Adding Projects
With the new asset type in place, it is time to start adding projects to the database. You will add two projects that correspond to the development of two hypothetical products — a wrench and a busbar. These examples demonstrate how you can add, edit, and search for assets in your customized asset management system.
See also Example 1: Structural Analysis of a Wrench and Example 2: The Busbar — A Multiphysics Model in Introduction to COMSOL Multiphysics.
1
Click Add () and select New Asset in the top navigation bar.
2
Write Combination wrench in the Asset title field.
3
Select Project in the list.
4
Click Continue.
5
In the Description field, write Improving the structural integrity of the combination wrench product line.
6
In the Status field, select Ongoing.
7
In the Work group field, write Research and Development.
8
Click Save.
You have now created a first asset in the database of the project asset type. Click the Home link () in the top navigation bar to open the Home page. Write Combination wrench in the Search field and press Enter. The project asset is shown in the search result table. Click on its title to return to the Asset page for the project.
Adding a New Asset
Editing the Project
At the moment, the project does not contain much data other than its title, description, and status value. There are, for example, no supplementary files uploaded on the project.
1
Click Edit in the upper-right corner.
The Asset page for the project is shown in its editing state.
2
Click the Add Row button under the Documentation files table in the Files section.
3
Click the Click here to upload link and browse for a file on your computer. For the purpose of this tutorial, you may select any file on your file system to masquerade as some documentation manual.
The selected file is added as a row in the table. You can add more documentation files by repeatedly clicking the Add Row button under the Documentation files table and selecting a file via the Click here to upload link.
4
Click the Add Row button under the Presentations table.
5
Upload any file in the Presentation column much like you did for the documentation files.
6
In the Presented column, click the calendar and select an imagined date the presentation was held.
7
Click Save.
The Files section is now filled with a few uploaded files associated with the project. You can click the filename of a file to download it to your computer.
The Asset Page
Editing the Asset Type
You can modify and extend an existing asset type even after you have created your first asset of that type. You may, for example, want to rearrange the layout of sections and attributes on the project asset type, or perhaps add new types of attributes to your projects.
See Table 3-4 for a complete list of attribute widgets that can be added to an asset page, including the types of values that can be edited using these widgets.
As an example, you are going to add the predefined Attachments composite attribute to the project asset type. You may, for example, decide to use this for miscellaneous files that are neither documentation files nor presentations.
1
Select Database in the Administration menu () in the upper-right corner.
2
Click Asset Types in the Database navigation sidebar.
3
Click the Project asset type on the Asset Types page.
The details page for the asset type is opened. You can see the current layout of sections and the attributes they contain.
4
Click Edit.
5
In the Files section, select Attachments in the Add attribute list.
The Attachments composite attribute is added last to the section. You can rearrange the attributes by moving the mouse pointer over the crossed arrows icon in a table row, pressing and holding down the mouse button to “grab” the table row, moving the mouse pointer to “drag” the table row to its desired location in the table, and then releasing the mouse button to “drop” the table row in its new location.
6
Click Save.
Open the Asset page for your combination wrench project. An empty Attachments table is now visible in the Files section.
There are no restrictions on the types of supplementary files you decide to upload on your projects. Examples include project notes, word processing documents, reports, slides, images, and videos. Files used as auxiliary data by simulation models — for example, CAD data or interpolation functions — are best version-controlled inside repositories, though, side by side with the models.
The File Page
Adding More Projects
Add a second asset of the project asset type to the database:
1
Click Add () and select New Asset in the top navigation bar.
2
Write Busbar redesign in the Asset title field.
3
Select Project in the list.
4
Click Continue.
5
In the Description field, write New design for the busbar component.
6
In the Status field, select Planned. Leave Work group empty.
7
Click Save.
A second project asset is created in the database. The same set of attributes available for editing on the first asset are also present on this new asset.