All activity in VisualAge for Java is organized around a workspace, which contains the Java programs that you are developing. The workspace also contains all the packages, classes, and interfaces that are found in the standard Java class libraries, and other libraries that your classes may need.
In the team development environment, each VisualAge for Java client has its own workspace.
The workspace differs from the repository in the following ways:
When you start the IDE, the workspace is connected to the repository. The first time that you connect, VisualAge for Java builds pointers to the source code in the repository for every program element that exists in the workspace.
When you change
repositories, this set of pointers is recached. You can not browse program elements that
do not reside in the repository to which you are currently connected. You can always run
code that is in the workspace, but if the connection to the repository is broken - for
example by a server failure - then you can not browse source code or save changes.
You can add program elements from the repository to the workspace, replace the edition that is in the workspace with a different edition from the repository, or delete program elements from the workspace. You can maintain different versions of the workspace, customized for different projects or releases. See the list of topics below, for links to related information.
Repository
Overview of the VisualAge for Java IDE
Browsing the Workspace
Adding Classes and Methods from the Repository to the
Workspace
Adding Projects and Packages from the Repository to the
Workspace
Deleting Program Elements from the Workspace
Replacing Editions in the Workspace (Reloading)
Saving the Workspace
Importing Files from the File System
Important Files to Back Up
IDE Failure or Corrupted Workspace