Workspaces

Workspaces

CSS uses a Workspace. This is a directory where the user stores configuration files for the various CSS tools. In addition, Eclipse creates a

.metadata

subdirectory where it persists the current state of the workbench, allowing CSS to start up in the same state as you left it when it was running the last time.

Most of the time, one should leave the .metadata directory to Eclipse/CSS and not touch its content. One exception is the .lock file mentioned below, the other is the Eclipse message log that might contain hints in case you experience errors:

 .metadata/.log

The .metadata/.plugin directory contains further subdirectories where plugins store their state. [wiki:Probe] for example stores the recently entered PV names under

 .metadata/.plugin/org.csstudio.diag.probe/dialog_settings.xml

Settings that end users enter in the preferences GUI are stored under

 .metadata/.plugins/org.eclipse.core.runtime/.settings 

One Workspace per Instance

You can only run one instance of CSS for a selected workspace. When multiple users run CSS on the same computer, for example shared accounts in a control room, each CSS instance has to use a different workspace.

In the SNS product, a startup dialog prompts for the workspace. Command-line options control the initially suggested workspace name, and office users can select a workspace in their home directory as the default without being prompted again on further CSS starts.

"Workspace ... is in use..." Error on Startup

Ordinarily this message means that the selected workspace is indeed in use by another instance of CSS, so you should either use that one, close it, or select a different workspace for the second instance of CSS.

In rare cases, the message results from a power outage or a crash that prevented CSS from properly closing the workspace. If you know for sure that the workspace is indeed not in use, because no other instance of CSS is running on the computer that might use that workspace, you can then overcome this message by deleting the file

.metadata/.lock

inside the affected workspace directory.

Shared Folders

Projects and sub-folders of a project in a user's Workspace are private to a user. If you want to share configuration files with other CSS users, for example use common operator interface panels or DataBrowser configurations, you can link to a shared folder in the file system.

In the SNS control room, a CSS command-line option creates a "Share" folder in each workspace that points to a shared location.

To manually create such shared folders:

1. Create a folder in a commonly accessible location, say /usr/share/css/shared_folder
2. In the Navigator, select a Project, right-click, "New", "Other...", "General", "Folder".
3. Click "Advanced", check "Link to folder in the file system" and "Browse..." to /usr/share/css/shared_folder.

Repeat in each CSS instance that needs access to that shared folder. In addition, assert that the preference setting General, Workspace, "Refresh automatically" is checked (Menu CSS/Preferences).