Basics

You can adjust the tree structure in the Metaobjects tab in the Docusnap Management in the Customizing area. This tab provides all settings required to create user-defined structures.

Docusnap-Tools-Manage-Metaobjects

In Docusnap, five different hierarchical structures are available that can be used to organize the data that has been recorded.

Hierarchy
InventoryAll data retrieved by a scan or entered manually.
Data ImportThis hierarchy determines the structure for importing data from other databases.
License ManagementRepresents the hierarchy for the License Management module.
IT SecurityHierarchy for the IT Security module.
DocumentationStructure for the Documentation view.

For each meta object, a unique primary key is stored at runtime that allows its identification. Each object without a primary key (such as captions) will inherit the primary key of its parent Data-type meta object.

In simple words, each child level is filtered on a value from its parent level. Thus, the domain level is filtered on the value of the AccountID column, which represents a unique value at the company level.

You can extend all hierarchies. Certain properties and settings apply to all meta object types. They will be explained below. The specific properties of the various object types (Captions, Data, Reports, Links, Output, Diagram) will covered in separate subsections.

General Settings for Metaobjects

PropertyDescription
Object NameThis field contains the name of the object. The object name is composed of a prefix + its origin, i.e. defined by the software manufacturer ("D") or by the customer ("U") + the object name. The prefix indicates in which tree hierarchy this meta object is located. The following prefixes are available:
- Inventory (EXP)
- Data Import (IMP)
- Licenses (LIC)
- IT Security (RIG)
- Documentation (DOC)

Example: A new object for a caption (such as Service Level Agreement) in the inventory explorer would have the following name: EXP_U_SLA
CategoryThis field indicates the object category or type (Caption, Data, Report, Linked Object, Output or Diagram).
German Text / English TextThe display name of the object in English or German, respectively (only visible for captions in the tree)
PriorityIf you create multiple meta objects at the same level, their order is not alphabetic, but determined by the number in this field. Thus, the Server meta object under a domain, for example, has a higher number than the Workstations meta object.
AlignmentThis field indicates how the results from the list in the right Docusnap pane will be aligned.
Object Type IDUnique ID of each meta object. Docusnap assigns these IDs automatically. By default, all IDs below 1,000,000 are reserved for system definitions.
Default IconDefines the icon that is displayed next to the object in the tree.
Preview IconDefines the icon to be used for the creation of diagrams that illustrate relations. If objects are created via customizing, it is recommended to also use icons with the size 100x100 px, so that all icons have a uniform size.
Document PathUsing this property, you can link external documents, such as Word or HTML files, with this meta object. When you select an object, Docusnap automatically checks whether documents exist in this path. If documents are found, they will be displayed on the separate Documents tab of the Docusnap Data pane.
The path entered for this property is always relative to the documentation directory. In order to make paths flexible, you can use variables when specifying the path. The following variables are available:

%Account%: Company name
%Domain%: Domain name
%Object%: Object name
%ParentObject%: Object name of the parent node

Docusnap will automatically append “_EN.html” or “_DE.html” to the file names.

Example:
Assuming your documentation directory is “c:\Documentation” and you enter %Account%%Domain%\Datasheets\Workstations%Object%%Object% in this field, the resulting file name will be: c:\Documentation\Docusnap AG\test.local\Datasheets\Workstations\Notebook1\Notebook1_en.html
NamespaceWhen creating new nodes, a namespace can be entered in the combo box or an existing namespace can be selected. The namespace can be used to define which nodes should be included in the export of user-defined nodes. If a namespace has been set for a node, only this namespace can be selected for the subordinate nodes. This restriction is necessary to ensure that the tree in the exported customizing is complete. If the namespace has been changed for a node, all subordinate nodes will also be assigned to this namespace.
Show Without SubnodesObjects of this meta object type will even be displayed if they do not have any child nodes. By default, Docusnap hides objects without child nodes, i.e. this checkbox is disabled. Enabling this checkbox also has a performance increasing effect, because Docusnap will not have to check whether there are subnodes or not.
Do Not CompareThe Docusnap data comparison will ignore objects for which this checkbox is enabled. Objects at levels below this one will neither be compared.
Report TitleWhen you generate/execute a report, the first object that is higher in the hierarchy and for which this checkbox is enabled, will be used as the report subtitle.
Static ObjectThis option enables the extensions (comments, passwords, etc.) for this meta object.
If entries are created in the tree for a user-defined object, they can only be deleted if the Static Object option has been activated.