3.2 MetaEdit+ System Administration
In this section we examine the tools for administrating the
Object Repository. To use the system administrator tools, you must start
MetaEdit+ and login as
sysadmin
to a database. If you will be working solely with database data such as users
and areas, there is no need to open any projects. If you will be deleting
metamodel information with the Type Manager tool, you should open all
projects.
In the main Launcher select
Repository | Options
and choose the Repository page of the notebook that opens. All system
administrator functions are accessed from here. This page allows also the user
to check the completeness of method specifications, and view settings concerning
the repository.

Figure 7. Repository Options page.
3.2.1 Check Repository
Check Repository reports on types
which do not have complete specifications, e.g. do not have an identifying
property or symbol. The incomplete types are reported in a list dialog, from
which they can be selected for
editing.
3.2.2 Metamodellers
The system administrator specifies which users have the right
to metamodel (
Metamodellers)
. This includes not
only using the features of the Method Workbench version of MetaEdit+ to create
and modify types, but also the metamodelling features of the standard version of
MetaEdit+: changing symbols, property dialogs, and saving reports.
 | It
is possible to write and run reports without saving them in the repository: this
does not require metamodelling rights.
|
Enforcement of metamodelling security
level and metamodeller rights is by means of locks. The lock is only taken at
the time the changes are saved: users can open metamodelling tools without
acquiring any locks or having metamodelling rights, but they will be unable to
save any changes they make. In the standard version of MetaEdit+, the
metamodelling tools exist, but all save options are greyed out, i.e.
unavailable.
3.2.3 Metamodel security
MetaEdit+ allows you to modify methods, even while you or
other users are using them, constantly making sure that the repository is kept
consistent. However, it can be rather unsettling to users to find the methods
they are using changing under their feet! To control this situation, the system
administrator can define the
metamodel security
level
: are other users allowed to be logged in while
someone is metamodelling. Currently there are two settings,
exclusive: the metamodeller must be the only user in
the database, and
single: there can be only one
metamodeller in the whole database at a time, but any number of simultaneous
non-metamodelling
users.
3.2.4 Garbage Collect
This option will condense the database by removing all old
versions of objects, and perform a global database garbage collect, removing all
objects from the database that are no longer used, e.g. all deleted objects. The
net result is a smaller, faster database. Because of the amount of data that
must be read and maintained in memory, this is both a time consuming and memory
intensive operation. We advise taking a backup of your repository before
performing garbage
collect.
3.2.5 File in Patches
There are two types of patches in MetaEdit+: image patches
update the MetaEdit+ program itself and repository patches
import methods and models and thus update the Object Repository. All users can
file in image patches, but only the system administrator can file in repository
patches
.
The process of filing in patches is described in the
MetaEdit+ User’s Guide. The use of repository patches is described in
detail in Section
3.4.1.
3.2.6 Admin Launcher
Press the
Admin Launcher button, and an ArtBase System
Administration Launcher
will open, from which you can add
and edit the users and areas in the repository. This is described in detail in
the next section.