Creating a new user action or changing an existing action

About this task

User actions are server commands that you define in the workbench, and can run against resources such as files and folders on your remote server. To create a new action or change an existing action:

Procedure

In the Remote Systems view, expand the connection that contains the kind of resources you want to work with. Navigate to the subsystem that contains those resources, right-click the file or folder in question, and select Work with > User actions. You can also right-click on a file in one of your filters, and select User Actions > Work With User Actions.
Type the text to display in the Action Name field. This is a brief label for the action.
Type a longer, more descriptive text description for the action in the Comment field.
Type the actual command string to run when a user selects this action. This command can use action substitution variables when you run the action. These variables are used when defining the command string to run for a particular action. Substitution variables keep you from having to explicitly code command parameter values. Click Insert variable to view and select valid variables.

What to do next

Additional parameters:

Select Edit to change the command entered.
Select Browse to search for and select command files (for example, .exe, .bat or .cmd files). The file name you select is reflected in the Command field when you return.
Select Prompt to prompt the command currently entered in the Command area.
Select Prompt first to indicate that the Remote System Explorer should prompt the command when it is run.
Select Refresh after to indicate the Remote System Explorer will refresh the selected files after the action's command is run. This action is useful if your command affects the information displayed in the file list window for the selected files, for example, if your command changes the type or description of a member.
Select Show action.
Select Single selection only if you want to show this action only when a single object is selected.
Select Invoke once to collect the full names of all selected resources into a temporary member, named by substitution variables: ML, MF, and MM.
Select any currently defined named types from the Defined Types list and click Add to include them in the Selected Types list. The action only appears if a file matching one of these types is selected.

You can also view user actions by active profile for remote objects on the User Actions cascade menu. You can see both team-shared and private user actions. To enable this, select Cascade user actions and compile commands by profile on the Remote Systems page. (Click the drop-down menu from the Remote Systems view and select Preferences > Remote Systems).