To see what we just did, we can simply look at the results. Use Windows Explorer to navigate to the local packages folder, which is usually C:\AOSService\PackagesLocalDirectory. There, you will see the following structure for our example package, that is, ConVehicleManagement:
The root folder is the Package and contains a subfolder for the model, which has the same name. All of the code is under the model folder in a separate folder for each type. The descriptor folder contains an XML definition file. XppMetaData is a system-managed folder for the Xpp metadata for all the models in the package. This holds compiler metadata information about each element, not the actual source code. This includes the methods in a class, the type of method, and the parameters.
We would never normally change anything here, but there are exceptions:
- If two developers create a different package at the same time, they can both get the same model ID, in which case conflicts will occur when they check in. The solution is to check out the model's descriptor XML file in the Source Control Explorer and manually change the ID to the next number.
- You may decide that a standard package should be deleted, such as the tutorial or the sample fleet management solution. You can do this by simply deleting the package folder. Should you want to remove a standard model, you can delete the model folder, but you must also delete the relevant model descriptor file from the package's Descriptor folder. Obvious care needs to be taken, as you can't get it back!
The former point can be prevented by nominating a person to create packages and models.
If you look in the Source Control Explorer in Visual Studio, you will only see that the projects folder has been added. This is correct. The folders under the Metadata folder will only appear when we create new elements.