The Change State Dialog in the Vault Client

Learn about the Change State dialog in the Vault Client.

The Change State command allows users to modify the lifecycle state for files, folders, items, and custom objects. Changing the lifecycle state of a Vault object enforces certain lifecycle behaviors configured by the Vault administrator to occur. Examples of states include Work in Progress, Released, and Obsolete.

The relationship grid displays project data that was selected when the Change State command was chosen. The lifecycle definition and the lifecycle state is shown for each object listed in the grid and can be modified individually. Along the top of the dialog, the lifecycle definition filter drop-down, the lifecycle state drop-down, and the browse button are used for making bulk changes.

Choosing a lifecycle definition from the filter allows the user to make bulk state changes to all data that belongs to that lifecycle definition. Browse to another lifecycle definition to change the lifecycle definition that is assigned to the data in the grid. Only lifecycle definitions that are assigned to the category will be available in this dialog. The lifecycle state drop-down allows the user to change the state on more than one object at a time.

By default, all data in the relationship grid is checked by default and, as a rule, only the data that is checked is affected by the settings in this dialog. Any data that is unchecked ignores the changes that were set in the Change State dialog. See the Lifecycle Definition Filter and New Lifecycle State section for more information on these features.

Changes to Data Made Are Shown in Bold Text

Changes to data made in this dialog are shown in bold text. This allows the user to easily see what data is going to change based on the settings of this dialog.

To change the lifecycle state of a file, choose the lifecycle state drop-down and select the desired state. The per file lifecycle state drop-down lists all available states within the given lifecycle definition (for which a transition from the current state to the listed state is an allowed transition).

Change the Lifecycle State for a Specific File

To change the lifecycle definition of a file, click on the "..." button in the lifecycle definition drop-down in the grid. A dialog display in which you can choose a new lifecycle definition for the file. The lifecycle definitions displayed in this dialog are all the lifecycle definitions assigned to the category to which that file belongs. When the user selects a new lifecycle definition and clicks OK, the selected file lists the new definition and its state is changed to the default state of the selected lifecycle definition.

This workflow is identical for project folders and custom objects as well.

Learn About the Lifecycle Definition Filter and Batch Change State Updates

The lifecycle definition filter drop-down contains all of the lifecycle definitions that exist for the project data listed within the relationship grid. This filter is used in conjunction with the lifecycle state drop-down. The two fields are used to update all data within a given lifecycle definition to a new lifecycle state. If the user wants to change all of the project data in a given lifecycle definition to a new lifecycle state, here's the workflow:

1. In the lifecycle definition filter drop-down, choose the lifecycle definition for which you want to do a batch update.
2. In the lifecycle state drop-down, select the new state for the files assigned to that lifecycle definition. This action changes only the lifecycle state of files with the lifecycle definition specified in the lifecycle definition filter drop-down.

For example, if you want to change all files in the grid that are in the Basic Release Process to the Work in Progress state, choose Basic Release Process in the Lifecycle Definition Filter drop-down. At this point, no changes have been made to states within the grid. Next, choose Work in Progress from the lifecycle state drop-down. All files in the grid that have the Basic Release Process are changed to the Work in Progress state.

Note: If you change any of the relationship settings (e.g., Include dependents) while the Lifecycle Definition Filter has a lifecycle selected, and the New Lifecycle State has a new state selected, then any new files brought in as a result of the change to the settings will have their lifecycle state changed to the selected state if they are in the lifecycle definition specified in the Lifecycle Definition Filter.

Select a New Lifecycle Definition

You can change the lifecycle definition of all of the project data in the file grid by clicking the "..." button to select a new lifecycle definition. The lifecycle definitions listed in select a Change Lifecycle Definition dialog are only those lifecycles which would be applied to every file in the file grid. That is, the dialog lists the intersection of lifecycle definitions that would be available for each file in the object grid. A lifecycle definition is considered available if that lifecycle is assigned to the same category as the object.

Once you select a lifecycle definition and click OK, all files within the grid are listed with the chosen lifecycle definition. Their states are also changed to the default state of the new lifecycle definition (unless the project data was already set to the chosen lifecycle definition).

Learn About Grid Views

The relationship grid has three views: Folder View, List View, and Design View

Folder View

• The Folder View shows the selected object and its hierarchy within the Vault. This view shows all of its parent and child folders (depending on related data available in the grid).
• Available for files and folders. The folder view is not available for custom objects.

List View

• The List view shows a flat list of the selected data and any of the related data that is included in the dialog.
• Available for files, folders, and custom objects.

Design View

• The Design view shows the child/parent relationship between files.
• This view is only available for files.

Include Settings

You can select which relationships are included in the grid display by configuring the preferences in the Settings dialog. Access the Settings dialog by clicking the Settings icon on the Change State dialog.

In the Settings dialog, you can choose whether dependents, attachments, or library files are included in the relationship grid for the selected data. You can also control whether parents are displayed as well and if other related documentation is also listed.

Note: The settings dialog will change based on the entity type selected on the Change State dialog.

Settings dialog for Custom Objects

There is an option to include links to the Custom Object definition type. Only links to that custom object definition type can be included in the grid display.

You can also quickly select whether to include file dependents or parents for the selected files by clicking their respective icons.

• Click the Include dependents icon to display all descendants of the selected data.
• Click the Include parents icon to display the parents of the selected data.

Include Links

As indicated in the previous section, links to entities can be included in the Change State operation. This allows a user to change the state of data that is linked into their project or custom object. For example, if a user has a Vault project configured that contains links to other folders, he or she can change the state of the folder, include sub-folders using the include dependents, and include any linked files by checking that box in the Settings dialog.

Links to data of other entity types cannot be included in the Change State event.