Attaching a Supporting Document to an Asset
Some assets include attributes that allow you to associate supporting documents such as programming guides, sample code, script files and project plan with the asset.
For example, Service assets include the Specification profile. This profile contains several file-related attributes representing external documents such as Functional Requirements, Error Messages, Release Notes and so forth.
You can attach a document to an asset instance in the following ways:
You can attach a document from your organization's
supporting document library. The supporting document library is a collection of shareable documents that members of your organization have uploaded to
CentraSite's document repository. For more information about the supporting document library,
Who Can Manage the Supporting Document Library?.
You can attach any document on the network that is accessible via a URL (permitted protocols are http, https, file and ftp).
When attaching a document to an asset, keep the following points in mind:
A document in the supporting document library can be shared by multiple assets in the catalog. For example, if you have two Web service assets that refer to the same programming guide, you can upload one copy of the programming guide to the supporting document library and attach it to both assets.
If the document that you want to attach to an asset is not already in the supporting document library, you can upload it to the library when you set the file-related attribute. (To use this feature, you must belong to a role that has the
Create Assets permission for the organization into whose library you want place the document.)
If you attach a document to an asset that will be viewed by users in other organizations, those users will only be able to view the attached document if they have the
View Supporting Documents permission.
CentraSite relies on file extensions to determine a file's type. When you upload a file from your local machine to the supporting document library, be sure the name of the file on your local machine includes a file extension so that
CentraSite can determine the file's type and mark it correctly in the supporting document library.
When you attach a document to an attribute using a URL, be aware that the attribute simply creates a reference to the document at that URL.
CentraSite does not retrieve the document from the URL and place it in its document repository. If the referenced document is subsequently modified, renamed or deleted, the reference may become invalid.
