Adding a New Asset
The Home page for the asset management system is accessed by clicking either the COMSOL logo or the Home link () in the top navigation bar after logging in to the web interface — see Accessing the Web Interface. For a new Model Manager server database, there are no assets and the page shows an empty search result.
To add a new asset:
1
Click Add () and select New Asset in the top navigation bar. This starts a two-page wizard for adding a new asset.
2
On the first page of the wizard, write a title for the new asset in the Asset title field. Unlike all other fields on an asset, the title field is mandatory. Click Continue.
3
On the second page of the wizard:
a
Write a description for the asset in the Description field.
b
Click Choose thumbnail to browse for a thumbnail image. Write a caption for the image in the Caption field.
c
To add a link to a model version in the database, click Add Row under Model versions. Click Search for Model Version in the added table row to open a dialog box in which you can search for a model version — see Searching for Model Versions to Add. Once you have found the model version to add, click the Add to Asset button.
d
To upload a file from your file system, click Add Row under Attachments. In the added table row, either drag and drop a file to the dotted rectangular area or click Click here to upload to browse for a file on your computer.
4
Once you have finished adding model versions and file attachments, click Save to add the new asset to the database.
See also Example: A Project Asset Type for a tutorial on adding and editing assets.
You can link to an arbitrary selection of model versions on an asset — both to versions of the same model, as well as versions of different models. The model versions can be selected from any repository and branch you are permitted to browse.
Which version of a model you choose to link to depends on the workflow that best suits your needs. You may, for example, create an asset at the beginning of a new project and link to the first version of a model, or set of models, relevant to the project. As the work progresses and you reach important milestones, you might add or replace certain model versions on the asset. Perhaps when the project is finished, you link to the final version of a model. There is, however, no urgency to continually update links on the asset whenever you save new versions of your models in the database — from The Model Page of a linked model version, you can quickly navigate to the latest version of the model.
There are no restrictions on the types of supplementary files you can upload on the asset. Examples include notes, word-processing documents, presentations, reports, slides, images, and videos. Files used as auxiliary data by models — for example, CAD data or interpolation functions — are best version controlled inside the repositories, though, side by side with the models. See also The File Page.