3.4.4.2 Actions on a single object
Actions on a single object are triggered by selecting its menu entry in the object's menu.
Many of the entries are specific
to a particular type of objects, e. g., the actions offered for
a folder or for a document are different .
Depending on how you have configured your user interface,
you may see fewer than the complete set of possible action menu entries
for this type of objects (see section
4.2.4).
BSCW does not show action menu entries that you cannot use because
you do not have the necessary role (access rights) for a specific object
or a complete folder or workspace (see section
4.7).
Actions offered in the action menus include:
- Open
- shows the document for inspection.
- Catch up
- removes the events icons that showed you the latest read and change events
for the object (see section 3.5
for details).
- History
- shows you all the manipulation events that took place since the creation of this object
(see section 4.6.4 for details).
- Info
- shows you the info page of this object
(see section 4.6 for details).
- Contents
- give you an indented list of all the objects in a folder or workspace.
- Edit Banner
- lets you create a banner for a folder or workspace (see section 4.4.4
for Details).
- Send
- lets you forward your object via email or fax.
- Change Type
- lets you change a document's MIME type, e. g. if the uploading process did not detect it correctly (more
in section 4.6.1).
- Edit
- lets you edit a text or HTML document directly on the server. This action is recommended only for minor editing work. For
substantial editing, use a more powerful local text or HTML editor.
You need to store the document locally before you can edit it.
Either use the 'Save as' function of your Web browser or 'archive'
the document, download the archive file and extract it locally.
- Note:
- You may configure BSCW and your Web browser to offer the 'edit'
menu entry also for documents in specific proprietary file formats
(see section 4.2.7).
- Replace
- uploads a file from your local computer system and puts it
in the place of this document. The 'replaced' document is overwritten
and is no longer accessible.
- Use Replace
to upload the edited document.
- Version
- lets you impose version control on a document and enter a
description of the base version, initial version number and state
(see section 4.8 for details).
- Set Lock
- lets you lock the document and enter a brief text warning
the other members of the workspace that you are currently editing
this document. The text is displayed when a user clicks the
icon (more in section 4.6.3).
- Convert
- lets you produce a new document by converting this document
into another format (MIME type). Select the target format from
a menu of the converter programs installed on your BSCW server
(more in section 4.12).
- Archive
- generates a .zip/.tar archive and lets you chose an encoding type
(see section 4.13 for details).
- Extract
- only in the entry of a document of MIME type .zip
archive or .tar archive:
extracts the archive and places the extracted files in your clipboard
(see section 3.6.1) as the current
selection. - Export
- lets you transfer your file to an FTP host
(see section 4.17 for details).
- Rate
- only in the entry of a document or URL object:
lets you rate the quality of the document or the object referenced
by the URL on a 5-point scale. Your rating will replace your previous
rating, if any. The number of ratings offered and their median
value are displayed in the object's entry. - Attach Note
- in the action menu of a document or URL object:
lets you create an annotation which is tied to the annotated
document or URL object.
The annotation is represented by the icon behind the object name; click this icon to display the annotation
(see section 4.9.6). - Add Note
- in the entry of a discussion:
lets you create a new Note within the current discussion. This
note does not reply to any earlier note, but it may start a new
thread (more in section 4.9).
- Description
- lets you change the description of the object (more in section 4.6).
- Rename
- allows you to give another name to your object.
- Events
- lets you configure the events you want to be informed of by icons and/or the daily activity report
(see section 3.5 for details).
- Add Role
- lets you define a new role based on standard templates or action classes
(see section 4.7 for details).
- Edit Role
- lets you change the attributes of an existing role - if you have the permission (role) -
(see section 4.7 for details).
- Change Owner
- allows you to hand the ownership to someone else.
- Assign Role
- allows you to give a (new) role to a member - if you the permission (role) -
(see section 4.7 for details).
- Public Access
- lets you define allowed actions (i.e. add document/folder/discussion/URL)for the anonymous user
(see section 4.7 for details).
- Cut
- lets you transfer the object onto your clipboard
(see section 3.6.1 for details).
- Copy
- lets you transfer a copy of the object onto your clipboard
(see section 3.6.1 for details).
- Note:
- To copy a folder means to recursively copy all objects contained in it,
including all folders, sub-folders etc. and their contents. In
many cases a "cut" action could serve the same purpose and would need much less storage
space.
- Delete
- transfers the object into your wastebasket
(see section 3.6.2 for details).