want to cut or copy and click Cut or Copy. Cut removes the original item at the end of this process. Copy leaves the original item in its present location.
  2. Display the location where you wish to paste the object, such as another work area, and click Paste. If you paste a copied item into the workgroup where the original item resides, you will have a copy of the original item.

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Definition of a lens

Lenses

A lens is a custom view of the content in the repository. You can think of it as a fancy kind of list that will let you see content through the eyes of organizations and people you trust.

What is in a lens?

Lens makers point to materials (modules and collections), creating a guide that includes their own comments and descriptive tags about the content.

Who can create a lens?

Any individual member, a community, or a respected organization.

What are tags? tag icon

Tags are descriptors added by lens makers to help label content, attaching a vocabulary that is meaningful in the context of the lens.

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