There are two ways to create and edit change requests, requirements, tasks, and topics:
- Dialog box property editors (modal)
- Embedded property editors (non-modal)
Each has its own advantages.
Dialog Box Property Editors
Dialog box editors open in a separate window for creating new items, and for editing or checking the status of existing ones.
Dialog box property editors enable you to do the following:
- Create or modify an item without disturbing your workspace.
- Open a dialog box property editor from within another dialog box, such as the file
Check In or
Check Out dialog box.
For example, from the
Process Item or the
Changes area in the
Check In dialog box, you might open the property dialog box for the process item you are using and copy its synopsis to the description
field in the
Check In dialog box. This is not allowed in embedded editor because the
Check In dialog box itself is modal and blocks the workspace UI.
Embedded Property Editors
Embedded property editors open in the Eclipse editor pane using the Eclipse forms look and feel. When an item is opened in
an embedded editor, the embedded property editor takes precedence and the controls in the properties dialog box for that item
are disabled.
Embedded property editors enable you to do the following:
- Continue to do other work in Eclipse while the embedded property editor is open.
- Open multiple embedded property editors at the same time.
- Drag text content from one property editor to another.
- Drag a block of text from a file in the editor to a field in an embedded property editor.
- Drag and drop files, such as images or log files, from the
Server Explorer onto the attachment tab of an embedded property editor.
- Quickly open item property editors by dragging one or more items from the Item view into the editor pane.
- View warnings and error messages in the header of the active tab page.
- See when changes to an item are unsaved, represented by an asterisk next to the editor title on the tab.