Maintaining the work environment

Detailed maintenance of workspaces is significantly different from quick loading or unloading processes. Entire files are not copied, and therefore no settings are overwritten. This isn't ideal for normal work, where you consciously want to retrieve only the settings you need at the time. However, if you want to control and maintain existing workspaces, it's helpful to be able to copy individual settings from the system to the workspace, or vice versa.

To manage workspaces, expand the workspace, locate the desired function level, and expand it as well. You'll now see all the groups and settings for that function. This is done on both sides of the dialog box. On the left, you'll always see the current settings from the program system, and on the right, the settings from the selected workspace.

For example, if you last loaded your 'Solid Construction' work environment, you'll only find wall designs for solid construction on the left. If you select your 'Timber Frame Construction' work environment on the right (if you've created one), you'll only find wall designs for timber frame construction.

Now you can select the settings you want to copy from one side to the other and then click the corresponding arrow between the two trees. You can use the usual Windows keys to select them. Holding down the Ctrl key selects any individual setting. Holding down the Shift key selects all settings between the first and last clicked setting.

If the copied settings belong to a group (e.g., the 'Timber Frame Construction' group), the settings will be copied from that group. Therefore, in our example, the 'Timber Frame Construction' group with the corresponding settings would appear on the left. The existing settings of the current system would remain untouched. We now have wall designs for solid construction and timber frame construction in our program system. The settings for the timber frame construction wall designs will remain in the 'Timber Frame Construction' work environment. The settings are always copied and not moved.

If a setting is set as a favorite, this information will also be copied. However, conflicts can arise if the same favorite numbers are used on both sides. In this case, the setting in the program system (left side) always retains the favorite, and the setting copied from right to left loses the favorite setting.

Basically, you can copy settings in both directions using the method just described. This also allows you to copy newly created settings that would be useful in an existing workspace from the system into the workspace. You can also do the same from within individual functions. For example, if you have created a single new setting in a function that you also want to have available in other workspaces, you don't need to call up the workspace data exchange. You can then call up the function data exchange and select the workspace directory on the right-hand side. To do this, simply click the large 'Workspaces (DHPUGB)' button at the top of the dialog box for selecting the path. The program will then automatically jump to this directory. There you simply select the directory of the desired workspace and then copy the new setting from the program system to the desired workspace.

Below the two tree elements, there are three buttons that can sometimes make things a little easier. With the 'Select All' button, you can expand all work levels and function levels of the tree with a single click, and all settings will be highlighted. The 'Delete' button deletes the highlighted settings.

The 'As Email Attachment' option is a special form of export. The program automatically packs all settings selected on the respective page into a file and creates an email in the program configured as the computer's default email client. The packed file is attached to this email, and a text is inserted into the email explaining how to import the settings from there into the program:

To transfer the data, please proceed as follows:

1. Save the attachment of this message to your desktop.

2. In Dietrich's program, call up the dialog for which the settings are intended.

3. Use the second button next to the setting to access the settings management.

All you have to do now is enter the email address and expand the text accordingly so the recipient knows who the email is from and which function the settings originate from (in this case, the data exchange between workspaces). If the recipient then follows the information in the email, they can easily import the settings with the program's support. The next time you call the 'Workspaces - Data Exchange' or 'Workspace - Load' function, the function for creating a new workspace will automatically start. This allows you to change the default name of the workspace and even import only part of the emailed workspace.