An Eclipse project container is a type of Dimensions CM project (formerly called worksets) that can store multiple Eclipse projects. An Eclipse project that is stored within an Eclipse project container is called a contained project.
Eclipse project containers are displayed in the Dimensions CM 10.1 Rich Integration, in the Serena Explorer view. Derived Dimensions CM projects and baselines are displayed within the project container. Derived baselines are grouped together under a common node within the project container.
Dimensions 10.1 introduced a new way to work with Eclipse projects, a one-to-one mapping between single Eclipse projects and individual Dimensions CM projects. The project container option allows you to override this way of working in order to nest any number of Eclipse projects under a common Dimensions CM project. This is comparable to functionality in previous releases of Dimensions, with the SCC integration to Eclipse.
Using project containers with the Rich Integration to Eclipse enables you to use your existing Eclipse SCC project structure within the new Rich Integration, without having to convert to the one-to-one mapping between Eclipse projects and Dimensions projects. If you have already defined scripts or processes that operate against a nested hierarchy of Eclipse projects, you can continue to maintain that project structure. You can also use project containers to minimize the number of Dimensions CM projects that you must create and maintain.
In some scenarios, one-to-one mappings between your Eclipse and Dimensions CM projects are desirable. Consider using one-to-one project mapping in the following cases:
If you need to individually baseline each Eclipse project. When you use project containers, you can only baseline all projects contained within the container.
If you will use the project grouping features in order to work on specific sub-sets of Eclipse projects in one workspace. You can use groups with Eclipse project containers, however you must include all projects in the container. You cannot select specific projects from a container.
If your teams will work on different Eclipse projects that are separate from each other; the one-to-one mapping enables organizations to choose different combinations of development projects as needed using the project grouping features.