Method configurations

A method configuration is a selection of method plug-ins and method packages in a method library.

A method configuration defines a working set of packages within the method library that limits your view to a subset of the library. Elements that comprise the selected configuration are displayed in the configuration view. Method configurations are used for creating processes and for publication by defining which elements are published in HTML and which are not.

A method configuration consists of these components:

In a method configuration, you are able to select and deselect content packages, process, and categories available in the method library's set of plug-ins. The selections that you make help determine the content of your published Web site. A configuration is given a name and then saved so that it can be changed and republished at a later date.

Before creating a method configuration, assess your needs and goals for the configuration.

There are two ways to create a method configuration:

Configurations can be created by selecting plug-ins and packages and then adding or subtracting specific elements in content categories. This provides a way to remove whole groups of elements, such as all work products in a specific domain, or all tasks in a specific discipline.

Configurations will be specified in the following four-step procedure:
  1. Select the plug-ins to be considered for the configuration definition. All additional selections in the following Steps 2 to 4 must be included in these plug-ins only. If categories will be selected in Steps 3 and 4 that are comprised of elements that are defined inside of these plug-ins and elements that are defined in other plug-ins, then configurations will only consider the elements that are within these plug-ins.
  2. Select physical packages to be included in the configuration definition. As a refinement to the method plug-in selection, the specific method packages determine which packages should be included into the interpretation of the configuration. For a selected package, every element directly residing inside that package shall be interpreted as part of the configuration.
  3. Select logical categories to be added to the configuration definition. As an additional refinement to the category definition created with Steps 1 and 2, you can select custom or standard categories whose elements shall be interpreted as part of the configuration. Step 2 required that all elements that are physically stored within the same package are part of the configuration, this steps allows adding individual elements grouped into a logical category to a configuration.
  4. Select logical categories to be subtracted from the configuration definition. As an additional refinement to the category definition created with Steps 1 to 3, you can select custom or standard categories whose elements will not be part of the configuration. In other words, you can subtract sets of individual elements from a configuration by grouping them into a category and listing this category in this step.
Advantages of this approach include:
  • Increased flexibility in selecting complete packages.
  • Ability to remove individual elements from a configuration.
  • Ability to remove whole categories from a configuration in a single operation.