File Menu

File menu when the application is first started:

File menu with one or more active projects and the root node selected:

File menu with one or more active projects and a project node selected:

You can use the File Menu for loading, creating, closing and saving projects or for exiting the Pavement LCA application. Some File menu items are either enabled or disabled depending on whether one or more projects have been opened. This menu is always accessible.

The options available from the File Menu are:

New
Selecting this option allows the user to create a new project.
Open
Selecting this option allows the user to open a project that has been previously saved to a file on disk. If the project being loaded was created using an older version of the Pavement LCA, then the file will be interogated and a warning message will be displayed detailing which assemblies you may need to validate because of updates and whether the project contained any extra materials that are no longer supported and were subesequntly removed from the project.

When a project is loading, one of the file validation steps is to import the Custom Material Composite Product Library records that were used in the project. This is an important step that is meant to ensure that Composite Product records used in a specific project are transferrable when a project is shared between different users each having different Composite Product Libraries. If a conflict is encountered between a Composite Product that is embedded in the proect file and an existing Composite Product Library record, the "Custom Material Composite Product Library Record Conflict Resolution" dialog will be automatically launched.
Close
Selecting this option allows the user to close a selected project. If the selected project has been modified or was newly created, the user will asked to save the changes. This option is available only if one or more projects are open.
Close All
Selecting this option allows the user to close all currently open projects. Before being closed, each open project is checked to see if it has been modified. If a project has been modified or was newly created, the user will asked to save the changes before the project is closed. This option is available only if one or more projects are open.
Save
Selecting this option allows the user to save the currently active project. If the project is a new project the user will be asked to specify a file and directory pathway to which to save the project. If the project is one that has been opened from a file the project will be saved back to that same file. This option is available only if one or more projects are open and one project is active.
Save As
Selecting this option allows the user to save the currently active project while specifying the new file name. This option is available only if one or more projects are open and one project is active.
Save All
Selecting this option allows the user to save all open projects. For new projects the user will be asked to specifiy a directory and filename that they wish to save the project to. For projects that were opened from a file will be saved to that same file without notification. This option is available only if one or more projects are open.
Export
Selecting this menu option allows the user to export a summary file containing Life Cycle Costing (LCC) and Life Cycle Effects (LCE) summary data to an XML file. This feature is inteneded to be used for import into an LCC software tool.
Recent Projects
This is not a specific item in the menu, but rather it is a list of up to ten of the most recently opened projects. By selecting one of the projects that project will be immediately opened.
Exit
If this is selected all open projects will be closed and the Pavement LCA application will quit. Before being closed, each open project is checked to see if it has been modified. If a project has been modified or was newly created, the user will asked to save the changes before the project is closed.