Creating another version of assets

Create a new version of an asset when an existing asset has been improved to solve a new business problem or be used in a different context and when you want to preserve the older, existing version of the asset.

Before you begin

You must be connected to a Rational® Asset Manager repository and your account must have adequate permissions to download and modify an asset.

About this task

For example, create a new version when:
  • you have a new version of an existing software asset that you want others to use;
  • an existing asset has been modified to work in a different environment or business unit;
  • you want to modify an asset's descriptive metadata or artifacts and also want to preserve the older asset so others can find it; or
  • you want to keep separate governance information, usage statistics, or other metadata from version to version of an asset.
Creating a new version of the asset provides the following additional benefits:
  • Instead of entering all of the information for a completely new asset, you can modify the previous artifacts and asset metadata from the existing asset.
  • Rational Asset Manager will display other versions of an asset and allow you to browse to older and newer versions of an asset from the General Details page.
  • Bookmark an asset and remove the version number from the URL to have a bookmark that will always open the newest version of an asset.
  • Users will be able to find and see older versions of the asset.

To learn more about the version formats and relationships by using the version numbers that you provide, see the reference topic Asset version formatting.

If you do not want to create a new asset, you can modify an asset without creating a new version.

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. In the Asset Editor, on the General Details page, next to the Version field, click the Edit version list and select Create new version. If you only want to change the version number of the asset but not create a new asset, select Replace existing version.
  5. 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. 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.
  7. 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.
  8. 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.
  9. 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.

Results

The Updating Asset window will appear to show the progress of the upload. You will receive confirmation when the new asset has been successfully submitted to the repository.

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