Open in new window

[sandra.spuma]

It would be very useful to have the possiblity to click on a file/folder and select "Open in new window", ... to be able to compare drawings/folders/data/...., as example.
Our users struggle a lot with the fact, that in Vault professional it is only possible to see one folder and it´s content at the time. If they want to compare files/data/... they need to open manually a new session and search again the needed file/folder/data... to compare it. this needs always a lot of time.

in the thin client it is already possible to select "open in new tab" or "open in new window". the same function would be very useful in Vault professional, too. (same principal as in the windows explorer - "Open in new window")

[ihayesjr]

@sandra.spuma 

Thank you for posting the idea. When the user need to compare folders, what is the comparison telling them?

What problem are they trying to solve that would be better if we provided this command?

[ihayesjr]

@sandra.spuma 

There is a View in Window command for open and viewing multiple files, though.

[swalton]

Some use cases...

• Comparing the "Uses" data between version 2 and version 27 of the same parent assembly.
• Comparing the version history and check-in dates between a part file, its related drawing file and the manufacturing export files. 
• Comparing the Where Used data between two part files that have duplicate vendor part numbers.

[ihayesjr]

@swalton 

Thank you for the feedback. Are you using Vault Professional?

If so, the first bullet will be a comparison of Revisions as we don't show version to version relationships in Vault Professional.

[sandra.spuma]

@ihayesjr please, find here 2 more examples

- we are working a lot with  muser defined properties and our users comparing these properties with eachother

- our users are checking the "Where used" for example and try to see then the related documents of one of the "where used" items. when they want to see that they have to switch the location 

[ihayesjr]

@sandra.spuma 

Thank you for the examples. 

For the properties example, what if we implemented a property compare dialog?

The user selects multiple files, the click's Compare Properties.

A dialog opens and shows all properties for each file side by side. 

[RajSchmidt]

@ihayesjr: That sounds nice. But that would help in just one of the use cases given. Why not implement the original idea with multiple windows. That would be a bit more versatile. In ancient times (with Productstream) we had such a functionality. The new window was missing some elements like the main menu. So it was always easy to distinguish between main window and any auxiliary ones.

[ihayesjr]

@RajSchmidt 

My intent was to introduce another option for one scenario and it could possibly use the existing Edit properties dialog without being in edit mode. 

While having another "window" could help, it also could be displaying too much information which could be a distraction from the original reason of having another dialog. 

For example, View in Window allows the user to open multiple windows to view multiple models. The View in Window dialog only shows the view and no other information.

[sandra.spuma]

@ihayesjr 

the view in Window dialog is currently not used by us but I´m going to introduce it to my users, it was a good tip thank you.

the idea with the comparison of the properties sounds good, but as RajSchmidt mentioned, it would only solve one specific case.

I also had in my mind the original Product stream way, as a lot of my users and I worked with that before Vault and it was very handy. the idea was to have a middle way between something very limited and opening a complete new session of vault which takes in our environment a lot of time. that means something like a lite version of Vault with a few limitations, maybe without the tree on the left side, no menubars,... 

[ihayesjr]

@sandra.spuma 

I was not attempting to solve both cases in that statement.

Can you and @RajSchmidt provide sample images of what another "window" would look like?

[sandra.spuma]

@ihayesjr 

I talked with a few o my users and from our side the tree, the short cuts and the menu bars are not needed in this seperate view.

for us the vault view, the details on the bottom and the property panel would be enough.

[RajSchmidt]

@sandra.spuma: That is exactly what I would imagine! Great work!

[sandra.spuma]

thank you @RajSchmidt 

[ihayesjr]

@sandra.spuma 

Thank you for the image.

Without the menus at the top of the dialog and no folder browser:

1. Should the main grid only show the object which you selected when opening this window?
2. What happens to the Right-click commands?
3. What should the user be able to do and not do?

[sandra.spuma]

@ihayesjr 

it should show the whole folder content, not only the selected file.

From my point of view everything should be possible to use, like get, check in, check out, .... (fully functional right-click menu).

[ihayesjr]

@sandra.spuma 

If everything is fully functional, there would be no reason to hide the menu bar. A right-click menu with all of the options would be way too long to show. There are actions for a file in all menus that are not in the current right-click menu.

[ihayesjr]

The right-click menu has 27 commands in it when a file is selected. To make it fully functional without a toolbar, another 27 commands would need to be added.

Folder navigation in this window would also be a challenge.

If the user is looking at a file in a folder which has subfolders, they could click into the subfolder but have no way to go up since the folder navigation pane is not present. Along with the folder navigation pane, the worklist, Items, Change Orders, and Shortcuts would also not be available easily. 

[sandra.spuma]

@ihayesjr 

indeed you are right.

we don´t have all commands visible for our users and we don´t work with the Vault items yet.
maybe it is possible to remove the item/folder related commands.
i think it is usefule to be able to check in, check out, get and create files, to see previews and properties and to be able to modify properties. 

[adam_murphyJ32ZB]

I logged on with a customer once who had 2 Vault clients open on one screen. (You can just open the application a second time)

Both were logged into the same Vault with the same user.

He had Folder A open on one client, and folder B open on the other client.

He was trying to drag and drop files from folder A to Folder B, across Vault client windows.

This makes sense when you think of how people copy files within the windows explorer environment.

Or at least, this is exactly how I do it.

I thought it was funny at first but I think the guy was onto something...

[sandra.spuma]

@adam_murphyJ32ZB , you are right, this is what my users are doing, too.

But the problem is that opening Vault takes very long for us, as we have a very special set up and a lot of folders have to be loaded in the background during opening. 

Therefore, the users are asking for a faster and more efficient solution, instead of opening multiple Vault sessions.