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Keeping Your Data Organised
The WinCan VX project folder structure for HADDMS projects is no different than for any other VX project and has a lot of folders and sub-folders which are used by the system. The purpose of this section is to understand some of the more important folders, how and why they are used in certain ways by the default processes used with WinCan VX.
Generally speaking, the Project Folder will normally have the same name as the Project Name, although this is not a requirement for VX. Nor are the names of the VX database files inside the DB folder. In previous version of WinCan it was possible in some instances to edit the Project Name by simply renaming the database file in Windows, but this is not the case with VX files. The name of the project is stored inside the database file, not by the file name itself, so if you want to change a project name, then you must use the tools inside WinCan VX to do this and do not try to do it externally in the Windows environment.
There are two ways to rename a project in VX, one by clicking on the ‘Manage Projects’ button in the Project ribbon bar, and the other more simpler way is to click on ‘Rename Project’ button in the Project Tab, here:
The Project Rename button in WinCan VX.
Info - One word of advice when renaming projects – always make sure that the project folder is not open anywhere on your PC screen when you try to rename. If the project folder or any sub folder is open in Windows Explorer, then the renaming will fail.
The folder tree here describes some of the more significant folders that should be considered effectively when working with HADDMS data, but also when working with non-HADDMS projects.
The WinCan VX Project Folder Tree.
DB – this folder contains the database files. There are always two of them, one usually with the project name and the second one with ‘_Meta’ at the end. As is the case with all WinCan VX project databases, these two database files must always travel together as a matching pair if you want to open the project on a different PC for any reason.
Misc – this folder contains several sub folders, the three most important of which are described here.
Backup – WinCan VX sometimes makes backup copies of the project databases at strategic times when certain processes are actioned by the user. This is because the feature that has been activated is going to edit the current state of the database, so in the event that the user is not happy with the results, there will be a backup copy made which will be saved in this folder, so that they can roll-back the project to before the action was taken.
In due course, there will be a tool in the VX interface to enable this roll-back feature, but at the time of writing this document it is still waiting to be added to the application, so for now it is a manual process inside the project folder.
Docu – the Documents folder is the default saving location used by the application when the user creates .pdf files from the Printing Docu-Centre. It is also the default save location when spreadsheets are saved from the Report Generator. The user can add any files they wish of any type to this folder either in Windows Explorer or by using the Project Documents button in the Tools ribbon bar, and any files that stored in here will be available as downloadable files to the reader (client) in WinCan Web. These files are generally referred to as Project Supporting Documents.
Data Exchange – this is where all Export data sets and files are saved from WinCan VX in all territories and standards, so when you get to the very end of the HADDMS data consolidation process and you are ready to export the data to shapefiles for delivery to the client (see section Creating Exports for Delivery), this is where they will be saved in a date and time stamped folder, so that repeated exports do not overwrite each other.
Module - this is a common folder for all WinCan 3rd party application data and is completely synchronised with WinCan Web
Map – this folder is the default location that you should use for saving and storing all of your project-specific shapefiles and associated data. A layer is just a shapefile (see section Shapefiles), so it makes sense to use this folder as the default location for saving all external and useful shapefiles (see section Useful External Files) that might be needed by the project users, particularly CCTV operators and data processors.
Picture – this folder contains all the photos for the project. In this folder there are 3 sub folders called Sec, Nod and Project. The folders contain the photos for Sections (and laterals), nodes and Project pictures.
Trash – in here there is an almost complete sub folder structure of the project folder itself, and when any object is deleted in the WinCan VX interface, it is never actually deleted from the project folder. So, if a user deletes a CleverScan from a node inspection, then it will simply be moved to the CleverScan folder inside the Trash folder, which means it can always be recovered if needed. Also applies to all media files.
Video – this folder contains all the videos for the project. In this folder there are 2 sub folders called Sec and Nod. The folders contain the videos for Sections (and laterals) and Nodes.