Modifying assets

Modify an asset when you want to edit the existing artifacts or asset metadata of an asset but not create a new version or duplicate of that asset. For example, you may want to change the description or add a new category to an asset. You can modify the details or content for an asset at any time during asset development. After the asset has been approved, if you modify the asset you must submit the asset through the review process again.

Before you begin

You must be connected to a Rational® Asset Manager repository. Your role must have adequate permission to download and update the descriptive metadata or content of an asset. Contact your community administrator to request the proper permissions.

About this task

Note: If you change the artifacts or metadata for an asset, keyword searches will only search the updated content. If you want to preserve the older metadata in order to continue to search for it, create a new version of an asset.
Remember: You must save the changes and click Update to update the changes to the server.

Procedure

  1. Find the asset that you want to modify on the repository by using the Asset Search view and searching with any combination of keywords, filters, and tags. Results for your searches appear in the Assets view.
  2. Import the asset into your workspace. You must import an asset before you can modify it. To import an asset:
    1. In the Assets view, right-click an asset name and select Import Asset.

      Import Asset from the Assets view

    2. You will prompted to also import any assets that are related to the asset you are importing. Select any additional related assets that you want to import and click Next.
    3. You must import an asset into a project. Select an existing project folder.
      • If you do not already have an available project in your workspace, the New Project window will open. Name the project and click OK.
      • If you have existing projects, you can also create a new project by clicking the New Project Wizard icon.
    4. Click Finish. The asset and any related assets will be downloaded into your workspace.
  3. If the asset does not open automatically, open it by double-clicking the asset name in the Asset Explorer view.
  4. Continue to modify the descriptive attributes, attached artifacts, categories, or relationships of the asset.
    CAUTION:
    The rich text editor might not always mark that the asset has unsaved changes, which can result in the loss of unsaved changes if you close the asset editor. To force Eclipse to recognize that there are changes, you can press the Enter key or use one of the rich text tools such bold or italicized text.
  5. Optional: You can change the version number of the asset.
    1. In the Asset Editor, on the General Details page, next to the Version field, click the Edit version list and select Replace existing version. If you want to create a new version of the asset (for example, creating a Version 2.0 to accompany a Version 1.0) instead of simply changing the version number of this asset, select Create new version. For more information, see Creating another version of assets and Submitting assets.
    2. In the Version field, type a new version number for the asset. To discard your changes and keep the original version number, next to the Version field click the dropdown list and select Discard version changes.
  6. Optional: You can add or remove tags for the asset on the General Details page. To add a tag, in the Tags sidebar, click the plus icon Add tag icon; then, type a new tag in the text field and click Add. To remove a tag, click the [x] by the tag name.
  7. Optional: To change the owners of an asset:
    1. In the asset editor view, click the General Details tab.
    2. In the Owners section, click the Change the owner(s) of the asset icon Change the owner(s) of the asset icon.
    3. In the Select User window, in the text field, type any part of a user's name and click Search. Results will appear in the Search Results section.
    4. To add a user as an owner, in the Search Results section, select a user and click Add. Repeat for all users that you want to add.
    5. To remove a user as an owner, in the Owners section, select a user and click Remove. Repeat for all users that you want to remove.
    6. When you are finished adding and removing users, click OK.
  8. After making any necessary changes, click Update. If the Update button has been disabled, the asset on the server has changed, and you must synchronize any differences before you update the asset. Click Server contents have changed and select to retrieve the latest content from the server, use only the content in your workspace, or compare the server and local version in the Synchronize view. For more information, see Synchronizing assets with the repository.
  9. In the Asset Update Confirmation window, click Yes.
    1. Optional: You can type a comment to describe the changes you are making. Your comment will be sent to any subscribers.
  10. If the asset contains artifact files that you checked out from a Source Control Management (SCM) system such as CVS or Jazz™ but that you have not checked back in, you will be prompted to not record the SCM information on the Rational Asset Manager repository. To continue, click Yes. To cancel, click No. Submit any artifact files back into the SCM and try to submit the asset again. To record SCM information on the repository, the files must be completely checked in to the SCM system. Files that contain information about the asset, the Rational Asset Manager repository, and the SCM repository will be added to the appropriate project. If you record SCM information, you can download those artifacts directly from the source control system (instead of from Rational Asset Manager) if you import the asset later.
  11. In the status logs, you may see the following tasks being executed:
    • Submitting asset: this task sends the metadata and content for the asset to the server.
    • RAM Editor Server Change Listener: this task looks for changes to the version of the asset on the server. If the asset exists, it checks for changes that may have been made by another user or client, and offers you the option to review and merge differences with the Synchronize view.
  12. Click Yes to verify that you want to update the existing version of the asset. In other words, you are overwriting the existing version of the asset on the repository.

Results

The Updating Asset window will show the progress of the update. You will receive confirmation when the update is complete.

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