Groups / multiple projects for large number of related files

[csalsa]

I have been using projects to group/categorize large number of related XML files.

However, I can only open one project at a time and I cannot quickly swap between projects.

What I would like is to either:
1. Quickly swap between projects (say have a number open at a time and have an 'Open Projects' view which I can use to select and move between open projects).
2. Be able to create groups inside one project with a meaningful name (like have folders inside a project).

I am sure there could be other solutions.

[sorin_ristache]

Hello,

1. Quickly swap between projects (say have a number open at a time and have an 'Open Projects' view which I can use to select and move between open projects).

You can quickly swap between projects from menu Project -> Reopen Project.

2. Be able to create groups inside one project with a meaningful name (like have folders inside a project).

The action New Folder available on the contextual menu of the Project view creates a logical folder (blue icon), that is a project that does not have to exist on disk. You can give a meaningful name to a logical project and use it for grouping files and other folders (logical - blue icon or physical - yellow icon).


Regards,
Sorin

[csalsa]

Thanks Sorin for your prompt reply.

Your suggestion of the Project View 'logical folder' is an OxygenXML feature that I was not aware of. I will definitely make use of it.

If I select a 'logical folder', would you please consider adding a new action 'Synchronize' so that 'opened' files in the Editor are synchronized with the files under the logical folder?

The workaround to this is to:
1. File -> 'CloseAll'
2. logical folder Context menu -> 'Open All Files'

It would be nice to have this done in one action. Meanwhile I will assign a hotkey to step 1 (to make this bit easier).

[sorin_ristache]

Hello,

Do you want a Synchronize action for refreshing the content of the editor when a file is changed on disk by other application? That is already available: when you change focus to other opened file or other application, the first file is modified on disk and you change focus again to the first file there is a warning dialog that specifies the file was modified on disk and allows you to refresh the editor content by reading the file from disk.


Regards,
Sorin

[csalsa]

Hi Sorin

I should have been more specific.

What I meant by 'Synchronise' was to have open only the files that are listed under the project logical folder when I select this action. That is, to open files in the list that have not been opened in the Editor Perspective BUT close any file that is currently open in the Editor Perspective but is not in the file list. Files existing in the logical folder and the Editor Perspective would be refreshed as usual.

My driver for this request is because of the memory consumption of OxygenXML. Our XML schemas and XML samples are large and typically consume 1GByte or more of memory when we load a dozen samples. What I would like is to quickly change between logical groups of files by only having open small number of files at any one time so I am not consuming too much memory.

[sorin_ristache]

Hello,

In that case you should use the actions Close All and right click on logic folder in Project view -> Open All Files. A file is closed in an application with a Close action or when the application is closed. A Synchronize action does not close files and open other files.


Regards,
Sorin

[csalsa]

Hi

I would not want to debate if 'synchronize' is the right word.

The problem that I am trying to solve is that if we load about a dozen samples/schemas, then OxygenXML consumes 1GByte or more of memory. I am trying to work with this limitation and that we often total more than a dozen samples files for a service.

The samples for one service can be grouped where they demonstrate one feature/combination of a service usage. We will make use of the project logical folders in the Project View to show these groupings.

I was looking for a quick way to swap in and out these smaller logical 'groups' of files so we do not exceed the 1GByte consumption of memory. As expected, if we consume too much memory, the PC workstations grind and become slow to work with.

We will work with the 'File -> Close All' and use the context menu of the project logical folder to open the files in that directory.

[sorin_ristache]

Hello,

The name of the action (Synchronize, Open Selected Project Files, etc) is not important. I just wanted to point out that such an action applied to the group of files located in a folder in the Project view (close all files that are already opened and open all files from project folder) is not expected/not intuitive for the user. It is intuitive if you close the current project and open other project in the Project view which is already implemented (the files that were opened when a project was closed will be reopened automatically when that project will be reopened) and you can use that as alternative for the sequence Close All + Open All Files.


Regards,
Sorin

[csalsa]

Fair enough. It does have to be simple and easy to use and obvious.

Thanks for your explanation.