About Developments

The definition of a development includes details such as the DesignSync connector information, paths to were data is stored, and details about external development areas. See Development Properties for details about the attributes for a development.

In addition, these items are associated with a development:

• Development settings
• Development assignments
• Tool suites

You can define multiple development settings, as many development assignments as needed to support the various types of users, and as may tool suites as used within your organization.

If you do not connect any tool suites to the development, then development instances created from the development can use any tool suite associated with their DesignSync server. If one or more tool suites have been connected to the development, then development instances can only use those tool suites.

Enterprise DesignSync Administration allows you to copy or revise an existing development. In general, use the Revise Development action when working on a new version of a model version and use the Copy Development action when creating a completely new model version. For example, if you had defined a development and all of its related details (assignments, settings, and tool suites) for a model version, and now you need to work on the next version of that model version, you would revise the development. If you are developing a new model version, instead of creating all of the items you need for the development, you can make a copy of an existing development and then make any required changes for the new model version.

When you copy or revise a development, Enterprise DesignSync Administration copies many of the attribute values from the original development and lets you edit many of them. Attributes that must be specific for a development are not copied. The following table lists the attributes for a development and whether they are copied to the new copy or revision, and if it can be edited:

Developments are related to other items. Some items, such as tool suites, can be used with the copied or revised development. Other items, such as development instances, do not apply to the copy or revised development. The following table lists whether items related to the original development will be related to the copied or revised development.

For development settings in the Make Branch or Make Copy state, Enterprise DesignSync Administration copies or revises the development setting and then connects the copied or revised version to the copied or revised development. The following table lists how Enterprise DesignSync Administration defines the attributes for the new development setting.

Enterprise DesignSync Administration defines several types of internal paths that can be used for development instances:

• Development path
• Development area path

Paths can be defined at any of these levels:

• DesignSync server
• Development
• Development instance

The paths defined for the development instance override any paths defined for a development or server. If the person who creates the development instance does not define a path for that instance, Enterprise DesignSync Administration uses the path defined for the development. If the path is also undefined for the development, then Enterprise DesignSync Administration uses the path for the server. In general, the path set at the server level is the recommended path to be used by developments. When someone creates a development, they can use the server path by not specifying a different path. When someone creates a development instance, they can use the development path (which might be inherited from the server) by not entering a specific path. This structure allows the development instance owner to choose the path for their data, or to accept the path defined by the development or DesignSync server.

For a development and development instance, you can also define an external development path. If the person creating the development instance does not specify the external path, Enterprise DesignSync Administration uses the path defined for the development. If this value is not defined for the development, then the path is undetermined. You only need to define an external development path if the Allow External Development Areas value is set to Yes. In that case, a value must be entered for either the development or development instance before the development instance can be enabled. If the Allow External Development Areas value is set to No, you do not need to define the path at either level.