In a normal deployment of the Infor CRM (Saleslogix) Web Client, the files for the Web Client are stored in the Virtual File System, or VFS. This VFS is accessed through Application Architect, specifically through the Project Explorer and Project Workspace Manager tabs. The Project Explorer tab shows along the left side of the window, and displays all the files in the VFS. The Project Workspace Manager can be seen along the bottom, and shows where the VFS itself is stored. Both of these can be selected from the View menu, or by clicking on the their respective tabs.
The collection of files that make up a Web Client deployment is known as a Project Workspace. In the default configuration, with a single Project Workspace stored in the VFS, folks often use the terms Project Workspace and VFS synonymously. But in a more complicated set-up, the distinction becomes important. It is the Project Workspace Manager at the bottom of the Application Architect window that manages where the Project Workspace is stored.
In the Project Workspace Manager, the Working Path is where the Project Workspace is stored. The default location should be something like VFS:\Model, which means the Project Workspace is stored in the VFS. The VFS is actually part of the database, and for most installations it is fine to leave it there and not worry about it. However, in some environments, it makes sense to locate the Project Workspace elsewhere.
You can right click on a Project Workspace to back it up (or restore from a previous backup). You can also copy a Project Workspace to a new location outside the VFS. Right click inside the Project Workspace Manager, and choose Add. Name your new Project Workspace, click the ellipsis next to Working Path to choose the location it will be stored, and make sure Export Files Upon Creation is checked. Click Create, and Infor CRM will create a copy of the VFS Project Workspace on your local file system. This is most commonly done on development systems to make deployments faster, and in cases where multiple versions of the Project Workspace are needed.
Is it possible to access the VFS outside of Application Architect? (View in File Explorer)
Yes, the last paragraph in this post describes how to move the VFS to the local file system.
Thanks for the quick reply!
Regarding VFS and LFS. Which one is better to work with? does it impact in the performance in both developing and running it in live?
Using VFS or LFS makes no difference on the live site. VFS is the default configuration, so I would suggest using that unless you have a good reason to switch to the the LFS. All the folks whom I know to be using the LFS are doing so because the find it helpful to have direct access to the files for the type of development they are doing. If you don’t specifically need that, it is likely not worth the effort to switch.
Ruben, I typically always use LFS in my dev environments, however for production environments I always use the VFS. The live SlxClient does read from the model at runtime for things like string resources, etc. If someone were to delete the folder containing the LFS it would break the production site. Also, if you ever needed to split up things on multiple web servers, you’d want the model in the VFS for sure.
We’ve put most of our custom code (except C# Snippet Action Items) into a .Net class library under Saleslogix 7.5. The Visual Studio project had an after-build script automatically copying the output to the respective bin folders of the portals in the LFS. With one of the CRM updates we’ve switched to the VFS instead and we have to insert the files manually now. Is there a way to streamline this process, “uploading” multiple files into the bin folders of SlxClient, SData and the Job Service in the VFS?
I am not aware of one. In older versions of Infor CRM SLX, it was possible to work with multiple versions of customizations (called the “project”), backing them up and them restoring them to the VFS. That feature was deprecated when Infor added the upgrade-safe feature in version 8.5.1. All of which is to say that Infor has not prioritized making it convenient to work with files outside of Application Architect, and if some shortcut does exist it would likely be some sort of loophole, rather than an intentional feature.
Thanks for the quick response! I guess I’ll have to convince my colleagues to use an LFS at least for development then, to reap the advantages of git and build scripts.